DPChallenge: A Digital Photography Contest You are not logged in. (log in or register) 
 

DPChallenge Forums >> Tips, Tricks, and Q&A >> Panasonic DMC-FZ50 help needed
Pages:  
Showing posts 1 - 8 of 8, (reverse)
AuthorThread
 12/31/2006 02:54:06 PM · #1
I got my wife this camera for her b-day cause her friend has an older model and they love it like no other, but this one seems to have some issues that I'm concerned about. I read reviews at dpreview and don't see these issues really listed.

First off the anti-shake doesn't seem to do very well, I've tried both settings and different ISO settings but in low light or long zoom (I never use digital zoom) there is shake (she also doesn't have much opportunity to use a tripod). We can I guess work with this but the major concern I have is artifacts and noise.

I have posted some images we took yesterday of our daughter, in order to get the actual image full size images I posted them here: //www.sabphotography.com/sucks (sorry they are just links) Does anyone have a clue as to what the heck is going on. I have looked at the setting over and over again and can't find what would be causing this problem. What really confusing me is that we were outside, sure not total sunlight but it wasn't dark either. To help see the difference in the new and old camera, my wifes friend took some images just last week, here is the the other image.

If you need more image info I can see what I can find but I already did a total reset of the camera so I'm not sure what else I could give that isn't attached to the files.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, I am only in town till the 7th so I really need to find a cure before then.

Thanks in advance.
 12/31/2006 04:08:16 PM · #2
Yea, that looks pretty bad - I only looked at this image;

//www.sabphotography.com/sucks/P1010024.JPG

And it's 1/800s, f/8... ISO400

I'm not sure why it had to push the ISO to 400. For normal daylight the auto mode should have selected a longer shutter speed and a lower ISO.

Either way, I'd have thought ISO400 should look better than *that*

All I can think of is that the quality setting is set to 'low' or something (If the camera is telling you it can fit 3,000 more shots on the card, it means it's set to 'low')
 01/01/2007 09:58:59 AM · #3
Originally posted by jhonan:
Yea, that looks pretty bad - I only looked at this image;

//www.sabphotography.com/sucks/P1010024.JPG

And it's 1/800s, f/8... ISO400

I'm not sure why it had to push the ISO to 400. For normal daylight the auto mode should have selected a longer shutter speed and a lower ISO.

Either way, I'd have thought ISO400 should look better than *that*

All I can think of is that the quality setting is set to 'low' or something (If the camera is telling you it can fit 3,000 more shots on the card, it means it's set to 'low')


Thanks for taking the time to look and answer. I'm not sure why the setting were that high either, she usually has it set on P cause she hasn't had the time to concentrate on learning the manual settings. I'll try and get her to at least use the auto scenes set up in there.

Thanks again.
 01/01/2007 10:17:17 AM · #4
Panasonic's are known for the their noise above the lowest ISO.

P1010024.jpg looks like the bright sky influenced the exposure a bit as the person is quite dark. Trying portrait mode in those situations might help and use the lowest ISO.
 01/01/2007 10:44:33 AM · #5
I think the major problem is the size of the sensor. Cramming all those pixels onto a small sensor increases heat and noise, and the quality goes down. The FZ50 only has a slightly bigger sensor, 1/1.8" compared to the FZ20 which is 1/2.5".

The best thing to do is to keep the ISO as low as possible.

Message edited by author 2007-01-01 10:45:09.
 01/02/2007 07:06:17 AM · #6
Originally posted by ignite:
I think the major problem is the size of the sensor. Cramming all those pixels onto a small sensor increases heat and noise, and the quality goes down. The FZ50 only has a slightly bigger sensor, 1/1.8" compared to the FZ20 which is 1/2.5".

The best thing to do is to keep the ISO as low as possible.


Thanks ignite, I did some test shots yesterday at different ISOs and couldn't believe the difference...it's crazy. My wife is really discouraged and I'm a little pissed that the camera she has been so patiently waiting for (and actually given up on getting) has such bad quality on what I would consider pretty medium ISO. She's afraid to go do any shooting at all.

01/02/2007 07:31:54 AM · #7
On dpreview.com, he's full of praise for the FZ50 - As long as you shoot at ISO200 !

//www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz50/page19.asp

And so, to sum up; for the serious user the FZ50 is without doubt the best equipped, best specified and best handling 'bridge camera' on the market today, and under the right conditions it produces superb output. It is a rewarding and enjoyable photographic tool that - once you've learned its quirks - offers a compact 'all-in-one' solution to anyone wanting a huge zoom range without all that lens changing and all that bulk. Inevitably this involves a certain amount of compromise; the smearing of fine, low contrast detail that is the hallmark of the Venus III engine limits the FZ50 to low ISO settings for any serious photography unless you're happy to accept that you'll never be able to produce big enlargements. For me this is an acceptable compromise, and - though I wish Panasonic would drop the megapixel race and concentrate on picture quality - it does produce excellent printed results. If this had been a mould-breaking 5 or 6 megapixel with excellent low noise performance throughout the ISO range (and particularly up to ISO 800) it would no doubt have performed considerably better and would have been an easy choice for a Highly Recommended. As it is it just squeezes in thanks to its many other outstanding qualities - and only for those users who can live without anything over ISO 200.
 01/02/2007 11:31:11 AM · #8
Originally posted by sabphoto:
Originally posted by ignite:
I think the major problem is the size of the sensor. Cramming all those pixels onto a small sensor increases heat and noise, and the quality goes down. The FZ50 only has a slightly bigger sensor, 1/1.8" compared to the FZ20 which is 1/2.5".

The best thing to do is to keep the ISO as low as possible.


Thanks ignite, I did some test shots yesterday at different ISOs and couldn't believe the difference...it's crazy. My wife is really discouraged and I'm a little pissed that the camera she has been so patiently waiting for (and actually given up on getting) has such bad quality on what I would consider pretty medium ISO. She's afraid to go do any shooting at all.


The high ISO on my camera is noisy too. You should get Noise Ninja or Neat Image if you plan to shoot at high ISO. Personally, all the cameras after the FZ-20 are not worth buying. I would buy a dSLR, even a used 6MP-8MP one. Having 10MP with crappy high ISO quality is just sad.
Pages:  
Current Server Time: 08/31/2025 06:01:45 PM

Please log in or register to post to the forums.


Home - Challenges - Community - League - Photos - Cameras - Lenses - Learn - Help - Terms of Use - Privacy - Top ^
DPChallenge, and website content and design, Copyright © 2001-2025 Challenging Technologies, LLC.
All digital photo copyrights belong to the photographers and may not be used without permission.
Current Server Time: 08/31/2025 06:01:45 PM EDT.