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Blurry pictures with FZ5?

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Dan Eppinghoff

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Hi All,

I'm hoping someone here can tell me what I'm doing wrong. I've had my FZ5 for about a week now and both my wife and I are getting a lot of blurry shots, particularly indoors. We've taken about 250 pictures and at least 50 of them are blurry enough that they're ruined. Almost all of the pictures are taken in Simple or Program modes, and roughly split between flash/no flash. I'm primarily using the 3-point AF.

The bulk of the photos we take are of our daughter in our living room. I know the FZ5 is primarily an outdoor camera but I figured it couldn't be any worse indoors than my 6 year old Kodak. It's not extremely bright in our living room but I wouldn't consider the room dark either. We've gotten problem shots both in the daylight and at night when the room is lit by some standard table lamps. I'd expect to get some blurry shots indoors without the flash, but even using the flash doesn't seem to help all that much. IS is in Mode 1 - I've only tried a handful on Mode 2 but it doesn't seem to help much. Both IS modes make a noticeable difference vs. turning it off.

This camera is an upgrade from an old Kodak (DC290) and I must say I expected more from the FZ5 than I've seen so far. The Kodak is nothing to write home about, but after 3000+ shots I can count the number of blurred or out-of-focus pictures on one hand. Don't get me wrong - when the FZ's on target it takes an amazing picture, but I didn't expect to see anywhere near this percentage of problem shots.

So I ask you, do you have any tips to help me? Is anyone else having a problem like this? Are there any changes to the settings I should make, or does it sound like a defective unit? Or am I just expecting too much from the camera? Any advice you can offer would be greatly appreciated.

Dan
 
Photos can be blurry for many reasons. Is your daughter moving as you shoot? What kinds of shutterspeeds, apertures are you shooting? Indoor shots tend to be taken at slow shutterspeeds, and despite the O.I.S. system, you may still be moving enough to cause blur, or your daughter is moving enough, something that camera can't correct. Any samples? A picture is worth a 1000 words...
--
Just let a smile be your umbrella!

John Reed

Panasonic: EffZeeOneVeeTwo, EffZeeFifteen; Nikon: CPFortyFiveHundred
 
I don't think there is much wrong with the camera. The Fz5 looks like a little compact camera but in fact it has optical superzoom that takes a little practise to master. Especially indoors with low light. Remember the Fz5 does not focus on subjects closer than 4 feet or so when zoomed in at tele. Further in low light conditions you have to hold the camera very steady even though it has image stabilisation and your subject has to keep still as well. It took me a while to get proper shots using the Fz1 and I find now the Fz5 is a bit better. Just remember that it is actually impossible to handhold an equivalent of a 420mm lens with a photo camara but with the Fz5 you can in most normal photographic conditions. Its not always easy though but after a while you will do better and better until you see most of your shots are fine.
 
Sorry to here this Dan. My wife took delivery of her FZ5 a couple of weeks ago. Straight out of the box other than silly mistakes the FZ5 has not missed a beat. Focusing and exposure is spot on all the time. We see little difference between the FZ20 and the FZ5.

Ricci sets her Focus to Spot and Exposure to spot most of the time. She finds the manual focus button very useful for setting pre focus situations.

Mode 2 is the way to go for most situations other than panning.

Try the fast shot selector. It is brilliant!

It does sound as though you may have a faulty camera to me. And, I would certainly try to exchange it with your dealer.

Bear in mind though, a percentage of everybody's shots will be out of focus / bad exposure for one reason or another. So reset the camera and give it a go.

All the best

Ian

http://www.imageevent.com/ian4c
 
The big problem I'm having with this is that I need a camera that works well on the basic, full-auto settings. My wife isn't interested in learning the finer points of photography - she wants to turn it on and take pictures. I'm a definite amateur and I'm having trouble getting reliable shots too. As I said, I didn't expect to have this much difficulty.

Here are some samples. I know the camera's not completely bad because sometimes it's dead on:



But other times it's just enough off to make it a lousy picture:



 
EXIF data:

[Image]
Make = Panasonic
Model = DMC-FZ5
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 72
Y Resolution = 72
Resolution Unit = inch
Software = Ver.1.0
Date Time = 2005-05-17 18:05:29
YCbCr Positioning = co-sited
Exif IFD Pointer = Offset: 418
PrintIM Data = 208 Byte

[Camera]
Exposure Time = 1/60"
F Number = F3.2
Exposure Program = Normal program
ISO Speed Ratings = 100
Exif Version = 0220
Date Time Original = 2005-05-17 18:05:29
Date Time Digitized = 2005-05-17 18:05:29
Components Configuration = YCbCr
Compressed Bits Per Pixel = 4
Exposure Bias Value = 0EV
Max Aperture Value = F2.83
Metering Mode = Pattern
Light Source = Flash
Flash = Flash fired, auto mode
Focal Length = 12mm
Maker Note = 5724 Byte
Flashpix Version = 0100
Color Space = sRGB
Exif Image Width = 2560
Exif Image Height = 1920
Interoperability IFD Pointer = Offset: 6652
Sensing Method = One-chip color area sensor
File Source = DSC
Scene Type = A directly photographed image
Custom Rendered = Normal process
Exposure Mode = Auto exposure
White Balance = Auto white balance
Digital Zoom Ratio =
Focal Length In 35mm Film = 72mm
Scene Capture Type = Normal
Gain Control = None
Contrast = Normal
Saturation = High saturation
Sharpness = Hard

[Interoperability]
Interoperability Index = R98
Interoperability Version = 0100

[Thumbnail]
Compression = JPEG Compressed (Thumbnail)
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 72
Y Resolution = 72
Resolution Unit = inch
JPEG Interchange Format = Offset: 6804
JPEG Interchange Format Length = Length: 9933
YCbCr Positioning = co-sited

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Make = Panasonic
Model = DMC-FZ5
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 72
Y Resolution = 72
Resolution Unit = inch
Software = Ver.1.0
Date Time = 2005-05-17 19:50:36
YCbCr Positioning = co-sited
Exif IFD Pointer = Offset: 418
PrintIM Data = 208 Byte

[Camera]
Exposure Time = 1/8"
F Number = F3.2
Exposure Program = Normal program
ISO Speed Ratings = 200
Exif Version = 0220
Date Time Original = 2005-05-17 19:50:36
Date Time Digitized = 2005-05-17 19:50:36
Components Configuration = YCbCr
Compressed Bits Per Pixel = 4
Exposure Bias Value = 0EV
Max Aperture Value = F2.83
Metering Mode = Pattern
Light Source = unknown
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 16.2mm
Maker Note = 5724 Byte
Flashpix Version = 0100
Color Space = sRGB
Exif Image Width = 2560
Exif Image Height = 1920
Interoperability IFD Pointer = Offset: 6652
Sensing Method = One-chip color area sensor
File Source = DSC
Scene Type = A directly photographed image
Custom Rendered = Normal process
Exposure Mode = Auto exposure
White Balance = Auto white balance
Digital Zoom Ratio =
Focal Length In 35mm Film = 97mm
Scene Capture Type = Normal
Gain Control = Low gain up
Contrast = Normal
Saturation = High saturation
Sharpness = Hard

[Interoperability]
Interoperability Index = R98
Interoperability Version = 0100

[Thumbnail]
Compression = JPEG Compressed (Thumbnail)
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 72
Y Resolution = 72
Resolution Unit = inch
JPEG Interchange Format = Offset: 6804
JPEG Interchange Format Length = Length: 6866
YCbCr Positioning = co-sited

-------------------------------------------------------------------

[Image]
Make = Panasonic
Model = DMC-FZ5
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 72
Y Resolution = 72
Resolution Unit = inch
Software = Ver.1.0
Date Time = 2005-05-17 19:49:13
YCbCr Positioning = co-sited
Exif IFD Pointer = Offset: 418
PrintIM Data = 208 Byte

[Camera]
Exposure Time = 1/8"
F Number = F3.2
Exposure Program = Normal program
ISO Speed Ratings = 200
Exif Version = 0220
Date Time Original = 2005-05-17 19:49:13
Date Time Digitized = 2005-05-17 19:49:13
Components Configuration = YCbCr
Compressed Bits Per Pixel = 4
Exposure Bias Value = 0EV
Max Aperture Value = F2.83
Metering Mode = Pattern
Light Source = unknown
Flash = Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode
Focal Length = 16.2mm
Maker Note = 5724 Byte
Flashpix Version = 0100
Color Space = sRGB
Exif Image Width = 2560
Exif Image Height = 1920
Interoperability IFD Pointer = Offset: 6652
Sensing Method = One-chip color area sensor
File Source = DSC
Scene Type = A directly photographed image
Custom Rendered = Normal process
Exposure Mode = Auto exposure
White Balance = Auto white balance
Digital Zoom Ratio =
Focal Length In 35mm Film = 97mm
Scene Capture Type = Normal
Gain Control = Low gain up
Contrast = Normal
Saturation = High saturation
Sharpness = Hard

[Interoperability]
Interoperability Index = R98
Interoperability Version = 0100

[Thumbnail]
Compression = JPEG Compressed (Thumbnail)
Orientation = top/left
X Resolution = 72
Y Resolution = 72
Resolution Unit = inch
JPEG Interchange Format = Offset: 6804
JPEG Interchange Format Length = Length: 8554
YCbCr Positioning = co-sited

--
Cheers,bg

P.S., I'm terrible at proof reading my posts for spelling errors,so I use ieSpell with Internet Explorer and SpellBound with Firefox(both are free). Now, does anyone have a free grammar
checker? ;)
 
I now own a Minolta 7i and recently purchased a FZ5. I previously owned a Kodak 260 (very similar to the 290). My son has been using it for several years and he now wants a new, better camera. I keep telling him that he will be amazed at how much more work it takes to get pics of the quality of the Kodak. Problem is that the Kodak limits your creativity, range, and ability to crop.

I agree with your assessment that you can count the blurry / mis-exposed pics on one hand from the Kodak. What you will get with the FZ5 (with a reasonable amount of experimentation and practice) are many shots that would be impossible w/ the Kodak. My suggestion is to use both for what they excel at (Kodak - indoors), FZ5 outdoors until you are more comfortable with the FZ5.

My guess is that you are taking many pics at the longer end of the zoom (I'm coming from a 260 w/ 35 - 105 range, to the 7i w/ 28 - 200 range, to the FZ w/ 36 - 432 range) - I know I did at first. The depth of field (focus) will be much smaller as you zoom out, the ability to handhold w/o shake (even w/ IS) gets tougher at long tele (lower light makes the shutter speed longer compounding the problem).

I suggest you try using the Single Area AF (either one) to start (not the Spot mode - it can be a bit more finiky since it may not find enough contrast in a tiny area). Be sure to put the foucus area on your target, half press until the focus confirmation light comes on, then shoot. This will let you know if the focus is working correctly. Also, try shooting from 1x to about 5x until you are comfortable keeping the camera fairly steady. Good luck!

--
John
 
I see that several pics had shutter speeds of 1/8th of a second. Even with OIS, there will be some movement. Your best bet for general family shots inside , in my limited experience with the FZ5, is to use the Simple mode, with flash, and keep the zoom toward the wide-angle of the range. Others have spoken to the closest focussing distance with the zoom. If you want a close-up, back off a bit and zoom, but not too much. If your wife wants to get pics without too much tinkering, the FZ5 is ideal. But use Simple mode, flash"on", wide end of zoom. If the shots are still bad, take the camera back and exchange it.

I sold my Canon G3 and bought the FZ5 specifically to get good action shots of my Grandchildren and their activities, inside and out. So far, I am delighted. This forum should be a great help to you, as well. Good luck.
 
I'm a total novice. This past weekend I photographed my nephew's confirmation, which took place in a church at night. I would say it was relatively low light. Most shots were taken without flash although I used flash a few times. They were all taken hand held. I used P mode with IS 2 and center (not spot) focus and metering.

Because the light was low, I made a point to hold the camera as still as posible. I braced the cam against something similar when I could.

Most of the shots turned out great. I did have several blurred shots, which I attribute to either from me shaking too much, or the subjects moving too much. I probably discarded about 20% of my shots for one reason or another (I accidently shot one picture straight up my nostrils - that photo was in focus by the way.) But considering the shooting conditions and my limited experience, I thought the 80% sucess rate to be pretty good.

Here is one of the confirmation shots:



and one other



-
Cheers,
Gary
 
Best results are to resize the jpg's to about 800 x 600 @ 72 dpi for insertion in the posts. Use jpg setting to keep the file size under 200k (max). It will still look good and even the dial-up users will be able to see it w/o painful delays. I have a fast cable link and abandoned your pics.
--
John
 
Operator error. Too long a lens too close to subject. Use the flash for this type shooting. Try Heart setting. I tried Heart the other day for Mother's day (after we had had a long posting on the subject). I went back to "P" and got much better results. Some time spent with the book will stand you in good stead.
Henry Clements - FZ20/FZ5
 
Well, she can learn something about photography or she can spend some time in a physics class learning how she can't defeat the laws of time and space :)

Seriously, there is no camera out there that will take the photos for you. It is not difficult to learn a few simple rules for improving your shots. She (and you) should be encouraged to do so. If she wants better photos she will have to learn how to take better photos (or she will have to learn how to use a DSLR with a use-able ISO value of 1600 and a fast f/1.4 lens)

As for your photos: the light is too low and the camera is (in my opinion) over-exposing the shots a bit. Either use the flash or put a touch of negative exposure compensation into your settings. Of course, adding more natural light to the scene would be a plus as well.

That and practice holding the camera more steady will improve the shots.

Good luck.
Dan Eppinghoff said:
My wife isn't
interested in learning the finer points of photography - she wants
to turn it on and take pictures. I'm a definite amateur and I'm
having trouble getting reliable shots too. As I said, I didn't
expect to have this much difficulty.
Click to expand...
 
Nice job! I like to fiddle around w/ shots taken under difficult conditions to see what I can do with them (so I'm ready when my turn comes). Here is a slight edit of one of your pics:



--
John
 
Gary505 said:
I'm a total novice. This past weekend I photographed my nephew's
confirmation, which took place in a church at night. I would say
it was relatively low light. Most shots were taken without flash
although I used flash a few times. They were all taken hand held.
I used P mode with IS 2 and center (not spot) focus and metering.
Click to expand...
I think that you got great results. I would consider that low light and in churches you cannot use a flash. Gut you don't have a moving toddler as your subject, either.
Gary505 said:
Because the light was low, I made a point to hold the camera as
still as posible. I braced the cam against something similar when
I could.
Click to expand...
This is also a VERY appropriate time to bump to a higher iso, say iso 200, to buy you some more shutter speed. With the fz20, it is also when the f2.8 throughout the zoom gives you that extra little edge to make a shot useable.
Gary505 said:
Most of the shots turned out great. I did have several blurred
shots, which I attribute to either from me shaking too much, or the
subjects moving too much.
Click to expand...
I would say that I had similar results with my son's confirmation pics, which were shot at iso 200.





--
Theresa Kelly
Constructive criticism always welcome! :)
http://www.pbase.com/theresa_k
http://theresak.smugmug.com/
Panasonic FZ-2O, Oly FL-4O, PSP Nine, bunches of glass

 
Try NOT to use the zoom function. Add more light in the room.
I do not have this camera but take test shots and experiment.

Had same problem when I bought mine (different brand) at the beginning. Now I got used to it and take better shots inside.
 
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