Question for fz30/50 users....

[mh68]

How effective is the extended zoom on these cameras as opposed to using a tcon?

I`m toying with the idea (only toying at the moment though) of maybe upgrading to an fz30 or 50 so I can shoot Raw,and if the extended zoom gives decent enough images this may also sway me towards upgrading....as it means I can cut down on weight a bit more (no need for tcon)...appreciate any feedback on this, and if anyone can post a shot or 2 taken using the extended zoom that would be excellent

cheers in advance,
Mark H

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by mh68

How effective is the extended zoom on these cameras as opposed to using a tcon?

I`m toying with the idea (only toying at the moment though) of maybe upgrading to an fz30 or 50 so I can shoot Raw,and if the extended zoom gives decent enough images this may also sway me towards upgrading....as it means I can cut down on weight a bit more (no need for tcon)...appreciate any feedback on this, and if anyone can post a shot or 2 taken using the extended zoom that would be excellent

cheers in advance,
Mark H

By extended do you mean the digital zoom as apposed the optical? I never use this feature and have always been under the impression quality falls away instantly as its just in effect cropping then cropping then cropping the image resulting in blurry pixelated mushy fizzy images you sometimes see uploaded here when a pic is heavily cropped for a bird I.d or something

Also though...thats just going by advice as i still havent worked out half the stuff on my fz30 and havent found how to use the digital zoom but dont really want to either...When you see some of MATTXYZ bird shots you realise the converter is the way to go.

[mh68]

No not the digital zoom Dan, the 30 and 50 have the ability to "crop" some of the pixels away, increasing the amount of zoom you can use.As my FZ20 is 5mp at full res, I was wondering whether the 17.1x optical zoom the 30/50 offers at the 5mp setting is any advantage.

Mark H

[Dan Salter]

Originally Posted by mh68

No not the digital zoom Dan, the 30 and 50 have the ability to "crop" some of the pixels away, increasing the amount of zoom you can use.As my FZ20 is 5mp at full res, I was wondering whether the 17.1x optical zoom the 30/50 offers at the 5mp setting is any advantage.

Mark H

Ok you have lost me now...ill leave it for one of the photography geeks to sort you out i think

[mh68]

Sorry Dan its hard to explain(and i`m not great at explaining things at the best of times ).You`re right about digital zoom though.....a totally useless function which they may as well not bother incorporating in the cameras.

Mark H

[colincurry]

Hallo Mark

I upgraded from the FZ20 to the FZ30 to take advantage of the greater number of pixels that would reduce the loss of clarity when cropping. Birds always seem a long way away and this usually means cropping. I know the feature you mean, but it seems to me that by using it you could well be defeating your objective of getting a clear result. I too bought a Tcon 17 and found it pretty effective. As Dan says, Matt's pictures using this combo speak for themselves.

I have since bought a Canon 30D but still use my FZ30 for macro and as an excellent walkabout camera.

Regards

Colin

[matt_xyz]

Hi Mark,

The extended zoom on the FZ30/50 is exactly the same as cropping an image in Photoshop so you're not gaining any focal length as such. The camera simply crops from 8mp to 5mp or 3mp depending what you select. A sample image won't tell you much because it would simply show you a 5 or 3mp image. There's no loss of quality but obviously the maximum print size falls due to the lower resolution.

The advantage of the extended zoom (i.e. the advantage of cropping in-camera rather than in Photoshop) is that the exposure reading is taken from the smaller cropped image and is therefore a more accurate exposure for that area of the original image. Also, the extended zoom can help with focusing. If you're using centre spot AF it is obviously easier to land the spot on a larger object than a smaller one.

When I first bought my FZ30 I used the EZ quite a lot but after a while I decided I preferred the greater resolution of the 8mp images and so stuck with those.

Matt

[mh68]

Hi Colin.I do have a tcon (a Raynox 1.54x)for my 20,but its a pain at times attaching/unattaching it constantly when shooting lots of varied stuff.I was just considering the possible advantages of the extended zoom,and whether the 5mp setting would give comparable results to my full res(5mp) fz20 shots (which by and large i`m happy with,apart from the inability to use Raw if I wanted to).
Hope that makes sense, and thanks for the feedback

Mark H

[mh68]

Originally Posted by matt_xyz

Hi Mark,

The extended zoom on the FZ30/50 is exactly the same as cropping an image in Photoshop so you're not gaining any focal length as such. The camera simply crops from 8mp to 5mp or 3mp depending what you select. A sample image won't tell you much because it would simply show you a 5 or 3mp image. There's no loss of quality but obviously the maximum print size falls due to the lower resolution.

The advantage of the extended zoom (i.e. the advantage of cropping in-camera rather than in Photoshop) is that the exposure reading is taken from the smaller cropped image and is therefore a more accurate exposure for that area of the original image. Also, the extended zoom can help with focusing. If you're using centre spot AF it is obviously easier to land the spot on a larger object than a smaller one.

When I first bought my FZ30 I used the EZ quite a lot but after a while I decided I preferred the greater resolution of the 8mp images and so stuck with those.

Matt

Thanks Matt. As i`ve just mentioned in my reply to Colin,the 5mp images from my fz20 suit my needs, but being able to use an fz30 or 50 at 5mp, with more reach without an additional lens, and at comparable quality to my fz20,would be good enough for me.Also the ability to shoot Raw when i needed to.
If it`s not too much trouble Matt,would it be possible to email me a 5mp image if you have one, to compare against a full res shot from my fz20 (just out of curiosity)...no rush though, as I know you have website/Gallery stuff to deal with too.My email is on my profile page.

thanks again,
Mark H

[mh68]

Well...Matt sent me a 5mp image earlier (thanks mate) and after scrutinising it, its of equal quality to my fz20 full res images.Also been checking sample shots(unprocessed,straight from the camera) from the fz50 which were downloadable from the site they were hosted on,in particular the higher ISO shots.
After messing about with an unprocessed 800iso shot from that website, in Irfanview - my usual editing program, I was pretty impressed with the detail and lack of noise provided the image was reduced to a sensible size (1280x960 or lower).400iso shots were very acceptable too.Running the 800iso shot through Neatimage too,there was very little evidence of noise at all....and the resulting image would have been one i`d be pleased with if shot at iso80 on my fz20.Even without Neatimage,the shot didnt look too bad at all considering the bad press FZs have had for noise at high ISOs.
So....I think i`m going to actually part with some cash and upgrade to an FZ50.I`ve decided to choose the 50 over the 30 due to the "custom" feature on the 50, allowing custom settings to be stored and accessed easily.As I plan to use the extended zoom at 5mp for long range shots to avoid having to use an additional lens,the custom feature will allow me to quickly switch to 5mp resolution when I need the extra zoom,while allowing me to shoot at high res when the extra zoom isnt required.Best of both worlds that way.Given the sample shots i`ve checked out, I`m sure noise can be kept under control no problem.

All going well,there may be a very cheap fz20 for sale soon

Thanks for the feedback chaps

Mark H