Just got panasonic fz 7 & am having troubles!

[Tinkerbell 2002]

Hello to everyone here who owns & likes their panasonic cameras!

I just purchased my panasonic fz7 a wk ago from Circuit City. I like the lcd size (we have alot of older folks who enjoy this new technology & like seeing the photos on the screen so this is a plus for me, ihad previously debated on teh canon s2 is but its screen is tiny). i also like the weight of the camera & feel.

The troubles i am having are well the owners manual is just too complicated for anyone who is not very well educated on this topic. and i admit i am not. i do not understand all the functions & controls & feel that is why i am not happy w/alot of my photos. i have yet to print any but the ones i can see lcd are not so hot.

is that due to the lcd? i am coming from a dinosaur film camer so all of this digital stuff is new to me. i chose this camera b/c of the reviews on this site by others & steve. he seems toreally know what is up!

Here is what i mainly shoot, an active 3 1/2 yr old! She is half of my shots & the rest vary between other people at events, scenery when we travel (which is why the zoom was very important to me) & many more in motion type shots.

what i am seeing is that on the cameras "simple' mode when i take a photo of my child she is overexposed (too harsh a flash). when i try any shot where she is moving even in a brief still shot it'll still blur. where as somehow w/my old film camera i had been able to even capture her dancing before & the photos were not blurred. i am hoping the issues i am having are b/c i dont understand this camera & am finding the owners manual less than helpful.

I want to make the right purchasing choice here. i need a camera to keep up w/my kid. she'll be doing dance & gymnastics soon & although i knwo its not a slr by any means i know though that great shots can still be had in these situations. maybe not 100% of the time but at least half.

does this camera print nice clear crisp photos?

i dont know what you all who know your stuff speak of when you mention "noise"? is that noise to the ear like sounds the camera makes? i dont think that's what you all mean.

i also am playing w/the zoom feature for after you take a photo. a friend of mine w/a sony of some sort has this & i have found it quite handy in the past when zooming in only a small amount photos printed quite well. now zooming in substantially those were horrible. but on this camera i amfinding it jumps while zooming straight to 4x then 8x. is that the only way to do this on this camera? there is one shot i only want to zoom on one time or so to bring it closer.

any other tid bits you all can add? i am open to any and all suggestions.

thanks so much.

[genece]

First you need to get the photos on the computer so you can see them and the exif so you may have a clue as to why the photos are good or not good.

And while an ultrazoom may not be the best camera for kids indoors.....it may do what you want, but you need to get outside in some good light and take some photos, then download them to the computer and enjoy how nice a photos the FZ7 can take.

Then while you may need to give up some quality indoors, you should have an Idea whats happening......You need to figure how to get the photos on the computer.

Its not difficultand the LCD is not very good for viewing photos.

[Tinkerbell 2002]

thank you so much for input.

[bmccoy]

Hi Tink,

I have the FZ7 so I'll try to pass on a few tips. Much of this will be the same others would say. As Gene mentioned going out to a park in bright sun will give you a completely different feel for the camera. However, you can get good shots indoor also. I would say set the dial to "P" not the heart. I think you will find it will work very well. Press the "up" portion of the control buttons until you get to the flash adjustment. Then go left to -2/3 press the set button in the middle. This will help with the over exposure. Go into the menu and set the metering to center weighted. You can get instruction on that in the manual. Then set the focus to one area high speed. Change the image stabilization to mode 2. This may all take some time to find in the menu but once you get it set you will not need to change them for some time.

Once you have done this just point zoom and shoot. The zoom will go very fast if you hold the ring to one side or the other. Try "pulsing" the zoom ring for little steps of the zoom. You will find you can move it very small amounts.

I hope some of this will help. Keep shooting and shooting you will get it!!

-Brett

[Tinkerbell 2002]

Thanks i 'll go through & do what you suggested.

on the zooming in of already taken photos (dont knwo tech. name for this). if the shot is far off & i barely touch the zoom button to zoom in on it to check out faces etc.. it jumps to a really really close zoom. even if i barely move it it just goes straight to i think 8x zoom when i only want to zoom slightly. is there another way to do this? i know the printed photo will not be perfect but in some cases i'll get what i want if i am able to do this & just not have a perfect photo. and once zoomed in on cna the photo be saved?

if you use post processing software (which i dont have or have knowledge of as of yet) can you zoom in on photos that way? if so do you loose alot of resolution/clarity?

i am just so on the fence here. it seems the more & more forums i read here the more i hear the canon s2 is is more the way to go for me. but i just LOVE the size & weight & lcd screen size. i am also reading the s2is photos will be better/are better once printed vs this fz 7. that the fz7 has alot of noise in its photos.

any thoughts from fellow owners of the fz 7?

i am not opposed to post processing w/some sort of program but since its new to me i'll be having to learn the progrma & this camera all at once & that's hard for what time i do have to devote to this. i need most images to be good straight from printing to processing. i just dont have alot of time to devote to making all shots perfect. although i am sure once i learn the camera & whatever software i get that tweeking my pix might be easy??????? is that the case??? or not?

thanks again for all your responses:-)

[bmccoy]

Tinkerbell 2002 wrote:

......
on the zooming in of already taken photos (dont knwo tech. name for this). if the shot is far off & i barely touch the zoom button to zoom in on it to check out faces etc.. it jumps to a really really close zoom. even if i barely move it it just goes straight to i think 8x zoom when i only want to zoom slightly. is there another way to do this? ......
i am just so on the fence here. it seems the more & more forums i read here the more i hear the canon s2 is is more the way to go for me. but i just LOVE the size & weight & lcd screen size. i am also reading the s2is photos will be better/are better once printed vs this fz 7. that the fz7 has alot of noise in its photos.......

I think the in camera review is limited to the zoom steps you have noted. In photo editing software you will be able to zoom to any percent you wish. I use Paint Shop Pro 9. Many people use Photoshop ($$$$). Some use free tools like the ones from Google. you could even use the stuff that came with the panny.

I do not think the FZ7 has excessive noise. I find the images very pleasing and have no issue with prints. From an image quality standpoint I don't think you can do any better for this amount of money and keep all the features.

-Brett

[milrodpxpx]

If the fz7 is the same as the fz30 in this respect, you can zoom in more increments by changing from the P or auto modes (where you press the review button down to review a photo) over the the playback mode. In playback mode, you can zoom at 2x 4x 8x and 16x. if it is different for the fz7, someone correct me!

[Tinkerbell 2002]

hello! and than you for that info, you are absolutely right! i just did what you said & presto! i got the zoom on a photo i wanted! thank you!

can anyone tell me if you've ever had this happen or simply what i did wrong.

i downloaded the photos from my camera to computer. i went through them & saved all but one or two into a folder. when i disconnected my camera from computer there was only one photo left in teh camera???? it was the one i had left out of the folder i had created.

what on earth did i do???? i have not downloaded the panasonic software that goes along w/camera yet. but i had previously done a transfer of photos but photos stayed on the camera too. help!

[iason]

Tinkerbell,

Let me repeat again :idea:Windows Camera Wizard starts automatically when you connect the camera to the computer. As you know, you select the photos in the card on this window. Here, just in this window, Windows also asks you "Delete the files after upload?" and this question box is already checked in default. You should have removed the check sign in the box of this question. Otherwise, wizard will automatically delete the photographs in the card.

Regards,

Mert

[Tinkerbell 2002]

O ok. no this box your talking about has never showed up so i will have to search for it to un check it.

what i did was simply click images i wanted moved to a specific folder & once moved they were gone from sd card. there was never a box after that step it just tookme to where they were now. so thank you i'll dig & try to find this box so i can un check that command.