I've been using my FZ28 to take pictures of squirrels and birds in my backyard, as I wait anxiously for spring. I've tried various settings to capture the clearest pictures of these critters, generally with the zoom at full tele. However, when I do this, I find that the slightest hand movement, even with the stabalizer turned on, still results in some blurring of the image. I've read some suggestions regarding this and have tried adjusting aperture and shutter speeds. I'm still having the same results.

I've wondered if turning the camera to 7, 5, or even 3 megapixels and using the EZ zoom might help. If I did that and continued to zoom out to 18x, so the picture size would be the same as 10 megapixels at full zoom, the zoom at 7 megapixels would only be 84% of its total zoom. With 5 MP that would drop to 70% and with 3 MP it would only be 56% of its total (potential) zoom.

Maybe not having the camera zoomed all the way out would help with steadiness and result in less camera shake. Has anyone tried that? I know the resolution would be somewhat degraded, but if the trade-off is that I can get a sharply focused picture, I think it would be worth it. Comments, suggestions appreciated.

Panasonics IS is one of the best available.......try a couple things........I prefer IS mode 2 but others prefer mode 1........try both and see which works best for you.

Also use 1 area HS focus or spot focus , do not use the 3 or 9pt area.....IMHO those modes lead to focus failures. Also do not use any scene modes as only Panasonic knows what focus style they use. Put the camera in P mode.......as your results get better you can experiment with other modes.

Do you understand that if you had a perfect handholding technique at 500mm it would require a SS of 1/500 th of a second to get a sharp photo......with Pannys IS you should be able to achieve a sharp photo at 1/125th of a second perhaps even 1/60th of a second but your technique had better be very good and that would not include using the LCD.

As far as using EZ zoom ....I doubt it would help.....one way to find out .....shoot a couple hundred photos and see.

marilynsweeny wrote: How did you adjust aperture and shutter speed (what modes were you using)?

For faster shutter speeds, use the widest available aperture (represented by the smallest available f/stop number). Aperture Priority mode is one way to do it (letting the camera pick the appropriate shutter speed for the lighting you're shooting in after you select the aperture).

Then, increase your ISO speeds if your shutter speed isn't fast enough (which will increase noise/grain). Each time you double the ISO speed, your camera can use shutter speeds twice as fast for the same lighting and aperture.

That won't increase the detail the sensor is capturing.

Hi,

I took these with my FZ28 this morning. I was inside the house shooting thru the window at a tree about 35 feet away.

My camera settings:
Apperture priority mode,
F4.4,
iso 100,
shutter 1/160s,
3MP ez,
maximum zoom 32x
handheld

Try the following: use spot focus and aim at the subject, turn on burst mode and shoot several fast shots, lower the iso to 200 to force faster shutter speed. Practice, practice, practice shooting with no hand movement.

Good luck, you can do it.

RC

Great photos there rwcheng. I find it very difficult to take pics while zooming myself as I have shaky hands. On certain occasion, I had to used tripod to get a good zoom pics