Comments on: Panasonic DMC FZ-50 Reviews and Info

By: ShaolinTiger

ShaolinTiger — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 10:23:28 +0000

Pik: Every digital camera has noise problems because of chroma noise, the noise is not pleasing like film noise.

Albert: Yah it’s down to personal taste, actually Nikon has better chroma noise supression but it lets other noise through, Nikon tends to be on the safer side, it exposes for shadows and does less NR so the pictures come out darker generally and sometimes look more noisy, but in reality there is more detail retained. Canon pics tend to be more user friendly out of the cam. Exposed for mid-tones (which leads to blown highlights) and with more noise reduction.

By: Albert Ng

Albert Ng — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 07:04:49 +0000

Pik: I actually prefer Canon’s (look of) noise and punchy color. However, noise is subjective; some people think the Nikon D50 is the cleanest, but I’ve only seen loads of chroma from its ISO1600 (on a 50mm F1.8!). Different labs are not consistent as to which brand has less noise. I like Canon’s noise (it’s not to say there isn’t any noise) because it has less high-frequency specks.

By: pik

pik — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 05:47:50 +0000

canon does not have color and noise problems!

By: ShaolinTiger

ShaolinTiger — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:53:01 +0000

Albert: Thanks would have liked to see some test pics! Well I work without IS because I like to shoot close, I have a camera that can handle high ISO and I don’t use long lenses..but if I were using a superzoom with 10x or 12x zoom I don’t think even I could hold it steady. Yah I wish they had kept their old lenses too. Definately a brand to keep any eye out for, if they came out with something the size of the F30 with a decent 6x zoom I’d buy it!

By: Albert Ng

Albert Ng — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:37:42 +0000

You’ve been working without IS so go figure. ISO3200 starts to show chroma noise without zooming in; ISO1600 has luminance noise with noise reduction, but a patch of black is still quite black. Didn’t watch out for zigzag artifacts from noise reduction (apparent on the S9500 and some F30s; a friend has a F30 and compares it to his friend’s F30 which might have newer NR firmware.)

It’s a pity, Fujifilm prosumer lenses used to be real bright, like the S5100 (37-370mm F2.8-3.1!)

I find the ergonomics alright, and their build is more solid than the Panasonic’s.

Will remember to pop in one of my 16MB xDs the next time I test. Though I won’t be able to test much.

pik: If you prefer Canon’s noise and color, go for it.

By: ShaolinTiger

ShaolinTiger — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 04:05:19 +0000

Intensecure: Thanks for the input, glad you are enjoying the cam anyway, it’s a good choice. Good tips on the settings too, most cameras can use a boost in saturation for normal shooting, just remember to turn it back down when shooting portraits or they come out orange

pik: Good choice, but I’d recommend Nikon D80 instead, far better camera

Albert: I’m always extremely interested in the FujiCCD cameras, I’ve been waiting for their next step of superzoom, still no Image Stabiliser though and the ergonomics of their cameras aren’t great, high ISO noise is crazy good tho. Did you manage to take any shots to test them?

By: Albert Ng

Albert Ng — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 19:00:25 +0000

While at it, check out the the Fujifilm S6500fd and S9600 (I just saw it in Berjaya Times Square.) The S6500fd has ISO3200 (with usable ISO1600!) and amazing continuous auto-focus when recording videos. The S6500fd has less buttons but is still optimized (e.g. S9600 has dedicated Info button for viewing EXIF data; press EV button on S6500fd to view.)

I haven’t tried the FZ50′s manual focus or CAF in video, but the FZ30′s manual focus magnification was very laggy. Its CAF was bad too. Pity the S6500fd has a darker, shorter lens (ending at 300mm F4.9.)

Videos probably come out less noisy because of reduced resolution (8 megapixels down to 640×480 should reduce noise greatly.)

By: pik

pik — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 14:32:51 +0000

yo. i’m picking up the xti w/ kit.

i’m going to start from there =]

By: Intensecure

Intensecure — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 06:28:49 +0000

As an FZ30 owner, I would have to agree that the VenusIII engine seems to be a retrograde step from the VII. Far too much atempting to blur noise and artifacts.
The FZ30 might actally be a better buy, if you can get a cheap deal,as with happened with the FZ20 which was still in shops long after the FZ30 arrived.
IMVHO, settings for the FZ30, set contrast, sharpness, and noise reduction (stifles laugh!) to “low”. Saturation can be left at normal, but I leave mine on high as the CCD does not produce very rich colours normally. Then post-process as normal, and adjust to taste!
ISO 80 and 100 are both OK, except in low light. 200 is usable with Neat Image etc. ISO 400 just plain sucks, even with noise recution software.
Oh, and just to add it does really decent videos, even if you can only get 8-10 minutes per gigabyte card. Strangely even in pretty low light, they come out well (better than the stills! ), and IS, and the ability to zoom whilst filming , make this one of the more useful features that seperates it from a DSLR.

By: Tien Soon

Tien Soon — Thu, 26 Oct 2006 02:55:07 +0000

Wah~~~ all the while I thought and expecting the Venus III to be better at handling the noise as promised. Guess I’m wrong though

haha yup I wanted to organize the pics in set. But, my Flickr is a free account, only limited to 2 sets :p Maybe time to upgrade though hahah