Z850 questions

hello everyone,

after reading a bunch of the posts, I went out and bought the z850 - even considering the video issues. I got it from buy.com. Now, I am somewhat of a newbie to digital cams, so I have a few questions, and would greatly appreciate any help.

1. how do I test the quality of my camera? I know dazco mentioned his first one had a lot of noise, and the second one he got was much better. how do I test if pics are coming up messy because of the camera and not because of user error? (I played a little with the manual controls, and some pics came out much better than others; but I still see more grainy-ness than the samples I have seen posted. The auto pics indoors are much more grainy and fuzzy, even when camera is stable).

2. how does pan focus in movie mode work? my manual says that pressing the shutter halfway while filming focuses a subject. however, pressing the shutter halfway does nothing while I'm in pan focus mode. is this how it's supposed to be or is my camera defective?

3. how do I know if my camera has US warranty? (got it from buy.com)

Thanks a lot!

wastecam said:

hello everyone,

after reading a bunch of the posts, I went out and bought the z850

• even considering the video issues. I got it from buy.com. Now,

I am somewhat of a newbie to digital cams, so I have a few
questions, and would greatly appreciate any help.

1. how do I test the quality of my camera? I know dazco mentioned
his first one had a lot of noise, and the second one he got was
much better. how do I test if pics are coming up messy because of
the camera and not because of user error? (I played a little with
the manual controls, and some pics came out much better than
others; but I still see more grainy-ness than the samples I have
seen posted. The auto pics indoors are much more grainy and fuzzy,
even when camera is stable).

2. how does pan focus in movie mode work? my manual says that
pressing the shutter halfway while filming focuses a subject.
however, pressing the shutter halfway does nothing while I'm in pan
focus mode. is this how it's supposed to be or is my camera
defective?

3. how do I know if my camera has US warranty? (got it from buy.com)

Thanks a lot!

Click to expand...

I'm no expert, but i can tell you about the graininess you say you're experiencing. This camera tends to pick a higher ISO than needed even in light thats not real low at all. So the first thing to do is set it to ISO 50 and set the "memory" to "on" for ISO. The memory settings simply tell the camera whether to default to the camera's default setting after turning it off or to a different mode, or to stay at the setting you picked. so set memory to "on" for ISO and set ISO to 50. You can always manually choose a higher ISO if you want, but 50 will be best for most pics in normal to slightly low light. And you can do other things to make up for low light other than selecting a higher ISO too. But when you absolutly need it you can as i said change it manually. Thats the likely reson for the graininess. When i first got mine i began shooting immediatly before even setting anything and ISO was of course set to default auto. It was picking ISO's higher than 50 for most every shot. And higher ISO's mean much more noise or "graininess".

that would be my first suggestion and i belive you will then begin to see much better results right away. Also check all the features listed in the memory setting in the menu and decide which you want to set to "on so that they stay where you adjust them. thats the next thing i would do, tho of course you may not know which you want to set to on or off. So the ultimate suggestion is sit down with the camera and the manual next to your PC and read it till you see something you don't understand well and then try it. Then cradle the camera and view the pics on the pc to see what the function does. you need to get familiar with how the functions work before you'll be able to get the best results and before you'll know what memory settings you want.

But do the ISO thing first and i think that will go a long ways to getting your first good and clear pics. then it's up to yopu to learn the camera. But it's such a great camera as far as intuitivness that byou'll find yourself very familiar with it in no time. good luck.

thanks for the advice dazco.

I actuallly played with the ISO before, and I did notice a big difference when using ISO 50. I just wanted to make sure that the noise at higher ISOs was normal. It can be a little annoying keeping it at ISO 50, since shutter speed slows down, and I get a lot of blurry pics because I rarely have a place to steady the camera. but that's personal...

could you answer my question about the pan focus? I really want to know if the manual is wrong or if my cam doesn't perform the way it should.

thanks.

Yea, i'm dealing with the slower shutter and blurriness too. but i usually find a way around it or snap a bunch of the same show so at least one will be clear. as for PF, i'm not exactly sure how it works but you don't have to press 1/2 way as you do with stills because when in video mode whatever focus is used is always refocusing itself as needed anyway. But PF however it works is the default for video mode, and i always leave it there for video because if you use auto focus it makes noise as it refocuses which is recorded in the audio.

wastecam said:

thanks for the advice dazco.

I actuallly played with the ISO before, and I did notice a big
difference when using ISO 50. I just wanted to make sure that the
noise at higher ISOs was normal. It can be a little annoying
keeping it at ISO 50, since shutter speed slows down, and I get a
lot of blurry pics because I rarely have a place to steady the
camera. but that's personal...

could you answer my question about the pan focus? I really want to
know if the manual is wrong or if my cam doesn't perform the way it
should.

thanks.

Click to expand...

but i usually find a way around it or snap a bunch of the same SHOT, not SHOW. i really hate not being able to edit posts !