I have just replaced my Fuji fine pix with another camera, and whilst buying my boyfriend bought himself a Lumix FS7 which I am now regretting not getting for myself. Always the way, but whenever I go shopping for something electrical, some guy in a suit always sways me towards something different. Which I should really learn from and just buy online, its usually cheaper anyway.

The Panasonic Lumix FS7 Digital camera comes in a range of different colours; it cost £130 which for a 10.1 Megapixel camera was pretty good and the deal we got meant that a free case came with it as well as an additional memory card. So there were no qualms on the price.

10.1 Megapixels

Right away we was impressed with the quality of the images this camera was taking, I also test the pictures out on phones and cameras by taking one scenic photo, a photo of people and a photo of a moving image. The camera passed all these tests and I was particularly impressed by how it coped with moving pictures. I took a picture of my boyfriend playing tennis and it caught a lovely shot, which if I put on the computer I will share with you.

The pictures look very clear on the camera which has a 2.7 inch LCD screen, but when we put some of them on the computer we were really impressed, having gone from a 4.8 mp camera this was a bit of a jump and I was really impressed with the difference.

2.7 Screen

Typically of men, my boyfriend just switched the camera on and got going, without reading the instructions, however while he was playing, I read. The LCD screen is high resolution and when I compared it with my new camera which has a standard LCD screen the difference was clear

The picture on the LCD of the Lumix FS7 was sharper and clearer and made it much easier to judge which pictures were worth keeping.
On my new camera there are some pictures which look good on screen but once they are on my laptop I can see them in better definition and it becomes clear that they are not worth keeping. With the Lumix this is not the case. The hi9gh definition screen is a fair view to the image you will get with each picture.

Long battery life?

The Lumix FS7 is described as having long battery life, most electrical products nowadays do have efficient batteries, and there is no excuse for them to be poor anymore. However, with the Lumix FS7 the battery really was impressive, we spent a day playing around with it, so it was literally on all day, and we took loads of pictures and deleted loads and it wasn’t until a few more days of use later that we were warned the battery was low.

The camera is run from a battery pack, which comes with the camera and which can be replaced, I looked at the cost of a replacement, and if we needed one, we would be looking at about £20.

The camera comes with a charger so it is easy to charge and make sure that the batteries are topped up, the first charge we did took a matter of an hour to full charge the machine up. I understand that with time this will take longer and also that the battery will last less, but currently the battery and charger are so efficient that we are entirely impressed.

Design

Digital cameras, in my opinion, are very good looking pieces of technology they are small and compact, the Lumix FS7 is no exception, and I consider the camera to be trendy looking. It also comes in a good range of colours, from pink and blue to black and silver. The screen is a lovely size and I think the design of the camera was well thought pout

The camera is very small but this doesn’t make it any harder to handle, the camera comes with a wrist strap to stop it being dropped and smashed. I like it that although the camera is very compact it does not make it fiddly.

My boyfriend is very clumsy fingered and it is strange seeing him handle something so delicate put he has had no problems with handling and he finds using it completely comfortable

Taking pictures

The Lumix has an iA button which is all you need to press to take a picture.
I spend a good half hour looking for different settings to apply to the camera, after reading the instructions I discovered that actually the camera settings are adjusted automatically. I was pretty impressed by this.

The camera senses the light conditions and takes the picture automatically in the best setting to get the best possible result.

We did not take any pictures which were blurry, and the lighting on each picture was perfect. The lighting in my house is very dull and with my previous camera pictures were a yellowy colour when they came out, even with my new camera the pictures weren’t great when taken in my house, but the Lumix got it right every time.

As I have said I took a picture of my boyfriend playing tennis and the camera caught him in the moment perfectly, I read in the manual that this is due to the camera having MEGA OIS which stands for Optical image stabilizer, this comes into play with moving images and also detects hand shake.

Like most digital cameras, this camera also has red eye detection and removal which is always useful, there’s nothing like having a really lovely picture ruined by demon eyes.

The camera also has 4 x Optical zoom which is essential with cameras. My boyfriend is taking this on his holiday in a couple of weeks and zoom is always useful for capturing special moments.
With the Lumix the image is barely lost when the camera is zoomed and we were really impressed with how clear the pictures were when they came out.

My boyfriend went to a biking event and got some of the pictures developed in a photo shop, they came out really lovely quality and any that he had zoomed in on were not obvious whilst flicking through as the quality hardly varied.

The camera was supplied with all of the leads and CD’s to make sure that it can be easily used with a computer, and we found that uploading images was simply a matter of plugging the camera into the USB and we did not even need to upload the software. This is helpful, as we are able to upload photos on a computer wherever we are and not just on the computer which the software is installed on

Video

Like most of the latest cameras the Lumix also has the option for making small videos and clips, these are just as impressive as the pictures, the quality is brilliant when played on the camera itself and on the computer. We haven’t yet converted anything onto a DVD format as none of the videos we have are that interesting, but as soon as we do I can update you of the quality

Price

As I have said, we bought this for £130, my camera that I bought was over £200 and although is a good camera I prefer the Lumix as it is far more easily used and I think the LCD and picture quality is brilliant.

I have seen the Panasonic Lumix for around £150 but I would advise that you look around for a good price as I have also seen it for as low as £120.
The price includes not just the camera but also everything that you would need to get the camera working, including the charger and PC bits and bobs and my package also included a carrying pouch.

Who’s it for

Even though I have so far banged on about how great this camera is (it is) it is not suitable for professional photographers, but will suit anyone up to that level.
It is perfect for taking pictures of people, landscapes and moving scenes which means that it covers most purposes and most age ranges.

It also comes in a range of colours, so you can stay simple with black or silver, or if you’re like me and are feeling a bit girly you can get the pink one. I have decided that my new camera is too complicated for me and I would be much happier with a pink Lumix so I’m selling my current camera on eBay.

All in all I totally recommend the Lumix FS7 and I cannot tell you any disadvantages, it is precise, easy to use, very fashionable and at a really low price

Happy snapping

xx