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FZ50 non zoom performance??

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PeterD07

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I'm sold on the FZ50 long end zoom IQ but have not really seen any at the lower end. If you own this camera please tell me what you think of the lower end focal preformance and please share any pics or thoughts.
Thanks, Pete
 
PeterD07 said:
I'm sold on the FZ50 long end zoom IQ but have not really seen any
at the lower end. If you own this camera please tell me what you
think of the lower end focal preformance and please share any pics
or thoughts.
Thanks, Pete
Click to expand...
I find the FZ50 to be sharp at telephoto as well as wide. At wide open f/2.8 it is still very sharp with good contrast. Results get better at f/5 but the images are very good at f/2.8.

I never really worry about the optics on the FZ50 since they are very reliable at almost any setting.

If you want the absolute best f/5 or above (till around f/8) will net you the sharpest results though.

that's from my experience.
--
Cloverdale, B.C., Canada
Panasonic Lumix FZ50, Pentax *ist D
http://joesiv.smugmug.com
 
Joesiv, Thanks for your input. I also thought your gallery pics were great. Were all pics shot with the FZ50? Do you use lens adapters?

Thanks, Pete
 
Here are just a few samples taken with the FZ30, same fantastic lens as the 50. Just one of the features that make the FZxx's such wonderful cameras.

To see more take a look through my gallery, most have the exif with them, multiply the focal length x 4.7 to get 35mm equivelencies. Many of the photos are also there at full size. Take a look at the hairs on the Hybiscus at full size. Some of the pics will be taken with the Nikon 5400 but the exif should show which.

@ 54mm



@ 35mm



Macro @ 170mm



Scenic @ 67mm



This photo is my present favorite, itwas taken at about 200mm and I have an 8 x 10 print of it in Black & White on the wall behind me. Thinking of getting it printed really large.



--
FCAS #123
Old Sea Dog/cp 5400/FZ30
Galleries at http://www.pbase.com/oldseadog/galleries
 
--If you like the FZ50 at full zoom, you'll love it at shorter focal lengths. We don't get a lot of images posted from the shorter focal lengths but the camera is even better in the mid range of the zoom. Barrel and pincushion distortion are almost nill. Shutter speeds are very high with the faster focal ratio of the lens getting closer to f2.8, and the images appear to be a bit more saturated also. Noise is noticabily reduced as the zoom is reduced.

You'll also get improved "handling" with reduced zoom. The burst mode is substiantially faster at shorter focal lenghts and when using low ISO speed. At the wide end, the lens acts much like a fast prime lens does. The key to good image quality with a small sensor camera is to properly expose and saturate as quickly as possilbe. The FZ30/50 do a very good job because of the fast lens. In the mid and short zoom, the image quality is very high.
-Kurt Horsley
 
FZ20







FZ5



FZ4



--
**************
Starting to harvest organic images.
No baits, calls, tricks but will use luck.
Still kicking 100% hand held and jpg.
new galleries coming...hopefully
 
Have had the FZ50 for about 2 weeks now as a walk around shooter as opposed to carrying around my 1DIIN with 16-35 2.8 lens which weighs quite a bit. Shooting urban and street stuff wide, and posting to the web.

Some samples of FZ50 with LW55 wide conversion lens (effective 24.5mm).

















Without LW55







All shot handheld including night shots. Night shots run thru neat image to remove noise. All in all a very very fun camera - only thing I dont like is the built in NR that cannot be switched off - only set to L. Otherwise all cool for what I need the images for.

This image (below) listed above in the LW55 list was actually shot with the 1DIIN and I have included it as a point of comparison with regards to shooting images soley for web publishing



http://www.pbase.com/craigsyd/auckland
 
Joesiv said:
Joesiv said:
Cloverdale, B.C., Canada
Click to expand...
Panasonic Lumix FZ50, Pentax *ist D
Click to expand...
Notice from your sig. you also have a DSLR - I have the DS and was debating buying the FZ50 as a more convenient walkaround but need some comparison shots to judge the merits of doing so. Since you have the two cameras, which do you find best for which shots and why?
 
Gil, great shots, thanks. Were those taken without lens adapters? Just curious as a couple seemed genuinely wide.
 
My personal experience tells me the FZ-50 performs very well throughout its focal range. From landscapes to portraits to flowers to birds in flight; the lens on this camera is in the top of its class. Here's a recent WA shot I took in the desert of Arizona.



--
Ken
Canon 350D + 400D, EF-S 17-85 IS, 100-400L IS, 400 5.6L
Panasonic FZ20 & FZ50
http://ken.smugmug.com/
 
Joesiv said:
If you want the absolute best f/5 or 'above' (till around f/8) will
net you the sharpest results though.
Click to expand...
Going from f/5 to f/8 would be 'below' . . . or stopping down.

Just wanted to straighten that out . . .

--
J. M. Daniels
Denver, Colorado
Panasonic FZ10, FZ50 & Fuji S602Z owner & operator



Remember . . . always keep the box and everything that came in it!
 
Martyn Welch said:
Notice from your sig. you also have a DSLR - I have the DS and was
debating buying the FZ50 as a more convenient walkaround but need
some comparison shots to judge the merits of doing so. Since you
have the two cameras, which do you find best for which shots and
why?
Click to expand...
Good question :)

I've had the FZ for about 9 months, and the *ist D for around 2, though the *ist, I haven't had as much time in usage with my new versatile lens's. As you'd know, a DSLR can range from average to great depending on the lens you attach, and that all depends on what you are doing (whether it be street photography or heavy telephotowork)

From my experiences, the FZ offers the more convenient package with the most flexability as a walk around camera system. These are the reasons:
  • Light weight, the FZ weights about as one of my lens' (SMC 35-105 f/3.5)
  • More versatile lens, goes from 35-420 without needing to swap lens'
  • quality of lens, it's been talked about a lot these days, check out Barry's thread, but with lens' that offer the best value, you often have many sacrifices in optical quality at the extremes requiring you to stop way down (to f/8), often offering more distortion, less suppression of CA/PF, and large tendancies to flare.
  • Life preview, for those of us who just like to take the picture and be done with it, this is realy helpful with it's life histogram, and "get what you see" type workflow. I still feel detached when taking a picture with a DSLR, I take it, then need to remove my eye from the eye cup, wait for the preview, see if I nailed it (usually don't ;) )
  • Flip Screen, very helpful for street photography, as to not raise suspicions, great for candids just have the camera on your lap or on the table, with the flip out screen, and snap away. Also great for macros, you don't need to lay on the ground to take a "squirels view" of anything.
  • Silient, also good for candits
  • Video mode, sometimes videos say more than words, though this is maybe a personal thing.
  • Wide DoF, also a bad thing, but also a good thing for some types of photography
In anycase, for the DSLR, the advantages are numerous as well, mostly having to do with flexability in lens', higher ISO capability (allowing lower light photography), faster/more accurate AF, optical view finder for tracking moving objects, burst in RAW, less noise in shadows, shallower DOF.

Buck for buck, the FZ offers a convenient package. With Pentax you could look into getting a pancake lens (P-DA), with the DS you own, it would offer a fairly lightweight fun walk around camera, though you woudln't have the focal range.

For my birding, my D and sigma 75-300 is better not becuase of the optics, but becuase of burst RAW, faster focus, shallow DoF, and optical viewfinder.

For landscrapes, it's a tossup I think, though having wider than 35mm I bleieve is key for these type of shots, and without an adaptor or without a WA lens on the DS... might be cheaper on the FZ. Scenics often don't move much, which allows the IS on the FZ help a lot here, also tripods work well to provide low light shots. 60 second exposures on my FZ are fun, the D only does up to 30 seconds, and I haven't found a mirror lockup.

For indoor shots, the *ist with a cheap 50mm prime wins, faster lens, and higher ISO's...

I donno, it's a tough call, you could spend FZ money on lens for your DS, or just get a FZ. Some people find that the FZ's make them use thier DSLRs less and others find the oposite.

If you're shooting for the web or doing small prints, I find that the FZ doesn't lose anything in image quality due to the smaller sensor.





Sorry for my rambling. I'm happy with both cameras, though I feel I to get to know the D a lot more to really trust it without a prview.

--
Cloverdale, B.C., Canada
Panasonic Lumix FZ50, Pentax *ist D
http://joesiv.smugmug.com
 
That's not rambling - it was most useful. So many threads argue the merits of one type of camera against another but usually based upon experience with one sort and mere supposition with the other. There are very few examples of someone like yourself who has both types of camera and who can therefore describe the practicalities of using each on a day-to-day basis. Thanks for the reply.

I'd be interested to know how often you find yourself using one and wishing you'd chosen the other when you looked at the results on your monitor. Have you worked out a routine whereby you only pick one for a specific task?

I'm well aware of the noise issues with prosumers and Panasonics seem to receive more flak than others but I've seen some stunning shots taken with the FZ50 and its predecessors that throw such criticism straight out the window.
 
Ok, this is one of the first pics I've taken right after I received my FZ50. This particular shot acually shows off the best and the worst of the FZ50, in a single shot. Focal length was at 209mm (right in the middle of the zoom range. f3.6 and iso 100.

Here's a link to the full size image for our pixel peeping session:

http://rooski.smugmug.com/photos/139233954-O.jpg

Now, the ambient sunlight entering through the sliding door offers plenty of light on the subjects face. The FZ50 captured some impressive detail, and looks really good for 100%. Just look at the detail in the eyeball, nose and the white fur on the face. This is the best.

Now for the worst. Look at the low contrast areas around the subjects neck, especially the poorly lit areas, and you can clearly see the Venus 3 smearing at work, here. And this is at iso 100 with noise reduction at low.

Of course, at a reduced size, the photo looks fine, and I did a test 8x10 print, and was very happy with the results. Also, I do have the choice to shoot raw and avoid the smearing.



Also, for your pixel peeping pleasure, here's a link to a full size, typical boring p&s snapshot, shot at 35mm focal length, straight from camera. Was not trying for anything special, here. Just a quick test shot

http://rooski.smugmug.com/photos/143680271-O.jpg

and reduced:



At 100% view, you see some of the sensor and processing limitations, but the lens does a fine job.

--
Rooski
FuZi50, Uzi
http://rooski.smugmug.com/gallery/2622754#138416840

 
Rooski said:
Ok, this is one of the first pics I've taken right after I received
my FZ50. This particular shot acually shows off the best and the
worst of the FZ50, in a single shot. Focal length was at 209mm
(right in the middle of the zoom range. f3.6 and iso 100.

Here's a link to the full size image for our pixel peeping session:

http://rooski.smugmug.com/photos/139233954-O.jpg

Now, the ambient sunlight entering through the sliding door offers
plenty of light on the subjects face. The FZ50 captured some
impressive detail, and looks really good for 100%. Just look at
the detail in the eyeball, nose and the white fur on the face.
This is the best.

Now for the worst. Look at the low contrast areas around the
subjects neck, especially the poorly lit areas, and you can clearly
see the Venus 3 smearing at work, here. And this is at iso 100
with noise reduction at low.

Of course, at a reduced size, the photo looks fine, and I did a
test 8x10 print, and was very happy with the results. Also, I do
have the choice to shoot raw and avoid the smearing.



Also, for your pixel peeping pleasure, here's a link to a full
size, typical boring p&s snapshot, shot at 35mm focal length,
straight from camera. Was not trying for anything special, here.
Just a quick test shot

http://rooski.smugmug.com/photos/143680271-O.jpg

and reduced:



At 100% view, you see some of the sensor and processing
limitations, but the lens does a fine job.

--
Rooski
FuZi50, Uzi
http://rooski.smugmug.com/gallery/2622754#138416840

Click to expand...
--I don't think you can blame that on venus 3...not with poor lighting, and especially under exposing a white subject. Nope...not V3 at all.
-Kurt Horsley
 
Kurt Horsley said:
--I don't think you can blame that on venus 3...not with poor
lighting, and especially under exposing a white subject. Nope...not
V3 at all.
-Kurt Horsley
Click to expand...
I think you're not looking at the right area of the pic. Here's a crop of the area that clearly displays the unatural pasty clumping effect.



And there's even an area on the top of the head that looks it's just starting to appear.



I'm not nit-picking, here. I love my FZ50 and would not trade it for any other current digicam. I'm just trying to let the OP know that as good as the FZ50 is, he should expect to see this in certain conditions.
--
Rooski
FuZi50, Uzi
http://rooski.smugmug.com/gallery/2622754#138416840

 
Rooski said:
I'm not nit-picking, here. I love my FZ50 and would not trade it
for any other current digicam. I'm just trying to let the OP know
that as good as the FZ50 is, he should expect to see this in
certain conditions.
--
Click to expand...
On the otherhand . . . at what size of print would it take for anyone to ever notice this 'blurring', or 'smudging'?

That is the real answer . . . not 1600% magnifications on an LCD computer monitor . . .

--
J. M. Daniels
Denver, Colorado
Panasonic FZ10, FZ50 & Fuji S602Z owner & operator



Remember . . . always keep the box and everything that came in it!
 
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