FZ20 first shots

[Tullio]

This one, you can tell that light was at a minimum. However, the image is very clean. I also find the Sony IS to bebetter than the Pana, even though the Pana OIS system is rated one of the best. These shots were all hand held using the 1.7x tele converter.

[squirl033]

the H1 takes some nice shots, no question, though they seem a bit soft. perhaps that's the Sony TC... but frankly, i'd prefer to have a sharp image than a noise-free one. i can get rid of noise, but i can't compensate for a soft focus. Panasonic chose to make their images sharper, even though it cost them some noise, rather than go for cleaner but softer images. maybe that's why the FZ suited me so well...

in any case, i don't want you to think the pics i posted were heavily PP'd. most were only cropped and resized, with a bit of sharpening to compensate for the compression loss, and maybe a little added contrast. granted, most were run through Neat Image, but that's just part of what you do with most digicam images. i have made prints of every one of the images i posted, and they lookflawless. that's the real test for me, and a little work in PP is a very small price to pay for an excellent quality print.

[Tenshi]

I've found that prints are often a better indicator of how good or bad the pictures truly are, instead of relying too heavily on what the pictures look like on a monitor. I normally just have 4x6 and lesser number of 5x7 prints made occasionally for the family photo album, and even if I notice some noise in the pictures while viewing them on my monitor I don't usually notice it in the prints. Guess if I whipped out a magnifying glass I could detect it...but if you are showing family photos to relatives, who's gonna critique them at that level? If the pictures are under or over exposed, have motion blur, show signs of lens flare, or something else along similar lines...grin, that I'd get grief for.

[Tullio]

Squirl, I hear you. I can change the level of sharpness on the H1through a menu setting but I haven't tried it because I though the pictures it produced looked just fine. Like you, I too prefer images to be sharp (reason why I sold my S2). However, between having it very sharp w/ noise or a bit soft but with less noise, I certainly opt for the latter. But, I must admit that your pictures look excellent, specially knowing that there was only a small amount of PP.

Here's a couple of those pictures sharpened in Picasa, which is very limited if compared to PS. The images sharpened very well IMO.

Tenshi, I totally agree with you. These images when printed look just fine and noise is really not visible. However, since we share lots of photos on the computer (sanding to friends, posting in forums, etc.), then having a nice, clean image becomes a must. You post a noisy picture and for sure people will comment negatively.

[Tullio]

#2

[squirl033]

Tullio, the Picasa'd versions are decidedly better. it doesn't take much, and it's a lot easier to clean up noise than to make a soft image look sharp... FYI, i seldom use Photoshop. i find 95% of what i need to do in terms of PP can be done simply using Irfanview, which is my default image viewer software. only occasionally do i resort to Photoshop itself, usually if i need to clone out something or fix a nasty blemish in the image somewhere...

[Tenshi]

Tullio wrote:

Tenshi, I totally agree with you. These images when printed look just fine and noise is really not visible. However, since we share lots of photos on the computer (sanding to friends, posting in forums, etc.), then having a nice, clean image becomes a must. You post a noisy picture and for sure people will comment negatively.

If I'm using my Olympus B300 teleconverter, depending on how far the distance is to the subject of the photo, noise kinda becomes a given under the circumstances. Chuckle, rather than try to clean it up, if I show the picture to someone else I'll just say I was trying for high iso artistic film grain.

[Tullio]

Thanks, squirl. I don't use PS at all. I have Elements but I find it cumbersome (not very intuitive). I like Picasa for its simplicity. However, I do wish Google will release Picasa3 with a few improvements such assharpeningadjustment bars so we can fine tune the image better.

Tenshi, that's a good trick. I'llkeepin mind!


As a side note, are you guys receiving email notification whenever "watched" topics get updated? I used to but since yesterday I haven't received any emails. IO checked my profile and everything seems to be OK. Thanks.

[squirl033]

i have Picasa2 also, and use it from time to time. it's got the easiest straightening tool i've seen yet.

i have never turned on the email alerts, because i don't want my email jugged up with notifications from forums, so i can't help with your last concern...