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Panasonic Lumx TZ40 (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter Birdingam
- Start date
looksharp65
Well-known member
Indeed I have. Bought mine a few months ago and am extremely satisfied this far.
I use mine handheld, resting on the flat upper surface of the Nikon DS eyepieces. In particular I like the touchscreen which allows to move the point of spot focus and allows shutter firing without pressing the shutter release button. This is very helpful against shake. Apart from that, I like the feature of "profiles" that are dialled in with the knob. Just preset the settings, save and get them back in a second.
The autofocus does a very good job. I used to have a Sony DSC-H20 and I had to lock the focus to infinity and focus with the scope. Unfortunately the images wouldn't become sharp unless focused in front of the subject, so it was much a matter of trial and error. Not so with the Lumix TZ40.
For our American friends it should also be mentioned that the TZ40 has another model number overseas: ZS30.
//L
I use mine handheld, resting on the flat upper surface of the Nikon DS eyepieces. In particular I like the touchscreen which allows to move the point of spot focus and allows shutter firing without pressing the shutter release button. This is very helpful against shake. Apart from that, I like the feature of "profiles" that are dialled in with the knob. Just preset the settings, save and get them back in a second.
The autofocus does a very good job. I used to have a Sony DSC-H20 and I had to lock the focus to infinity and focus with the scope. Unfortunately the images wouldn't become sharp unless focused in front of the subject, so it was much a matter of trial and error. Not so with the Lumix TZ40.
For our American friends it should also be mentioned that the TZ40 has another model number overseas: ZS30.
//L
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looksharp65
Well-known member
This one is NOT digiscoped, only the zoom was used.
http://www.dropbox.com/s/435yr3flx0s2tof/1010185.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/306txe9vu25h4kp/1010185%20-%20Kopia.jpg
http://www.dropbox.com/s/435yr3flx0s2tof/1010185.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/306txe9vu25h4kp/1010185%20-%20Kopia.jpg
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looksharp65
Well-known member
This is the original image with a Nikon ED82A, 50x Wide DS and the TZ40:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1ugis2e5fplwbp/1010197.jpg
And this is the cropped and adjusted image:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ve19stdu7mwlfde/1010197%20-%20Kopia.jpg
//L
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q1ugis2e5fplwbp/1010197.jpg
And this is the cropped and adjusted image:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/ve19stdu7mwlfde/1010197%20-%20Kopia.jpg
//L
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Normally with these long zoomed digicams you can only use them at wide zoom (24 mm ) on the scope as the vignetting will get worse as you zoom the camera lens. With a 30x eyepiece this would be a magnification of 720 mm. You would do better with the Canons SX 50 HS , Nikon P520 or Panasonic FZ70 which would get you out to 1200 mm with the camera lens. The Canon SX 50 HS even has built-in 1.5x and 2x teleconverters which get you out to 2400 mm with reasonable quality for id purposes.
For digiscoping at longer distances where you need 1,000 -3,000 mm have a look at the Nikon P330 or the Sony RX 100 or RX 100 M2. You would need a universal adapter to mount these.
If you particularly like a mid zoom digicam you can digiscope with them using the Kowa 25x LER eyepiece ( long eye relief) which will fit on Kowa of course but also fits previous models of Swarovski scopes.
Hope this helps.
Neil.
looksharp65
Well-known member
You're welcome, Birdingam :t:
I find it somewhat amusing (or not) when I read a reply where the respondent has no experience of the camera in question.
I had hoped that the White-tailed Sea-eagle image would have shown that it is a reasonably capable piece of equipment. Apparently not. Oh well.
It is true that superzooms cannot be used for digiscoping when zoomed up to the tele range. However, that is still not how digiscoping works. If a very fine scope is used, it will certainly have a better image quality than the zoom lens of a P&S camera, and certainly better than the small sensor can make use of.
Thus, it is advisable to use wide angle eyepieces with high magnification for "normal" digiscoping distances. Wide angle in order to minimise vignetting, although some cropping certainly must be done. The original image in post#4 is not cropped at all.
The zoom lens of the camera will perform optically better and have a larger aperture in the wideangle range, compared to the tele end.
With the combination I use, I get the best results (least vignetting) when slightly zoomed in. If the zoom setting corresponds to a 32 mm lens and 50 mm is considered 1:1, the focal length with a 50x eyepiece will correspond to (32/50)*50*50 = 1600 mm.
Cropping the image by 75% (the image diagonal is halved) will correspond to 3200 mm.
The fine thing with the TZ40, apart from being small and feature-packed, is that it is reasonably useful for some bird photography even when not digiscoping.
With 18M resolution, its longest focal length corresponds to 480 mm. With a 30x digiscoping eyepiece, it's (32/50)* 30*50 = 960 mm, maybe 1200 mm when the necessary cropping is done.
So, it bridges the magnification gap that would occur if it had only had 4x optical zoom, while still being useful for digiscoping.
It may not be the most perfect digiscoping camera, but I'm very satisfied with it.
Re Neil's suggestions, I'm sure that they are very capable cameras and I have no reason to dismiss them, in particular since I have no experience with any of them.
//L
I find it somewhat amusing (or not) when I read a reply where the respondent has no experience of the camera in question.
I had hoped that the White-tailed Sea-eagle image would have shown that it is a reasonably capable piece of equipment. Apparently not. Oh well.
It is true that superzooms cannot be used for digiscoping when zoomed up to the tele range. However, that is still not how digiscoping works. If a very fine scope is used, it will certainly have a better image quality than the zoom lens of a P&S camera, and certainly better than the small sensor can make use of.
Thus, it is advisable to use wide angle eyepieces with high magnification for "normal" digiscoping distances. Wide angle in order to minimise vignetting, although some cropping certainly must be done. The original image in post#4 is not cropped at all.
The zoom lens of the camera will perform optically better and have a larger aperture in the wideangle range, compared to the tele end.
With the combination I use, I get the best results (least vignetting) when slightly zoomed in. If the zoom setting corresponds to a 32 mm lens and 50 mm is considered 1:1, the focal length with a 50x eyepiece will correspond to (32/50)*50*50 = 1600 mm.
Cropping the image by 75% (the image diagonal is halved) will correspond to 3200 mm.
The fine thing with the TZ40, apart from being small and feature-packed, is that it is reasonably useful for some bird photography even when not digiscoping.
With 18M resolution, its longest focal length corresponds to 480 mm. With a 30x digiscoping eyepiece, it's (32/50)* 30*50 = 960 mm, maybe 1200 mm when the necessary cropping is done.
So, it bridges the magnification gap that would occur if it had only had 4x optical zoom, while still being useful for digiscoping.
It may not be the most perfect digiscoping camera, but I'm very satisfied with it.
Re Neil's suggestions, I'm sure that they are very capable cameras and I have no reason to dismiss them, in particular since I have no experience with any of them.
//L
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Nicely responded L. I was going on the exif of the photo you posted which showed 24 mm ( wide zoom) and some vignetting . Normally with these longer zooms ( I have a lot of them from Canon, Nikon and Sony ) as you zoom the vignetting gets worse. If the Panasonic doesn't behave like that then it is an interesting candidate for digiscoping. It is nicely featured and looks better than the Nikon S9100 (which is about the same range) that I have.
As you say if you can double the magnification to around 50/60 mm with little/no vignetting then it's definitely a go.
Look forward to seeing more photos from this combo.
Neil.
looksharp65
Well-known member
Thanks Neil. I don't think I could zoom in 2x to 48 mm, but a little zooming (to maybe 32 mm?) gives more magnification and less vignetting.
Possibly, a M4/3 with a pancake "normal" lens, corresponding to 50 mm, could produce some very nice results with not so much scope magnification, but then it's pretty unusable "as is", e.g. with the normal lens and not a tele lens.
With the 50x eyepiece on the scope it would correspond to a 2500 mm lens.
The crucial thing is to have a very good scope that can deliver hi-resolution images with minimum CA, regardless of whether the magnification is obtained via a high-mag eyepiece, a longer focal length of the camera lens or simply by cropping. And inversely, a substandard scope will be unusable for digiscoping at any distances worth mentioning. Then it's much better to use a state-of-the-art superzoom camera.
//L
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Birdingam
Well-known member
Certainly an interesting discussion started with you two. The reason I'm looking at the Panasonic is it is a neat pocket size camera that you can carry with you anywhere, anytime. My scope is a Leica APO-Televid 77 with a 32mm eyepiece so I think image quality from the scope shoould not be a problem
Thank you both for the healthy debate.
Thank you both for the healthy debate.
I been using an 'old' Panansonic TZ6 (2-3 years) until recently for digiscoping - the extended lens housing fit my Swaro 25-50 eyepiece like a glove. It performed pretty well. It went belly-up while away in India last month but fortunately I have given my wife a Samsung compact camera (WB150) last Christmas that 'just happened' to fit my scope as well. So I had a substitue.
Unfortunately it possesses an annoying auto-focus - the 'green' square that indicates where it is focusing wanders about the screen and you cannot be certain that the subject will be the final area settled on to focus - there seems no way of limiting this to a central point or wherever.
While the results were been OK I started to consider a replacement that might aid some of the drawbacks of the cheaper end compacts. These generally have very simple programmes on the dial with little control - I would guess that being able to set shutter speed and alter the ISO settings, as well as storing a variety of settings to cope with different conditions would be great - it would reduce what I suspect is shake, as opposed to poor focussing.
The Panasonic TZ40 sounds as if it would be suitable - and the current UK price at about £200 on Amazon sounds fine.
I think they have NOT changed the lens housing and that the the housing that engages the scope eyepiece remains at 40mm diameter.
Could you confirm that these parameters remain and that the required features apply. Any indication of how far ISO can be reasonably pushed and what shutter speeds are practical woukld be useful
Ray
Unfortunately it possesses an annoying auto-focus - the 'green' square that indicates where it is focusing wanders about the screen and you cannot be certain that the subject will be the final area settled on to focus - there seems no way of limiting this to a central point or wherever.
While the results were been OK I started to consider a replacement that might aid some of the drawbacks of the cheaper end compacts. These generally have very simple programmes on the dial with little control - I would guess that being able to set shutter speed and alter the ISO settings, as well as storing a variety of settings to cope with different conditions would be great - it would reduce what I suspect is shake, as opposed to poor focussing.
The Panasonic TZ40 sounds as if it would be suitable - and the current UK price at about £200 on Amazon sounds fine.
I think they have NOT changed the lens housing and that the the housing that engages the scope eyepiece remains at 40mm diameter.
Could you confirm that these parameters remain and that the required features apply. Any indication of how far ISO can be reasonably pushed and what shutter speeds are practical woukld be useful
Ray
tperry
Well-known member
I use a Panasonic TZ10 with the same scope eyepiece; I bought it secondhand as the new Panasonic I was considering at the time (TZ30?) had a lens housing that was fractionally bigger and would not easily fit the scope eyepiece.
I suggest you check the TZ40 before you buy - if possible.
Tony
I suggest you check the TZ40 before you buy - if possible.
Tony
looksharp65
Well-known member
At your service!
Wide DS 50x, camera zoom about 1.5x, vignetting is horrendous but the final result quite pleasing at least for me. It was a gloomy day with much haze and rain.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/q705bs7kcw93b7z/1010420.jpg
https://www.dropbox.com/s/levbefmcxcdurul/1010420_redig.jpg
//L
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You were lucky to get anything with those conditions.
I notice that you had -1 exposure dialled in. +.3 might have been better. I had a quick look in Photoshop and it looks sharp for the conditions. I took the liberty of brightening it a tad to see the detail.
You should be happy with that.
Neil.
ps sorry I did this before I saw your version. Your's is better.
Attachments
looksharp65
Well-known member
Thanks Neil. The -1 EV is part of the programmed C1 preset that I use when digiscoping. With the Sony DSC-H20 I always needed to underexpose the pics quite a bit, but the Lumix is not as predictable. Still, a standard -1 setting allows for faster shutter speeds and can easily be corrected with a photo editor.
For this shot, I just used the Windows Photo Editor.
This setup is very sensitive to shake and I had several shots not as sharp as this one. I'm not sure, but I think this is an example where the lens's resolution and the sensor make a very good match. Looking closely, the eagle's iris and pupil can be seen, although a little dim and grainy.
I'm very content with the TZ40, it adds no bulk or weight to the equipment.
But for "shooting" flying birds, a DSLR or mirrorless camera is more manageable.
//L
