so how bad is the noise on the fz30

having read through a stack of reviews denoucing the noise as minor to dire

how is it is the "real world" when used by "real people" in everyday
life?????

corks wrote:
having read through a stack of reviews denoucing the noise as minor
to dire
how is it is the "real world" when used by "real people" in everyday
life?????

[Talking in general]

Noise is not fasionable today - no longer is it allowed to add "character"
to a night-time or low-light shot. Certainly, I would recommend staying a
low ISO for normal use, and only allowing the ISO to rise where some grain
is acceptable.

Having said that, if you must extract maximum detail from a shadow region,
the FZ30 is perhaps not the best camera, and if you want the ultimate
shadow detail only a top-quality DSLR, working in RAW mode, with some
post-processing effort for each shot, will satisfy you.

David

corks wrote:
having read through a stack of reviews denoucing the noise as minor to dire

how is it is the "real world" when used by "real people" in everyday
life?????

The way I've understood it is that the noise is OK as long as you stick
to ISO80, the lowest sensitivity, but that even ISO 100 makes a
difference, and anything above that can really only be used after
post-processing with NeatImiage, NoiseNinja, or somesuch, at least if
you want to print anything larger than 6"x9".

OTOH, if you _do_ use NeatImage, NoiseNinja, or somesuch, there are at
least some poeple who claim that even ISO400 pics are quite useful.

But I have no firsthand experience. My Panny is an FZ-20,and i don't
intend to change it for an FZ-30, because of the lost stop at the tele
end. I go by the opinions in the Panny forum at dpreview.com, and the
images they post.

Jan Böhme

I have the fz30 and love it. It has so many great features. I almost never
notice any noise. I shoot at either iso 80 or 100 most of the time, but
shot some iso200 and 400 in the theatre. I was impressed with the lack of
noise under the theatre conditions compared to my last camera, an Olympus
C-750 ultrazoom. This camera blows it away for sharpness and noise at any
iso.

That said, I have noiseware- a very easy to use (no profiling necessary)
noise reduction program that can do the final cleanup for a really big print
or one that gets a lot of cropping, but honestly, I haven't had to use it
much. Go for it.
Ed

"corks" wrote in message
...
having read through a stack of reviews denoucing the noise as minor to
dire

how is it is the "real world" when used by "real people" in everyday
life?????

In article ,
"Ed" ekirstein_atcatskill.net wrote:

"corks" wrote in message
...
having read through a stack of reviews denoucing the noise as minor to
dire

how is it is the "real world" when used by "real people" in everyday
life?????

I actually noticed the noise in an image taken with my FZ30 yesterday. I
had be photographing cricket players at the maximum zoom and found the
shutter speed wasn't quite fast enough at my normal setting of ISO 100,
so cranked it up to the limit, ISO 400.

The noise stuck out immediately as obvious blotchiness in the skin tones
of one player's face. I checked it by retaking the photo at 100 and the
artifact disappeared.

The effect is precisely as described here and elsewhere. It looks like
prints taken off an 800 ASA film.....grainy. No problem at 80 and 100,
but obvious enough to become a 'feature' at 400. I guess if you need the
speed to freeze motion you'll just have to accept a little graininess.
Much as we did back in the olden days.

One thing I can say from looking at the two blown-up images is there is
minimal purple fringing (chromatic aberration). The FZ30's sensor may
have its limitations but the lens is bloody superb!!


--
....IRO

AS far as chromatic aberration goes. The lens is good but I believe, that
there is also some post processing done in the camera that minimizes CA.
However they do it, I love it.

As far as the iso 400 noise, you can expect that on just about every high
zoom camera that's not a DSLR. The cameras that don't have it, just do a
lot of noise reduction and blur the shot. I'd rather be able to control the
noise reduction myself and start with a super sharp image like on the FZ30.
If you start comparing other cameras for noise, you'll see that the ones
that beat the FZ30 on noise, don't have the resolution of the FZ30.


Ed

"Ian O" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Ed" ekirstein_atcatskill.net wrote:

"corks" wrote in message
...
having read through a stack of reviews denoucing the noise as minor to
dire

how is it is the "real world" when used by "real people" in everyday
life?????

I actually noticed the noise in an image taken with my FZ30 yesterday. I
had be photographing cricket players at the maximum zoom and found the
shutter speed wasn't quite fast enough at my normal setting of ISO 100,
so cranked it up to the limit, ISO 400.

The noise stuck out immediately as obvious blotchiness in the skin tones
of one player's face. I checked it by retaking the photo at 100 and the
artifact disappeared.

The effect is precisely as described here and elsewhere. It looks like
prints taken off an 800 ASA film.....grainy. No problem at 80 and 100,
but obvious enough to become a 'feature' at 400. I guess if you need the
speed to freeze motion you'll just have to accept a little graininess.
Much as we did back in the olden days.

One thing I can say from looking at the two blown-up images is there is
minimal purple fringing (chromatic aberration). The FZ30's sensor may
have its limitations but the lens is bloody superb!!


--
...IRO

OTOH, if you _do_ use NeatImage, NoiseNinja, or somesuch, there are at
least some poeple who claim that even ISO400 pics are quite useful.

It seems to me that noise is only a problem if a person doesn't want to
process the images on the computer. Noise can easily be removed with
software, much of which is free for personal use. I have the FZ20 and the
occasional noise has never been a problem.

swingman wrote:
OTOH, if you _do_ use NeatImage, NoiseNinja, or somesuch, there are
at least some poeple who claim that even ISO400 pics are quite
useful.

It seems to me that noise is only a problem if a person doesn't want
to process the images on the computer. Noise can easily be removed
with software, much of which is free for personal use. I have the
FZ20 and the occasional noise has never been a problem.

Btw, which noise reduction software do you use / recommend?

Kind regards

robert

In article ,
"swingman" wrote:

OTOH, if you _do_ use NeatImage, NoiseNinja, or somesuch, there are at
least some poeple who claim that even ISO400 pics are quite useful.

It seems to me that noise is only a problem if a person doesn't want to
process the images on the computer. Noise can easily be removed with
software, much of which is free for personal use. I have the FZ20 and the
occasional noise has never been a problem.

And I have an FZ30 and have only managed to create visible 'noise' once,
by cranking the ISO speed up to 400 when I had the Noise filter off
(Menu/Pict.Adj./Noise Reduction) I had been trying to freeze-frame a
cricket game in less-than-ideal light. It showed up as a blotchiness on
one of the fielder's face.

Otherwise I've never had a problem.

--
....IRO

Robert Klemme wrote:

swingman wrote:


OTOH, if you _do_ use NeatImage, NoiseNinja, or somesuch, there are
at least some poeple who claim that even ISO400 pics are quite
useful.


It seems to me that noise is only a problem if a person doesn't want
to process the images on the computer. Noise can easily be removed
with software,

When you reduce noise using software doesn't that reduce the overall
sharpness of the photo?

much of which is free for personal use. I have the
FZ20 and the occasional noise has never been a problem.



Btw, which noise reduction software do you use / recommend?

Kind regards

robert