Newbie First Photos FZ30

[tiger98]

Welcome Mtngal ! Looks like your doing well with the FZ30 from the shots you've posted. As Kenneth and Don have already stated, you can't take too many shots, practice makes perfect! Regarding your comparision of the zoom shot with the Sony. It may be the way you have your settings adjusted in the menu. Try using the #2 setting for IS, and take a look at the metering mode and AF mode. Also check your contract, saturation, sharpness and noise reduction settings under picture adjustment. Any or all of these could be causing a poorer picture than the sony. Jim

[tiger98]

Mtngal, Sometimes just a little tweaking in an image program will help! This is your #1 picture after a quick tweak in Photoshop. Jim

[alandjo]

Or tweak a little more.

[boyzo]

Congrats mtngal the FZ30 rocks
I liked your Ducks and the Xmas lights
Where is Frazier Park Nth Bay ?

[mtngal]

Frazier Park is a tiny, lovely, forgotten corner of California, about half way between Santa Clarita valley (north of Los Angeles) and Bakersfield (San Joaquin Valley) in the Los Padres National Forest. It's known for a near-by cross country ski area that attracts amateur astronomers in the summer (reason it's so good is because it's at around 8,000 feet elevation). We aren't that high (just below 6,000) but it's still a pretty area, especially when it snows.

[mtngal]

tiger - I like your first tweak best. I found the FZ30 to have more saturated colors than the Sony, and I'm not sure I like it better or not. I think I do, but it's going to take getting used to (I've sometimes thought my old camera wasn't saturated enough, so I shouldn't complain, I guess). Also, I'm probably disappointed with that shot because I like photos that have greater contrast - the wood behind the leaves is lighter than I would have liked.

Thanks for the tip to try IS mode 2 - I was using 1. I haven't figured out the metering at all yet, that's a section I have to read over again. I tended to use spot metering the most with the Sony, but I'm not sure I'll continue that - I tried to change the exposure but didn't do it right (another place where I need to read the book again) - I think I missed something when I read that part of the book. I was too busy at work to play with the camera (isn't it frustrating how work gets in the way?).

Here's another picture I took Saturday- I used jpg (before I got daring enough to try RAW) and just cropped it to get rid of unnecessary background. I was impressed with the camera, even though there isn't much to photograph at the moment.

[mtngal]

Squirl - LOL! I know what you mean about aging eyes! Here's the photo that didn't have quite as much detail as the Sony did when comparing them at 100% - I noticed it where the trees started below the far road.The difference in detail is marginal, and with the photo reduced to this size it isn'tapparent. I didn't think it looked what I've always called soft (as in not sharp), just that there was a bit more detail - you could see some brown between the trees near the road on the Sony, where it looks more like a blanket of trees here. It's not a big deal, and the Panasonic's photo is certainly easy on the eyes. By the way, I was actually trying to get the bank of clouds sitting in the distance, but ended up with a good example of what my local area looks like. This is how it came out of the camera, it was a jpg and all I did was resize it.

[Corpsy]

The Sony may be using a higher degree of in-camera sharpening. This could make the picture appear more detailed even if it is not. Try applying a sharpen filter to your FZ30 photo and see if it gives you the same effect.