My Casio Z750 has been about 3 years old and I am looking for an upgrade. After reading some reviews on the web I finally got my hands on the TZ7 last Saturday. Initial impressions are generally good, although some more tweaking is welcome.

Good:
1. Great zoom range, sharp lens
2. Image quality is good, at least for the small cropped sensor
3. Nice LCD screen, good to use outdoor
4. Nicest video quality I have ever used. Although I can see more (a little bit) artifacts in the low-bit-rate mode, the savings in card storage and better handling make sense to me. The stereo audio is just awesome!

Now the bad:
1. Noise even at ISO80, though you don't seem to see them on prints or on computer screen.
2. No pause mode in video capture.
3. The mode dial does change position quite often. Although the dial itself may not be very loose, but then the position makes it vulnerable to turning.
4. Battery life is not that great as compared to my Z750. I shot about 200 shots and about 10 mins of video out of a charge. I hope it is just due to a new battery, but then I won't expect it to do tremendously better.
5. I don't like the rec/play switch. I would prefer the usual button instead. Moreover, it is a bit annoying not be able to delete a pic during review. You have to switch to play mode so as to delete a pic.
6. Camera can get quite warm when in use, especially when taking movie. I know it is HD but I guess the new Venus engine dissipates quite some heat.
7. Camera size could be slimmer.
8. Star up time and zoom action could be faster.

Although there are quite some short-comings, I am still quite satisfied with this camera. At least it fills my need of a general/travel camera quite nicely.
Here I attach some pics taken with the 100% crops.


1a. ISO 80, 1/100s, f4, 25mm
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmquew6VTI/AAAAAAAABl4/WVQyBMfaNOo/s800/20090404001.jpg
1b. 100% crop
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmqsh_iUoI/AAAAAAAABlw/8pPWZOxlidY/20090404001-crop.jpg

2a. ISO 80, 1/100s, f4, 25mm
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/SdmqwtMn5JI/AAAAAAAABmI/moF2Mu_HKZE/s800/20090404003.jpg
2b. 100% crop
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmqu-2YuJI/AAAAAAAABmA/UlMV3praxSk/20090404003-crop.jpg

3a. ISO 80, 1/80s, f3.3, 25mm
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/SdmqzmU0bCI/AAAAAAAABmY/Av7MUn1tx2U/s800/20090404004.jpg
3b. 100% crop
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/SdmqxVF3aGI/AAAAAAAABmQ/-J0HHINyXsY/20090404004-crop.jpg

4a. ISO 160, 1/250s, f4, 25mm
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq1n0oU0I/AAAAAAAABmo/4JnQzYwXr_s/s800/20090404008.jpg
4b. 100% crop
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmqz5h3xqI/AAAAAAAABmg/1nskZsIqM80/20090404008-crop.jpg

5a. ISO 80, 1/50s, f3.3, 25mm
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq5tD19YI/AAAAAAAABnI/9pqehJefMPw/s800/20090405007.jpg
5b. 100% crop
http://lh3.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq4llXcBI/AAAAAAAABnA/WU9wAZ3kTzY/20090405007-crop.jpg

6a. ISO 80, 1/400s, f4.9, 300mm
http://lh4.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq6Tf5FfI/AAAAAAAABnY/7l8jm9bUlHM/s800/20090405028.jpg
6b. 100% crop
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq5_54kiI/AAAAAAAABnQ/-P0XdiNxlmg/20090405028-crop.jpg

7a. ISO 80, 1/100s, f4.6, 225mm
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq79nQCBI/AAAAAAAABno/Z4t581LK388/s800/20090405055.jpg
7b. 100% crop
http://lh5.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq6y5MjLI/AAAAAAAABng/JKuhfboVEaM/20090405055-crop.jpg

8a. ISO 80, 1/30s, f3.3, 25mm
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdm-rxONcCI/AAAAAAAABpQ/t2z5YTtQU8g/s800/20090406001.jpg
8b. 100% crop
http://lh6.ggpht.com/_tn4xfIbfD2Y/Sdmq9uuqgOI/AAAAAAAABn4/HAFIzK4Fo5k/20090406001-crop.jpg