Should i get Panasonic FZ20 (1 Viewer)

Hi all, sorry got work in 5 hours time so no time to go through all posts.
So Please can you advice me on getting a panasonic FZ20.
Im going to get a scope later and use with my powershot for digiscoping.
But want a point and shoot with a good zoom for using while out and about with the kids and at the reserves from time to time.
The thing is Jessops in the uk are now doing the FZ at £200.
So should i go for it? If so what extras do you advice me to get for it?
Should i go for the FZ5 that is a more recent camera?
All input greatly appreciated.
All the best,
James

Given the use you describe, I can't see any reason not to get the FZ20. There are some niggles with it but many people like the results.

of course a DSLR will give better pictures - but cost a lot more.

Matthew

What a great buy at £200 (I paid £340 just five months ago :C ) The reasons you list for buying the FZ20 are the same as mine. It is a great camera for every day use and even the occasional birding photo. If I were you I'd get one while they've still got them left.

Mark

Would this be good for using in hides particularly for capturing such as tits on feeders?
Im a fledgeling to all this so please forgive any daft questions...
What are these tele converters?
Would it be worth getting for nature pics?
Any recommend for an aditional battery?
Any pics from this camera to view?
Thank you all so much, got to get back off lunch break now.
Thanks again,
James

I've had the FZ20 for around 18 months. It's a decent enough camera with a very good lens on it. Small birds from hides it can easily manage 12'-15' for small birds and adding a teleconverter such as the Olympus Tcon-17 1.7x converter can take that up to 20-25'. A converter needs an adapter in order to mooun it on the camera - lens armour or adatper tube they're sometimes called. The lens itself is very good quality - adding a converter reduces the quality slightly but results are still useable.

The camera is likely ideal for close birds from hides - be aware though that the macro feature isn't that brilliant - min focus at max zoom is c.2m. Also in low light it's not a great performer though the flash is pretty good.

As long as you don't expect results similar to DSLRs with expensive long lenses I don't think you'd be disappointed. I also think it's still the best model in the Panasonic range. I've certainly been very happy with mine the only niggles being noise at anthying over the minimum ISO and chroamtic aberration when taking photos of brightly backlit subjects. The very effective IS takes care of the first issue and you just need to be aware of the CA. Other cameras I've used have as bad if not worse CA.

As regards demo photos simply look in the Gallery using the advanced search.

Here's one that's recently been uploaded - Kingfisher by Watcher - as good as DSLR quality

A link to a Gallery search for Panasonic FZ20

Photos - FZ20+Tcon-17 teleconverter

I should point out there are other cameras out now that are just as good if not better in terms of photos quality but maybe a bit higher priced now the FZ20 has dropped and most often with 10x a opposed to 12x optical zoom - with or without IS. Canon do a very good model as well.

Deja-vu said:

What a great buy at £200 (I paid £340 just five months ago :C
Mark

Click to expand...

Hmm, know that feeling. Except I paid £280 for mine (a cracking price, I thought) just two weeks ago. Grrrrrr....

Still, a good little camera, a TCON-17 teleconverter plus adaptor are on the way, and looking forward to getting to grips with it properly once we get some daylight hours.

Marc

Well Got the camera,
Ordered a sandisk ultra II 1GB card.
Looking to get a few spare batterys.
Now can anyone advice me on the talk of tele convertors?
Any particular make recommended? Or a short list?
What prices please? Are these available in uk at sensible price or recommended from a particular place?
Thank you all for your guidance.
Im now in.
All the best,
James

I don't have the camera but I considered it and at the time the only choice that seemed to be made was the Olympus Tcon-17 1.7x converter.

This will fit the FZ20. I know there was a Panasonic converter on the way for the FZ30 - not sure about the FZ20. But the one for the FZ30 was very expensive.

Matthew

mcapper said:

I don't have the camera but I considered it and at the time the only choice that seemed to be made was the Olympus Tcon-17 1.7x converter.

This will fit the FZ20. I know there was a Panasonic converter on the way for the FZ30 - not sure about the FZ20. But the one for the FZ30 was very expensive.

Matthew

Click to expand...

The Panasonic converter for the FZ20 is also very expensive. I got the Olympus Tcon-17 with a Pemaraal adapter and think it was a good move.
Graham

Help using FZ20

Hi All,
All advice or pointers to other forums etc appreciated.
Had a go at using my FZ20 after notig such great pics and reviews around the web.
Having trouble with simple things such as birds in the garden images are not coming out stable as hoped from the anti jitter thingy.
Also repeated half presses of the shutter button does not often focus on my desired target.Im Totaly new to this so forgive me please.
I get better pics on my cannon powershot 75 and i never taken that off auto.
Seams i need to learn all all about the tec stuff of manual shooting.
Help Please.
even taking pics of daughters birthday are dishaertening.
Ive seen many diffrent subjects taken with the FZ20 from just hand held that are great, but these are eluding me.
Im awaiting some more batterys and some macro lenses but bank acount says i have to hold off the tcon 17 for a bit.
Thanks as ever,
James

I have no experience of the camera but I know that some image stabilised lenses take a second or so for the image stabilser to kick in.

Have you tried giving it a little time before fully pressing the shutter?

Matthew

James_Death said:

...Having trouble with simple things such as birds in the garden images are not coming out stable as hoped from the anti jitter thingy.
Also repeated half presses of the shutter button does not often focus on my desired target....

Click to expand...

Hi James,
I have an FZ20 so perhaps I can help. If you check the manual you'll see that you can set the autofocus zone. This can be a wide area or a very small central zone. For birds and other small objects it's best to set it to the smallest autofocus zone. If you leave it set to the factory default it'll probably be focussing on something else that's larger and more obvious. You can also select the metering pattern to use. For birds I'd recommend using the spot-metering option. Finally, set the image stabilizer to Mode 2 (this is also explained in the manual). This gives a better result than Mode 1.

I've found the image stabilization works very well but there are limits to this technology and in low light you'll still need to hold the camera very still.
Hope this helps.

Solent Birder

Thanks Solent Birder,
Ill give it a go tomorrow i think, as working this afternoon.
Well the macro converters came look ok, only one battery turned up however.
Im getting there, all the best,
James

Just by chance I got some photos of a Sparrowhawk with my FZ20. I used the burst mode to capture a lot of pictures and kept the best. The pictures in my gallery (http://www.birdforum.net/pp_gallery/showgallery.php/cat/500/ppuser/23216)
are heavily cropped but I can send you the original files if you're interested in the quality. These photo's were taken through a double-glazed window so they're not as sharp as they could be.

Great shots Solent birder,
Im getting fed up with my fz20, i was out with my cuss today to view some ldv pilot minibusses..( stick with me here please)... and as his son likes pilons he noticed some nice ones and got out his minolta z1 10x zoom and started snapping every one came out perfect and he does not have the most stable hands.
All mine even when only a meter or so away are blured etc on telephoto.
The camera shake icon comes up but i never get a stable shot...
Starting to worry if they are a duff lot hence price drop... but how can i compare or even know what to check.
very dishartened.
All the best,
James.
Ps your pics are better through window than when im pointing straight at the birds.

Hi James,

Without seeing the pictures (plus the exif details) it's difficult to know what the problem might be.

Hopefully it's not Jessops knowingly off-loading a bunch of duff cameras - I think that is extraordinarily unlikely. Of course yours might be duff, but there are plenty of other more likely possibilities to look at first.

I am no photographer, but from my digiscoping I know a little bit about ISOs, shutter speeds, aperture settings and so on. What I am quickly learning about the FZ20 (I've only had mine three weeks) is that this knowledge is invaluable. This is a very sophisticated camera in comparison to most consumer cams I've used up until now, and great fun... if you take the time to learn to use it.

I have taken more than a thousand shots in the last three weeks, many just aiming randomly about the garden on different settings - some even of the tv screen (!) just to play with different features. I have shot in black and white and colour, aperture priority, shutter priority and full manual. I have used all three automatic focus modes, plus manual focus, plus all three exposure evaluation modes, and I've used a tripod, a monopod, image stablisation and none. And I'm still only just getting to grips with things.

I would suggest spending some time with the manual, maybe some time looking at the dpreview panasonic forum (loads of great advice there) and much more time just taking pictures. Please don't get disheartened by the great shots you see online - remember, it's the photographer who gets the shots, not the camera, and there are some great photographers out there.

As to your specific problems, if you have got blurred shots it might be one or both of the following problem types:

1. Slow shutter speed leading to image shake - even with image stabilisation, a really slow shutter speed will show every tiny hand tremor (or subject movement). I can handhold down to about 1/30 (which is pretty good for any camera) - below that it's either time for the tripod or time to look at increasing the light coming in (wider (ie lower) aperture setting, higher ISO sensitivity (100, 200 or 400 - I prefer to shoot in 80 if I can), flash (as long as it's within range), or improved ambient lighting (where practical)).

2. Incorrect focusing - often causing by using the wrong auto focus setting. The autofocus is pretty good but not infallible, particularly if you've not got the most appropriate mode selected. Try changing it to spot focus rather than multi-focus for difficult subjects, or use manual focus (which I find incredibly helpful when focusing on a bird feeder for example - just focus once and leave).

I hope this helps and you aren't too disheartened - just remember, you've got a fantastic versatile camera that should improve your photography no end, and all at a low price that has the rest of us absolutely green with envy.

Good luck.

I have to say I agree with Marc. The FZ20 is a good camera and should be producing decent results for you.

I find the IS is very effective and likewise can use it down to 1/30 sec. I leave it switched on all of the time.

Make sure the digital zoom is disabled - it's too easy to go into this zone and results with it aren't that brilliant.

ISO I leave set at 80 - any higher and noise becomes an issue.
Aperture priority works best for me.
Spot metering/focus is a must for bird photography. For birds in tricky places like sat in a bush then it's easy to flip the button on the side to manual focus - more often though I just half depress the shutter button to lock focus and release it again until I get the autofocus to lock on the bird of the bird I want.

I do find though that the camera likes bright coniditions - at least bright overcast days but preferably sunny days to bring out it's best performance.

Thanks greatly Hornet,
Was thinking im going to have to trawl the manuel, just realy was so supprised at my cousins camera running full auto on full zoom hands shaking and got the shot spot on and that has no stabiliser.
So used to pre set programs, i supose.
Always so much to learn...head going to go pop.
I have a shot i took on the cannon a70 while out with the kids walking one day pic looking over some fields camera on auto and its my favourite shot of all time...however never backed up and went down with my hard drive...AARRRGHH.
You live and you learn...takes several attempts though.
Thanks,
james

Stick with it and you will get the hang. Just don't expect to point it at everything and get SLR quality every time. The attached (cropped) image is so far my only decent bird image. But on the plus side with the digiscoping set up I wouldn't have stood a chance, due to the constant fast movement.

Mark

You do of course get lucky, like I did this afternoon.

This was taken in absolute sh-t light, with the flash on and set at 80 ISO. Bird was c.8ft away.

Mark