Lens softness - Is this normal? - FZ330

I bought an FZ330 in spring. I sent it to Panasonic's UK service centre shortly after because of vignetting at wide angles on the left hand side of the frame. They said it was in spec but changed the lens anyway. When I got it back there was a scratch on the lens barrel and there was dirt inside the lens so I sent it straight back. When I got it back the second time they'd made it look like new again but I've never been really satisfied with the lens sharpness. It still vignettes and the shots are soft on the left hand side at most focal lengths. To help me decide whether to risk sending it back again I wanted to ask other FZ330/FZ300 users if their cameras are like this. These shots were done handheld in my kitchen earlier. Not a great test I know but the best I could manage today in dull light without my tripod. What do you think, put up with it or send it back again?


25mm - vignetting on the left and soft on the left


28mm - the vignetting is clearing up but it's still soft on the left


35mm


50mm


70mm


90mm

And just for fun I took a quick shot with my Nokia 3 phone. Apart from the strange distortions in the bottom left corner it has a more even sharpness across the frame I think.


28mm-ish - Nokia 3 phone for comparison

Here are some real world samples. Can other FZ300/FZ330 users have a look please and tell me if this is normal? Not great shots I know, just tests straight out of the camera.


Centre and right look fine but the left is soft. At 100% view the chimney and the grass to the left look mushy.


At 100% there is no detail at the sides but the left is worse. I expected better at f4.


again soft on the left. zoom in on the moss.


a bit soft on the left. 25mm equivalent and f4


this one is soft on the right. 35mm equivalent at f4

Unfortunately, trying to judge sharpness or resolution with random targets won't necessarily tell you the full story, as they have no reference.

I would suggest you download a copy of the standard ISO 12233 chart to use as a target. Print it out on a GOOD printer. Be sure when you print it out, that the result is nice and crisp or you won't be able to tell if your results are a poor camera or poor printing.


Set your camera to f/2.8 or f/4, ISO 100, stabilization off, +1EV. Use a tripod. Be square to the chart. If you don't have a remote shutter cord, use the self timer to eliminate any camera shake.

Your camera's native aspect ratio is 4:3. So fill your viewfinder so the edges align with the 4:3 arrows on the chart.



Next, check the fine lines exiting the center square. They are 2000 lines/per vertical height. (the numbers refer to LPVH x 100). Your camera should be able to resolve the 9 lines and spaces as your camera should be able to see around 2143 LPVH. It will be pretty close.



Next, since you missed the corner targets, reset your aspect ratio to 3:2 so the corner targets are in view.

Position the camera so the 3:2 arrows fill the view finder.



Now examine the corner targets. The inner line sets are 1000 LPVH. Your camera in this aspect ratio should resolve 1900 LPVH so you should have no trouble resolving those lines.



You can look for softness and compare the 4 corners.

At least with this target, you have real numbers for resolution, and by using a standard target, you can compare results with other folks. It gives you a quantitative result. Random newsprint won't tell you if your camera is really performing to its expected limits.

I hope this helps answer your question, as you now have real numbers to work with.

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Jerry

I take Jerry's point about using a test chart if you want to know the absolute sharpness of your camera/lens, but your Nokia phone shot seems valid to me as a relative comparison. Here is a similar shot, this time with the FZ330, which is more of a like for like that I think you are looking for to do a relative comparison. This one was 25mm equivalent at f/2.8 (like your first example), but done on a tripod with a 10 second timer.

The newspaper wasn't completely flat on the wall btw. For example it bowed out along the bottom between the bottom left corner and the centre fold, which might confuse the issue a bit as to the poor looking bottom left hand corner. That apart though, I don't think it looks as bad on any of the edges or as asymmetrical as your example at these settings.





--
Nick
GardenersAssistant Photography Videos - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmBgEwRDfiQMYTPORSzDxvw

how big do you print it out ?

Don

Thank you very much Jerry, that's very helpful. Sadly my printer won't print larger than A4 and according to Google this needs to be 15.75×8.45 inches (400×240mm). I will endever to find a friend with a printer capable of printing A3. Thanks again.

arrow501 said:

Thank you very much Jerry, that's very helpful. Sadly my printer won't print larger than A4 and according to Google this needs to be 15.75×8.45 inches (400×240mm). I will endever to find a friend with a printer capable of printing A3. Thanks again.

Click to expand...

See if you can scale the output so the printer has to make multiple sheets that you can tape together to make a larger sheet.

The exact size of the test target is not important, as you adjust the camera to fill the viewfinder to the aspect ratio arrows to get the proper scale.

gardenersassistant said:

I take Jerry's point about using a test chart if you want to know the absolute sharpness of your camera/lens, but your Nokia phone shot seems valid to me as a relative comparison. Here is a similar shot, this time with the FZ330, which is more of a like for like that I think you are looking for to do a relative comparison. This one was 25mm equivalent at f/2.8 (like your first example), but done on a tripod with a 10 second timer.

The newspaper wasn't completely flat on the wall btw. For example it bowed out along the bottom between the bottom left corner and the centre fold, which might confuse the issue a bit as to the poor looking bottom left hand corner. That apart though, I don't think it looks as bad on any of the edges or as asymmetrical as your example at these settings.



--
Nick
http://www.flickr.com/photos/gardenersassistant/collections/
GardenersAssistant Photography Videos - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmBgEwRDfiQMYTPORSzDxvw
https://www.talkphotography.co.uk/t...-dslr-primes-a-journey-of-exploration.531050/

Click to expand...

Thank you very much for taking the time to do that. Yes yours has much more even sharpness across the frame than mine. I've got my tripod back so I will do some more tests.

I would send it straight back with a strong letter of complaint, that vignetting would bug the cr*p out of me, the picture should be just that: `Picture Perfect`