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8 out of 8 people found this review helpful
3.0 stars
"Too Noisy For Large Prints..."
Pros: Great lens, good color exposure & white balance
Cons: Sensor Too Small!, Unacceptable Noise Levels Even at ISO 80
Summary: As of this writing, I am selling my FZ-30 after two weeks of use. It's unfortunate because this is, for the most part, an excellent camera that will appeal to many photographers out there and will serve many people well.
This camera is an excellent choice if you will mostly be viewing your pictures at less than 100% on a computer or if you will be printing 4x6 or 5x7 photos. If this is you, then you may want to give this camera strong consideration.
However, I personally like to make the occassional enlargement and like to display 6x8 and 8x10 photos. I also need to have a quick backup camera to take shots for 8x10 enlargements for work. This is where the DMC-FZ30 fails- and miserably so (and I can't always "borrow" the Mamiya 6 medium format for the weekend.)
I just got back from a two week vacation to Central America and loved the zoom reach of the DMC-FZ30. I got many close up shots of colorful birds, monkeys, whales and other wildlife that I would not have gotten without the optical reach of the 12x Leica lens. Again, the lens takes pictures that I thought were very color accurate, extremely detailed and very sharp. A very, very good lens. White balance was for the most part very good on the few auto shots I took with the camera. With the 9-point AF turned off, the camera was also able to take pictures fast enough to catch a great sequence of two Howler monkeys chasing each other at full speed.
Upon arriving home, I had about 460 pictures and after a long look at each, about 4 were worth blowing up to 8x10 and framing. However, the noise levels in the photos at even 6x8 were completely unacceptable. Two of the shots were at ISO 80, one was at ISO 200 and one was in RAW format. Even the RAW shot had enough noise to make an 8x10 enlargement look pixilated and ameteaurish. The ISO 200 sunset was very much so at large size.
Forget the noise reducing software! It only takes away the sharpness and fine detail that is the primary strength of the fantastic Leica lens on this camera. I have never liked noise reducing software for this very reason- sharpness and detail are needed in a photo.
Design wise, from a user friendly perspective and ease of use, this is a nearly perfect camera. However, for larger pictures of your treasured moments, the small sensor creates far too much noise- so much so that I am getting rid of the camera.
I hope the next version of the camera keeps the excellent ergonomics and functions of the FZ-30, but uses a much larger sensor to faithfully reproduce large images from a fantastic lens. Sorry Panasonic, but for larger prints (which I like)this camera is a definite pass. A shame. --Stutter
- 1 reply to this review
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Hi Studderstep,
May have 1 or 2 photo you mention that have the noise problem?
pls send to this email address:wheng_g@yahoo.com
or weeheng@ges.com.my
Where to buy
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30K:
$999.95
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Amazon.com Marketplace
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$999.95 | Yes |
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