Is Panasonic FZ50 being replaced

Hi,
Several dealers in Uk are not able currently to supply the above camera and
UKDigital are showing it as discontinued.
Has anyone heard anything about a possible upgrading, and if so what are the
new specs?

Billy

"Billyboy" wrote in message
...
Hi,
Several dealers in Uk are not able currently to supply the above camera
and
UKDigital are showing it as discontinued.
Has anyone heard anything about a possible upgrading, and if so what are
the
new specs?

Billy


September would be about right. The FZ's tend to come out about that time. I
hope the new one is better than the **** FZ50.

Somebody!

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:14:08 -0700
Jeff Burke wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:06:15 -0700, "Somebody"
wrote:
September would be about right. The FZ's tend to come out about that
time. I hope the new one is better than the **** FZ50.

It won't get any better until they use a much larger sensor.

A larger sensor in the same package means cutting the effective zoom
way back. There have been a few cameras that have tried that. I
have no idea how well they've sold.

I think they should keep about the same sensor size and drop the
pixel count down to 6Mp or so, where the FZ30 should have been.
The package is very nice. It just needs to go on a pixel diet.
Fat chance they'll listen to me. :-)

Paul Allen

"Paul Allen" wrote in message
.. .
On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:14:08 -0700
Jeff Burke wrote:

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:06:15 -0700, "Somebody"
wrote:
September would be about right. The FZ's tend to come out about that
time. I hope the new one is better than the **** FZ50.

It won't get any better until they use a much larger sensor.

A larger sensor in the same package means cutting the effective zoom
way back. There have been a few cameras that have tried that. I
have no idea how well they've sold.

I think they should keep about the same sensor size and drop the
pixel count down to 6Mp or so, where the FZ30 should have been.
The package is very nice. It just needs to go on a pixel diet.
Fat chance they'll listen to me. :-)

Paul Allen


No a dSLR size would be fine by me for the larger sensor. In fact I would
junk my Pentax K10D for a Panasonic FZ60 that offered the larger sensor, 12X
Leica lens and 10MP.

Somebody!

"Somebody" wrote in
:

No a dSLR size would be fine by me for the larger sensor. In fact I
would junk my Pentax K10D for a Panasonic FZ60 that offered the larger
sensor, 12X Leica lens and 10MP.

There is no lens available for DSLRs with 12x zoom at a constant f/2.8 and
sharpness throughout the range, with IS. Why do you think it would
suddenly be possible with a non-interchangeable lens?

APS-sensor compacts are only going to work with fixed focal length or
narrow zoom ranges.

--


John P Sheehy

"John Sheehy" wrote in message
...
"Somebody" wrote in
:

No a dSLR size would be fine by me for the larger sensor. In fact I
would junk my Pentax K10D for a Panasonic FZ60 that offered the larger
sensor, 12X Leica lens and 10MP.

There is no lens available for DSLRs with 12x zoom at a constant f/2.8 and
sharpness throughout the range, with IS. Why do you think it would
suddenly be possible with a non-interchangeable lens?

APS-sensor compacts are only going to work with fixed focal length or
narrow zoom ranges.

--


John P Sheehy



There are several options for a 12X or higher zoom for dSLR's. Now the cost
of these lenses are in the thousands. But, they are available. National
Geographic photographers use them all of the time. You need to do some
checking before you comment this is the second time you have said something
that wasn't correct.

As for a dSLR sized sensor that would allow for less noise and higher ISO's
just like it does for dSLR cameras. Sure the FZ60 or whatever that did this
would end up being a much larger camera because of the sensor change which
means a larger lens, but it is doable. The problem is most camera makers do
not feel that consumers would want such a thing and I think they are totally
wrong.

Oh, the camera would aslo cost more. Probably between $1200 to $1500 about
what it costs for a good dSLR and high end zoom lens.

Somebody!

John Sheehy wrote:
"Somebody" wrote in
:

No a dSLR size would be fine by me for the larger sensor. In fact I
would junk my Pentax K10D for a Panasonic FZ60 that offered the
larger sensor, 12X Leica lens and 10MP.

There is no lens available for DSLRs with 12x zoom at a constant
f/2.8 and sharpness throughout the range, with IS. Why do you think
it would suddenly be possible with a non-interchangeable lens?

APS-sensor compacts are only going to work with fixed focal length or
narrow zoom ranges.



John P Sheehy


John,

With a non-interchangeable lens, there can be slightly more flexibility in
the design since the distance between the back of the lens and the sensor
is no longer pre-determined, nor is the diameter of the lens fixed by the
lens mount. With a small-sensor compact cameras, the smaller lens
elements made from exotic materials may cost less, although I do wonder if
tolerances are tighter. Previous SLR lenses have been built for film,
where high MTF at high spatial frequencies may be important, but with a
well-anti aliased 5-6MP sensor, there is no point in working towards a
high MTF at spatial frequencies which exceed the frequency which the
sensor can resolve. Thus there are some extra design freedoms given to
the fixed-lens camera.

Panasonic have been able to use this freedom to provide the FZ20 with a
lens having a constant f/2.8 throughout its 36 - 432mm (eq) zoom range.
Although the images may not have the same ultimate quality as a DSLR
equivalent lens, the compromise between size, weight, versatility and
performance suits many people.

Having said that, scaling that lens up to APS-sized sensors would result
in a large, expensive and unwieldy package compared to the smaller of
today's DSLRs. Roughly, the larger sensor provides three stops gain, so
even with the kit or cheaper zooms with f/5.6 aperture, you still gain
with the DSLR. Perhaps having a sealed lens would be an advantage in a
very dusty environment, but apart from that you'd have something the size
and shape of a DSLR without its versatility.

The Sony R1, an example of fixed-lens APS-sensor camera, does not seen to
have been spectacularly successful.

Cheers,
David

Paul Allen wrote in
:

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:14:08 -0700
Jeff Burke wrote:

I think they should keep about the same sensor size and drop the
pixel count down to 6Mp or so, where the FZ30 should have been.
The package is very nice. It just needs to go on a pixel diet.
Fat chance they'll listen to me. :-)

They shouldn't listen to you. Smaller pixels will give no major
improvement in image quality; only in pixel quality.

What they need to do is stop damaging the output with heavy-handed noise
reduction.

--


John P Sheehy

"John Sheehy" wrote in message
...
Paul Allen wrote in
:

On Mon, 16 Jul 2007 19:14:08 -0700
Jeff Burke wrote:

I think they should keep about the same sensor size and drop the
pixel count down to 6Mp or so, where the FZ30 should have been.
The package is very nice. It just needs to go on a pixel diet.
Fat chance they'll listen to me. :-)

They shouldn't listen to you. Smaller pixels will give no major
improvement in image quality; only in pixel quality.

What they need to do is stop damaging the output with heavy-handed noise
reduction.

--


John P Sheehy



Who said anything about smaller pixels. He said drop the resolution to 6MP
that means fewer sensors points on the chip and that does make a difference
in noise.

Somebody!

"Somebody" wrote in
:

Who said anything about smaller pixels.

I did. By accident. I meant to write "larger pixels".

He said drop the resolution to
6MP that means fewer sensors points on the chip and that does make a
difference in noise.

No, it doesn't necessarily reduce image noise at all. It makes 100% crops,
which are an artifact of viewing methods, less noisy.

--


John P Sheehy