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FZ38 against Canon S2IS (1 Viewer)

P

Paul Higson

Well-known member
Don't have a camera shop up here on Orkney where I can ask questions, so shall do so on here.

Thinking of getting a new camera and the FZ38 seems a good choice.
I currently have the Canon Powershot S2IS - would the FZ38 be much of an upgrade? and if so in what ways.

My main problem has been trying to take pics of birds in in trees - the camera resolutely refuses to focus on the bird - I have some wonderful shots of leaves, branches etc though.....

Is there a feature on the FZ38 that will allow me to pinpoint what I want to focus on? or should I be looking to move up a level or two?

Any help/advice gratefully received.

Cheers,

Paul
 
I've no experience of the S2, Paul, but my Panasonic FZ28 (previous model to the FZ38) has no trouble focusing in bushes/trees/reeds/etc. I use the Spot AF, which is fine for picking out a bird in busy scenes.

Actually; have a look in my Gallery at the pics of Warblers in foliage, maybe that will answer your questions better.

I've attached an example if you don't have time to browse my gallery.
 

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Christian - I have a TC-DC58B 1.5x teleconverter.

ChrisKten - how do I get to your gallery? (watch out where the Huskies go..)

Thanks for the quick replies.

Cheers,

Paul
 
You'll have a significant higher focal lenght using FZ38 with a T-CON 1.7 (about 820 mm in 35 mm equiv). S2 is a little bit obsolete. A rather fair comparison would be SX10 against FZ38...
 
Paul, the best of the current cameras are miles ahead of your S2 (I have played with the S3, and they are miles ahead of that one as well). A couple of ways they are better is: they are faster in startup and in press to shot; better screen to view the result, usable 400 iso, etc. I have and like my Panasonic FZ18, which is already a little old, and there are several threads in this forum discussing the FZ18/28/38. The smallest focus point with the Panas are the smallest I have seen on any compact, which helps with exactly what your problem is, to pick out the bird among the clutter of leaves and branches. The current Canon has a somewhat better view-finder, but the one on the panasonics are usable. Finally, Pana has leaked info on two new cameras that should be announced this month, both with even longer zoom (24x, going to 600mm equivalent without converters).

Comparison of the current crop: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/Q110superzoomgroup/

Niels
 
Niels: I'm a little wary of the soon-to-be-released Panasonics. If the specs are accurate, they use the same size sensor as the FZ28/38, but cram 14mp into them (instead of 10/12mp respectively).
 
IMHO, 10/12mpx is OK. Also you'll have to have I mind that a 24x lens will have significant distortions at the ends. I would go with FZ38...
 
We will see when they come out. I will not be the first to purchase the new model (unless it is so cheap I cannot say no ;) )

I would be happy for an 8mpix model if the sensor had become better

Niels
 
Paul Higson said:
..My main problem has been trying to take pics of birds in in trees - the camera resolutely refuses to focus on the bird - I have some wonderful shots of leaves, branches etc though.....

Is there a feature on the FZ38 that will allow me to pinpoint what I want to focus on? or should I be looking to move up a level or two?

...
Paul
Click to expand...

Paul, I have the 35, the US equivalent of the 38. I should say you can also have problems to have the camera focus on the object you want. Even with spot focus, it sometimes goes wrong. Particularly in the long tele range. So it's always prudent to check. I'm still angry about the few times I did not check and missed on a recent trip. But overall, you can get the camera to do what you want as long as there is some contrast it can use for its focus.

I think it is well worth its price. And with the present reductions even more so.
 
As an FZ-38 user, I’m generally very satisfied. However, there are occasions when it finds it difficult to focus- you have to shift (sometimes micro-shift) the camera position and it then locks on.

Handholding, you’re not going to be able to do much better than the 35.2x extended zoom feature (internal cropping, so no lessening of pic quality). But, if you were to use a tripod, rest against/on something . . .

The new models would use this feature to produce, presumably, over 45x.
 
Thanks to all for the time and trouble you have taken to help me - much appreciated, and proves once again the worth of BirdForum.

Cheers,

Paul
 
Took the plunge and it arrived the other day. Really happy - doing what I want.... I think!!

If anyone has any advice on settings etc, they would be well received - 200+ pages of the manual will take a while to work through.

Use will be primarily bird pics and macro shots of insects and flowers, together with that film of the first for the Western Palearctic in the garden... B :) B :) B :)

Many thanks for everyone's input, very, very much appreciated.

Cheers,

Paul
 
Paul, good for you!

With the limitation that mine is the fz18 and not 38, I think the same goes for yours:

at the back of the camera, in shooting mode, press the button with the waste-basket and three squares over each other: this is where you choose burst shooting. I have mine set to "unlimited", a little slower than "normal", but not limited to a few frames.

In the menu, go left, down to the wrench, right again, and find "zoom resume". I have mine set to on, so that the camera automatically goes to the same zoom as I used last time it was on.

In the menu, scroll down to second screen, I have meetering mode and AF mode both set to the narrowest center dot. (this may not work for you, but works for the way my brain works).

On the same page in the menu look at picture size: the smaller numbers allow you to use the central part of the sensor to make believe you have extra zoom. The effect on the picture could be had with a crop in the PC afterwards, but it actually sometimes help with focusing on a small bird fluttering around among branches and leaves.

Mine lives in mode "A", wide open. Your mileage may vary.

One annoying thing I discovered: if I hit the MF button, it only took a normal press to get into the mode, but a longer press to return to normal focus; turning the camera on and off did not change it back to normal focus.

Read in the manual about IS modes (I use mode 2) and about the difference between continual AF and AF only if you half press (my choice)

Niels
 
njlarsen said:
Paul, good for you!

On the same page in the menu look at picture size: the smaller numbers allow you to use the central part of the sensor to make believe you have extra zoom. The effect on the picture could be had with a crop in the PC afterwards, but it actually sometimes help with focusing on a small bird fluttering around among branches and leaves.

Niels
Click to expand...

The digital Zoom on some of the old Fujis such as the 4900, 6900, S602 ect seemed to work in a similar way, it was not available until you used one of the lower resolution settings, it was criticised by perfectionists but there were times such as where you describe that it could give you an image when you otherwise would not have got one ... yours is an excellent tip Niels :t:
 
Thanks for the tips Niels: as a new(ish) owner I found these most useful. If I may ask, what do you mean by 'wide open' in your fifth tip?

TIA, Thomas
 
Thanks for the kind words. A means aperture priority, and I usually keep the aperture at its lowest number (f=4.2 at maximum zoom).

Niels
 
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