Lumix FZ1 samples (purple and green fringing)

Got my GZ1 a few days ago. Impression so far have been quite positive. Love the reach of the lens and the IS. Here are some sample shots I took under various conditions:

http://www.pbase.com/insane/gz

However, noticably purple fringing can be found in high contrast setting. Occasionally, I also got "green fringing" (see http://www.pbase.com/image/11204548 ).

Noise level seems a bit high on !SO 200 and up. Don't bother me much though.

I find the FZ1 to be a light and smart-looking camera. The IS seems to work OK.

Can't read the Japanese maual, so still playing around wiht the buttons and menus thru trial and error.

I have a feeling this will be a prefect complement to my Minolta 7i, which grows on me by the day.

Gus

Guslee

I did see some minor fringing in your shot, nothing to get alarmed about though. Generally it is a good camera for avoiding fringing considering the lens, better I would guess than the Olympus cameras. Looks like I may have to sell mine though to recuperate my vacation overexpenditures. Between it and the d30 I just can't part with the d30, as much as I like the FZ1

Rich

Rich,

As suggested, I am not too concerned about the purple fringling. Have never seen green fringing before though. That said, the problem is minor and don't bother me one bit. The other pluses far outweight the minor imperfection.

Between D30 and GZ1, of course it makes sense to keep the former. Better yet, think about selling some of the shots you got from the D30 and keep the GZ1 for the days you feel like travelling light.

Happy shooting

Gus

(it pasts 2 AM in Hong Kong and I better go to bed now. Talk to you)

... is IMO



Go ahead with this quality of photography and do not care about a little bit more or less technical peanuts ;-)

Regards - Martin

Look at all that noise... Same as LC5....

Best regards,

Philippe.

Thanks for your good selection of shots. I'm sure as you use the camera more and more the number of keepers will rise. I found myself on the third day of using it finally feeling really comfortable and getting the results I expected. And please be sure to always hold the camera as solidly as you can, i.e. with your elbows braced against your chest, etc. The IS is good, but it helps to keep the camera as stable as possible. I have a copy of the manual here so let me know if you'd like to know about any of the features. (I can read Japanese)

--
Jeff-at-work (LC-5,S602,S2)

I'm not entirely sure about this camera. I see alot of variance in the picture quality from one person's pictures to the next. The pictures that I've seen on some web site, as well as the ones that Rich put up himself, looked impressive for the most part. I don't mean to offend, but the pictures you posted (aside from the one of you holding the lamp in your hand) did not look good. They all looked uniformly noisy and dirty, and most looked out of focus. I don't think it was the lighting, nor do I think it was the photographer since the camera is mostly all automatic. I would dare say your camera might even be defective. I just hope that your pictures are not a more 'true' representation of what this model delivers, as I would have to rethink getting one once they come out in February....

Keep us updated when you get a little more familiar with this camera (try some lower ISO settings). Maybe you can post some more samples as we get closer to the release of this camera in the US?

-Erik

Erik

I took pains to try and shoot as many of my shots at ISO50 as possible. I've only looked at a couple of his shots so far but I notice that he seems to do a lot of "people" pictures. People tend to move around (a lot) faster than plants or buildings, which may account for some of his out-of-focus shots or his having to use higher ISO settings to get a faster shutter speed. That almost negates the use of the IS feature, I found that it works great if your subject isn't moving - I could get away with 1/20 sec shutter speeds many times handheld.

Rich

Rich,

So according to your experience, the FZ-1 may not be a good choice for sports pictures because of moving objects and long zoom?

I would like to hope that under decent lighting conditions (most of guslee's images look gray under overcast conditions; or air polution?), decent sports images such as weekend softfall and soccer games should be achieveable.

Maybe either of you could try something like that and let the rest of know your own experience and show the results. Actually come to think of it, it might be helpful to show a good image next to a bad but similar image and explain what might have went wrong with the bad one (or went right with the good one).

Harry

Rich said:

Erik

I took pains to try and shoot as many of my shots at ISO50 as
possible. I've only looked at a couple of his shots so far but I
notice that he seems to do a lot of "people" pictures. People tend
to move around (a lot) faster than plants or buildings, which may
account for some of his out-of-focus shots or his having to use
higher ISO settings to get a faster shutter speed. That almost
negates the use of the IS feature, I found that it works great if
your subject isn't moving - I could get away with 1/20 sec shutter
speeds many times handheld.

Rich

Click to expand...

--
Harry

Erik Hejl said:

I'm not entirely sure about this camera. I see alot of variance in
the picture quality from one person's pictures to the next. The
pictures that I've seen on some web site, as well as the ones that
Rich put up himself, looked impressive for the most part. I don't
mean to offend, but the pictures you posted (aside from the one of
you holding the lamp in your hand) did not look good. They all
looked uniformly noisy and dirty, and most looked out of focus. I
don't think it was the lighting, nor do I think it was the
photographer since the camera is mostly all automatic. I would
dare say your camera might even be defective. I just hope that
your pictures are not a more 'true' representation of what this
model delivers, as I would have to rethink getting one once they
come out in February....
Keep us updated when you get a little more familiar with this
camera (try some lower ISO settings). Maybe you can post some more
samples as we get closer to the release of this camera in the US?

-Erik

Click to expand...

Thanks to all for the comments and pointers.

I will defintely go out and try this camera more whenever I have a chance this weekend, and will share my experiece here (laterly, I was snowed under at work and could only check this site just now. Sorry for not responding earlier).

The album psoted was indeed shot mostly in hazy and/or dim condition (probably pollution. It could get quite bad some days in Southern China).

Another possible problem is with the photogrpaher. The 420mm zoom is a new toy to me. So I almost used the longest zoom exclusively regardless of the need or condition. This could explain the poor quality in many of these shots posted.

I figure this camera can be great for people's shots. Its small size, and its non-threatening appearance, plus the reach of its lens, could really allow me to get candid shots of people up close (provided I can eventually master the skill) without scaring my subjects away. This is one area I would love to learn to do with this (and smart looking) little camera.

Next time out, I will try to use a monopole if I could, and hope this can eliminate one possible fault - unsteady hands, and will see what comes out from this camera then. Will also try some fixed object to elminate motio blurs casued by the objects

Btw, I just found out this camera can do in-camera editing. I can downsize or crop images after that have been taken in order to save on card storage space. A feature that will come in handy when running low on space on the SD card.

Gus

Jeffrey Knapp said:

Thanks for your good selection of shots. I'm sure as you use the
camera more and more the number of keepers will rise. I found
myself on the third day of using it finally feeling really
comfortable and getting the results I expected. And please be sure
to always hold the camera as solidly as you can, i.e. with your
elbows braced against your chest, etc. The IS is good, but it helps
to keep the camera as stable as possible. I have a copy of the
manual here so let me know if you'd like to know about any of the
features. (I can read Japanese)

--
Jeff-at-work (LC-5,S602,S2)

Click to expand...

Jeff,

Thanks for the encouragement.

May I pick your brain on the difference between the setting of "red heart" vs the "red camera" on the dial. So far, I have been using the "red camera" setting almost exclusively.

For people shots (the objects are often on the move, e.g. walking), should I use the sports mode instead (the symbol in white with a guy running)?

Any way to manaully focus this guy?

Gus

Erik Hejl said:

I'm not entirely sure about this camera. I see alot of variance in
the picture quality from one person's pictures to the next.

Click to expand...

thats the only thing holding me back, i already have a 2mp canon and i would like to take a step up in image quality. i've never had the type of noise showing up that i see in a lot of the fz1's iso50 pictures. think i'll be waiting around till spring to see what other companies will be releasing, like fuji with their new ccd, before i decide.

guslee said:

May I pick your brain on the difference between the setting of "red
heart" vs the "red camera" on the dial. So far, I have been using
the "red camera" setting almost exclusively.

Click to expand...

Hookay, the red heart is the "simple" mode, which is the same as "Full Auto" on most consumer dcams. It takes over control of all the settings and does what it thinks is best. Notice that the selections in the menu will be reduced to just a few settings - White balance, ISO, etc. are all controlled by the camera. The manual says you have 1600 x 1200 (fine) available too. Red camera is "Program" mode and brings back a full set of options/settings. I also prefer Program mode, though I must admit the Heart mode works very well most of the time (Rich says this too.) - though you can't use spot metering.

guslee said:

For people shots (the objects are often on the move, e.g. walking),
should I use the sports mode instead (the symbol in white with a
guy running)?

Click to expand...

Depends on the effect you want. If you want to get the highest shutter speed possible and freeze EVERYthing, the running guy is good. But if you want to get the subject in focus and blur the background (called "motion blur") by panning with the subject, the car symbol is good. You'll need to be sure you have a lot of light (i.e. a shutter speed over 1/100th) to use the car symbol, but the effect is really cool if you get it right. You can also use continuous shooting with these modes, so even if you miss one, you may get a few others right. You can practice on passing streetcars, bicycles, to see how you like it.

guslee said:

Any way to manaully focus this guy?

Click to expand...

None. (In the next version?) Hope this helps.

guslee said:

Gus

Click to expand...

--
At-home-in-Osaka

snap137237 said:

Erik Hejl said:

I'm not entirely sure about this camera. I see alot of variance in
the picture quality from one person's pictures to the next.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

snap137237 said:

thats the only thing holding me back, i already have a 2mp canon
and i would like to take a step up in image quality. i've never
had the type of noise showing up that i see in a lot of the fz1's
iso50 pictures. think i'll be waiting around till spring to see
what other companies will be releasing, like fuji with their new
ccd, before i decide.

Click to expand...

I understand your concerns. Since the FZ1 will be out soon in the US and Europe, please wait until we see some thorough reviews before deciding. It's very tough for an amateur weekend-only shooter to give you a true idea of what the camera can do in just a few days. And even if the camera is the most technically advanced in the world, until the person using it really gets used to it, they can't show you its potential. My shots are at: http://www.pbase.com/fujioriginals/fz1_samples Hope this helps.
--
At-home-in-Osaka

guslee said:

Another possible problem is with the photogrpaher. The 420mm zoom
is a new toy to me. So I almost used the longest zoom exclusively
regardless of the need or condition. This could explain the poor
quality in many of these shots posted.

Click to expand...

This could explain the high quantity of 'out of focus' shots. I have read that the cameras AF is weak at the telephoto end of it's zoom range.

guslee said:

Next time out, I will try to use a monopole if I could, and hope
this can eliminate one possible fault - unsteady hands, and will
see what comes out from this camera then. Will also try some fixed
object to elminate motio blurs casued by the objects

Click to expand...

The image stabilization should rule out any shakey hands for the most part. Anways, keep experimenting and let us see what you get.

--
Find a job you like doing, and you'll never have to work a day in your life.

guslee said:

For people shots (the objects are often on the move, e.g. walking),
should I use the sports mode instead (the symbol in white with a
guy running)?

Click to expand...

Using the sports mode most likely cranks up the ISO speed higher than need be, and would cause the excessive grain we've been seeing in your shots.

--
Find a job you like doing, and you'll never have to work a day in your life.

Have you considered selling your shots to Panasonic form them to use as samples? Especially the butterfly pictures - your shots are really showing off the potential of this camera. I'm totally serious about selling some to Panasonic...

jeff-at-work said:

I understand your concerns. Since the FZ1 will be out soon in the
US and Europe, please wait until we see some thorough reviews
before deciding. It's very tough for an amateur weekend-only
shooter to give you a true idea of what the camera can do in just a
few days. And even if the camera is the most technically advanced
in the world, until the person using it really gets used to it,
they can't show you its potential. My shots are at:
http://www.pbase.com/fujioriginals/fz1_samples Hope this helps.
--
At-home-in-Osaka

Click to expand...

yes, i saw your photos and they are nice but i was basing what i wrote on all the japanese reviews and personal photos i've seen. ultimately i am going to wait till some english reviews are posted and more owners post before i decide.

some concerns are the resolution, one example was a photo of a white bird in motion, at full zoom, iso400 and its feathers were all blurred so all that was seen was white, no detail. i may be expecting too much.

also in this photo, black spots and white streaks in the photo, maybe dust, does the lense get dirty easy?



larger pic can be found here
http://arena.nikkeibp.co.jp/rev/camera/20021107/102665/

Harry

Oh man, the holidays are over now and I just don't have time to do much experimenting. In fact I'm thinking about selling the FZ1 since I'm just using the d30 so much more now (not that the FZ1 is a bad camera, not at all ). As fast as the FZ1 is for a consumer digicam, it's still not d30 quick, if you want a good camera for sporting events or fast moving kids an SLR is the only feasible route I would think at this point.

Rich

Well, some of his pictures looked noisy but others were fine, I'm not sure what caused this. I didn't find noise to be a problem on my (and Jeff's) FZ1, there is some there but considering the high density of the sensor I don't think it's bad at all at ISO50, I think the one comment about it resembling the LC5 is way off, there's no comparison. I still have a number up at

http://pbase.com/richtrav/fz1pics

nearly all are at ISO50, a few were done at higher settings just to test it.

Rich