Should I get +20 FZ?

[José A.]

Hello Lumix people,

I've owned a Lumix FZ-10 for over a year now, and someday I'll have to upgrade my equipment. The FZ-30 is tempting me with:

- 8 Mp instead of 4.
- Rotating / protectible LCD
- Better resolution for both EVF and LCD
- Quoting Steve, "release time lag of 0.01 seconds"!!!
- Manual zoom
- Actual manual control of aperture and shutter speed with dials
- Better burst mode
- Raw format
- Up to 60 seconds and down to f 11 in exposure
- Some other little things

Now, I know the FZ-30 only closes to f 3.7 in full tele and that's almost a full f stop from the 2.8 the FZ-10 gives me. But I would sacrifice that. Also... mmmhhh, well, the ISO 50. My doubts, however, are related with some shorcomings of the FZ-10 that as far as I know may or may not have been fixed in the FZ-30, so I'm actually ASKING you FZ-30 owners if you know whether:

- The noise in the FZ-30 is the same as in the FZ-10, which sometimes, specially in low-light situations, does bother me. I know it has a better noise-reduction system and such, but there are now 8 Mp in the sensor.

- The EVF issue has been fixed. This means that the FZ-10, when in manual mode, is a LOT darker than in P mode, even if the exposure is bigger (slower shutter speed or lower aperture number). It can really be annoying under certain situations, getting to the point where you must switch back to P mode just to focus and frame, but I hope the FZ-30 does not have this problem.

I was also wondering if the batteries for the FZ-10 can be used in the FZ-30 and viceversa, and the same cand be asked about the external flashes... generally speaking, since I do not own one.

Perhaps some of you have owned both cameras and can compare, or have been checking it already, or a friend of yours just bought it. Any help and further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

[genece]

José A. wrote:

Hello Lumix people,

I've owned a Lumix FZ-10 for over a year now, and someday I'll have to upgrade my equipment. The FZ-30 is tempting me with:

- 8 Mp instead of 4.
- Rotating / protectible LCD
- Better resolution for both EVF and LCD
- Quoting Steve, "release time lag of 0.01 seconds"!!!
- Manual zoom
- Actual manual control of aperture and shutter speed with dials
- Better burst mode
- Raw format
- Up to 60 seconds and down to f 11 in exposure
- Some other little things

Now, I know the FZ-30 only closes to f 3.7 in full tele and that's almost a full f stop from the 2.8 the FZ-10 gives me. But I would sacrifice that. Also... mmmhhh, well, the ISO 50. My doubts, however, are related with some shorcomings of the FZ-10 that as far as I know may or may not have been fixed in the FZ-30, so I'm actually ASKING you FZ-30 owners if you know whether:

- The noise in the FZ-30 is the same as in the FZ-10, which sometimes, specially in low-light situations, does bother me. I know it has a better noise-reduction system and such, but there are now 8 Mp in the sensor.

The noise of the FZ30 is worse than the FZ10 in normal shots but it does handle that low light problem better than the FZ10 or 20. In my opinion the fz30 works much better than the FZ10 indoors but that is still a weak point.

- The EVF issue has been fixed. This means that the FZ-10, when in manual mode, is a LOT darker than in P mode, even if the exposure is bigger (slower shutter speed or lower aperture number). It can really be annoying under certain situations, getting to the point where you must switch back to P mode just to focus and frame, but I hope the FZ-30 does not have this problem.

You are correct the EVF stays much brighter un till the 1/2 press of the shutter

I was also wondering if the batteries for the FZ-10 can be used in the FZ-30 and viceversa, and the same cand be asked about the external flashes... generally speaking, since I do not own one.

The battery of the FZ10 will work in the FZ30 but not the other way around as the fZ30 battery is a larger size

Perhaps some of you have owned both cameras and can compare, or have been checking it already, or a friend of yours just bought it. Any help and further suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks!

I have the FZ10 --20 and 30 and as much as I liked the 10 and 20 the FZ30 is a winner.

[msantos]

- The noise in the FZ-30 is the same as in the FZ-10, which sometimes, specially in low-light situations, does bother me. I know it has a better noise-reduction system and such, but there are now 8 Mp in the sensor.

The noise is practically the same. If you downsize from 8MP to 4 MP you'll notice a reduction

- The EVF issue has been fixed. This means that the FZ-10, when in manual mode, is a LOT darker than in P mode, even if the exposure is bigger (slower shutter speed or lower aperture number). It can really be annoying under certain situations, getting to the point where you must switch back to P mode just to focus and frame, but I hope the FZ-30 does not have this problem.

Solved !!!

I was also wondering if the batteries for the FZ-10 can be used in the FZ-30 and viceversa, and the same cand be asked about the external flashes... generally speaking, since I do not own one.

Batteries from FZ-10 can be used on FZ-30,however this is not valid viceversa.

Flashes are totally compatible

FZ-30 is a real improvement!!!

[LoveLife]

I find that the noise level in my 10 is less then my 30. The 10 is a better A/L camera with the 2.8 across the entire zoom range. Noise reduction software in a camera is too much of a price to pay. I hope Panasonic wakes up and realizes that Sony R1 is an indication of a new competition; only 9 months to go to the Fz40.

[José A.]

Thanks to everybody for their responses!

Now all I need is the $600+... oh well

BTW, what is an A/L camera?

[LoveLife]

José A. wrote:

Thanks to everybody for their responses!

Now all I need is the $600+... oh well

BTW, what is an A/L camera?

Available light.

[José A.]

Thanks again. Now something I forgot to ask in the first post:

Do you know if macro adapters and such are compatible between the FZ-10 and the FZ-30? I'd think that since they have the same diameter, everything works for both, but...

[tiger98]

Jose, You may not need $600 for the FZ30, someone posted the other day that they were buying from Circuit City and the price was $480 ! Jim

[José A.]

Wow, I'm gonna check their site then. I know I can get it at 560 somewhere else, but the 600+ are because I was thinking of a bigger SD card (1GB) and an extra battery.

Anyway, I'll check it, thanks.

[José A.]

tiger98 wrote:

Jose, You may not need $600 for the FZ30, someone posted the other day that they were buying from Circuit City and the price was $480 ! Jim

No way it was $480!!! It was actually closer to the $600. Sad sad


BTW, I assume any filters, conversion lenses and adapters designed for the FZ10 can be used as well with the FZ30 and viceversa, but, does anyone know for sure?

Happy holidays!