Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX07 Review

The all-glass Lumix DC VARIO ELMARIT 3.6x zoom lens is equivalent to a 28-102mm zoom on a 35mm camera. It has a F2.8 (wide) to F5.0 (tele) maximum aperture and is constructed of 7 elements in 6 Groups (with 4 aspherical lenses and surfaces.) The lens is protected by a built-in shutter whenever the camera is powered down.

Jitter from shaky hands is the biggest single cause of blurry shots. LUMIX cameras help solve this problem with advanced MEGA O.I.S. (Optical Image Stabilizer) technology. A built-in gyrosensor detects any hand-shake and a signal is relayed to a high precision control circuit built into the Venus Engine Plus LSI, which instantly calculates the compensation needed. A linear motor then shifts the O.I.S. lens as necessary to guide incoming light from the image straight to the CCD. Panasonic's highly evolved Venus Engine Plus LSI makes this process even faster and more accurate. This helps extend the MEGA O.I.S. correction range more than 3 steps below (slower than) the shutter speed that is generally considered to be the limit for handheld shooting.

The TTL contrast-detect auto focus system has selectable 1 point, 1 point high speed, 3 points high speed, 9 points and Spot options and works in Single-AF or Continuous-AF mode. It has an AF-assist lamp for low light focusing. The normal focus range is 50 cm (1.64 ft) - infinity. Macro closeup range is: Wide 5 cm (0.16 feet) / Tele 30 cm (0.98 feet) - infinity.

The large 2.5-inch color LCD has 207,000 pixels of resolution and is used for framing, review and menu operations. It offers 100% frame coverage. Press the Display button for more than 1 second to enable Power LCD mode to brighten or dim it. Real time histograms can be displayed when desired. There is no optical viewfinder.

The built-in speedlight features AUTO, AUTO/Red-eye reduction, Forced ON (Forced ON/Red-eye reduction), Slow sync./Red-eye reduction, and Forced OFF modes.

The flash covers an approx range of 1.97 feet (60 cm) - 13.1 feet (4.0 m) at wide angle using ISO Auto. High Sensitivity mode extends this range to 2.62 feet (80cm) to 18.7 feet (5.7m) at wide angle.

Controls on the back:

The Mode Dial (see below).

The 4-way selector in Record mode toggles the flash mode when pressed "Right." When pressed "Up" it adjusts exposure compensation. Press "Left" to activate the Self-timer and press "Down" to use the Quick Review mode to examine the last image captured. In Playback mode the 4-way selector is used to select images and in both record and play is used to navigate the menu screens. The MENU/Set button calls up and dismisses the menu system as well as accepts menu selections. The DISPLAY button toggles the amount of overlay information shown on the LCD, when held for more than a second it brightens the display. The Drive mode button selects normal or sequential shooting mode, in playback it is used for deleting images.

On top you can see the built-in speaker, microphone, and Power on/off button. Other controls include the combination shutter release and zoom lens control ring. The zoom ring is used in playback to enlarge the image or display an index page. The button to the right of the shutter release (shaky hand symbol) turns the image stabilizer on/off. Below that is the Mode Dial.

The Mode Dial has positions for:

movie icon - motion JPEG with audio, length is limited to available memory (up to 2GB.)

flower icon - Macro close-up mode

heart icon - Simple "point-n-shoot" mode

camera icon - The automatic point-n-shoot mode

arrow icon - Playback of still images, movie or audio notes

SCN - Scene: Settable for Portrait, Soft Skin, Scenery, Sports, Night Scenery, Night Portrait, Food, Fireworks, Party, Candle Light, Starry Sky, Beach, Aerial photo, Baby 1 & 2, Snow, High Sensitivity, Self-portrait, Underwater

The A/V Out port sends the video to a television set, the video format is user selectable for NTSC or PAL standard. This is also the USB 2.0 (Full speed) data I/O port, it is Mass Storage compliant and also supports the PictBridge direct-print standard.

An optional AC power adapter or external battery pack can be connected to the DC IN port.

The DMC-FX07 is powered by a proprietary 3.7v 1150mAh rechargeable Li-ion battery. Fully charged it provides power for up to 320 frames with flash used 50% of the time (CIPA standard).

Still images and movie clips are stored on removable SD, SDHC, or MMC memory cards. Panasonic supplies a 16MB SD card. Shown here with a fast and spacious ATP Pro Max 2GB SD card.

Approx. Storage capacities