Versatile with great results; study the manual!

As a long-time Nikon F2 (SLR) user, I was searching for a digital SLR camera under $300 with many features, including min 10x zoom, fairly easy to use without needing a physics degree, and  easy to recharge.  This camera fit all my needs!

Take the best of my old (and still working!) Nikon F2 and add the simplicity of a Kodak Instamatic, and you have the Panasonic DMC-FZ7!

I use the "simple" setting for the vast majority of my pictures, with extraordinary results!

(FYI: at this spot, I had a few links to my Geocities webpage so you could see actual pix from this camera, but Yahoo is pulling the plug on Geocities, and I'm not uploading the pix anywhere else)

Using a separately bought pocket-sized SD card reader, it is easy to transfer pix from the card to my computer without any special software (I haven't tried hooking-up the camera to the computer, directly, as the reader makes it very easy without the need of cables).

The only "complaints" I have are (1) the manual is poorly written, and, even with an index, it's hard to find exactly what I need, so I downloaded the manual from the Panasonic website
(http://tinyurl.com/DMCFZ7-manual) and use Adobe's "search" mechanism to find what I want, though, sometimes, you need to know Panasonic's notion of a given word (i.e., Japanese-English vs actual English!), and (2) other than "simple" mode, it's difficult to know when the camera is overriding my manual settings or vice-versa, and (3) sometimes, things happen that I can't explain, such as the flash going off when it should, or does when it shouldn't, or it takes multiple shots for some reason.  Even with all those "issues", I still like the camera!

FWIW, the retailer offered a 512 mb SD card along with the camera (which came with a skimpy 16 mb SD card) in Dec 2006 at half the then-going rate, which is the same money that you can get a 4 gig SD card in Mar 2009, but, using the camera's 1 mb setting, I have yet to come even close to using the entire memory, even after shooting some brief movies, so no complaints, there!

FWIW, I always "pop" the battery and memory card out of the camera, in case it uses the power when not in use (which I don't think it does, but I'm not sure).  A single recharge usually lasts me two months, taking about 5 pix a day. [FOLLOW-UP: Leaving the battery out for a long time is bad mojo! Apparently, the camera's onboard battery or RAM "dies" without power from some source, so leave the battery in!!!]