FZ30 or FZ50 for soccer photos-advice plz

Hello all,

I have an FZ1 and have been following this board since that was the only FZ. I well remember the noise hullabuloo last year when the 30 came out and anticipating more of the same, I had decided to just buy the 50 as soon as it was available. I can live with reasonable amounts of noise but I hate CA and PF and I am very sensitive to them in photos. (Guess you know why I'm not on the Cannon board huh?) Panasonic's bride photo has me wondering so I will wait until some of the Panny "wise ol' folks" on this board get their hands on a FZ50 and show that CA/PF is still under control.

The reason for this post is that the existing stock of FZ30's seem to be disappearing from the stores and might be long gone before any of us know what the FZ50's IQ is with the Venus III and 10 megapixels. So I'm asking for "best estimates" of how the FZ50 might be an improvement over the FZ30 (or not) for taking pictures of my daughters' soccer games. These would be outdoors. I think I would want to use a RDS and burst mode, but I'm open to correction on this. If a strong case can be made that the FZ50 will be LESS suitable for sports shooting I will just go ahead and buy a FZ30 before they disappear. Otherwise I'll wait on the 50. The movie mode I hope will be a pleasant surprise but I want to make the choice on photo qualities. And, yes, the camera will be used for lots of other photography, soccer photos are just the moving force for the decision to buy a new FZ.

Thank you for your thoughts
George

They are claiming faster surer focusing on the FZ50...if true that should be huge for the soccer photos.
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Gene
From Western PA.

Panasonic FZ 20 and FZ30

D50 and lenses.

http://imageevent.com/grc6



Just trying to learn and it's slow going!

Assuming that the soccer games are going to be in daylight, you should be able to get a good feel for IQ by printing some of the Panasonic shots and see what you think about the ISO-100 shots.

http://panasonic.co.jp/pavc/global/lumix/gallery/models/fz50.html

You have to figure out if you think that:

• You won't need a camera until the FZ-50 ships in Sept.
• You want to pay near full retail to be one of the early buyers.
• The improvements in the FZ-50 are worth US$150+. (pricegrabber shows a number of mail-order places with silver FZ-30's for

Until the FZ50 production models come out noboby can tell you for sure.

What is for sure:

The FZ30 will perform superbly fro outdoor sport photography as long as there is alot of light. On an overcast days you will have problems freezing action unless you buy a good external flash. Without the flash, or with the built in flash in telephoto you may find noise to be an issue.

IMO the FZ50 will be no better than the FZ30 for your application in terms of image quality. However the ISO flash may be extremely useful to you if you don't know how to use a nonTTL. It all comes down to cost vs benefit.

Sirandar

They have also lowered burst speed to a pathetic 2 FPS. My FZ20 gets more than twice that... somewhere between 4-5 FPS, and even that is slow for sports photography.

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http://www.andydremeaux.com

Thank you Gene, Steve, Sirander and Andy for your thoughts.

The claimed focusing speed improvement has a lot of weight in my calculations. Has anyone explored whether the burst mode is faster if one reduces the megapixels say by using the 5 meg EZ feature? Would that give a 4 FPS burst?

George

Your FZ20 is way faster than mine....3 fps at High speed and 2.2 fps at continuous.. is all mine gets.
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Gene
From Western PA.

Panasonic FZ 20 and FZ30

D50 and lenses.

http://imageevent.com/grc6



Just trying to learn and it's slow going!

As the 50 isnt out nobody can say for sure what the story is. The 30 is not bad for this sort of thing...I would go with the prefocus technique for sports shots...aka wait for the action rather than buzzing about with the AF trying to get the shots..

SLR is of course better AF wise...
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gfs said:

Thank you Gene, Steve, Sirander and Andy for your thoughts.
The claimed focusing speed improvement has a lot of weight in my
calculations.

Click to expand...

I've shot high school soccer and volleyball games with my FZ-5...and it's focus speed works fine. People have posted here that they think the focusing speeds are about the same between the FZ-5 and the FZ-30, so I don't think that focusing speed should be one of your biggest concerns when choosing from among the FZ's. Here's a quote from the FZ-30 review at dcresouce.com:

"The FZ30 has inherited the two high speed autofocus modes that were first seen on the DMC-FZ5. If you've used that camera then you know just how fast it is. When either of the high speed AF modes are used the camera focuses as fast as most digital SLRs that I've used, or darn close. Focusing times in these modes are usually 0.1 - 0.3 seconds -- even at the telephoto end."

gfs said:

Has anyone explored whether the burst mode is faster
if one reduces the megapixels say by using the 5 meg EZ feature?
Would that give a 4 FPS burst?

Click to expand...

That's a great question....but I don't know how to get any definitive answers before reviewers and real people get their hands on one. If the drop in burst rate is strictly a function of file size and write times, then you would think that lower resolutions would give faster write times and thus better burst rates....but I have never seen anyone discuss this.

If someone has checked that with their FZ-30, then maybe they will chime in (We'll have to assume that the FZ-30 and -50 would respond the same.)

I find the FZ30 is good for sports/action, especially with an RDS. Its AF, bursting @ 3-FPS and, shutter/EVF/click-to-click resposivness are all adequate. The fast Leica (f/3.7) at 420mm+ w. IS offers fair shutter speeds and good IQ up to ISO200.

• The FZ50 has poetential match the FZ30's action/sports capability.

PROs: Its faster engine will (because of built-in NR) save you some post-processing work and, its bigger canvass (10MP) will offer more cropping (enlargement) opportunities, espcially in it's EZmodes. This plus claims of faster AF both will increase yield for action-sports work.

However:

CONs: The FZ50 slows its click-to-click responsivness and lowers its bursting rate significantly, maiinly due to the larger canvass and in-camera NR. Both will reduce action/sports yield.

The coin toss:

Yet unproven, IF the FZ50's in-camera-processing/new-sensor results iin an IQ at ISO400 that matches the IQ of the FZ30's at ISO200, then this extra EV will be truly benefical. The increased shutter speed afforded will increase yield so, the FZ50 "can" potentionally be better suited for action/sports. But, ....Lacking a measurable EV/IQ boost, the slowed burst/bracketting (click-to-click) responsivenss of the FZ50 will likely make the FZ20/30 the better tool for action/sports photography.

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johnimage

Steve82 said:

If someone has checked that with their FZ-30, then maybe they will
chime in (We'll have to assume that the FZ-30 and -50 would respond
the same.)

Click to expand...

In the FZ30, High-speed burst make no difference if 8MP, 5MP, or 3MP canvass size is used. I measure 3.1 to 3.3 FPS (1/30sec & MF).

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johnimage

Thank you to all for your insights.

It is very nice to hear from folks who actually use the 30 for sports action. I hate these "on the one hand, on the other hand" type problems. VBG If I am reading your collective thoughts right: the faster focus would be good but that is pretty much offset by the slower and more limited bust feature. I hadn't thought of that. This would argue for just buying the FZ30 now and not looking back.

If I do decide to wait for more info on the 50, the issues that I should be concerned with are image quality and, especially, a meaningful improvement in ISO.

As it stands now, I'll wait. But with FZ30 prices beginning to creap back up, if the 50 get bad reviews, the 30 will be selling on e-bay for $900. HUMMM, maybe I should buy a few and put them in my retirement portfolio. The stocks sure aren't doing much these days.

Thanks again,

George