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TZ3 woes

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Cazza

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I recently purchased a TZ3 as a camera to take with us on a 1 month trip to the USA. Whilst loving the outdoor capability and the great zoom, I am totally at a loss when it comes to the total inability of this camera to give any sort of half decent photo indoors.

I have read the other posts on this topic and tried adjusting EV, metering and MaxISO and combinations of all the above, but cannot get a photo that remotely gives normal skin tones - faces are totally 'blown out' and there is no depth of colour to the rest of the picture.

I have the option to swap this camera. One option we have trialled is the Canon A710IS, but I have found that the outdoor sharpness is lacking and indoor shots have a yellow tinge.

Is the TZ3 the best camera to take away on a family adventure (we'll need a combination of indoor and outdoor ability), and also for general use back home. We really don't want an SLR type camera just a point and shoot that takes great photos indoors and outdoors! Does this exist?
 
Cazza said:
I recently purchased a TZ3 as a camera to take with us on a 1 month
trip to the USA. Whilst loving the outdoor capability and the great
zoom, I am totally at a loss when it comes to the total inability of
this camera to give any sort of half decent photo indoors.
Click to expand...
Could you post some "bad" samples? It'll help identify and pinpoint user mistakess, enhancing your chances of getting some good advice.
Cazza said:
I have read the other posts on this topic and tried adjusting EV,
metering and MaxISO and combinations of all the above, but cannot get
a photo that remotely gives normal skin tones - faces are totally
'blown out' and there is no depth of colour to the rest of the
picture.
Click to expand...
Ditto. You mention several disparate issues here.
Cazza said:
I have the option to swap this camera. One option we have trialled
is the Canon A710IS, but I have found that the outdoor sharpness is
lacking and indoor shots have a yellow tinge.
Click to expand...
Issues mentioned here might also be due to operator inexperience.
Cazza said:
Is the TZ3 the best camera to take away on a family adventure (we'll
need a combination of indoor and outdoor ability), and also for
general use back home. We really don't want an SLR type camera just
a point and shoot that takes great photos indoors and outdoors! Does
this exist?
Click to expand...
No, it doesn't exit. If any existed, everybody would own at least one...
--
djotai

Gallery : http://www.flickr.com/photos/djotai/
 
You may like the Canon A630/640. Doesn't have the zoom, doesn't have stabilization, but takes great pictures and really requires no post processing. It also does have the fun color accent feature (point the camera at a blue sky and it keeps the sky blue, but the rest of the pic is B & W.) It's a point and shoot that you may like better.

I had the 630, but bought the Panasonic LX1 and like it better. I could get great pictures with the Canon very easily. However, I find that I can get fantastic pictures with the LX1 if I take the time to try and find its sweet spot in terms of exposure, etc. The Panasonic also has much better build quality and is more pocketable. The Canon's going on Ebay as I don't need two cameras and the Panasonic has won me over.

I think the Panasonics take fantastic pictures, but you have to work to find their "sweet spot" for every situation. The Canons (at least the A630/640, which have larger sensors than the A710, which I haven't tried) seem more forgiving.
 
Additionally, Panasonics are generally not the best indoor cameras. Many like the Fuji's for indoor use, although they are not as good outdoors. The Canon A630, which I have and am soon selling, is fine - if unspectacular (which is about what one would expect from a compact like it) indoors.

As mentioned before, there is no perfect compact camera, although I have to say I'm really happy with the LX1, which is a very small camera that offers manual control (shutter/aperture priority) and TIFF/RAW shooting.
 
Cazza said:
I am totally at a loss when it comes to the total inability of
this camera to give any sort of half decent photo indoors.
Click to expand...
Look for some posts by John Reed. He has posted a number of indoor shoots of him and his friends/family taken with the TZ-3. John has shared his settings a number of times in the past. If memory servies, the key settings are Auto ISO and he uses the flash.

If you don't want to use the flash, then you might want to look at the Fuji F31. It only has a 3x zoom, but it will take better ambient light photos than the TZ-3. Many people here own a small Fuji as an indoor complement to their favorite Panny.
 
djotai

Thanks for your reply.
Here are some samples:



Out of the box settings. Face way overexposed.



EV -1/3, multiple metering. Colour is very washed out. The green is also totally wrong.

I have tried many different combinations and just when I think I have a setting that will work (ie spot metering, -2/3 EV) another sample shot turns out way off.

These are just samples of what I am trying to correct.
 
I have both the TZ3 and the A630. Given the choice of which camera to pick up and go out with, the TZ3 always wins. The combo of zoom range and wide angle. are very important considerations. Yes, the A630 gives nice results it doesn't go wide or long.

On indoor shots with the TZ3 like another poster said, let's see shots to help the process. The two things that I will use with the flash are auto ISO and baby mode if I know I need less flash.
AaronJB said:
You may like the Canon A630/640. Doesn't have the zoom, doesn't have
stabilization, but takes great pictures and really requires no post
processing. It also does have the fun color accent feature (point the
camera at a blue sky and it keeps the sky blue, but the rest of the
pic is B & W.) It's a point and shoot that you may like better.

I had the 630, but bought the Panasonic LX1 and like it better. I
could get great pictures with the Canon very easily. However, I find
that I can get fantastic pictures with the LX1 if I take the time to
try and find its sweet spot in terms of exposure, etc. The Panasonic
also has much better build quality and is more pocketable. The
Canon's going on Ebay as I don't need two cameras and the Panasonic
has won me over.

I think the Panasonics take fantastic pictures, but you have to work
to find their "sweet spot" for every situation. The Canons (at least
the A630/640, which have larger sensors than the A710, which I
haven't tried) seem more forgiving.
Click to expand...
--
terry
http://tbanet.zenfolio.com/
 
whoops,

I posted my last reply before getting through the thread. Again try auto or go to scene mode and try baby, it gets you less flash. On the colors, early on there was a thread by Packy ( who hasn't posted in a long time) about his flash settings where he moved the natural, std, vivid to get better color. I will try and look for those samples.
--
terry
http://tbanet.zenfolio.com/
 
yes indeed,

I used to own a Canon A620 and bought the Tizzy3, Indoor with Flash, the A620 knocked the Tz3 down. Tz flash color looks "very special old PALE" and pinkish :), I had to spend a week to decide what camera to keep and to sell, then I decided to keep the Tizzy because of you-know-what features and sacrifice in door capability. I am now taking a lot more day time out door photographs and thinking of on day when I have my wife's permission to have 2nd cam: the Fuji 31fd :)

Two pictures for your reference:

Same day, same subject (my daughter and my wife) my daughter has a bruise on her forehead when falling down from bed. Quite visible :)



 
Although I'm afraid this post does not add anything in solving your problem, I would completely agree about the terrible out off the box indoor results of the TZ3. My 4 year old Pentax Optio does a amazingly better job. I will read through the old posts and experiment. Please post results.
 
As Terry mentioned, definitely try the baby settings for flash use when the normal flash is too strong as I find it to be sometimes.

--
Hubert
 
I've been as big a supporter as anyone of the TZ3 and it's abilities for outdoor/vacation type shooting, and I've been able to do some nice indoor available light shots where the lighting/my hand-holding ability permitted, but the flash, to me, is underpowered for most any type indoor flash photography and, more importantly, I've never liked direct flash of any type, more specifically what is produced by any digicam's built-in flash, be it the TZ3, A600 series or anything else. If I need to shoot indoors with flash, my TZ3 stays in the bag and I use something more suitable for the task... my FZ50 and the Olympus FL50 flash.
 
Have you tried zooming in a little? I think the best portrait shots are usually taken around the 1.8-3x zoom range. It allows less light to hit the sensor => less likely to overexposure.
 
I keep hearing about how terrible the TZ3 is at indoor shots, but at least with flash shots, I just haven't had ANY problems, flesh always looks outstanding to my eyeball, not "blown-out" at all. Here's a recent shot, with ISO 125, no pp at all:



Outdoors with flash at ISO 100:



ISO 200:



ISO 500, 80% crop:



ISO 640, TeleMacro:



Maybe you're only talking about non-flash shots? I most always use the flash indoors for people shots. But if you are talking about flash shots, I don't see the issue you raised AT ALL with my camera. Maybe posting some samples would help focus in on what is really happening?
--
Just cruisin' ...



EffZeeThirty (Got the Gull), Trizzy, Foxy50
 
Here are some samples of what the camera is doing...



Forced ISO 100, STD, F4.1, 1/30, Auto White Balance
Indoors shot with Flash firing



Auto ISO (ISO 320), STD, F4.1, 1/30, Auto White Balance
Same Shot, just with Auto ISO
 
Thanho....

As a father of three daughters I need to warn you about something.

That little girl of yours is a real doll, and will probably be a handful when she is a teenager.

My advice.... make sure her boyfriends think her father is nuts.
It's always best if they fear you....
--
Marty
Panasonic FZ7, FZ20, FZ30
Olympus C7000
 
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