panasonic fz30

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 00:57:35 -0500, ASAAR wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 03:26:07 GMT, m II wrote:

You are right. I must start to read my posts before sending. Page 34 of
the manual says:

8, 7, 5.5 MP res. Zoom = 12X

5, 4.5 MP res extended zoom = 15.3X

3, 2, 1, 2.5 MP res extended zoom = 19.1

It sounds as if all that's happening is that Panasonic is doing
in-camera cropping that could be better done with the computer. For
instance, take the 8mp image on the computer and crop to produce 4
equal sized quadrants. Each contains only 2mp, but has a field of
view equivalent to what you'd get if the lens had the ability to
zoom out to 24X. If the Panasonic did this it would capture only
the central 2mp. You could get the same thing by cropping the
central 25% of the image on the computer, but you'd still be able to
use any part of the 75% that the camera would have thrown away.

That's exactly what it's doing. Somewhere on Panasonic's FZ30 web page,
there's a diagram showing how the Extended Zoom works. At low zooms
(below 420mm), the camera uses the entire sensor chip and downsamples to
the selected resolution. At higher zooms, it starts cropping, using
smaller and smaller areas of the chip, until you reach one sensor pixel
per output pixel.

It's actually a sensible option to give people; if someone is, for
whatever reason, shooting at lower resolutions, give them the choice
between using the entire chip vs. using only the pixels in the center
and increasing the effective crop factor.

-dms

In article ,
Daniel Silevitch wrote:

On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 00:57:35 -0500, ASAAR wrote:
On Fri, 13 Jan 2006 03:26:07 GMT, m II wrote:

You are right. I must start to read my posts before sending. Page 34 of
the manual says:

8, 7, 5.5 MP res. Zoom = 12X

5, 4.5 MP res extended zoom = 15.3X

3, 2, 1, 2.5 MP res extended zoom = 19.1

It sounds as if all that's happening is that Panasonic is doing
in-camera cropping that could be better done with the computer. For
instance, take the 8mp image on the computer and crop to produce 4
equal sized quadrants. Each contains only 2mp, but has a field of
view equivalent to what you'd get if the lens had the ability to
zoom out to 24X. If the Panasonic did this it would capture only
the central 2mp. You could get the same thing by cropping the
central 25% of the image on the computer, but you'd still be able to
use any part of the 75% that the camera would have thrown away.

That's exactly what it's doing. Somewhere on Panasonic's FZ30 web page,
there's a diagram showing how the Extended Zoom works. At low zooms
(below 420mm), the camera uses the entire sensor chip and downsamples to
the selected resolution. At higher zooms, it starts cropping, using
smaller and smaller areas of the chip, until you reach one sensor pixel
per output pixel.

It's actually a sensible option to give people; if someone is, for
whatever reason, shooting at lower resolutions, give them the choice
between using the entire chip vs. using only the pixels in the center
and increasing the effective crop factor.

I was wondering if there was any difference in picture quality between
extended zoom and post-cropping, so did a few test shots. Zoomed or
cropped, the pics were pretty much identical. I think I did see slightly
better detail on a bit of red pipe--less smearing--but only at 100-200%
enlargement.

In article ,
Kent Clarke wrote:

I was wondering if there was any difference in picture quality between
extended zoom and post-cropping, so did a few test shots. Zoomed or
cropped, the pics were pretty much identical. I think I did see slightly
better detail on a bit of red pipe--less smearing--but only at 100-200%
enlargement.

Doh! The better image was from cropping in PS.

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:46:43 -0500, Kent Clarke wrote:

In article ,
Kent Clarke wrote:

I was wondering if there was any difference in picture quality between
extended zoom and post-cropping, so did a few test shots. Zoomed or
cropped, the pics were pretty much identical. I think I did see slightly
better detail on a bit of red pipe--less smearing--but only at 100-200%
enlargement.

Doh! The better image was from cropping in PS.

I think the main advantage of in-camera cropping vs cropping during
PP is that the viewfinder image is magnified to reflect the crop,
showing you just what you'll get when you take the picture. It's
Panasonic's way of telling you that you should really invest in a good
tripod.

Tom

In article ,
Tom2000 wrote:

On Fri, 17 Feb 2006 13:46:43 -0500, Kent Clarke wrote:

In article ,
Kent Clarke wrote:

I was wondering if there was any difference in picture quality between
extended zoom and post-cropping, so did a few test shots. Zoomed or
cropped, the pics were pretty much identical. I think I did see slightly
better detail on a bit of red pipe--less smearing--but only at 100-200%
enlargement.

Doh! The better image was from cropping in PS.

I think the main advantage of in-camera cropping vs cropping during
PP is that the viewfinder image is magnified to reflect the crop,
showing you just what you'll get when you take the picture. It's
Panasonic's way of telling you that you should really invest in a good
tripod.

True, especially with manual focusing's enlarged inset. Might help in
composition, or knowing when to press the shutter if tracking a distant
critter.
I was trying out a TrekPod today. It helps keep the camera steady during
shutter press for sure, but when I lost the subject in the viewfinder,
it was impossible to find it again quickly. At least a tripod keeps the
camera in the approximate vicinity.