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Panasonic premieres Lumix DMC-FZ100 high-speed superzoom camera (1 Viewer)

I could be missing something, but I don't see any compelling reason to upgrade for bird photography based on the specs alone. It's a few ounces heavier than the FZ18 I have now, and only offers a little more zoom. So would still want a teleconverter.

Only things that look interesting for bird photography are faster autofocus, HD movie quality, and better noise reduction.

Of course, an actual test may reveal more significant advantages, e.g. good image quality in low light situations. But the higher megapixel count makes me pessimistic about that.

Best,
Jim
 
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TBH, I doubt that I'll ditch my FZ28. There are a couple of things that I'd like:

Faster Autofocus (mainly for flight shots) - better high ISO performance (I'd like to go to ISO 1600 in the darker months of the Winter, and maybe in good light to get a faster shutter speed) - 11fps burst at full resolution would be useful, provinding the EVF doesn't blank like the new Fuji.

More reach doesn't really bother me. I can get decent pics at 100yds (TCON17 attached), but even then, the Air quality affects the image. I know the bird would be slightly larger in the frame, but there really isn't that much difference between 18x and 24x, especially as the FZ100 starts at 25mm.
 
Looks like they have discontinued saving as RAW; not a big deal for me, but there is sure to be some disappointment over that. I will be wanting to know if the NR can be turned down, it seemed a little excessive on the test images.

Niels
 
njlarsen said:
Looks like they have discontinued saving as RAW; not a big deal for me, but there is sure to be some disappointment over that. I will be wanting to know if the NR can be turned down, it seemed a little excessive on the test images.

Niels
Click to expand...

The RAW on my F38 wasn't compatible with iphoto on my imac anyway.
 
For those that are interested; Panasonic have posted 3 sample images. All are ISO 100 (but base ISO is 80), and I've no idea what the Noise Reduction settings were.

I know it's only a few weeks to wait (end of August) until the camera is released, but I know some of your are impatient for at least some idea of what this camera might produce.

http://panasonic.net/avc/lumix/gallery/models/fz100.html

I will say that, if the noise reduction was left at default level, these images are quite impressive. (There is a setting for noise reduction in-camera, it's in the full specs)
 
Those do look pretty darn good! I will be curious to see what 200 iso, 400 iso, 800 iso, etc looks like.

Niels
 
I had a play with the sample images (I can't upload or anything as against Panasonic's stated terms), and at 100% there's some noise, but also a lot of fine detail. I did see the odd bit of smearing, but only at 100%.

So I'm wondering just how much detail is possible with noise reduction turned off (I don't care about grainy noise).

One other thing that I forgot to mention; apart from the 15 frames at 11fps at full resolution, there's also 5fps at full resolution with AF tracking. So this could be a useful camera for flight shots, assuming the AF can keep up.
 
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ChrisKten said:
I had a play with the sample images (I can't upload or anything as against Panasonic's stated terms), and at 100% there's some noise, but also a lot of fine detail. I did see the odd bit of smearing, but only at 100%.

So I'm wondering just how much detail is possible with noise reduction turned off (I don't care about grainy noise).

One other thing that I forgot to mention; apart from the 15 frames at 11fps at full resolution, there's also 5fps at full resolution with AF tracking. So this could be a useful camera for flight shots, assuming the AF can keep up.
Click to expand...

Those images look pretty good to me too. I'm looking forward to being able to have a go with the FZ100
All the best
Hobbes
 
I think it will be great for you, Hobbes, especially the extra reach. Also, if you add a 1.7 TC, you'll have 1020mm, that's a whole new world.

Obviously I'll wait for proper reviews, before I decide if the camera is for me. And as I've mentioned, there's really only a couple of things on my wish list for a new camera, and I've learned to cope without them up to now.

But as I said, this could well be an ideal upgrade for you.
 
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ChrisKten said:
I think it will be great for you, Hobbes, especially the extra reach. Also, if you add a 1.7 TC, you'll have 1020mm, that's a whole new world.

Obviously I'll wait for proper reviews, before I decide if the camera is for me. And as I've mentioned, there's really only a couple of things on my wish list for a new camera, and I've learned to cope without them up to now.

But as I said, this could well be an ideal upgrade for you.
Click to expand...

Hi Chris
Thanks for your message. Yes, I think you're right. Up until now I've always felt like the extra reach of the FZ series, after the FZ8, wasn't enough to warrant an upgrade but I think it's got to the point now with the FZ100 that I'll really benefit from it. Now I just need to start saving my pennies :-O
Hobbes
 
Be aware of the intelligent zoom function of the FZ100. It increases the zoomfactor from 24x to 32x without making the quality significant worse. I have seen this function work pretty well on a Panasonic HD camcorder, and I guess the technology used at the FZ100 must be similar.

Generally I think this camera must be very interesting for birdphotography combined with light travelling.

regards
Jorgen
 
jorgen said:
Be aware of the intelligent zoom function of the FZ100. It increases the zoomfactor from 24x to 32x without making the quality significant worse. I have seen this function work pretty well on a Panasonic HD camcorder, and I guess the technology used at the FZ100 must be similar.
Click to expand...

I don't think that is anything new. Already have a similar function on my FZ18--"extended optical zoom". It's not really increasing the zoom, as I understand it, but more like something akin to cropping and enlarging. See here:
http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?t=105219

Best,
Jim
 
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