On Sat, 20 May 2006 00:35:26 GMT
Grumpy AuContraire wrote:



Paul Allen wrote:

On Fri, 19 May 2006 15:43:28 GMT
Grumpy AuContraire wrote:

Too slow in response and less-than-accurate auto focus.

Interesting. I would have put "too short a lens" first on the list.
I use an old Oly C700 with a long end equivalent to something like
380mm. For bird photography, I've wished for a lens two or three
times that long. Shutter lag and autofocus accuracy are also
problems, but the inability to get close enough is the killer for
me.

The FZ 10's 12x zoom fully extended is (I believe) over 400 MM. At
that focal length, there is some chromatic abberration that is
annoying. The problem is when shooting long, the auto focus can lock
onto an object such as a tree limb that is in the path thus blowing
sharp focus on the target.

Dpreview's writeup on the FZ20 mentions a little CA at the long end
of the telephoto with wide apertures. Stopping down a bit would fix
it, but I generally need all the speed I can get at the long end of
the lens. sigh

My C700 often locks focus on something not in the subject plane, and
I can't tell it's happening because of the low resolution of the EVF
and the LCD. I'd expect the FZ30 to be somewhat better in that regard
because it's got about 1.4x the linear pixel resolution on both the
EVF and the 2" screen. (Not more accurate autofocus, but more obvious
when it's messing up.)

Don't get me wrong, I like the camera (FZ 10) but the Leica M
rangefinder is quick and deadly accurate. The rest depends on
your "trigger" finger.

The FZ10 has a really sweet manual focus compared to the menu-and-
joystick contraption on my C700. What happens to the shutter lag
if you turn off the autofocus and use that neat ring on the lens?
I'm tempted to ask what happens if you switch to full-manual
exposure, but I guess trading the auto-exposure lag for fiddling
with the joystick might not work out well.

I did try manual focus when I first got the camera about a year ago.
I found it cumbersome with the digital viewfinder even with the center
focusing aid. I don't remember if it had an effect on shutter lag
though.

Hmmm... I borrowed an FZ10 a year or so ago and found its manual focus
to be delightful. Almost as nice as the split-prism focuser on my old
OM-2n. (But I also remember my wife fidgeting at having to sit still
while I fiddled with focus and exposure on that camera. :-) )

Of course, the FZ 30 may have overcome some of these drawbacks
but I'm not about to go our and get the latest version in order
to "keep up with the Jones'."

The FZ30 doesn't appear to have improved shutter lag timings over
the FZ20, but it does have convenient dedicated controls for
aperture and shutter speed that might make full manual operation
feasible. Dpreview doesn't appear to have a review of the FZ10,
for some reason.

Panasonic just is not accepted by the mainstream consumers as a valid
digital device. Some might call it snobish. I call it misguided.

I don't think Dpreview has that problem. They've generally liked the
FZ series. I'm pretty sure they had an FZ10 review at one time, but
something's happened to it. Funny, since the review of my long-obsolete
C700 is still in their archives.

For wildlife photography, I'll just revert to the
M2 with the 90MM and grab an image from a scanner.

Yeah, whatever works. I've got a friend who's dumped his digital
gear and now uses only medium-format film and a high-end scanner.
He's happy as a pig in mud. :-)



Yup... Even a Leica M with fine grain film will far exceed the
resolution offered by any digital camera. Yet, the digital sure is
handy as a point 'n shoot device for a lot of tasks. But, for fine
arts photography, I will revert to the M2 in a flash.. I purchased a
Firewire scanner back in 2000 that still fills my reflective scanning
needs. For slides, I simply bought two (plus one for spare parts) old
Polaroid 35 MM scanners on ebay. I can scan a slide high resolution
in just over 45 seconds including any alterations in PhotoShop.

Don't call me cheap... I'm just frugal!

You may call me cheap. I have yet to dive into the purchase of a
scanner. :-)

Paul Allen