When a familiar face is recorded several times, the camera will prompt you to register the face . Once complete, if the familiar face appears into your frame again, the camera will display the name you specified for that person and prioritize focus and exposure so that the registered face is bright and in sharp focus. Perfect for group shots for example – this new feature will give auto focus and auto exposure priority to a single person, ensuring their loved ones face will be captured beautifully.
During registration, you can change the icon that indicates when the registered subject is in focus – for example you can attach a love heart to your partner. You can also manually register a persons details and the camera will remember them whenever you take a photo.
To further add to its appeal, you can also specify the age of the registered subject and have both the name and the age of the subject stamped onto your photos. When babies under 3 years-old are registered, the camera will automatically switch to Baby mode if the baby appears into the frame. In playback, you can choose to display only photos that contain a specific registered face using Category Playback – so you can search for all photos of your Cousin Jennie, for example – perfect for compiling a surprise birthday collage.
You can also view image slideshows of only a selected person. Face recognition makes sorting archiving incredibly easy. This advanced face detection system also digitally corrects unwanted red-eye during recording.
With AF Tracking, the DMC-TZ7 can lock onto any subject and keep it in focus even if it moves – making it easy to get beautiful, clear shots when a great photo opportunity suddenly arises. Simply aim, lock, and shoot.
In addition to the advanced functions mentioned above, the iA mode inherits fundamental functions users need in a good digital still camera. These include Mega O.I.S., which helps prevent blurring from hand-shake, and Intelligent ISO Control, which reduces motion blur by adjusting the ISO sensitivity if the subject moves as the shot is taken. The Mega O.I.S. now has an AUTO mode to select between the conventional Mode 1 and 2 depending on which mode best suits the zoom ratio being used. Intelligent Exposure optimizes the exposure for each part of an image, preventing blocked shadows and blown highlights and helping ensure that gradation and details are reproduced beautifully. It now features an automatic backlight compensation function that activates whenever the subject is in backlight. Intelligent Scene Selector automatically detects the five most common shooting situations – Portrait, Night Portrait, Scenery, Night Scenery and Macro – and switches to the appropriate Scene mode.
The Quick AF system helps keep focus on the subject while the camera is in recording mode even before pressing the shutter button. The user can activate all of these useful, convenient shooting-assist functions by simply selecting iA mode.
The Venus Engine HD
The high-speed, high-performance Venus Engine HD has been re-engineered to support the recording of beautiful, high-definition motion images in AVCHD Lite. With its twin CPUs, Venus Engine HD boasts approx. 2.4x processing capability, greatly improving the speed of camera operations.
This high performance LSI elevates the artificial intelligence of the camera by introducing new circuitry making it possible to “recognize” human faces individually. It also supports high definition output through HDMI.
In image processing, luminance noise and chromatic noise are reduced separately before and after signal processing. This is further refined by separating noise two-dimensionally into high-frequency and low-frequency noise. The circuits then effectively reduce only the low-frequency noise to minimize the unwanted noise and help produce beautiful, sharp still and motion images.
This multi-task image-processing engine has a super-fast response time. The shutter release time lag is as short as approx. 0.006 seconds, making it easy to capture sudden, spur-of-the-moment photo opportunities. In burst shooting mode, the TZ7 can snap approx. 2.3 shots per second at 10.1-megapixel full resolution . In High-Speed Burst shooting mode, it fires off an incredible approx. 10 shots per second . Unlimited consecutive shooting is also available to let you shoot until the memory card is full . Newly added Flash Burst mode makes it possible to take consecutive shots with continuous emissions of the flash .
In addition to its outstanding performance, the high performance engine is also more energy efficient compared with the conventional Venus Engine IV, extending the battery life up to 300 shots (CIPA) per a single charge.
Super High Resolution LCD for Easy Playback
The TZ7 is equipped with a 3.0-inch, 460,000-dot Intelligent LCD with super high resolution and a wide viewing angle. The screen brightness automatically adjusts in 11 steps as the surrounding brightness level changes, ensuring easy visibility at all times. The big screen reflects fine details, making it easy to check the focus before shooting. It also serves as a small photo and video viewer, allowing the user and friends to enjoy viewing the still and motion images together.
Menus are now cleaner and easier to navigate, even for seniors, thanks to the new “Display Size” option. Thanks to the Venus Engine HD, smooth image playback at very high speeds is now available, approx.17x faster for thumbnails and approx. 4x for single images even when the image resolution is as high as 12.1-megapixels.
