TZ3 Flash Pics Badly Underexposed

I Purchased the Camera and now i OWN the camera.I have USED the camera and everything i stated is 100% correct.Tried shooting at ISO 100 indoors without flash it was terrible.Then i used flash at ISO 100 again terrible the camera will underexpose and their is no way to get correct exposure unless you bump up the ISO's then that will put even more noise in the picture.What you really don't get is out of all the P&S, i picked this one because it's a great camera but it is has very limited use indoors.I am not saying you can't get anything indoors but i have a DSLR to do that.

Lou use your Canon 30D @ 800 ISO and compare them with your TZ3 at 100 ISO indoors and i think you whould agree with me their is no contest.I got this camera for it's wide angle ablity and long reach(pocketable).No camera on the market can touch this and at a great price to boot.A nice fun walkaround camera.Sometimes something this small will not scare people and i can get some nice candid shots.

Also Lou you drop yourself to a new low a name caller and a bully,anyone is entitled to their opinions of what they think about something.You can not simply name call and think that someone will no respond to you.People said the right hands to me a couple of times.I found that offensive because i have been shooting for several years now(still an amatuer and may always be) like i have no ability whatsoever.Like it's not the cameras problem but mine and with time i may grow into it nowing how to use the TZ3. Like a Canon 30D is so much easier to use than a TZ3, please.I also stated that many sites agree that this is best when used outside and in good light.

I jumped into this forum because i was excited about my purchase, and wanted to see how people are getting along with thier TZ3.I will give my honest thoughts on how i feel about what i purchased even if the camera has some shortcomings.I talked my sister into getting a TZ1 about a year ago and she loves it and i had a chance to play with it.When i read it was going wide angle i was all over it.Sure Canon makes a few WA P&S but the lens is soft in the corners @ 28mm and the price is about $100 more and it also doesn't have the range.Canon's,Sony's,Olympus and even some Panasonics have the range and are better cameras but they can't fit in my pocket.

The TZ3 is an awsome camera for what i want to use it for, period. I am sorry to the people in this forum and the ones in the Panasonic forum.I ranted a little here but my first post was what i felt, if someone responds to me in a manner such as Lou did i feel compelled to answer, i didn't start a verbal fight but i feel a need to defend myself.

Oh please. What a surprise. Your TZ3 performs just as poorly in low-light as you said it would even before you had one. As for the Canon, now I really have no idea what you're talking about since I don't own one.

I think dalemcd is beating his head against a wall for no reason. My tz1 pictures were a little better, but my walls are probably not as dark.

The shots above prove only one thing with white walls you get more light. I have a Fuji with a very small flash. Last year we visited the Wright Memorial on the cost of NC. In a very large but white walled room they had a full scale model of the airplane. I got a very decently exposed shot of the aircraft, with that small flash, the photo is on my web site, with the comment of the conditions I took the shot under.

But if the wall had been much darker, I would not have gotten a picture at all.
--
Steve Owen.
http://steveslandscapes.50webs.com

I just retook the same shots under similar conditions. I replaced the white wall with a black background. You can see the differences. My results are probably what should be expected from built-in flash at 7' or so. To be honest, I never thought the background made that much difference. I'm still far from disappointed at the results though.

ISO 100



ISO 200



ISO 400

The interior walls sure do make a big difference, the ISO 100 shot compares to my shot with the TZ1, which is the only ISO I tried. Now your subject is also much more light reflective, than the skin of the little boy.

That's why I said I believe dalemcd, is beating his head against the wall. I bet if he tried something like you or I did - his camera would expose it equally. If you took one of these TZ's into a cave, I bet you couldn't get a shot of your hand in front of your face.
--
Steve Owen.
http://steveslandscapes.50webs.com

I would have liked to see the same picture at ISO 200. Personally, I usually leave my camera at ISO 200 for almost all indoor shots. Here's a quick shot at ISO 100 I took last week. The cat was about 2' away, and the background is about 6.5- 7' away.

That picture was ISO 200. I just checked the EXIF. Oh well. lol.

That's about what I would expect at 200, given the conditions. You have to stop and consider, ISO 100 is just not fast enough to give you much exposure, and distance in all conditions with these small flash units.
--
Steve Owen.
http://steveslandscapes.50webs.com

Just read your thread......at Auto the flash works fine and sets the ISO at 500. I set the ISO to 100 and badly underexposed, 200 looked good and 400 is perfect. These were all under my circumstances. Thanks for make me aware of this "feature"........

No, it's at ISO 100 at 1/8 shutter speed.

I always try to use the slowest shutter speed possible.

I thought I was right the first time, but when checked the picture after I
posted it, it said ISO 200. I'm glad I'm not losing it. lol

TEBnewyork said:

Does the TZ3 allowy you to change the EV on the flash? If you go to
the EV button push once E/V twice E/V bracket third time do you get
the flash?

Click to expand...

This is a good suggestion since the TZ3 doesn't have Flash Compensation.

TEBnewyork said:

Same thing in
reverse if flash is overwhelming your subject.

Click to expand...

Last night I discovered "Baby" scene mode, which made me giggle when I first saw it. What the heck?!?!?

Then I checked the manual and it says that Baby mode "uses a weak flash to bring out skin colors." The "weak flash" part caught my eye and, sure enough, I tested it and some images were better exposed than when using the regular flash; ie. no over exposue.

Sorry if this tip is posted elsewhere; I haven't read through the entire thread.
--
gail ~ http://www.pbase.com/gailb
My digital camera BLOGs: Canon SD700, S2 & A510; Panasonic FZ3, Nikon 5400
http://www.digicamhelp.com/digital-camera-blogs/index.htm

Hey - you guys have me spooked. I am going thru the agonies of choosing a new all purpose travel digital camera and narrowed it down to the TZ3 and the Canon 850IS. The TZ3 was winning hands down till I came across this 'problem' of indoor exposure with flash. Is this splitting hair talk or does the TZ3 have a real problem in comparison with other wide angle digitals?
--
Milt

milt45 said:

Hey - you guys have me spooked. I am going thru the agonies of
choosing a new all purpose travel digital camera and narrowed it
down to the TZ3 and the Canon 850IS. The TZ3 was winning hands
down till I came across this 'problem' of indoor exposure with
flash. Is this splitting hair talk or does the TZ3 have a real
problem in comparison with other wide angle digitals?
--
Milt

Click to expand...

The TZ's have no more or less problem, with sufficent flash power than other digital cams with small flash units. But cannot be compared with the larger, more efficient pop-up flash units like the FZ7- 8 cameras.

I have three cameras with small flash units, they all are more of a convenience rather than a serious source of light. You will find this true of all small flash units, regardless of who makes the camera.
--
Steve Owen.
http://steveslandscapes.50webs.com

If you are planning to take indoor pictures in average room light with a TZ3, I would advise that you think hard about it. There seems to be a difference of opinion about the quality and perhaps there are some TZ3 that are worse than others.

If you look at my other posts in this thread I have posted some sample shots which were quite washed out. I was shooting in auto mode from 7-10 feet and all the pictures have a pink tint. I didn't find them particularly underexposed on auto mode, just washed out. I tried all sorts of settings changes in the camera that were suggested to me on this thread and others, but they only helped slightly.

Since then, I have purchased an FZ8 which is tremendously better. No washout at all at those distances. I am reselling the TZ3. Although it is my favorite camera in every other area, I just wasn't satisfied with my indoor low light portrait shots. Some of the users here have pointed out that this class of camera is just not designed for these kind of shots, which is fine. Unfortunately I just didn't know that. I expected a $300 camera to take indoor shots that were superior to my $200 2mp 4 year old Olympus compact. It does not. I guess I assumed wrong and I take responsibility for the assumption.

milt45 said:

Hey - you guys have me spooked. I am going thru the agonies of
choosing a new all purpose travel digital camera and narrowed it
down to the TZ3 and the Canon 850IS. The TZ3 was winning hands
down till I came across this 'problem' of indoor exposure with
flash. Is this splitting hair talk or does the TZ3 have a real
problem in comparison with other wide angle digitals?
--
Milt

Click to expand...

I will only speak for my TZ3, and will say that I have no issues taking indoor
shots with the flash. I don't leave my camera in "Auto ISO" mode though.

When you do, the camera likes to use a higher than necessary ISO. Usually between 400-640. This results in noisier pics with less details. I also don't recommend using "Natural" color mode indoors either. It will take away a lot of color in your pics. Other than that, I've taken countless indoor test shots, mostly at ISO 200, some at ISO 100 and 400. All of them have come out very well exposed with good color.

The bottom line is it is all relative to what you are looking for. If I took a lot of indoor flash shots, I would opt for a camera that would accommodate, a hot shoe flash, and external unit also.

I look at a cameras close flash exposure control, more than its ability to give me distance. I have a three year old Fuji that has phenomenal flash control, it can actually expose a quarter at 3 inches without washing out, something no TZ can do. Although through the use of the exposure EV, I have learned to control my TZ's flash down to a couple of feet, providing the subject is not white!.

But if extensive indoor flash pictures were my thing, I certainly would not rely on my TZ. The TZ being a camera designed for travel photography, gives you a balance of options, but is master of none.
--
Steve Owen.
http://steveslandscapes.50webs.com

Just read through your thread; if you could do without OIS, the Fuji S6000 would fit the bill pretty closely for one camera (although its bigger, too). 28-300mm zoom and good ISO performance. Or go for the F20, which is less than $150, so you're not shelling out too much more $$ for a dedicated indoor camera.

dalemccl said:

I don't really want to pay for two cameras, but that might be the
best solution. The Fuji would be good for low light situations
like indoor shots of the grand kids, school plays, or inside a
museum.

But the TZ3's 28mm, 10x, OIS, bright 3" LCD, 16:9 mode, etc. etc.
make it a keeper even if it isn't good for flash pictures from 6
feet and beyond.

Click to expand...

surfstar said:

Just read through your thread; if you could do without OIS, the
Fuji S6000 would fit the bill pretty closely for one camera
(although its bigger, too). 28-300mm zoom and good ISO performance.
Or go for the F20, which is less than $150, so you're not shelling
out too much more $$ for a dedicated indoor camera.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion. As far the bigger S6000 I wanted to stay small; I have a Panny FZ20 and often don't use it at family occassions because of its size.

I ended up getting a Fuji F31fd for low light pictures. The F20, as you suggested, would have been a lower-cost solution, but I went for the F31fd.

The F20/F30/31's strength, as you know, is low-light, no-flash shots. I will do most of my indoor family type shooting using the Fuji without flash unless I can get close enough to the subject to be within the limited flash range.

I am keeping the TZ3 for its many other strengths that the F31fd doesn't have (28mm, 10x, OIS, bright 3" LCD, SD cards, external battery charger).

The two cameras seem to complement each other well.