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I'm going on Safari in Kenya in June and was thinking of changing my
Fuji Finepix S602Z for the Panasonic FZ30 to get the 12x zoom rather
than the Fuji's 6x. Image stabilisation and the quicker startup were/are
also a consideration (ideally I would like something like the EOS350D
but I doubt I could afford the equivalent of the 12x zoom for it!).

I'm hesitating about changing after seeing conflicting comments about
the Panasonic's images being noisy above ISO 80. Anyone got any views on
how it compares with the Fuji in this area? If it is an issue with the
FZ30 I'd hate to get one now only to find it's fixed in the next model
in only a few months. OTH, I'd hate to miss a decent photograph with the
lesser lens and system...

TIA.

F wrote:
> I'm going on Safari in Kenya in June and was thinking of changing my
> Fuji Finepix S602Z for the Panasonic FZ30 to get the 12x zoom rather
> than the Fuji's 6x. Image stabilisation and the quicker startup were/are
> also a consideration (ideally I would like something like the EOS350D
> but I doubt I could afford the equivalent of the 12x zoom for it!).
>
> I'm hesitating about changing after seeing conflicting comments about
> the Panasonic's images being noisy above ISO 80. Anyone got any views on
> how it compares with the Fuji in this area? If it is an issue with the
> FZ30 I'd hate to get one now only to find it's fixed in the next model
> in only a few months. OTH, I'd hate to miss a decent photograph with the
> lesser lens and system...

The FZ30 definitely has more noise at ISO 400 than the S602, although
Neatimage apparently deals with that fairly effectively. What you get
with the FZ30 is that lovely 12x zoom with a mechanically-linked zoom
ring in addition to the focus-by-wire ring, a higher pixel count, the
tilt/swivel 2" LCD, and a proprietary battery. There may be some other
operational differences, but I don't have enough data to judge.

It's probably true that there will be an FZ35 in six months. They'd
have to do something radical (like use a SuperCCD sensor) to fix the
noise problem. All of their designs (and those of most other makers
except Fuji) have had some noise at higher ISO settings.

Paul Allen

On 19/04/2006 16:52 Paul Allen wrote:

> The FZ30 definitely has more noise at ISO 400 than the S602, although
> Neatimage apparently deals with that fairly effectively.

I need to find out more about Neatimage!

> It's probably true that there will be an FZ35 in six months. They'd
> have to do something radical (like use a SuperCCD sensor) to fix the
> noise problem.

Which makes it a little less likely then...

Thanks for the help: appreciated!

--
Frank
(Beware of spam trap - remove the negative)

- And on Wed, 19 Apr 2006 10:43:02 +0100, it was spake thus <44460621$0$9233$(E-Mail Removed)> said in message F <(E-Mail Removed)>:

> I'm going on Safari in Kenya in June and was thinking of changing my
> Fuji Finepix S602Z for the Panasonic FZ30 to get the 12x zoom rather
> than the Fuji's 6x. Image stabilisation and the quicker startup were/are
> also a consideration (ideally I would like something like the EOS350D
> but I doubt I could afford the equivalent of the 12x zoom for it!).
>
> I'm hesitating about changing after seeing conflicting comments about
> the Panasonic's images being noisy above ISO 80. Anyone got any views on
> how it compares with the Fuji in this area? If it is an issue with the
> FZ30 I'd hate to get one now only to find it's fixed in the next model
> in only a few months. OTH, I'd hate to miss a decent photograph with the
> lesser lens and system...
>
> TIA.


Just discovered this group, should be interesting reading...

I am very happy with my Canon S2 IS, produces some darn good results.
I must admit I haven't anything to compare it to but I'm more than happy with the IS
and the mech/digi zoom.

Ok I know it's a compromise, but what do you expect from something that's an all in
one...

I don't think that the image gets too noisy, until you go into the digital part of
the zoom but that's understandable and I take it into consideration when/if I use it.
--
Nick in Northallerton
Also @ www.whelan.me.uk
And nickw7coc on
Yahoo & MSN
but I use http://www.trillian.cc as I like it better
also on Skype and Google talk

Nick wrote:
[]
> Just discovered this group, should be interesting reading...
>
> I am very happy with my Canon S2 IS, produces some darn good results.
> I must admit I haven't anything to compare it to but I'm more than
> happy with the IS
> and the mech/digi zoom.

The group for full-control ZLR cameras such as the Canon S2 IS and
Panasonic FZ30 is actually:

rec.photo.digital.zlr

They are off-topic in this group.

David

David J Taylor wrote:

> Nick wrote:
> []
>> Just discovered this group, should be interesting reading...
>>
>> I am very happy with my Canon S2 IS, produces some darn good results.
>> I must admit I haven't anything to compare it to but I'm more than
>> happy with the IS
>> and the mech/digi zoom.
>
> The group for full-control ZLR cameras such as the Canon S2 IS and
> Panasonic FZ30 is actually:
>
> rec.photo.digital.zlr
>
> They are off-topic in this group.

However he is far more likely to get a useful response here than there.

> David

--
--John
to email, dial "usenet" and validate
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Wed, 19 Apr 2006 08:52:47 -0700, Paul Allen <"paul dot l dot allen
at comcast dot net"> wrote:

>F wrote:
>> I'm going on Safari in Kenya in June and was thinking of changing my
>> Fuji Finepix S602Z for the Panasonic FZ30 to get the 12x zoom rather
>> than the Fuji's 6x. Image stabilisation and the quicker startup were/are
>> also a consideration (ideally I would like something like the EOS350D
>> but I doubt I could afford the equivalent of the 12x zoom for it!).
>>
>> I'm hesitating about changing after seeing conflicting comments about
>> the Panasonic's images being noisy above ISO 80. Anyone got any views on
>> how it compares with the Fuji in this area? If it is an issue with the
>> FZ30 I'd hate to get one now only to find it's fixed in the next model
>> in only a few months. OTH, I'd hate to miss a decent photograph with the
>> lesser lens and system...
>
>The FZ30 definitely has more noise at ISO 400 than the S602, although
>Neatimage apparently deals with that fairly effectively. What you get
>with the FZ30 is that lovely 12x zoom with a mechanically-linked zoom
>ring in addition to the focus-by-wire ring, a higher pixel count, the
>tilt/swivel 2" LCD, and a proprietary battery. There may be some other
>operational differences, but I don't have enough data to judge.
>
>It's probably true that there will be an FZ35 in six months. They'd
>have to do something radical (like use a SuperCCD sensor) to fix the
>noise problem. All of their designs (and those of most other makers
>except Fuji) have had some noise at higher ISO settings.
>
>Paul Allen

I have a FZ5 the little brother to the FZ30. yes there is noticeable
noise at high ISO. The pictures that are marginally noisy are
ones that I wouldn't have gotten at all with my OM2 film camera.
The image stabilization and the 12x zoom gets useful shots in some
marginal situations. Subjectively the noise even at high ISO
from my FZ5 is less than I get from scanning my old slides and
negatives. For noise reduction I use Noise Ninja.

On 20/04/2006 05:15 David J Taylor wrote:

> The group for full-control ZLR cameras such as the Canon S2 IS and
> Panasonic FZ30 is actually:
>
> rec.photo.digital.zlr
>
> They are off-topic in this group.

Yet I keep seeing the description 'point and shoot' in reviews of the
FZ30...

--
Frank
(Beware of spam trap - remove the negative)

F wrote:
[]
> Yet I keep seeing the description 'point and shoot' in reviews of the
> FZ30...

All digital cameras can (with very few exceptions) be used in a
point-and-shoot mode. Even DSLRs The distinction made when setting up
the new groups was - broadly speaking:

- compact point and shoot with no manual control
- ZLR cameras - bigger SLR-shaped cameras with full manual control
- interchangeable-lens DSLR cameras
- rangefinder cameras

The intention was to help focus discussion better than the single
"rec.photo.digital" newsgroup which was (and still is) too busy for many
people.

Having seen how that's worked over the past 18 months or so, my own
feeling is that two groups, DSLR and none-DSLR, would now be a better set,
as the boundaries between camera models have blurred over the period.

(Of course, this discussion itself should be in the main group).

David

- And on Fri, 21 Apr 2006 06:46:22 GMT, it was spake thus <2d%1g.56809$(E-Mail Removed) > said in message "David J Taylor" <david-(E-Mail Removed)>:

> F wrote:
> []
> > Yet I keep seeing the description 'point and shoot' in reviews of the
> > FZ30...
>
> All digital cameras can (with very few exceptions) be used in a
> point-and-shoot mode. Even DSLRs The distinction made when setting up
> the new groups was - broadly speaking:
>
> - compact point and shoot with no manual control
> - ZLR cameras - bigger SLR-shaped cameras with full manual control
> - interchangeable-lens DSLR cameras
> - rangefinder cameras
>
> The intention was to help focus discussion better than the single
> "rec.photo.digital" newsgroup which was (and still is) too busy for many
> people.
>
> Having seen how that's worked over the past 18 months or so, my own
> feeling is that two groups, DSLR and none-DSLR, would now be a better set,
> as the boundaries between camera models have blurred over the period.
>
> (Of course, this discussion itself should be in the main group).
>
> David
>


Ah ha, thanks for those comments gents didn't even know there were any more of these
subgroups - no subscribed to ZLR...

Bye...
--
Nick in Northallerton
Also @ www.whelan.me.uk
And nickw7coc on
Yahoo & MSN
but I use http://www.trillian.cc as I like it better
also on Skype and Google talk