Pansoinc 12x zoom cameras

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

I am ready to get a new camera, and would like to here honest opinions.

--
Kicking STRONG, Olympus 2020Z~

'

ronxp2000 said:

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras
over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

Click to expand...

Well no 1 reason has to be the lens of the FZ10

• 12x compared to 10x (though the C765/770 extends to 14x but only at 2 mp)
• fast 2.8 aperture across the whole zoom range
• and last but not least, effective Image Stabilization

Apart from that the lastest C765/770 and FZ10 seem to come out pretty equal in reviews.

The C765/770 are smaller than the FZ10

The C765 is cheaper - but has no hotshoe

--
Regards
Lawrence

ronxp2000 said:

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras
over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

I am ready to get a new camera, and would like to here honest
opinions.

Click to expand...

• OIS (image stabilizer)!!!!
• High quality Leica 35-420mm lens
• Manual focus
• Build quality
• Looks and feels like a (D)SLR

Klaas

Opticaly Stabalized Leica 12x lens

--
adder

A few reasons (comparing FZ10 to Oly C-770):
1. FZ10 has wider wideangle (35 vs 38mm)
2. FZ10 has longer zoom (420mm vs 380mm)

3. FZ10 has O.I.S. (Min shutter speed for Oly 765 at full telephoto =1/400; for FZ10, 1/25, handheld)
4. FZ10 has larger LCD screen (2" vs 1.8")
5. FZ10 has faster lens (f2.8 vs f3.7 at full telephoto)
6. FZ10 has faster burst frame rate (4/sec vs. 2/sec)
7. Did I mention O.I.S.? Worth mentioning again.
--
John Reed

Panasonic DMC-FZ1 (w/FZ2 upgrade), Dusty Nikon CoolPix 4500

Did I mention OIS?

I certainly apprecaite the comments, thanks indeed.

Because when people see you with the FZ10, they assume you're a professional. LOL!!

Macro on FZ10 just BLOWS me away..

ronxp2000 said:

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras
over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

I am ready to get a new camera, and would like to here honest
opinions.

--
Kicking STRONG, Olympus 2020Z~

'

Click to expand...

--
Olympus C8080WZ, Panasonic FZ1K,FZ1/2S, FZ10K, Qimage, PSP 8.1
http://www.pbase.com/ramblin_mo/galleries

ronxp2000 said:

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras

Click to expand...

Currently, there is only one "Panasonic 12X 4MP camera" - the DMC-FZ10.

ronxp2000 said:

over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

Click to expand...

The major reason is the optical stabilizer. It will allow you to take hand-held pictures at shutter speeds that would otherwise require a tripod (or a beanbag).

That, combined with the f/2.8 aperture across the zoom range, helps eliminate jiggle that can ruin your photos.

There are some other, minor, advantages like a fuster (but shorter) burst, etc.

Other than that, the newer 7xx models have several advantages.

--
Read rhe unofficial FZ1 FAQ at fz1.alexoren.com

I prefer SD UltraII cards to XD used by Olympus.

I was about to buy the Oly 770 then someone on this forum suggested I take a closer look at FZ10 (whitch was never an option), so I did and despite the better review (especially the picturequality) for the 770 on the best swedish webphotodealer I found the benfits of the FZ10 to be more important for my needs.

Positives about Oly 770:
1. Good picturequality
2. Mpeg4
3. Size, many times its good with a small/light camera.

Positives about FZ10:
It's all in this thread!

Cheers

Sorry if I make a big deal out of this, but I HATE this kind of deceptive advertising.

The new Olympus cameras do NOT have 14x optical zoom, at any image size. All they are doing is cropping the center 2MP out of a 4MP image. You can do this with any digicam (the Oly just does it in camera, which is NOT an advantage ... I'd rather have the full 10x 4MP shot and be able to reframe slightly as I see fit).

This is just another cheap ploy that allows them to put a bigger "X" number on the camera to dupe unsuspecting consumers (I think Fuji does this as well by multiplying their optical x digital zoom and pasting ONLY that number on the side of their cameras).

OK, done venting, sorry.

Lawrencew said:

ronxp2000 said:

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras
over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

Click to expand...

Well no 1 reason has to be the lens of the FZ10

• 12x compared to 10x (though the C765/770 extends to 14x but only

at 2 mp)

• fast 2.8 aperture across the whole zoom range
• and last but not least, effective Image Stabilization

Apart from that the lastest C765/770 and FZ10 seem to come out
pretty equal in reviews.

The C765/770 are smaller than the FZ10

The C765 is cheaper - but has no hotshoe

--
Regards
Lawrence

Click to expand...

Christopher Kierkus said:

Sorry if I make a big deal out of this, but I HATE this kind of
deceptive advertising.

The new Olympus cameras do NOT have 14x optical zoom, at any image
size. All they are doing is cropping the center 2MP out of a 4MP
image. You can do this with any digicam (the Oly just does it in
camera, which is NOT an advantage ... I'd rather have the full 10x
4MP shot and be able to reframe slightly as I see fit).

Click to expand...

That not what I understood

The 14x optical zoom is true optical zoom, not digital zoom - but only at 2mp as I stated.

See http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/C765/C765A5.HTM

Quote

"C-765 offers a "Super Zoom" mode... What's different about the Super Zoom mode though, is that there's obviously some motion of the lens elements as you zoom from the normal maximum telephoto position to the "super tele" setting. My guess is that the C-765 uses a combination of cropping and optical zooming in its Super Zoom mode, to achieve a smooth 14x zoom range from wide-angle (where it uses the full sensor area, resampling the full frame to 1600x1200) to maximum telephoto (where it uses only the central 1600x1200 chunk of sensor pixels, but does no resampling)."

--
Regards
Lawrence

But lets do the math:

The ratio of 10x to 14x is 0.71 to 1.

Multiply the maximum resolution of the C765 and C770 (2288 x 1712) by that ratio.

You get:

2288 x 0.71 = 1625
1712 x 0.71 = 1216

Rounding it off, it equals 1600 x 1200.

My point is that any digicam could make this kind of claim of extra optical zoom.

For instance, working backward. Since the FZ10 delivers 2304 x 1728 resolution at 12x optical I could claim that at 1024x768 it delivers 12 x 2.25 (the ratio of 2304 to 1024 and 1728 to 768) = 27x optical zoom.

But I think a "27x optical zoom at 0.8MP mode" would be false advertising for the FZ10.

Lawrencew said:

Christopher Kierkus said:

Sorry if I make a big deal out of this, but I HATE this kind of
deceptive advertising.

The new Olympus cameras do NOT have 14x optical zoom, at any image
size. All they are doing is cropping the center 2MP out of a 4MP
image. You can do this with any digicam (the Oly just does it in
camera, which is NOT an advantage ... I'd rather have the full 10x
4MP shot and be able to reframe slightly as I see fit).

Click to expand...

That not what I understood
The 14x optical zoom is true optical zoom, not digital zoom - but
only at 2mp as I stated.

See http://www.imaging-resource.com/PRODS/C765/C765A5.HTM

Quote
"C-765 offers a "Super Zoom" mode... What's different about the
Super Zoom mode though, is that there's obviously some motion of
the lens elements as you zoom from the normal maximum telephoto
position to the "super tele" setting. My guess is that the C-765
uses a combination of cropping and optical zooming in its Super
Zoom mode, to achieve a smooth 14x zoom range from wide-angle
(where it uses the full sensor area, resampling the full frame to
1600x1200) to maximum telephoto (where it uses only the central
1600x1200 chunk of sensor pixels, but does no resampling)."

--
Regards
Lawrence

Click to expand...

Here are a couple shot handheld, one leaning and one sitting, both at 1/8sec. Both were shot with low sharpening in the camera and I haven't edited them, other than resizing. The spider was shot at 36mm and my daughter at around 200mm.

cheers,
Max





--

Max's Pictures and cameras: http://www.thelehmans.net/photo/ and http://www.thelehmans.net/gallery

I thoroughly understand what you are saying.

The point is that whilst the C765 clearly crops the image to 2 meg, it IS nevertheless deliverying 14x Optical zoom at the size - by moving the optics, not interpolating the sensor output.

I am just pointing that out - not trying to justify Olympus marketing claims - I can do the maths as well.

Regards
Lawrence

I'm an Oly fan. Loved my Olympus film camera. My adult daughter (a techie) really likes her older Oly digital. BUT... I'm researching my first digital camera purchase and I've decided I won't get an ultra zoom camera without image stabalization. I don't think you can get a decent image hand held at the far end of the zoom without IS. So I'm considering the Panasonic FZ10 (helluva lens!) and the Canon S1 (more refined in several respects). Hope this helps.... -AL

ronxp2000 said:

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras
over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

I am ready to get a new camera, and would like to here honest
opinions.

--
Kicking STRONG, Olympus 2020Z~

'

Click to expand...

ronxp2000 said:

Tell my why I'd want to choose any of the Panasonic 12X 4MP cameras
over Olympus 7xx series 10x optical zoom camereas

I am ready to get a new camera, and would like to here honest
opinions.

--
Kicking STRONG, Olympus 2020Z~

'

Click to expand...

Having 10x optical zoom is one thing...being able to use it effectively is another. That is why I decided to sell of my 10x optical zoom Olympus C750.

The question you should ask yourself is do you want to carry around a tripod all the time. This is because above 5x zoom getting a good & sharp handheld shots is almost impossible unless you have a very very steady hand! That is where Optical Image Stabilisastion(OIS) comes in. Read from many users that Panasonic FZ2 have MegaOIS that really works like a charm. You can handheld and zoom in at 12x and still get sharp pictures. This is partially help by the bright Leica lens that maintain F2.8 even at 12x Zoom!!!

I myself would prefer the FZ10 over the C750 because the FZ10 has full a manual focus ring on the lens barrel for manual focusing which so far all the Ultra Zoom model don't have.

I just try out the FZ10 the other day and I can't stress how great the Venus Engine are. My previous Olympus C750, once you snap a photo, it takes about 1/2 a second to 1 second for the picture to appear on the LCD and to be wriiten to the XD card. But on the FZ2 which utilise the Venus Engine, you don't get those lag at all....its instantaneous. Trust me that you will love the instant respond!

But you have to be careful about the noise level on the FZ10 which get preyty bad above ISO100. That said, most consumer point and shot have the same problem unless you get dSLR. So considering the price for the FZ10, its a steal provided you can overlook its weeknesses such as the poor low light performance.

Anna, you say the Canon is more refined, but it's also smaller, by far. I've decided that one reason why I seem to be getting more stable low-end performance from my new FZ10 than I get with my FZ1 is that the FZ10 is larger, and I have to hold it in a way that seems to make it more stable. I'm not sure the Canon is large enough to get a good grip on?

Second question: When you get your digital camera will you be changing your name? Maybe something like "Di Gital?"
--
Just let a smile be your umbrella!

John Reed

Panasonic Big and Lil Fluzis, Nikon Macromaker

I've found David Fong's guide to the FZ10 really useful at

http://www.users.bigpond.com/vkelim/DMCFZ10/

He links to a very good Japanese test site that compared various Ultra Zooms so you might find it helpful to compare those test results.

FWIW I think the FZ10 is underpriced ( the lens is unmatchable at the price ) and although it's not perfect , it's like having a complete 35mm camera kit in one small unit.