Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ7 Announced

Panasonic have announced the new Panasonic Lumix FZ7, available in black or silver, this is a 6 megapixel upgrade to the Panasonic Lumix FZ5. The new FZ7 features a 12x optical zoom lens with image stabilisation, a 2.5" screen, and VGA video mode at 30fps. The camera will be available in March.

"Panasonic is introducing the incoming LUMIX model 6.0-megapixel DMCFZ7 with MEGA O.I.S., Optical Image Stabilizer that compensates the hand-shake, incorporating a 12x optical zoom (equivalent to 36mm to 432mm on a 35mm film camera) LEICA DC lens. Differing from the FZ30 with manual focus ring and manual zoom ring, which was already released and highly evaluated by prosumers, the FZ7 is more compact and easy to carry while preserving the same powerful zoom capability and manual controllability.

It is the heir to the 5.0-megapixel DMCFZ5, but enhanced its excellence not only with the total number of pixels but also with other innovative technical improvements such as incorporation of joystick which allows easy manual control on focusing in addition to the manual exposure setting. The 1.8-Inch LCD monitor for FZ5 has become large as 2.5-Inch for FZ7 gaining much brightness even in the low-lit situations thanks to the pixel-mixed readout method performed at the CCD."

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View Panasonic Lumix FZ7 Sample Photos
Read DPReview's hands-on preview of the FZ7