"Picky Details" for the Panasonic DMC-FZ7 Digital Camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)

Timing

When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time or delay before the shutter actually fires. This corresponds to the time required for the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms time to do their work, and can amount to a fairly long delay in some situations. Since this number is rarely reported on (and even more rarely reported accurately), and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, we routinely measure both shutter delay and shot to shot cycle times for all cameras we test, using a test system Dave designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled, with a resolution of 0.001 second.) Here are the numbers we collected for the Panasonic DMC-FZ7:

Average to excellent speed for a consumer camera.
The Lumix DMC-FZ7's performance ranges from quite fast to about average, depending on what you're trying to do. It starts up fairly quickly considering its large 12x optical zoom lens, which extends forward on power-up. Shutter response is pretty good at both wide angle and telephoto, though "prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure, results in a super-speedy time of only 0.017 second. Shot to shot cycle times are excellent, at about 0.83 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, and it can capture shots continuously in single-shot mode without having to stop and clear the buffer. Continuous-mode speed is also quite good, at both high and low speed settings, and an Infinite option captures frames at the slower 0.44-second rate without any limitation (apart from card capacity) on the number of files. The flash takes about four seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, better than average. Connected to a computer, download speeds are fast enough that you probably won't feel a need for a separate card reader, although they aren't as fast as those from cameras with a true High-Speed USB 2.0 interface. Bottom line, the DMC-FZ7 is a responsive camera, suitable for a wide range of shooting conditions from sporting events to family gatherings.

Power

The Panasonic DMC-FZ7 uses a custom rechargeable LiIon battery for power. The numbers below show the power consumption we measured in various operating modes, and the projected run times for each, based on stated battery capacity:

Very good battery life with both the EVF and LCD.
The Lumix DMC-FZ7 uses a custom rechargeable LiIon battery for power. The table above shows maximum run times based on our power measurements and the rated performance of its battery. In practice, with the camera "sleeping" between periods of use, we found we could shoot for a surprisingly long time on a single battery charge.

Storage Capacity

The Panasonic DMC-FZ7 stores its photos on SD / MMC memory cards, and a 16 MB card is included with the camera. (I strongly recommend buying at least a 128 MB card, preferably a 256 MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.) The chart below shows how many images can be stored on the included 16 MB card at each size/quality setting.

Download Speed

The Panasonic DMC-FZ7 connects to a host computer via a USB interface. Downloading files to my Sony desktop running Windows XP (Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz), I clocked it at 747 KBytes/second. (Cameras with slow USB interfaces run as low as 300 KB/s, cameras with fast v1.1 interfaces run as high as 600 KB/s. Cameras with USB v2.0 interfaces run as fast as several megabytes/second.)