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Photo Forum / Digital Photography / ZLR Cameras / March 2005Panasonic DMC-FZ20
Just bought the DMC-FZ20 to replace a Fuji FP4900Zoom and the inital impressions are interesting. Firstly, it makes me realise how advanced the 4900Zoom was in 2000 when it was introduced. The 4900Zoom ergonomics were/are excellent - although the FZ20 is good, I find the location of the EVF a strange one being at the far left side of the camera - the LCD gets smudged by ones nose!! The Fuji has one more choice of file compression in the highest resolution, it also had 2 locations to operate the zoom. Fuji has little things like a lanyard on the lens cap and a dedicated case which used the camera strap, and not another strap on the case. The FZ20 does however that amazing stabilised Leica lens and the double the zoom of the Fuji. I wait with interest the quality of some pics - first impressions are good. > Fuji has little things like a lanyard on the lens cap My main quibble with the FZs, apart from the terrible neck strap! pete  Signaturepete@fenelon.com "Send lawyers, guns and money...." > > Fuji has little things like a lanyard on the lens cap > > My main quibble with the FZs, apart from the terrible neck strap! Can't you buy little stick-on lanyards? I leave the lens adaptor/hood on semi-permanently and have replaced the supplies cap with a generic 72mm one. SignatureYAnewsWatcher. Is the Panasonic FZ20, overall, the best Point and Shoot 5-7MP camera on the market today. Is 5MP enough to do a 30% to 40% crop and print a sharp 8.5x11? Is the Leica lense on the Panasonic that much better than the competition? I do know of Leica's reputation on cameras and their own slr lenses. > > [quoted text clipped - 10 lines] > > > Is the Panasonic FZ20, overall, the best Point and Shoot 5-7MP camera on > the market today. Is 5MP enough to do a 30% to 40% crop and print a > sharp 8.5x11? Do not know. > Is the Leica lense on the Panasonic that much better than the > competition? I do know of Leica's reputation on cameras and their own > slr lenses. Believe so - the comparison resolution pics at dpreview.com shows that it resolves to greater detail than some of the opposition. See http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/page8.asp. > Is the Panasonic FZ20, overall, the best Point and Shoot 5-7MP camera > on the market today. It depend what you want to do with it! Do you want very wide-angle shooting, an articulated LCD, a very small camera, or 640 x 480 movies? Then, no, as it doesn't offer those features. Do you want an image stabilised long zoom camera with a top-quality f/2.8 lens? Then yes. > Is 5MP enough to do a 30% to 40% crop and print a sharp 8.5x11? Your question about prints begs the question: what do you mean by sharp? I have seen good A4 sized prints from 3.2MP cameras, so cropping 35% of the pixels from a 5MP image should be OK. That's a 17% linear crop. David > > Fuji has little things like a lanyard on the lens cap > > My main quibble with the FZs, apart from the terrible neck strap! I hope you didn't buy it just for the neck strap. You forgot to snipe about the off center tripod hole and the lack of a swivel LCD. I personally bought it for the quality of the optics, the IS and the beautiful f2.8 12x zoom lens. I can forgive them the mediocre neck strap and the lack of lens cap tether. > > > Fuji has little things like a lanyard on the lens cap > > [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > lens. I can forgive them the mediocre neck strap and the lack of lens cap > tether. My main quibble has always been the external flash interface -- when you shoot in manual mode (which you need to do with non-TTL flashes), the EVF/LCD reflects the actual aperture you select (ie, f/4, f/5.6, etc.) which means it is very dark, and hard to frame. A secondary quibble is the placement of the memory door in the battery compartment, which means you have to remove the camera from the flash bracket or tripod just to change memory cards. Having the tripod screw that close to the battery door means you can't use any of the standard quick release adaptors. It also would be nice to have a less aggresive JPG compression. SignatureMichael Meissner email: mrmnews@the-meissners.org http://www.the-meissners.org > My main quibble has always been the external flash interface -- when you shoot > in manual mode (which you need to do with non-TTL flashes), the EVF/LCD > reflects the actual aperture you select (ie, f/4, f/5.6, etc.) which means it > is very dark, and hard to frame. Yes, it would be nice if the display gained up in low light situations. The darkend display is actually a design "feature" that backfired on them. > A secondary quibble is the placement of the memory door in the battery > compartment, which means you have to remove the camera from the flash bracket > or tripod just to change memory cards. Having the tripod screw that close to > the battery door means you can't use any of the standard quick release > adaptors. I solved the tripod hole problem by making a simple adapter. I can keep a tripod quick release plate on the camera and still change the battery or memory card. Still have to take the camera off the tripod but at least I don't have to remove the quick release plate. http://ken.smugmug.com/photos/17316489-L.jpg There is a guy on ebay that is selling a FZ-20 tripod adapter for $12. Not quite as versatile as the one I designed but better than nothing. http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrobobear > > My main quibble has always been the external flash interface -- when you shoot > > in manual mode (which you need to do with non-TTL flashes), the EVF/LCD [quoted text clipped - 3 lines] > Yes, it would be nice if the display gained up in low light situations. The darkend display > is actually a design "feature" that backfired on them. I can understand it in the FZ10, since it was there first camera with an external flash. But to repeat the mistake in the FZ20 after tons of people have complained about it is just hard headedness. Every camera vendor seems to have their own areas of blindness, that no amount of clue-by-4's seem to overcome. > > A secondary quibble is the placement of the memory door in the battery > > compartment, which means you have to remove the camera from the flash bracket [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > > http://search.ebay.com/_W0QQsassZrobobear Yep. I just don't get why manufacturers seem to go out of their way to put in tripod sockets that aren't at the nodal point, made out of metal, and far enough away from the battery door so quick release mechanisms can be used. I get the sense that some of the designers just don't understand how a camera is used by higher end users. SignatureMichael Meissner email: mrmnews@the-meissners.org http://www.the-meissners.org > Yep. I just don't get why manufacturers seem to go out of their way to put in > tripod sockets that aren't at the nodal point, made out of metal, and far > enough away from the battery door so quick release mechanisms can be used. I > get the sense that some of the designers just don't understand how a camera is > used by higher end users. Even thought I have never cracked the case on my FZ I have always presumed that it was a design trade-off to accomodate the placement of a much more important part of the camera's internal mechanisms. If it was placed there intentionally the person responsible should be burned at the stake. > > Yep. I just don't get why manufacturers seem to go out of their way to put > > in tripod sockets that aren't at the nodal point, made out of metal, and [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > important part of the camera's internal mechanisms. If it was placed there > intentionally the person responsible should be burned at the stake. That's because manufacturers don't think it is important to do the job right. They know they have to put a socket in, but don't take the time to design it properly, possibily because they assume their market segment doesn't care. For 95-99% of the users, that is probably true. SignatureMichael Meissner email: mrmnews@the-meissners.org http://www.the-meissners.org > > > Yep. I just don't get why manufacturers seem to go out of their way to put > > > in tripod sockets that aren't at the nodal point, made out of metal, and [quoted text clipped - 11 lines] > properly, possibily because they assume their market segment doesn't care. For > 95-99% of the users, that is probably true. The consumer is as much to blame as the manufacturer. If the consumers were willing to pay for what it costs to design a product for maximum functionality the manufacturers would be more than willing to provide it for them. Consumers are typically frugal bastards who want the best products for prices much less than what manufacturers can afford to produce them. Manufacturers have to keep product costs down to appeal to the market segment that can afford them and if that means placing the tripod socket off to one side the consumer shares in the blame. I don't think it fair to blame the manufacturers exclusively. The old adage that you get what you pay for is as true today as it was when it was first coined. > > [quoted text clipped - 26 lines] >who want the best products for prices much less than what manufacturers can afford to >produce them. That because they want the consumers to support those piggish upper management bastards. Look at Carli at HP. That is bullshit! >Manufacturers have to keep product costs down to appeal to the market >segment that can afford them and if that means placing the tripod socket off to one side >the consumer shares in the blame. I don't think it fair to blame the manufacturers exclusively. >The old adage that you get what you pay for Yeh, that is why a DSLR costs about 4 time more than an SLR. >is as true today as it was when it was >first coined. > > > >>>>Yep. I just don't get why manufacturers seem to go out of their way to put > >>>>in tripod sockets that aren't at the nodal point, made out of metal, and > >>>>far enough away from the battery door so quick release mechanisms can be > >>>>used. I get the sense that some of the designers just don't understand how > >>>>a camera is used by higher end users. With many cameras, having the socket under the lens centre would add 6mm to the camera height to allow for the socket depth. I think it is a case of trying to keep the dimensions down. BTW, as with other computer driven projects, does firmware for cameras get updated/new versions???? Has anyone managed to extract and reverse engineer a cameras "BIOS". I would have thought that with a USB connection, this should be possible. [] > BTW, as with other computer driven projects, does firmware for cameras > get updated/new versions???? Has anyone managed to extract and > reverse engineer a cameras "BIOS". I would have thought that with a > USB connection, this should be possible. Yes, the firmware for my Nikon Cameras has had one update for each model, as I recall. Someone reverse engineered the Canon BIOS for the deliberately crippled 300 DSLR, and uncrippled many of the features.... Cheers, David >> > Fuji has little things like a lanyard on the lens cap >> [quoted text clipped - 4 lines] > it for the quality of the optics, the IS and the beautiful f2.8 12x zoom lens. > I can forgive them the mediocre neck strap and the lack of lens cap tether. Indeed. A few quid on a decent Tamrac strap and I was using the camera in comfort. The lens is astonishingly good (it's still surprising me after nine months with an FZ10), and the combination of f2.8 and IS means that you rarely need a tripod! pete Signaturepete@fenelon.com "Send lawyers, guns and money...." > , I find the location of the EVF a strange one being at the far > left side of the camera - the LCD gets smudged by ones nose!! Nope... Having a very dominant right eye I find it perfect ! T. SignaturePlease Tony, NO!! You'd look dreadful in a basque and fishnets.. |
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