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FZ20 - 1st Photos and 1st Impressions

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nycfonephreak

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I posted about 30 (so far) test shots, unedited, straight from the camera: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054

Here's what I found so far...

(disclaimer: I have not yet had enough time to read the manual or fully experiment with settings)

IS works great. Many of the test photos are shot at shutter speeds as slow as 1/5 or 1/6 sec, and still are good (not the sharpest, but, still good).

Cannot get up close to a subject and focus, either auto or manual. The group of test photos include many flowers, but, I needed to stand more than about 3 feet away (guesstimate) and zoom in to get a closeup. I'm hoping there's some workaround for this.

Lots more testing still to come

--

Joel
--> Panasonic FZ20 - Test Photos: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054
--> Canon S1 IS - Test Photos: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/191510
--> Main Gallery - http://joelraskin.smugmug.com
 
nycfonephreak said:
I posted about 30 (so far) test shots, unedited, straight from the
camera: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054

Here's what I found so far...
(disclaimer: I have not yet had enough time to read the manual or
fully experiment with settings)

IS works great. Many of the test photos are shot at shutter speeds
as slow as 1/5 or 1/6 sec, and still are good (not the sharpest,
but, still good).

Cannot get up close to a subject and focus, either auto or manual.
The group of test photos include many flowers, but, I needed to
stand more than about 3 feet away (guesstimate) and zoom in to get
a closeup. I'm hoping there's some workaround for this.

Lots more testing still to come

--

Joel
--> Panasonic FZ20 - Test Photos:
http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054
--> Canon S1 IS - Test Photos: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/191510
--> Main Gallery - http://joelraskin.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
 
nycfonephreak said:
I posted about 30 (so far) test shots, unedited, straight from the
camera: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054

Here's what I found so far...
(disclaimer: I have not yet had enough time to read the manual or
fully experiment with settings)

IS works great. Many of the test photos are shot at shutter speeds
as slow as 1/5 or 1/6 sec, and still are good (not the sharpest,
but, still good).

Cannot get up close to a subject and focus, either auto or manual.
The group of test photos include many flowers, but, I needed to
stand more than about 3 feet away (guesstimate) and zoom in to get
a closeup. I'm hoping there's some workaround for this.
Click to expand...
Odd ... my FZ20 readily focuses on stuff just a couple inches from the lense, even if the camera is not in "Macro" mode? Definitely do some more experimenting.
nycfonephreak said:
Lots more testing still to come

--

Joel
--> Panasonic FZ20 - Test Photos:
http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054
--> Canon S1 IS - Test Photos: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/191510
--> Main Gallery - http://joelraskin.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
 
nycfonephreak said:
Cannot get up close to a subject and focus, either auto or manual.
The group of test photos include many flowers, but, I needed to
stand more than about 3 feet away (guesstimate) and zoom in to get
a closeup. I'm hoping there's some workaround for this.
Click to expand...
Are you going much past 2X zoom - in that case you'll have to be further away from your subject. Try between 1-2X - almost unzoomed and you can get much closer. Check out this EXIF data from Kloid with his FZ20,

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1033&message=10287470
 
Heather said:
Are you going much past 2X zoom - in that case you'll have to be
further away from your subject. Try between 1-2X - almost unzoomed
and you can get much closer.
Click to expand...
That might be part of the problem. I also couldn't find the macro mode, which might have helped, too. Like I said, I haven't read the manual. I also didn't have my reading glasses and didn't realize that Macro was right there on the mode dial. Duh! I'll try again this weekend - 'specting rain tomorrow and Friday:(

--

Joel
--> Panasonic DMC-FZ20 Test Photos: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054
--> Canon S1 IS - Test Photos: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/191510
--> Main Gallery - http://joelraskin.smugmug.com
 
What you have to do is counterintuitive. You don't need to be in "macro" mode to get close. The modes are camera-assisted selections of aperture and speed. Portrait mode picks an aperture that blurs the background for you. Eventually you'll want to play with manual modes and the focus ring so you can control your focus and exposure better.

With my old Minolta point and shoot, the distance that I needed to be from my subject was completely differently and so was the zoom setting. Experiment, it's cheap. You might be mindful of how close you're getting which is a good argument for a protective filter. I've had flower stems within my lens barrel. Somebody a while back was using the FZ10 with the factory issue lens shade as a slide copier because the camera could be set over the slide on a flat surface and the lens shade blocked out extraneous light.

Keep looking up Kloid's work, he's got macro down. Of course if you FZ is on a tripod and you're subject isn't moving you can use slower shutters and a smaller aperture and get more depth of field. Check out the amazing stuff people are doing with the addition of some close up lens acessories, ie. Nikon 6T.
 
It may be where your perspective is coming from. I've shot Canon SLR's for years and have really gotten spoiled on the accuracy of their meters as well as their fast and accurate auto focusing. With digital you're not going to find that. Focusing takes some getting used to, it's slow and requires work for accuracy and the meters are not as accurate either. Luckliy, metering is not that critical as I make corrections in post processing. the more I use digital, the more I'm getting used to these idiosyncrocies.
nycfonephreak said:
I posted about 30 (so far) test shots, unedited, straight from the
camera: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054

Here's what I found so far...
(disclaimer: I have not yet had enough time to read the manual or
fully experiment with settings)

IS works great. Many of the test photos are shot at shutter speeds
as slow as 1/5 or 1/6 sec, and still are good (not the sharpest,
but, still good).

Cannot get up close to a subject and focus, either auto or manual.
The group of test photos include many flowers, but, I needed to
stand more than about 3 feet away (guesstimate) and zoom in to get
a closeup. I'm hoping there's some workaround for this.

Lots more testing still to come

--

Joel
--> Panasonic FZ20 - Test Photos:
http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054
--> Canon S1 IS - Test Photos: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/191510
--> Main Gallery - http://joelraskin.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
--
Who am I and what am I doing here?
 
To take a good macro, try setting the aperture to F4 and get to within about 2 inches or more if you stand further away and zoom in. A Nikon 6T is very helpful :)

Here is one without a 6T:



And one with a 6T:


Heather said:
What you have to do is counterintuitive. You don't need to be in
"macro" mode to get close. The modes are camera-assisted selections
of aperture and speed. Portrait mode picks an aperture that blurs
the background for you. Eventually you'll want to play with manual
modes and the focus ring so you can control your focus and exposure
better.

With my old Minolta point and shoot, the distance that I needed to
be from my subject was completely differently and so was the zoom
setting. Experiment, it's cheap. You might be mindful of how close
you're getting which is a good argument for a protective filter.
I've had flower stems within my lens barrel. Somebody a while back
was using the FZ10 with the factory issue lens shade as a slide
copier because the camera could be set over the slide on a flat
surface and the lens shade blocked out extraneous light.

Keep looking up Kloid's work, he's got macro down. Of course if you
FZ is on a tripod and you're subject isn't moving you can use
slower shutters and a smaller aperture and get more depth of field.
Check out the amazing stuff people are doing with the addition of
some close up lens acessories, ie. Nikon 6T.
Click to expand...
--
Lewis
http://chilipalmer.deviantart.com/gallery/
 
Unlike many digicams the FZ20's macro mode doesn't enable special closer focusing. It and the other scene modes exist for folks who don't want to think about camera settings. But using those modes also means you allow the camera to take away your creative control. For closeup shots zoom out to somewhere between 2x and 3x and set the aperture as desired...start with f/4 and experiment from there. The camera works well with closeup diopter attachments as well...I use a Canon 250D via a PhotoSolve adapter.

-Dave-
 
David Kieltyka said:
Unlike many digicams the FZ20's macro mode doesn't enable special
closer focusing. It and the other scene modes exist for folks who
don't want to think about camera settings.
Click to expand...
I'm a little confused now as the manual (p56) for the FZ20 states that when in Normal Minimum focus range is 30cm on wide, but it is reduced to 5cm when in Macro.

--
David
 
I think its because it restricts the aperture to something near F4 maybe, which decreases the focal length? Maybe...
MacCamMan said:
David Kieltyka said:
Unlike many digicams the FZ20's macro mode doesn't enable special
closer focusing. It and the other scene modes exist for folks who
don't want to think about camera settings.
Click to expand...
I'm a little confused now as the manual (p56) for the FZ20 states
that when in Normal Minimum focus range is 30cm on wide, but it is
reduced to 5cm when in Macro.

--
David
Click to expand...
--
Lewis
http://chilipalmer.deviantart.com/gallery/
 
I just got my FZ20 yesterday. On Macro mode I can get 3" away from a flower and it focuses fine.
I wonder if your camera is defective
nycfonephreak said:
I posted about 30 (so far) test shots, unedited, straight from the
camera: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054

Here's what I found so far...
(disclaimer: I have not yet had enough time to read the manual or
fully experiment with settings)

IS works great. Many of the test photos are shot at shutter speeds
as slow as 1/5 or 1/6 sec, and still are good (not the sharpest,
but, still good).

Cannot get up close to a subject and focus, either auto or manual.
The group of test photos include many flowers, but, I needed to
stand more than about 3 feet away (guesstimate) and zoom in to get
a closeup. I'm hoping there's some workaround for this.

Lots more testing still to come

--

Joel
--> Panasonic FZ20 - Test Photos:
http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054
--> Canon S1 IS - Test Photos: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/191510
--> Main Gallery - http://joelraskin.smugmug.com
Click to expand...
 
MacCamMan said:
I'm a little confused now as the manual (p56) for the FZ20 states
that when in Normal Minimum focus range is 30cm on wide, but it is
reduced to 5cm when in Macro.
Click to expand...
This is true only in Program mode or in any of the scene modes. In aperture priority, shutter priority or manual modes the focus limitation doesn't exist. One more reason to switch the camera out of full auto and take more control!

-Dave-
 
....or, at the very least, I'm on the right track. I finally got around to testing some of the techniques discussed here and, I tried both Shutter and Aperture priority - both of those modes allowed me to auto-focus while the camera was maybe 2 or 3 inches away from the subject!!!

I added a bunch of new photos to the test gallery since first starting this thread. But, here are two test macros... Slow shutter speeds (1/30 and 1/13 sec) - I bow to the IS gods again!!!

The flower petals in the foreground may not be as sharp as the ones immediately behind - but, at least this demonstrates that focusing does work closeup (unlike my 1st day out experience, where it didn'w work at all!)

ISO 100; f2.8; 0x zoom; 1/30 sec; flash OFF, Shutter Priority



ISO 100; f2.8; 0x zoom; 1/13 sec; flash OFF, the exif says shutter priority



--
Joel
--> Panasonic DMC-FZ20 Test Photos: http://joelraskin.smugmug.com/gallery/250054
--> Canon S1 IS - Test Photos: http://www.smugmug.com/gallery/191510
--> Main Gallery - http://joelraskin.smugmug.com
 
Keep in mind that when you do macros your depth of field is extremely small. There are some thread/discussions around here on how to calculate that or where to focus to get as much as possible in focus. With additional close up lens the problem gets even more intense but it can also be a design feature. Your flowers aren't moving and so you can experiment with different manual focus points and see what you like. Of course more light gives you more aperture flexibiity and flower people use diverse types of flash and reflectors as fill. If you have a mylar reflective car window shade - play with that by placing it out of the picture. Like all fun subsets of photography, macro photography is a bottemless pit. Enjoy !
 
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