**Two picture comparison FZ30 & FZ50**

[DaveMcGee]

I think one problem in the comparison is the position of the sun in each shot. In the fz30 shot the sun is from the left, in the fz50 shot the sun is from the right. Now we are viewing the left side of the plane, hence it is much better illuminated in the RHS (fz50) shot, and of course with more light you will see more details, and indeed a better illuminated shot will always be more pleasing to the eye.

That said I do not doubt that the fz50 is the better camera, and indeed seems very reasonably priced.

dave

[Andrew Waters]

The sun is definitely striking the plane at opposite angles, nearly casting the same shadows at different hours of the day on different sides of the plane.The FZ30 is a morning picture and the FZ50 is veryearly afternoon.For a comparison look at the sun reflecting off the FZ30 morning nosepicture then compare the position of the sun on the nose of the FZ50 afternoon.This alone may account for the FZ50 picture seemingly have richer colors from more reflectivity from the groundas already noted by someone in an earlier post.

Now I may be getting into trouble on the more megapixels having more detail but I believe I read on Steves's Forumsmore pixels crammed onto a smaller sensor may not have a positive effect.Any comments to help me out.

[tiger98]

Glad you were able to view the pictures Andrew. As to the more pixels on the small sensor I think the biggest problem feared would be an increase in noise. So far I have found the noise level to be less than that of the 30. At this point I have the NR set to std and all other settings set to low. Jim

[tiger98]

Hi Don, I was like you I was waitingfor someone else to make the jump but I got impatient ! As to whether the same special lens will work, if they worked on the FZ30 they should work on this. It has the same 55mm lens size as the 30. I think the lens size on the 20 is a little larger? If you decide to get one just wear a helmet when you break the news to your wife! :-)

[tiger98]

Your right Dave the sun is in different positions, however as you stated the areas that the sun is illuminating are more pleasing, but if you just compare the underside of the planes, both in shadow, the detail and color are better, IMHO. Thanks for the input. Jim

[d-sr]

tiger98 wrote:

Hi Don, I was like you I was waitingfor someone else to make the jump but I got impatient ! As to whether the same special lens will work, if they worked on the FZ30 they should work on this. It has the same 55mm lens size as the 30. I think the lens size on the 20 is a little larger? If you decide to get one just wear a helmet when you break the news to your wife! :-)

Jim,

If the lenses work it would only mean new step-up rings. That would not be nearly as bad as new lenses. If I up grade it will probably be after Christmas. If I can get everybody elsewhat they want from Santa and have anything left over Iwill be able to.

Don

[tcook]

Thanks Jim -- Have you tried shooting a bird at full zoom and ISO 200 or 400 to see how NR affects the fine feather detail?

[tiger98]

Don, I've tried my 6T and polarizer etc that I had for the 30 and they all work fine, I'm sure you won't have aproblem. I'll be putting some more pictures on within the hour which might help you decide! :-) Jim

[tiger98]

Ted, The pictures I'll be posting shortly will be of some birds shot using Sports mode and Shutter priority. Haven't checked to see what the ISO settings were. Watch for the new pictures. Jim