Good Results Require Understanding

[Under the Anvil]

This camera tends to get a bad rap because some people buy it thinking it's a simple point and shoot, but it's actually a feature-packed compact camera that requires knowledge of basic camera elements such as aperture and shutter speed to get the most out of it.

Results in low light are not great no matter how it's approached. They can be on the verge of great if you use slow shutter speeds and low ISO levels, but that isn't practical when trying to hold the camera and snap pics. I mostly keep the ISO level limited to 800. I'm guessing ISO levels above that yield poor results in low light because of the 1/2.3" sensor.

When the aperture is opened all the way ( f/3.3 ) and you try to shoot something like a landscape, the edge of images can appear soft/out of focus. If you shoot a landscape or any other scene where you want everything in focus, it's best to set the aperture to f/8. The entire image will be less sharp, but it's a more consistent focus throughout the image.

Zooming in on things yields awesome results.

There's a night mode that allows the shutter to be open for up to 60 seconds.

There's tons of options and lots of different ways to approach what you're aiming for.

Here's a couple shots in a lower light setting I snapped while holding the camera:

 

[windmillgolfer]

Consensus over the past several years of TZ/ZS small sensor models, is to use the wide open for optimum balance on IQ. DOF on small sensor cameras is very deep even at f3.3 and light gathering is maximised. Of course, once zooming in from 24/25mm, the aperture quickly reduces.

--
Stuart
Latest uploads
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G80 images
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Aurora Borealis https://www.flickr.com/photos/dieselgolfer/albums/72157663549812064

 

[Under the Anvil]

Here's a few more shots at full zoom:

 

[Jon_T]

This camera tends to get a bad rap because some people buy it thinking it's a simple point and shoot, but it's actually a feature-packed compact camera that requires knowledge of basic camera elements such as aperture and shutter speed to get the most out of it. ....

Agree ... made a similar post awhile back to a ZS50 user's post HERE.

Results in low light are not great no matter how it's approached. They can be on the verge of great if you use slow shutter speeds and low ISO levels, ...

Using RAW 'can' help improve IQ with lower light/ higher ISO shooting conditions as the Panasonic's in-camera JPG Noise Reduction increasingly smears fine details as ISO increases with all the Panasonic cameras -- just read users' posts and online reviews.

In the "ZS60. DPR Samples Gallery is Up. Comments?" topic HERE, and look at posts by "cainn24" myself as to difference RAW can make compared to ZS60 JPG images posted by DPR.

FYI some ZS50 1600 ISO processed RAW images; all handheld; EXIF Data in images.

Pics from a cheerleader national championship. All handheld, 1/125 shutter may not been fast enough to prevent movement blur but was limited as to keep ISO at 1600.











--

Taken at restaurant with low lighting 1600 ISO; exposed to prevent blown highlights; RAW PP allowed greater highlight/ shadow recovery than possible with JPG image.





Cheers,
Jon

 

[Under the Anvil]

This camera tends to get a bad rap because some people buy it thinking it's a simple point and shoot, but it's actually a feature-packed compact camera that requires knowledge of basic camera elements such as aperture and shutter speed to get the most out of it. ....

Agree ... made a similar post awhile back to a ZS50 user's post HERE.

I'll check that out.

Results in low light are not great no matter how it's approached. They can be on the verge of great if you use slow shutter speeds and low ISO levels, ...

Using RAW 'can' help improve IQ with lower light/ higher ISO shooting conditions as the Panasonic's in-camera JPG Noise Reduction increasingly smears fine details as ISO increases with all the Panasonic cameras -- just read users' posts and online reviews.

Yea, I see less splotching with the NR at -5, so I'm keeping it set to that. What I dislike most with low light / high ISO ( 1600, 3200 ) images with this camera is how much the color can be muted. I've only dabbled with RAW, so I'll be looking into it more.

In the "ZS60. DPR Samples Gallery is Up. Comments?" topic HERE, and look at posts by "cainn24" myself as to difference RAW can make compared to ZS60 JPG images posted by DPR.

FYI some ZS50 1600 ISO processed RAW images; all handheld; EXIF Data in images.

Pics from a cheerleader national championship. All handheld, 1/125 shutter may not been fast enough to prevent movement blur but was limited as to keep ISO at 1600.

I'll check this out too.

 

[Under the Anvil]

I just wanted to add how I like to use this camera.

I use aperture priority mode and spot metering most of the time because I can influence the ISO/shutter speed of the image by changing the location of the spot meter/focal point.

If I want the spot meter to be in one position and the focal point to be in a different position, that's not possible, but I achieve something similar by using touch AE. I can position the AE cross-hair where I would want the spot meter to be, then, I'm free to position the focal point anywhere in the frame.

 

[Jon_T]

... Yea, I see less splotching with the NR at -5, so I'm keeping it set to that. What I dislike most with low light / high ISO ( 1600, 3200 ) images with this camera is how much the color can be muted. I've only dabbled with RAW, so I'll be looking into it more.

Staying on your topic "Good Results Require Understanding":

Cameras with the small 1/2.3" sensors and long zooms lenses with small max apertures like the ZS60, ZS70, FZ80, etc. are NOT the type of camera to buy for doing any
"... low light / high ISO ( 1600, 3200 ) ..." shooting.

Setting the JPG "... NR at -5 ..." not much help at at ISO's 1600+ due to the amount of sensor noise.

Below low a screen shot from the DPR Studio Scene Comparison Tool HERE showing the amount of image noise in RAW images (i.e., no JPG NR):



Can see from the above that at 1600+ ISO sensor image noise obliterating image's fine details. Just a reminder, noise 'reduction' is just that reduction - not removal.

The biggest gain in using JPG -NR setting is to use a good NR (e.g., Topaz Noise,
Neat Image, etc.) app to reduce noise while keeping as much of the image details as possible.

Very quick/ simple example with one of your posted images:




Your image with a little lighting adjustment and Neat Image.

When shooting low light/ high ISO's try to avoid underexposure as underexposure will increase image noise. Better to slightly overexpose, ETTR, (without overexposing highlights), then adjust highlights, shadows, WB, and NR to personal tastes by post processing image with photo editing app.

In low light/ 1600+ ISO's lighting conditions, even with the much larger 1"-Type Sensor cameras quite challenging to get good JPG image quality.

Cheers,
Jon