Comment by Jason

September 4, 2006 @ 5:27 pm

If they announced this model 2 months earlier, I would have bought this instead of FZ30.

Comment by kris

September 4, 2006 @ 5:37 pm

i agree that they should work on the iso before introducing more models. Mine is the FZ7 and though noise level turn bad at ISO 100 i still find the night shots acceptable.

Comment by ShaolinTiger

September 4, 2006 @ 5:49 pm

Jason: Don’t worry, think of all the shots you might have missed whilst waiting for the next model. The fact is there will always be a next model, like me I just bought D70s..now September 1st Nikon released the D80, but I don’t regret, just like mine yours is still a great cam right?

Kris: Yah I bought my Mom the TZ-1 and there is sometimes even noise in the shadows at ISO80..other than that it’s really a fantastic camera and a great technical acheivement, I don’t know why they don’t invest more R&D in the noise issue!

Comment by Albert Ng

September 4, 2006 @ 6:05 pm

The FZ7’s ISO800 and ISO1600 (and anything around that generation of Panasonics) use pixel binning, an ugly upsampled effect that gives silky pictures but very low detail. Don’t know if the FZ50 fixes that. If they do, and fix the slow manual focus ring and the slow continuous autofocus (especially so in video) it could beat the Fujifilm S9500. ’sides the S9500 has ISO1600 with more detail and zippy CAF even when following motorsports events at full tele; makes it a better faux-videocam-with-manual-zoom-ring.

Comment by ShaolinTiger

September 4, 2006 @ 6:13 pm

Albert: Yah I agree, still I don’t think you can beat Fuji SuperCCD technology, check out their ISO performance on the new F30, it can compete with SLRs. I do like the Sony H5 aswell for this type of camera, and the Canon S3 IS would be great if it wasn’t for some serious problems with chromatic abberation.

Comment by Intensecure

September 4, 2006 @ 8:36 pm

I also use the FZ30, and it is a great digicam, but oh boy, the noise over 100ISO is way unacceptable. A copy of Neat Image or similiar is very necessary!
However, I think that it is an awesome camera to use - great controls, superb build quality, quiet, and need I mention the 12x Leica zoom - and it stopped me blowing my entire budget on lenses and accessories (I got a decent tripod, and a circular polariser, what more do you need?) so I can watch Shaolintiger’s pain as he does his budget over the next year ;)
As a backup I am seriously tempted by that Fuji F30 though, the results look amazing…bollocks, there goes the budget anyway, haha!

Comment by Silencers

September 7, 2006 @ 2:20 pm

If its a compact you’re looking for, why not look at the Canon A710 IS. It’s slight upgrade of the A700 with Canon’s IS, and I think it’s quite promising!

Comment by ShaolinTiger

September 7, 2006 @ 3:07 pm

Intensecure: Hey it’s a great cam bro, hope to give you some more tips soon when I can get access to flickr again! The noise is bad, but Neat Image or Noise Ninja do help a lot, plus always shooting at ISO80 isn’t so bad because of the excellent OIS. Yah budget….pfft, have decided on my next lens! Or next two…will update about it soon haha.F30 is fantastic up to ISO1600 (Comparable to dSLR), it’s just it only has 3 zoom and not so many manual settings. I’m really tempted by the A710 IS.

Silencers: Haha, you read my mind, I allready have a post drafted about that model, I was really tempted by the A700 as it is, but it didn’t have IS that was my big gripe, as for picture quality and manual settings you can’t beat the A series IMHO.