For all you Lumix owners

[britfish]

Thank you for all your recomendations for the Panasonci Lumix! I have been drooling over this camera for almost a year and thanks to a $50 coupon from Amazon and free shipping I now own the ZS7 for an incredible price!
I just got it today and am wading through the instructions on the disc. Do most of you use the Auto mode or should I try to venture out and get proficient at the manual modes? Does the Auto mode take nice pics?

 

[mrudman]

I would say 95% of my pics are taken using the IA mode, and they are wonderful! About 3% have been taken with sports mode, and the other 2% are playing around with all the other settings.

I have both the TZ5 and the ZS7 and love them both! Planning on taking them both on our Alaskan cruise next week so that dh and I each have a camera, Love these cameras!

 

[FINFAN]

I am the opposite, use the manual modes ( sports mode worked pretty decent on Safari ride at AKL last month, fireworks mode decent as well)...specifically the ones that allow me to use macro-zoom....I am big on the zoom. I remember your thread not too long ago on researching the Lumix cameras, glad you are thrilled with the purchase! I have the DMC-ZS3 ( American model #)similar to yours. Was using my daughters bulkier FZ8 this weekend, and love it to death. One tip I have is to get an Apple IPHONE anti glare film to put on your screen..helps a ton on sunny days.

 

[britfish]

I am the opposite, use the manual modes ( sports mode worked pretty decent on Safari ride at AKL last month, fireworks mode decent as well)...specifically the ones that allow me to use macro-zoom....I am big on the zoom. I remember your thread not too long ago on researching the Lumix cameras, glad you are thrilled with the purchase! I have the DMC-ZS3 ( American model #)similar to yours. Was using my daughters bulkier FZ8 this weekend, and love it to death. One tip I have is to get an Apple IPHONE anti glare film to put on your screen..helps a ton on sunny days.

I have started to play around on the "P" setting and used the macro zoom and the exposure, WOW! I really don't know much about cameras so it will take me some time to get more out of the camera than the IA mode. One quick question, what do you have your Picture Size set at?

 

[FINFAN]

I have mine at the smallest, no real reason..I have my brightness up on high so it pulls on my batttery a bit more, again, the anti glare film helps with that.

 

[Shadeaux]

I've got the TZ3, TZ5 and now the ZS7. I mostly use P mode with these settings:
Auto Power LCD
Auto White balance
Auto focus mode 1-area
Auto ISO
Intelligent Exposure standard
Largest picture size

My advice is to play around with the various settings until you find what works best for you. Read the manual and test out the different features as you go along. These cameras can be used as a basic point & shoot, but they're also capable of so much more.

Have fun!