Panasonic DMC-LZ7K (Black) Lumix 7.2 Megapixel Digital Camera w/6x Optical Zoom, 2.5" LCD

6x Optical Zoom with 7.2-megapixel Resolution
The DMC-LZ7 is equipped with a 6x optical zoom (equivalent to a 37mm-222mm zoom on a 35mm film camera) lens, in a body size with the same compactness as ordinary 3x zoom cameras. This powerful zoom lets you easily capture and magnify distant subjects, and also produces impressive photos with soft-focused backgrounds. The zoom lens crystallizes Panasonic's optics technology, using two aspherical lenses to achieve compactness and boost optical performance. The 6x optical zoom ratio can be extended up to 9x (35mm equivalent: 333mm) at resolutions of 3-megapixel or less by using the central part of the CCD. Adding the Extended Optical Zoom to the 4x digital zoom extends the total zooming power to a maximum of 36x (35mm equivalent: 1,332mm).

Easy Zoom
Now, zooming is even easier. Even when the zoom is set to a position lower than 6x, the first press of the Easy Zoom button immediately gives you the maximum 6x power of the Extended optical zoom. A second press delivers the maximum 9x power of the Extended Optical Zoom. This lets you bring your subject right up close, easily and comfortably.

Runs on Two AA Batteries
For convenience, the DMC-LZ7 can be powered by two AA size batteries. The supplied Oxyride batteries let you take 250 photos. Because AA size batteries can be purchased almost anywhere, you don't have to worry about suddenly running out of battery power. This is great both for taking everyday snapshots and when you are traveling.

Built-in Memory 27MB
Take photos even when you don't have an SD/SDHC Memory Card on hand. The built-in memory holds up to 27 MB of image data, which you can later copy to an SD/SDHC Memory Card or PC. You can also copy images from a memory card or PC to the built-in memory, and view them on the LCD anytime you like.

MEGA O.I.S. Prevents Blurry Shots Caused by Hand-shake
The MEGA O.I.S.(Optical Image Stabilizer) compensates for the blurring caused by hand-shake. It is now featured on the entire LUMIX range, and is highly popular with users around the world. Even slight hand-shake movement is accurately detected by a sampling frequency of 4,000 times per second, and compensated to produce sharp, clear images. This is true, of course, for zooming and macro shots, which are especially susceptible to hand-shake, but it also lets you shoot in dimly lit rooms or evening illumination, without a flash, to preserve the mood. In short, it lets anybody take beautiful, blur-free shots with ease.

Intelligent ISO Control Prevents Blurry Shots Caused by Moving Subjects
When the Intelligent ISO Control (I.I.C.) in LUMIX cameras detects subject motion, it automatically raises the ISO setting and increases the shutter speed to prevent motion blur. On the other hand, when the subject is still and no movement is detected, it lets you take beautifully natural photos with a low ISO setting. Have you ever mistakenly used a high ISO setting to take a photo of a subject standing still? If so, you may remember the noisy, grainy result. Or, if you have tried snapping a moving subject at a low ISO setting, your photo was probably spoiled by motion blur. Intelligent ISO Control gives you stunning images with ease because there is no need for complicated settings.

The new mode dial on the DMC-LZ7 also lets you select I.ISO (Intelligent ISO Control) Mode. It allows the sensitivity to be raised to a maximum of ISO 1250, or to be set to a limit of ISO 400 or ISO 800. I.ISO Mode produces exactly the image quality that you intend.

High Sensitivity Mode ISO3200
Selecting High Sensitivity mode from among the Scene Modes allows the sensitivity to be raised all the way up to ISO 3200. This makes it possible to take sharp, blur-free shots of active children or pets even in indoor settings with limited light.

Venus Engine III
Venus Engine III in the DMC-LZ7 allows high-sensitivity recording up to ISO 1250 at full resolution. The noise reduction system is also greatly improved while maintaining high resolution. It removes noise at the processing stages in series. First, critical noise is roughly undraped and the chromatic noise and the luminance noise are separated so they can each go through a supplemental noise reduction process that appropriately minimizes the remaining noise

Scene Mode
Versatile Scene Modes are another great LUMIX feature. And the Scene Mode list display makes them even easier to select. You can choose from a total of 18 situations, including the new Sunset and Pet modes, for settings that match your subject. Animated moving icons make mode selection even easier and more fun.

Mode Dial - Mode Position Display
In addition to modes like Simple, which lets the camera take care of everything, and Playback, which lets you view or process the shots you've taken, a new Direct Printing Mode can now be selected for direct connection to a printer. This single, easy-to-understand mode dial lets you easily switch between shooting, viewing, and printing. As you operate the dial, large animated icons are displayed, making it easy to find the mode you want.

AF Metering: Choose from five focus methods to match the shooting conditions of your subject.

• 5-point AF: This mode prevents the system from mistakenly focusing on the area between two subjects in a vertical composition.
• 3-point high-speed AF: This mode prevents the system from mistakenly focusing on the area between two subjects in a horizontal composition.
• 1-point high-speed AF: The AF time has been dramatically reduced* to achieve outstanding focusing.
• 1-point AF: Although screen-freeze in high-speed AF is now minimized, you can select this mode to totally eliminate it when you are focusing on a fast-moving subject.
• Spot AF: This mode keys the focus to a small area within the frame

Unlimited Consecutive Shooting
The Unlimited Consecutive Shooting* function lets you continue shooting until the memory card is full for a moving subject or a person's changing facial expression. Then save only the best ones. With a digital camera, you can just delete any shots you don't want.
(The focus and exposure are fixed at the first frame.)

Select from 3 Aspect Ratios
The aspect ratio is easily selectable between 16:9 wide, 3:2 and conventional 4:3 to shoot in the framing aspect that best suits the photo's composition or purpose of use. You can shoot images in the wide 16:9 format and save them onto an SD/SDHC Memory Card. Then insert the card into a TV equipped with an SD/SDHC card slot to view them in perfect, wide-screen size. Some TVs will display the images in stunning high definition.

High Quality Wide Aspect VGA Motion Picture Mode
The DMC-LZ7 lets you shoot smooth motion images at 30 frames/sec, complete with sound, in 16:9 WVGA or VGA size. You can also shoot at 10 frames/sec to reduce the file size

Function Button for Quick and Easy Setting
The Function Button gives you shortcuts to frequently used menu settings. When shooting,* this single button lets you turn MEGA O.I.S. on/off, consecutive shooting on/off, make white balance adjustments, set the ISO sensitivity and image size, and select the compression format, while you continue to view your subject on the LCD.

Large 2.5" LCD
The large, 2.5" LCD has a total of 115,000 pixels. The difference is easy to see, with much greater clarity, both when shooting and during playback.

Date Stamp
You can also print the date on your photos. In addition to the ordinary recording date, you can choose Baby or Pet mode from among the Scene Modes to print the age of a child or pet by inputting the birthdate in advance, or use the Travel Date Setting to print which day of the trip each photo was taken on. These dates, which can be helpful when making a photo album, can be stamped on photos whether you print them yourself at home or have a photo shop do them.

Other Features:

• Shooting Information Display:  In addition to basic information like the remaining battery strength and the number of shots that can be taken, information about the mode setting is displayed. When the shutter button is pressed halfway, the focusing condition, aperture, and shutter speed are displayed.* This lets you check them before you shoot.
• Composition Guidelines:  You can use composition guidelines from two patterns according* to the shooting subject. And guidelines can be shown at the same time as other information and icons.
• Real Time Histograms:  This graph, which can be displayed in the LCD as you line up the shot, shows the status of the exposure and contrast in real-time.

• AF Assist Lamp: Provides extra lighting as a focusing aid for slightly dark situations where AF focusing would ordinarily be difficult.

• ISO Sensitivity Settings:  You can choose the light-receiving sensitivity from Auto, I.ISO, 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1250.
• White Balance: Choose from six preset white balance settings: Auto, Daylight, Cloudy, Shade, Halogen, and White Set. This is handy when there are several different light sources and it's difficult to get the exact coloration you want.
• Color Mode: Choose from five or seven preset Color Mode settings: Cool*, Warm*, Black & White, Sepia, Natural, Standard, and Vivid.
• Exposure Compensation: Adjust the exposure setting to create a particular image. (1/3 EV step, -/+2 EV) This is also effective for backlight compensation. And you can show the control indication on the display with a single button.
• Self Timer: You can use either a 2-second or 10-second setting.

• Economy Mode:  This mode saves battery power by turning off the LCD after a certain amount of idle time. There are two economy levels to choose from.
        Level 1: The LCD turns off when the camera has been idle for 15 seconds.
        Level 2: Same as Level 1, plus the LCD turns off when the camera has been idle for 5 seconds after you've taken a shot.

• Flash: Choose the ideal flash for almost any situation. Auto; Auto/Red-eye Reduction; Slow Sync./Red-eye Reduction; Forced On/Off; Forced On/Red-eye Reduction
• World Time Setting: This setting lets you display the local time of your destination when traveling abroad. You simply select your travel destination, and the camera calculates the time difference from the time in the clock setting and displays the local time. You can set the time and date for 74 locations across the world.

• Travel Date Setting: By setting the departure day when setting out on a trip with LUMIX, you can display which day of the trip each photo was taken on while viewing. Great for organizing your travel photos.

• 9/25 Multi Display and Calendar Display: The large LCD allows the display of images even in tiny thumbnail size. Playback of 9 or 25 frames is possible on a multi-split screen in addition to the normal 1-frame playback. This helps you to search for the image you want out of a number of images stored on the SD/SDHC Memory Card, even if there are many images. LUMIX also features the Calendar Display. It shows the day that each shot was taken, which makes it easy to group and play back all of the shots taken on a particular day.

• Auto Review: This function shows you an enlarged view of the image right after you shoot, to make it easier to check the focus.

• Protection: One or more shots can be set from the menu to protect them from being accidentally erased.

• Favorite image Slideshow / Slideshow with transition effects: You can place virtual checkmarks on your favorite images to group them together, then make a slideshow with only those images or delete the ones without checkmarks if you no longer need them. And you can select effects for transitions between slides.

• Auto Angle Detection:  This function detects and records whether the photo is being shot horizontally or vertically, then automatically rotates all vertically framed images during playback so they can be easily seen on the LCD or TV screen. If you want to rotate the image for some reason, you can use the Image Rotation setting on the playback menu.

• Trimming and Resizing: Lets you trim the image, or reduce the amount of image data.

• DPOF Settings: You can automatically record the information you need when having prints made by a commercial printing service, or on your home printer. Simply specify the images you want to print, how many copies you want, and what kind of information you want to be output with them, and save the information onto the LUMIX memory card. Then you just insert the memory card into the printer and start printing. When using a commercial printing service, all you have to do is send them the memory card. It couldn't be much easier.

Included Software:

Lumix Simple Viewer - The included LUMIX Simple Viewer makes it super-easy to upload, view, and print the images you have taken. The uploaded images are displayed according to their date, so they are easy to search for. The date can also be set to be printed on each photo.
PHOTOfunSTUDIO  - This image viewing software lets you upload photos, organize them in categories, process them, and print them. It also converts RAW data files from LUMIX into JPEG files.

ArcSoft Software: This software features a variety of functions, such as viewing and editing images.

Specifications: