Panasonic fz20.Is my equipment up to it?

[Bombus Bombus]

Hi,here are two shots of a stonechat i took this morning with my recently acquired DMC-FZ20EB which as im new to photography im quite happy with.One photo is using the 12x optical zoom the second is 24x which took me into the digital range. I find 12x adequate if i can get close enough to the subject but obviously from a distance its nowhere near enough.Does anyone out there know if their is some kind of extra zoom i can get for this camera as i realise the digital zoom loses clarity.Any help in idiot language on this subject would be appreciated.Bombus Bombus.

[matt_xyz]

the FZ20 is a nice camera, I have its successor the FZ30. As you say, I would avoid digital zoom due to the loss of quality.

I would highly recommend a TCON17 teleconverter. It screws on the front and multiplies your focal length by 1.7. It screwed directly onto the FZ30 which has a 55mm filter thread. I'm not sure what the filter thread is of the FZ20, it may well be the same. If not, you will simply need a step-up or step-down ring as an adaptor.

this is the TCON that you want (I think there are several versions);

Olympus TCON-17 TELE CONVERSION LENS review cheap prices TCON-17 TELE CONVERSION LENS Olympus best buy discount online uk shop

Matt

[Pete]

equally its on here Olympus SP510 for £74 plus postage.

I use it on the FZ50 for which no adaptor is necessary

[eeyore]

digital zoom basically just crops the image thus reducing the resolution - if youare going to do that its best to wait til you have the image on the computer rather than doing it in camera.

[Bombus Bombus]

Thanks for the info chaps,a TCON17 teleconverter it is.I also like the sound of the DCR150 close up lens cos i tried a few macro shots of hairy caterpillars and they turned out useless.The comment regarding cropping,does this mean that if its cropped on the computer then it does not lose resolution?Bombus Bombus.

[eeyore]

Originally Posted by Bombus Bombus

Thanks for the info chaps,a TCON17 teleconverter it is.I also like the sound of the DCR150 close up lens cos i tried a few macro shots of hairy caterpillars and they turned out useless.The comment regarding cropping,does this mean that if its cropped on the computer then it does not lose resolution?Bombus Bombus.

no you still lose resolution even cropping on the computer , but doing it on a big screen in a decent photoeditor such as photoshop elements givesyou far more control so you can see how muchis enough and how much is too much. With programs such as PSE you can also interpolate the image - which is basically the computer inserting more pixels and guessing their colour based on the colur of the neighbouring ones - this works quite well so long as you do it in small increments and dont push your luck too far

I wouldnt over do cropping and interpolating even on a computer and it certainly shouldnt be regarded as a substitute for having a longer lens / tcon attachment

[colincurry]

I had an FZ20 and found that the macro was pretty good. It is awkward getting things in focus as you have to get so close. I changed to an FZ30 with an Olympus TCON17 and found that very good. I have also the DCR150 that I use with the FZ30. You can get very good results, but again, you have to get pretty close. There are other threads on WAB about macro lenses. I now also have a Canon 30D that is only limited by the person using it. I have thought about a macro and a walkabout lens for that camera. I have reached the conclusion that I shall use the FZ30 and DCR150 combo to cover both these eventualities - at least for the time being. There is also a DCR250 but my understanding is that it over enlarges the picture. Matt has both of these. His results speak for themselves.

Colin

[Bombus Bombus]

Thanks again ive only had the camera one week but ive learned a lot.When you compare my two shots of the stonechat though is there really that much difference in resolution and you could say this is offset by the size of the image especially for far off pictures where the image would be too small using maximum optical zoom.

[eeyore]

in all honesty and without wanting to be unkind yes there is - this is particularly noticable in the sky and in the fuzzy edges arround the bird, it would be even more noticeable if you printed the digi zoomed image.

digi zoom is okay if all you want is a record shot for ID purposes but for decent photography my advice would be to forget it - use the maximum optical by all means , a tcon if that isnt enough and for the rare shot where even that is insufficient crop it gently in the image editor

[Bombus Bombus]

Your not being unkind Eeyore i see what you mean now ive put me glasses on LOL.One final question on this subject is there any difference in resolution between say 2x optical zoom and say 8 or 10 x optical zoom or is resolution only affected by digital zoom.