Fz50 Upgrade

Hello Guys!!!

Is there any Upgrade of FZ50 Comming very soon ?

Regards
Ravi

..just released the fz18 & L10 , so we might have to wait a little bit . RonS

so .. do u know when will be the next announcment ??

I called Panasonic on Monday, and they wouldn't tell me anything. They said the FZ50 was still available (even on their website -- would I like to buy one?), even though some authorized dealers and other vendors are telling me it is becoming "discontinued". No word about forthcoming models either.

I also asked in the tech department about the possibility of a firmware update for the Venus III noise reduction, and was told that "the issue has been brought up".

And that's all he would say about that -- repeatedly.

Per http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/specs/Panasonic/

It has been 16 months since FZ50 was announced:

FZ50 announced July 19, 2006

FZ30 announced July 20, 2005

On the other hand, why should Panasonic come out with a replacement that is as physically large as the FZ50, which is as large as some DSLR? Seems to me a replacement camera for the FZ50 could use the smaller sensor used in the FZ18 and put it into a body style like the FZ50 but of the FZ18 body size. It would thus have the features many folks like that the FZ18 does not have (dual adjusting wheels, manual focus and manual zoom, and flip-out LCD). It might sell more than in the larger body. Or it might confuse the market and rob sales from the FZ18.

Would there be a noticable loss in IQ? Maybe, but would anyone be able to see the difference in prints at 16"x20" and smaller without a magnifying glass? According to dpreview, the average of horizontal and vertical resolution for the FZ50 is 1825. For the FZ18 the average of horizontal and vertical is 1625. Doing the math, a 20 inch wide print with the FZ18 could be a 22.5 inch wide print for the FZ50 and give the same lines per inch of print width.

But according cameralabs dot com the average of horizontal and vertical is 2100 for the FZ50 and 2000 for the FZ18 (these two cameras are very close). If this lab is right and dpreview is wrong, the 20 inch wide print with the FZ18 could be 21 inches wide with the FZ50. Who cares about the extra inch?

Personally I think they will stick to the larger body. But I know that Sony had a great camera in their R1 and did not bother to upgrade it. Panasonic may do likewise with their large body super zoom.

Panasonic is out of its rhythm with a successor to the FZ50. Why?

Could be coincidence, or business realities - manufacturing challenge, for instance.

Could be significant, though. Perhaps the upgrade will be a retooling, starting with the sensor and lens. Sensor could be larger, as could be the lens - wider, too.

I do not pretend to know, but it is curious that Panasonic has not yet introduced an FZ50 successor in time for the holiday shopping season at least. It strikes me that if improvements were merely incremental, Panasonic would have stuck with its rhythm and would have had the new version out before the holidays.

--
I appreciate this forum.
Say Hey

ravi_s_kumar said:

Is there any Upgrade of FZ50 Comming very soon ?

Click to expand...

Very soon? No, nothing has been announced.

It is very close now to Christmas shopping season so it seems unlikely that they would announce any more new cameras this year. The next big time period for announcements is at or before PMA (1/31 - 2/2).

As several people have already mentioned, the FZ-20, 30, and 50 announcements were in July. If an FZ-50 successor isn't seen in next summer's round of annoucements, then it might never come.

Fuji is late as well with the successor of the 9100/9600 (and the 6000/6500 too).
On the Fuji forum there was a rumour about a new model next year, who knows...

I think the lower prices of DSLRs makes these bridge cams less interesting.

An electronic store owner of 30+ years and a long time friend, dug and delved on my behalf as I was interested in this very subject and ready for an upgrade. His reliable sources informed him that the FZ50 would only be replaced with a new line, and not til around April 2008 sometime.

He was accurate and forthright before the FZ50 was announced in August 2006 with important details of the FZ30 replacement , so I have no reason to doubt him now. However, there are no details given other than a new line and an approximate date of the new line, unlike the last time.

Roger

--



If everything is coming your way, you're in the wrong lane !

Panasonic FZ50 and TZ3

It's all very interesting to me...both from the photo hobby and business viewpoints. One thing to consider, for all manufacturers, is the market. Still growing, the digital camera market is probably not growing as fast as it has in the past. Further, fragments of the market have different growth rates. Digital SLRs have picked up sales growth, perhaps at the expense of the point and shoot digitals. Cameras like the FZ50 and FZ18 seem to straddle those two markets and may or may not benefit from market trends.

As the growth rate slows, and as the currency of a major market such as the U.S. becomes less desirable for a while, manufacturers may not be in a rush to introduce new models. And their previous trend/pattern/'rhythm' will change.

john

jmgiv said:

It's all very interesting to me...both from the photo hobby and
business viewpoints. One thing to consider, for all manufacturers,
is the market. Still growing, the digital camera market is probably
not growing as fast as it has in the past. Further, fragments of the
market have different growth rates. Digital SLRs have picked up
sales growth, perhaps at the expense of the point and shoot digitals.
Cameras like the FZ50 and FZ18 seem to straddle those two markets and
may or may not benefit from market trends.

As the growth rate slows, and as the currency of a major market such
as the U.S. becomes less desirable for a while, manufacturers may not
be in a rush to introduce new models. And their previous
trend/pattern/'rhythm' will change.

john

Click to expand...

John, I think your absolutely right on this. Companies are interested in SALES, not necessarily producing a top-of-the-line product. The market is getting a little more saturated with cameras, and specialty cameras like the FZ50 fill a relatively small niche in that market. While it might be possible to create the "ultimate FZ" it might not be PROFITABLE -- and that's the bottom line.

Olympus discontinued the c-2100UZ in favor of reducing features (like IS) on their followup cameras (which was a real mystery to me). The newer ones weren't necessarily BETTER, just different. Let's hope that Panansonic doesn't follow the same way.

If they could come out with a better sensor and keep the same configuration, they'd have the HOT TICKET. But whether it would be competitively priced (and therefore profitable) is a real question.

Well, maybe panasonic is finding it hard to improve the FZ50.

I just wish the FZ70 eventually has the following features:

1. Low noise up to ISO 800 without visible Noise reduction artifacts such as colour bleeding - greater choice of NR levels.

2. New zoom lense 28 mm - 500mm like FZ18.

3. Improved electronic view finder. Sharper and brighter image!

4. No Price hike (around 600 €)

Those are my hopes. It might be possible.

Kikl

and improved af speed for action shots

Also add a manual focus scale in feet and meters in the EVF like Sony has on their H1, H5, H7, and H9. If Sony can do it why can't mighty Panasonic? It is only software so would be cheap to add and the failure to have a distance scale was one of the complaints of the dpreview review.

Even nicer would be a "real" manual focus with distances including an infinity mark on the lens focusing ring, but maybe that is not possible for this Leica zoom lens.

I agree about a better EVF. I have posted many times they need a better histogram, perhaps the choice in the menu of either the classic histogram or a super histogram.

A super histogram would include a range extension of the scale at both the left and right margins. Any pixels falling out of range to the left would show as blue bars, and any out beyond the right limit (these are blown highlights) would show as red bars. That is what Olympus did on their C7000 several years ago. Also nice would be to have the live display show blown highlights in bright red and underexposed shadows in bright blue. Again, Olympus did that in their C7000 years ago. It is just software, not hardware. No unit cost, just the cost to write and then test the software code. Olympus has already done it, just buy it from them.

The three big digital camera markets are P&S, Bridge, and DSLR.

The P&S market will always be big because of cost/size/weight/ease of use. Nothing will touch them for volume and the market never shrinks much because they are cheap enough for most customers to replace "last years model" with the latest and greatest.

The Bridge cameras emerged because DSLR's were just too expensive for many and people wanting DSLR like capabilities were willing to make compromises on other things for a product that was DSLR like but affordable. The FZ-50 is about as DSLR like as you can get and other than EVF and Sensor size there is not a lot of compromise there. Now that DSLR prices are dropping and Panasonic is now in the DSLR market, we may see fewer products like the FZ-50 and more like the FZ-18.

DSLR's are now becoming quite affordable and although system costs will be greater (as would quality) the low end of the DSLR market is overlapping with the high end of the Bridge market and there are likely to be casualties.

--
Regards
Jim

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jimboutilier/

Jim Boutilier said:

The Bridge cameras emerged because DSLR's were just too expensive for
many and people wanting DSLR like capabilities were willing to make
compromises on other things for a product that was DSLR like but
affordable. The FZ-50 is about as DSLR like as you can get and other
than EVF and Sensor size there is not a lot of compromise there. Now
that DSLR prices are dropping and Panasonic is now in the DSLR
market, we may see fewer products like the FZ-50 and more like the
FZ-18.

DSLR's are now becoming quite affordable and although system costs
will be greater (as would quality) the low end of the DSLR market is
overlapping with the high end of the Bridge market and there are
likely to be casualties.

Click to expand...

Responding a few months late, but the topic is still relevant. For me at least, the reasons to avoid SLR/DSLR was not merely the cost but also "bulk", in particular the need to carry around a few lenses and other attachments. So all-in-one design of a bridge camera is attractive in itself, quite independently of the price issue.

Looking at FZ-50, what stops me from buying it absence of real wide angle. So 28mm or wider start would top my wish list for FZ-60. Lighter is of course better, but I could live with FZ-50 if it had the wide angle.

Well here we are! April 2008! I hope to see a new FZ Series Panasonic soon!

I'm the proud owner of the FZ20, and have been since it was first announced. When I bought it, I told myself that I would wait three years and purchase the next FZ series to replace it. Unfortunately, the FZ60 (or FZ70) didn't come out in July last year, and I've been waiting patiently (sometimes impatiently lol) ever since.

In comparing the image quality of the FZ20 vs FZ50, it's no secret that the larger sensor in the FZ50 is producing much higher quality images at higher ISO. Most (90%) of my photography is done in "fairly good" lighting conditions, so a high ISO setting is usually not a concern, but it would be nice to still be able to capture fairly good images up to 400-800 ISO, without having to purchase an DSLR. The FZ20's pictures are almost unusable above 200 ISO...

Many rumors are floating around saying that the FZ50 is soon to be discontinued, but no news of a replacement. I'm almost tempted of purchasing a FZ50 right away before they run out, but at the same time, I would literaly kick myself if a FZ60 (or FZ70) would come out only a few weeks later.

If the unthinkable happens, and Panasonic decides to discontinue its FZ series completely, is there another camera, of another brand, that would come close in terms of pricing, image quality and features (400+ mm, 10+M Pixels, Hot Shoe, IS, sensor dimension)?

Shaun

shaundai said:

Well here we are! April 2008! I hope to see a new FZ Series
Panasonic soon!

I'm the proud owner of the FZ20, and have been since it was first
announced. When I bought it, I told myself that I would wait three
years and purchase the next FZ series to replace it. Unfortunately,
the FZ60 (or FZ70) didn't come out in July last year, and I've been
waiting patiently (sometimes impatiently lol) ever since.

In comparing the image quality of the FZ20 vs FZ50, it's no secret
that the larger sensor in the FZ50 is producing much higher quality
images at higher ISO. Most (90%) of my photography is done in
"fairly good" lighting conditions, so a high ISO setting is usually
not a concern, but it would be nice to still be able to capture
fairly good images up to 400-800 ISO, without having to purchase an
DSLR. The FZ20's pictures are almost unusable above 200 ISO...

Many rumors are floating around saying that the FZ50 is soon to be
discontinued, but no news of a replacement. I'm almost tempted of
purchasing a FZ50 right away before they run out, but at the same
time, I would literaly kick myself if a FZ60 (or FZ70) would come out
only a few weeks later.

If the unthinkable happens, and Panasonic decides to discontinue its
FZ series completely, is there another camera, of another brand, that
would come close in terms of pricing, image quality and features
(400+ mm, 10+M Pixels, Hot Shoe, IS, sensor dimension)?

Shaun

Click to expand...

Dude, don't let the fear of making a wrong decision stop you from buying a new camera. A few months back I was thinking like you but I realized I'm using a pocket digital and any of the two would be an upgrade.

If I bought an FZ50 and a newer model came out I could simply wait a year or two until the price drops for the newer model. Fact is, I'll be using a better camera than what I already have.

The FZ50 would still be a better (price) deal than what a new model would cost.
--
playing photographer since 2006 -> DMC-LZ2 -> http://www.ravalonline.com

You might want to take a look at the new Fuji F100FS. There has been a whole series of posts on the Fujifilm forum over the past several weeks.
The dpreview report should be coming out in the next week or so.

aktchi said:

Looking at FZ-50, what stops me from buying it absence of real wide
angle. So 28mm or wider start would top my wish list for FZ-60.
Lighter is of course better, but I could live with FZ-50 if it had
the wide angle.

Click to expand...

There is a solution that I use now and then to get wider angle. If you need wide angle on rare occassions and need it for landscapes, here is what I suggest and do my self. For a horizontal shot, I rotate my canera into portrait and take two shots adjacent to each other. I then stitch them together with Panorama Maker. The result is astounding in sharpness and has plenty of "wide angle". Sure, it is inconvenient to take two shots and then stitch but there is a reward for this extra effort. The resulting image is much sharper than it would have been if the camera had a wider angle lens because it has far more pixels. Thus for a print one need not enlarge it as much. I sometimes go even further than taking two vertical shots. I take 4 in a grid pattern and stitch them together and after trimming my 4, 7.2 meg images become 13 to 16 meg.

Thus for me my reason for waiting for an improved FZ50 is not because i want a wider angle lens. I do not want to order now and then feel like a fool should they come out with a superior model with newer technology in the near future, perhaps having what I most want (a focus scale or infinity focus button or both).

It is sad that Panasonic's silence on whether this camera will be replaced or not puts so many of us on hold and in pure agony. My hope is their having NOT said the camera will not be replaced is a sign that it will be. After all, if they knew it would not be replaced the smart thing for them to do would be to issue a press release saying so thereby causing a break in the logjam of folks waiting and it would cause a rush to buy the current ones in the marketing channels. But sadly not all companies are logical.