Put the FZ20 to the test tonight... pics

...and can't say enough about this gem of a a photographic tool. If you have read my recent posts here you know that I got the FZ20 to step up from a Fuji s5000. A year ago I took my 5 yr old boy and my Fuji to a MotoX arena race and after about 30 photo attempts put it back in the bag and felt cheated. Well I started to lust after a DSLR but the cost deterred me. Then I found the FZ20, and after lurking here, and the good reviews made the purchase.

1 year later (tonight) took my 5 yr old back to the same venue and event, set my WB (nasty mix of coloseum lighting) and started shooting. I took about 100 pics and got about 50 keepers here are a couple I PSed. The originals are posted to Pbase if you want to see the exif...
http://www.pbase.com/redmondson



This is how high these crazy guys get... (not the same photo as you can see by the riders posture. I rarely choose to crop)

Great pics,

So it can be done, well!

I guess you are not taking the FZ20 back then )

redmondson said:

...and can't say enough about this gem of a a photographic tool.
If you have read my recent posts here you know that I got the FZ20
to step up from a Fuji s5000. A year ago I took my 5 yr old boy
and my Fuji to a MotoX arena race and after about 30 photo attempts
put it back in the bag and felt cheated. Well I started to lust
after a DSLR but the cost deterred me. Then I found the FZ20, and
after lurking here, and the good reviews made the purchase.

1 year later (tonight) took my 5 yr old back to the same venue and
event, set my WB (nasty mix of coloseum lighting) and started
shooting. I took about 100 pics and got about 50 keepers here are
a couple I PSed. The originals are posted to Pbase if you want to
see the exif...
http://www.pbase.com/redmondson



This is how high these crazy guys get... (not the same photo as you
can see by the riders posture. I rarely choose to crop)

Click to expand...

Nope... Even when i step up to the DSLR (after winning the lottery of course) I will keep this one. I suspect that even a pro with a monopod would have only had a 70-80% sucess rate with the lighting in that arena tonight, and I was butt in seat handheld. Interestingly I was panning the riders and IS on and off didn't seem to make a difference. These pics had IS on - I really didn't think about it until after about 50 pics, then I turned it off thinking it would screw up the panning, but no real effect - Note I was about 250 or so feet from this jump...

Thanks for the comments.

Wally OZ said:

So it can be done, well!

I guess you are not taking the FZ20 back then )

redmondson said:

...and can't say enough about this gem of a a photographic tool.
If you have read my recent posts here you know that I got the FZ20
to step up from a Fuji s5000. A year ago I took my 5 yr old boy
and my Fuji to a MotoX arena race and after about 30 photo attempts
put it back in the bag and felt cheated. Well I started to lust
after a DSLR but the cost deterred me. Then I found the FZ20, and
after lurking here, and the good reviews made the purchase.

1 year later (tonight) took my 5 yr old back to the same venue and
event, set my WB (nasty mix of coloseum lighting) and started
shooting. I took about 100 pics and got about 50 keepers here are
a couple I PSed. The originals are posted to Pbase if you want to
see the exif...
http://www.pbase.com/redmondson



This is how high these crazy guys get... (not the same photo as you
can see by the riders posture. I rarely choose to crop)

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Great shots! Very impressive showing from the FZ20. I wanna ask you though... what AF mode were you using for those shots? I can't get my FZ20 to lock on fast enough for shots like that. Do you prefocus first, or use manual? What's the trick?

redmondson said:

1 year later (tonight) took my 5 yr old back to the same venue and
event, set my WB (nasty mix of coloseum lighting) and started
shooting. I took about 100 pics and got about 50 keepers here are
a couple I PSed. The originals are posted to Pbase if you want to
see the exif...
http://www.pbase.com/redmondson

http://www.pbase.com/redmondson/image/38397324.jpg1

This is how high these crazy guys get... (not the same photo as you
can see by the riders posture. I rarely choose to crop)
http://www.pbase.com/redmondson/image/38397530.jpg1

Click to expand...

--
View my photo library at:
http://www.vizero.com/php/photographer.php?id=1

Very impressive shot, especially hand-held. I usually take my monopod into stadiums for things like that but your shots show it really isn't needed. AWESOME!
--
Theresa
Constructive criticism always welcome!
http://www.pbase.com/theresa_k
Panasonic FZ-20, Oly C-5O6O & FL-4O

And I also would like if you told us more about the settings. I saw the exif
But more info would be appreciated.

--
Kodak DC-4800
Panasonic FZ-10 and FZ 20
T Con 17 --C210-- Raynox 2020 pro -- Tcon 14 --DCR 720



Just trying to learn and it's slow going!
Gene

Man, that first one makes it look as if you were flying along side him on your own bike (you weren't, were you?) ;-)
From 250 ft... woa. Very nice job.

redmondson said:

1 year later (tonight) took my 5 yr old back to the same venue and
event, set my WB (nasty mix of coloseum lighting) and started
shooting. I took about 100 pics and got about 50 keepers here are
a couple I PSed. The originals are posted to Pbase if you want to
see the exif...

Click to expand...

You were shooting in manual mode, right? Did you try to use the Panning mode? Is it useful at all?

Really nice shots, thanks for sharing.

I'd like to add my voice to the clamor seeking more info about settings you used!

redmondson said:

...and can't say enough about this gem of a a photographic tool.
If you have read my recent posts here you know that I got the FZ20
to step up from a Fuji s5000. A year ago I took my 5 yr old boy
and my Fuji to a MotoX arena race and after about 30 photo attempts
put it back in the bag and felt cheated. Well I started to lust
after a DSLR but the cost deterred me. Then I found the FZ20, and
after lurking here, and the good reviews made the purchase.

1 year later (tonight) took my 5 yr old back to the same venue and
event, set my WB (nasty mix of coloseum lighting) and started
shooting. I took about 100 pics and got about 50 keepers here are
a couple I PSed. The originals are posted to Pbase if you want to
see the exif...
http://www.pbase.com/redmondson



This is how high these crazy guys get... (not the same photo as you
can see by the riders posture. I rarely choose to crop)

Click to expand...

Did you pan that shot?

NS

Very impressive shots. Great job and thank you for sharing them.
LaRee
just happy to be
http://laree.smugmug.com/

Duane Bong said:

Great shots! Very impressive showing from the FZ20. I wanna ask you
though... what AF mode were you using for those shots? I can't get
my FZ20 to lock on fast enough for shots like that. Do you prefocus
first, or use manual? What's the trick?

Click to expand...

From the exif data shown by EXIF Viewer:
Manual focus (this means he prefocused) Manual white balance
Stabilization mode 2 Contrast, saturation and sharpness on standard
432mm No flash

Very cool pics!! I'm going to a basket ball game today (elementary school students) ...I hope to take some good pics like yours...do tell your settings!! P L E A S E???? : )
--
http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis

dragoib said:

Duane Bong said:

Great shots! Very impressive showing from the FZ20. I wanna ask you
though... what AF mode were you using for those shots? I can't get
my FZ20 to lock on fast enough for shots like that. Do you prefocus
first, or use manual? What's the trick?

Click to expand...

From the exif data shown by EXIF Viewer:
Manual focus (this means he prefocused) Manual white balance
Stabilization mode 2 Contrast, saturation and sharpness on standard
432mm No flash

Click to expand...

ISO 400 1/160 s
Matrix metering 0,00EV

Thanks for all the nice comments!!!

I used either S or M modes, switched back and forth, f2.8 and shutter speeds ranging from 1/125 to 1/250 in S mode the camera was obviously choosing f2.8 and in M that is where I set it.

Set ISO to 400 and used Noiseware to remove the noise. The noise was as I expected it (pretty bad) but with 55% luminance and 65% color noise suppression they cleaned up very well. I tried a couple of ISO 200 shots but I could not get the shutter speeds fast enough to expose properly.

First pic is 1/160 M mode, and the best of the bunch IMHO. About 1 stop underexposed. Corrected in PS elements 2.

The second shot is S mode 1/250 with the Exposure compensation at +2, but still underexposed by 2 stops, which I corrected for in PS2E as best I could.

For the shooting I used manual focus and would pick my exposure spot using the the part of the track directly below where the rider was going to be and pull the lever down to engage the 1 shot AF, then I would just pan a rider coming out of the corner and follow them over the big jump to my pre focused spot. The shutter lag is basically nonexistent, especially in M mode manual focus… I have seen the reviews which put it at 8 one hundredths of a second, and they are right. This camera is so fun.

Not anything else to it (other than the FZ) I really learned a lot about photography over the last year and a half with my Fuji, and the difference now is the faster lens on the FZ, and the fact that it is that much more of a photographic tool than just a digicam. I love that Leica!!! Sharp edge to edge and 2.8 throughout the zoom makes all of the difference.

Oh yea, I used some guy's white t-shirt about 2 rows in front of me to set the WB - I almost forgot to mention that, but it is the most critical element under those indoor arena lights. The colors are spot on to my eyes.

I have uploaded a few more unaltered (just auto resizing that pbase does on upload) http://www.pbase.com/redmondson

Heather,

I can't stress enough to bring a white card to set your WB, camera in M mode f2.8 try different shutter speeds around 1/160, then go to manual focus and maybe focus on the floor at the top of the Key or on the backboard itself, and just wait for the action.

Heatherphoto said:

Very cool pics!! I'm going to a basket ball game today (elementary
school students) ...I hope to take some good pics like yours...do
tell your settings!! P L E A S E???? : )
--
http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis

Click to expand...

--
Kodak DC-4800
Panasonic FZ-10 and FZ 20
T Con 17 --C210-- Raynox 2020 pro -- Tcon 14 --DCR 720



Just trying to learn and it's slow going!
Gene

redmondson said:

Heather,

I can't stress enough to bring a white card to set your WB, camera
in M mode f2.8 try different shutter speeds around 1/160, then go
to manual focus and maybe focus on the floor at the top of the Key
or on the backboard itself, and just wait for the action.

Click to expand...

I'm still learning...what's a white card?? Thanks for the info/advice!
--
http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis

White 4x6 note card. After forgetting one last night there is now one in my bag.

Or just wear a white t-shirt, or just find anything solid white. Manual WB is something all pro's do in tough situations. The camera has such a hard time with colors in arenas due to the type of lighting. by setting WB manually you are telling the camera "this is the color temp of white in this light" and you will get very accurate colors.

Heatherphoto said:

redmondson said:

Heather,

I can't stress enough to bring a white card to set your WB, camera
in M mode f2.8 try different shutter speeds around 1/160, then go
to manual focus and maybe focus on the floor at the top of the Key
or on the backboard itself, and just wait for the action.

Click to expand...

I'm still learning...what's a white card?? Thanks for the info/advice!
--
http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis

Click to expand...

oops...the photo I posted is really small here is a bigger one...too bad we can't go in and redo our posts...I better click "preview" from now on...

Heatherphoto said:

redmondson said:

Or just wear a white t-shirt, or just find anything solid white.
Manual WB is something all pro's do in tough situations. The
camera has such a hard time with colors in arenas due to the type
of lighting. by setting WB manually you are telling the camera
"this is the color temp of white in this light" and you will get
very accurate colors.

Heatherphoto said:

redmondson said:

Heather,

I can't stress enough to bring a white card to set your WB, camera
in M mode f2.8 try different shutter speeds around 1/160, then go
to manual focus and maybe focus on the floor at the top of the Key
or on the backboard itself, and just wait for the action.

Click to expand...

I'm still learning...what's a white card?? Thanks for the info/advice!
--
http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis

Click to expand...

--
http://imageevent.com/heatheranddenis