Compared to... Panasonic DMC-FZ20

For those of you considering upgrading from the the Panasonic FZ20, below you will find a studio comparison between the FZ30 and its predecessor. We have included samples for the lowest and highest ISO settings for each camera (80 and 400).

Studio scene comparison (@ ISO 80)

  • Panasonic DMC-FZ30: Aperture Priority mode, ISO 80, Default Image Parameters,
    Manual white balance, +0.66 EV
     
  • Panasonic DMC-FZ20: Aperture Priority mode, ISO 80, Default Image Parameters,
    Manual white balance, +0.66 EV
     
  • Lighting: Daylight simulation, >98% CRI
Panasonic DMC-FZ30
Panasonic DMC-FZ20
ISO 80, 1/40 sec, F5.6
ISO 80, 1/80 sec, F5.2
3,241 KB JPEG
2,047 KB JPEG
Noise, std dev: 2.9
Noise, std dev: 2.8

It's obvious from examination of FZ20 and FZ30 images that the image processing, tonal range, color and noise are almost identical, with the FZ30's larger files capturing noticeably more detail and offering slightly better edge-to-edge sharpness. If you downsample the FZ30 files to 5 megapixels or thereabouts you get images that look very similar to those from the FZ20, but with less noise.