The DMC-FX7, with its very compact
size, impeccable construction, and large 2.5 inch LCD monitor
is bound to draw the attention of a large number of people.
The qualities of this camera, however, go beyond its appearance. When using
the FX7, one quickly discovers the value of one of its other features:
the optical stabilizer, the hallmark of some of Panasonic's other, and
much bigger, digital cameras.
Aperture: f2.8, shutter speed 1/320 sec., 80 ISO.
The Leica zoom lens of the FX7 is
excellent. Photos show no distortion, be it with wide angle shots
that are free of any serious barrel distortion, or with telephoto
shots that show no pincushion distortion.
Aperture: f5.0, shutter speed 1/500 sec., 80 ISO.
Moreover, and throughout the entire focal range
of the lens, there is no noticeable chromatic aberration, even
in the high contrast areas of images.
While the lens of the FX7 makes the most out of a 5 megapixel CCD, the
optical image stabilizer provides an added advantage. It makes it possible
to capture photos while the camera is hand held, by compensating for the
inevitable slight movement of the photographer, which can interfere with
the sharpness of the image if the shutter speed is too slow.
Similarly, the FX7 is equipped with
a flexible auto focus system that can use either 9 AF areas spread
over the central part of the frame, or a horizontal 3-area system.
Furthermore, it is also possible to force the auto focus to the
centre of the frame and use either a large area, or a small and
very precise centre point.
Metering, on the other hand, is restricted
to a single system, an averaging pattern that evaluates multiple
zones in the frame and combines them to determine the most
suitable exposure settings. The metering is reliable, and routinely
produces images that are very well exposed. In use, the absence
of additional metering patterns (centre-weighted or spot) does
not present a major obstacle, and exposure compensation can
be used effectively should the subject be back lit.
Aperture: f4.2, shutter speed 1/80 sec., 80 ISO.
Moreover, the camera is equipped
with a simple to use Auto Bracketing feature. With it, the FX7
can automatically capture 3 images, one using the exposure parameters
determined by the metering, another underexposed by a preset
amount, and a third exposure overexposed by the same preset amount.
The result is that when faced with a difficult subject to photograph,
the Auto Bracketing improves the likelihood that at least one
image will be suitable.
Aperture: f4.6, shutter speed 1/100 sec., 80 ISO.
Left to its default settings, the Panasonic
FX7 captures natural-looking and properly saturated images
that are faithful to reality, as its Auto white balance rarely
fails to evaluate a scene correctly. Still, for special situations,
the FX7 also provides settings for light sources that are not
part of the Auto white balance range — a range identified
in the manual — furthermore, each of these alternate
settings can be tweaked towards blue or red as needed.
However, the FX7 is somewhat sensitive
to shadow noise, even at 80 ISO. And, as always, increasing sensitivity
produces a commensurate increase in noise. Still, in terms of
noise, 100 ISO shows little difference from 80 ISO. However,
at 200 ISO, and even more so at 400 ISO, noise is easily visible.
The compression applied to images when the FX7 is set to the Fine JPEG
image format is relatively reasonable, and the photos still show a good
level of detail, revealing the textures of objects clearly.
Aperture: f3.8, shutter speed 1/25 sec., 80 ISO.
In summary, the DMC-FX7 offers
characteristics that should appeal to many potential purchasers.
Its large LCD monitor and the absence of an optical viewfinder
are an acknowledgement of a trend that can be seen everywhere:
that compact digital camera users seem to prefer using the
LCD screen, whatever its size, over an optical viewfinder.
And the fact that it offers a stabilizer lessens the chance
that photos will be blurred by camera shake. That, plus the
other features the camera offers, make the FX7 a very interesting
little compact.
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