Panasonic has added manual control and GPS to its popular Leica-lensed Lumix ZS3, and bumped the name and number up to ZS7.
The compact camera is a replacement for the top-of-the-range ZS3, and improves on it in almost every way, the biggest boost being in speed. For instance the new ZS7 has a tiny shutter lag of 0.006 second (that this figure is even included in a press release for a point and shoot is unusual), and faster focussing. This is very likely to be a trickle-down from the tech in the super quick GF1.
The 12x optical zoom is joined by "Intelligent Zoom", which promises to add an extra 1.3x digital zoom without making the picture soft and awful (pro-tip: don't bother. If you need a few more feet of zoom, do it back at the computer). You also get Panasonic's large, clear 460,000 dot 3-inch LCD and AVCHD Lite video which captures 720p, and a stereo microphone.
While manual controls are very welcome, they are often awkward without dedicated switches and dials. The GPS, on the other hand, has some cool extras. Apart from stamping the location into the photos' EXIF metadata, and auto-setting the camera's clock, the ZS7 also carries a database of landmarks and their positions. If you are snapping, say, the Empire State Building (or one of half a million other spots), its name will be displayed on screen and tagged to the photo. Very slick indeed.
Panny hasn't set a price yet, but as a guide, its predecessor sold for $250-$350, depending on where you bought it.
Product page [Panasonic]
