• Please be sure to read the rules and adhere to them. Some banned members have complained that they are not spammers. But they spammed us. Some even tried to redirect our members to other forums. Duh. Be smart. Read the rules and adhere to them and we will all get along just fine. Cheers. :beer: Link to the rules: https://www.forumsforums.com/threads/forum-rules-info.2974/

Need Recommendation: Digital SLR or ???

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
Gatorboy said:
This is not good for sports photography. If the focus is set and your athlete is moving, anything after the first shot will be out of focus.
Agreed. I don't see how full frame at 2 or 3 fps is useful for sports.

That leaves 30 fps 640 x 480 or (848 x 480) with autofocus as the only reasonable sports mode. In your experience, is that large enough to print some individual frames?

The 800 or 1600 ISO High-Sensitivity mode is poor, the manual says suitable only for 4 x 6 prints. I'll add 'and only suitable for proud mommies who have to have a print from the Christmas Pageant to carry around and show everybody'. Sharpness just isn't there.

The target market for the TZ1 isn't pros who would use a much larger camera, rather it's a camera with some extended capabilities for the casual user. I would say its reasonable limits are f4.2 when zooming (clear up to 12.5x in 3mp mode) and ISO 100, maybe 200 or 400 with careful post processing. A proper sports camera would have a faster lens and higher ISO. And weigh 10 times as much.
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6552rTZ1wCase.jpg
    IMG_6552rTZ1wCase.jpg
    39.1 KB · Views: 159
Last edited:

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
California . . . you really hit on the theme of the thread with your last comments.

I am not looking to replace my faithful Nikon F2a, what I am looking for is a "good enough" camera that splits the middle range. Something that gives me more capabilities than my Canon pocket point and shoot cameras but is not too big or too cumbersome that it gets left behind and goes unused.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well after looking at all the alternatives, strongly considering the Nikon that Dargo has, the Canon S cameras, and the new Lumix that California just purchased I just ordered the Lumix DMC FZ7. Perhaps not the best camera for everything, but probably the best for my needs considering the other cameras I also have for use.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Well I have had the Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ7 for about a week. Honestly have not had much time to play with it, but I have used it for work and took some photos inside a warehouse of a company that I am buying, so the bulk of the photos I've taken have been nothing more than snapshots.

But despite my lack of real use of this taking photos of my daughter's sports, I do have some things to say.

First, it is very light and much smaller than the digital SLRs that have removable lenses. It is also smaller than the Canon S1 series camera. If I was designing it I would have put the button on a slight forward cant instead of on the horizontal plane. I would have also added a shutter speed dial for shutter priority mode and a aperature ring for aperature priority mode . . . but in both cases I would probably be overruled by other potential customers for this camera. I really like the size and with the exception of the shutter button, the ergonomics are very good.

When it came down to the acutally purchase decision, I waffled back and forth between this and the Canon. I felt that this felt a bit better overall but liked the Canon's shutter button position better. I also liked the size of this better. Not big, but not too small. Several other brands (Nikon, Fuji, etc) don't have any flat surface to the left side of the lens so when you are looking through the viewfinder there is no flat side to rest your left hand/thumb against, I prefer the feeling of a flat side to the curved sided body. Just me I guess.

I like the extended eye cup for viewfinder use. Many cameras do not have this and force you to turn your head slighty to use the viewfinder, but even with my large nose I can use the viewfinder without twisting my head.

Here are a couple photos of the camera (obviously not shot by the camera). I set the camera on my laptop's keyboard to give you a bit of scale so you can see that this really is a fairly compact camera.

I like the burst mode, it gives you several options. One holds the focus at the same as the first photo, but others allow for constant focus even when firing shots at 2fps.

I also like the "macro" feature on the top dial, many cameras seem to force you to go through a menu to go into the macro focus mode, in photo 2 below you can actually see the camera is focused on the screen.

The rear view screen is very large, larger than most. Some might consider it a drawback that the screen is exposed, but I have several other cameras that have this feature and I prefer it. The Canon S1 has a flip out screen, which may protect the screen, but it increases bulk unnecessarily. The rear screen is also very bright which makes it useful when some others are washed out by sunlight.

BTW the camera comes with a 16mb SD card. I tossed that and replaced it with a 1Gig SD card since this will take photos up to 6MB it seems silly to even include a card that is so small it will not hold 3 images at full resolution!

One thing I will point out is that many of these compact super zoom cameras are very very good values for the money. It strikes me that the BEST camera is the one you like best. I can't honestly say that a Panasonic takes a better photo than a Nikon or a Canon or a Fuji or a Kodak. There are issues that some people may have when pushing any of these compact super zooms to their limits. Panasonic gives has some noise issues above 200 ISO settings but for most people (and I fall into that group) it should not be a practical issue.
 

Attachments

  • 1.jpg
    1.jpg
    107.4 KB · Views: 134
  • 2.jpg
    2.jpg
    179.2 KB · Views: 130
  • 3.jpg
    3.jpg
    119.7 KB · Views: 130

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
TitanZERO said:
Excellent camera. However...Nikons are great also. http://www.jimlilly.com/theproject

Yup Jim, I really do like this camera. I also like my Nikons. I don't consider the new Panasonic to be in the same league as my professional Nikons, but then again, I wasn't shopping for a professional grade camera. The higher end Nikon Coolpix cameras were discussed in this thread. For the added price, they didn't offer any advantage in the application that I have chose for this little Panasonic Lumix.
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Just a little bit of an update. Here are a couple images shot with the Panasonic Lumix FZ7 camera.

Both were taken while standing on the balcony of our condo. Both were taken of the same subject, only the zoom enhancement was different. One was taken without the zoom, the other at 48x (the camera has 12x optical, but goes to 48x in digital zoom mode). I was shooting into the sun. The camera was hand-held (which shows how well the new generation Image Stabilization system works because the 48x Zoom image is actually clear). Both images were originally 6MB each, I resized them to 700pixels by 525pixels and exported them to my desktop using iPhoto, then shrank the file size to roughly 140kb so they would upload here. There were no enhancements or other image alterations made.
 

Attachments

  • 1P1010353.jpg
    1P1010353.jpg
    130.4 KB · Views: 98
  • 1P1010354.jpg
    1P1010354.jpg
    136.8 KB · Views: 96

Doc

Bottoms Up
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
Very impressive Bob. That zoom is awesome. :thumb:

Now see how many bikini's you can get pics of.
 

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
I like the Panasonics. My choice was TZ1 (similar to FZ7, pocketable, 10x optical zoom).


Old Sacramento (tourist trap) and its excursion train viewed from the opposite side of the river.
The white mast at the front of the riverboat is common to both the large picture and the inset small picture.


P1000521-24rSacWaterfront2.jpg
 

Melensdad

Jerk in a Hawaiian Shirt & SNOWCAT Moderator
Staff member
GOLD Site Supporter
I looked at the TZ1 too. Nice camera. Spec'd out a little lower on all things and if I was looking for a more 'pocketable' camera then it would have very likely been at/near the top of my list of choices. As size was less of an issue, and things like focal length, aperature, shutter speeds, etc were more important to me, I obviously opted for a less compact camera.

But it sure seems like Panasonic has got its act together with their cameras. Great prices and great features.
 

mtntopper

Back On Track
SUPER Site Supporter
Junkman said:
Have you had any problems getting film or having it developed????? Junk....

From what I here Junk, it works just like your Brownie 110 you are still using.....:yankchain: Or did you finally upgrade to a newer pocket camera with flash from the local convenience store?????:confused2:

Excellent pics Bob, now lets see some beach bikini babes.......
 

California

Charter Member
Site Supporter
Junkman said:
Have you had any problems getting film or having it developed????? Junk....
Junk, I can never figure out when you are serious.

When I want prints its easy. I take the 'film' to Walgreen and they know how to do it. No big deal.:)
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
California said:
Junk, I can never figure out when you are serious.

I didn't think anyone ever cared or tried to figure this out..... Damn right that I am serious...... Very serious....... every awake moment of every day. :yankchain: :yankchain:

By the way, does anyone have a supply of 110 film for my Kodak Brownie?? I have been having difficulty finding it in the Rexall Pharmacy in town. I went by the local De Soto dealership and they have a really nice Fireflite convertible that I would like to take a picture of. Those 1957 models are very futuristic looking cars......:hide:
 

Attachments

  • 57_Fireflite.jpg
    57_Fireflite.jpg
    50 KB · Views: 84

Jim_S

Gone But Not Forgotten
GOLD Site Supporter
Junkman said:
By the way, does anyone have a supply of 110 film for my Kodak Brownie?? I have been having difficulty finding it in the Rexall Pharmacy in town.

think you want 126 for the Brownie. The 110 is for that new fangled flat camera.

Junkman said:
I went by the local De Soto dealership and they have a really nice Fireflite convertible that I would like to take a picture of. Those 1957 models are very futuristic looking cars....

Wait until you see the 58 Olds. I hear there is at least 500 pounds of chrome on each tail fin. Pink is going to be one of the popular colors
:yankchain: :yankchain: :yankchain:
 

Junkman

Extra Super Moderator
jim slagle said:
.............Wait until you see the 58 Olds. I hear there is at least 500 pounds of chrome on each tail fin. Pink is going to be one of the popular colors
:yankchain: :yankchain: :yankchain:

Jim....... PM says that it is going to be the 1958 Buick.........:hide: Check this video out.......
 

Attachments

  • buick_grille.jpg
    buick_grille.jpg
    23.7 KB · Views: 83
  • buick_taillight.jpg
    buick_taillight.jpg
    31.5 KB · Views: 85
Top