FZ5 Low Light and Flash Hints And Tips ?

[timk99]

I have just purchased a Panasonic FZ5 but find its ability in low light and flash use, to be quite honest, absolutely pathetic. The amount of noise is dreadful.

I took some sample shots in my back garden last night after the sun had gone down. It was partly lit by the lights from the house but it was pretty dark nonetheless.

I took out my old Digital Ixus V3 and took pictures with both cameras. The results from the Digital Ixus beat the FZ5 by a huge margin. The Ixus pictures had far less noise in them, better colour reproduction, were brighter and just all round a far superior result to the FZ5 results.

Having only just got the FZ5, I mainly took the pictures with the various scene modes, simple mode and program mode. None produced acceptable results at all.

I would really appreciate some tips when taking photos with the FZ5 in these conditions and similar low light / flash conditions as I am very close to returning the camera and avoiding Panasonic cameras all together.

[genece]

You can not have a great Ultra zoom and a great low light camera all rolled into one. Its a matter of Physics but it should give acceptable results.
However if you would post a photo that you were unsatified with, would help us understand what went wrong.
The main thing that causes noise in a photograph is underexposure. And as you say the other camera the photos were brighter ..meaning they were better exposed.
We need to see the photo and the exif to try and help...but you have found the weakest point of an ultra zoom.
And an external flash should help.
But post a photo and lets see.

[timk99]

I'll post some photos later as I am at work at present.

An external flash isn't really an option as the FZ5 doesn't have a hotshoe and I don't like the idea of a slave flash as it would keep going off in situations where there are other people taking pictures.

I almost went with a camera with a hotshoe but the only ultra zooms with this feature are considerably larger and heavier and I don't like the idea of lugging around a heavy camera.

The only other option was the Minolta Dimage Z5 which is only marginally bigger than the FZ5 and has a hotshoe. But from what I read, the image quality isn't quite so good.

[jh4x]

Tim

I'm not going to get into one those "My S2 can do this, and your FZ5 cannot" discussions, but cannot for the life of me think why you did not go down to your local "Jessops" or similar and try the unit first, Instead of relying on everyone elses subjective evaluations of the FZ5's capabilities.

From your previous questions, you seemed to know before you even bought it that the Low Light Capabilities were not going to meet your expectations. All I can say is... May it's not be right for you but it meets my needs admirably, and I've had a few: Fuji 2800, Minolta Z2 and Canon A95.

You have told us you tried the unit at dusk, but never mentioned what settings you made or supplied any shots, was the camera just left to it's own devices.
I think that the EXIF Data at least would help the diagnostics you are after, rather than simply call it "Pathetic" or "Abysmal" which the FZ5 most certainly is not.

Regards

jh

[timk99]

I didn't go to Jessops or similar because for the next few weeks I am working 7 days a week and I don't get long enough in my lunch break to go because I work in the middle of nowhere.

But I wanted the camera for when I go away and had no choice to buy it "blind" so to speak as I wouldn't get the chance to try it out before I went.

I was very careful to buy from somewhere with a 30 day money back guarantee though.

And I disagree. When the camera can so easily be beaten (by some distance) by a 4 year old Canon Digital Ixus V3 which is only intended as a point and shoot camera, I think that is pretty abysmal.

[jh4x]

Tim

As the previous poster described, the unit (Canon Ixus) you are comparing the FZ5 to are totally different "Beasts", The Massive Zoom Lens factor being one.

Non of the big Zoom's are perfect as can be found by the number of people that keep comparing the top 5.

I would have thought you would be better re-mapping down the Fuji S9000's Max - 1600 ISO route instead of the Panny's FZ5's Max - 400 ISO.

However I'm sure similar pitfalls will await down that route, not least price.

Just a thought.

Cheers

Jh

[timk99]

Fair enough.

But this topic was intended to get some hints on taking low light and flash pictures with the FZ5 with minimum noise and not really discussing the FZ5 with other cameras.

Anyone got any tips ?

[emalvick]

Fair enough.

But this topic was intended to get some hints on taking low light and flash pictures with the FZ5 with minimum noise and not really discussing the FZ5 with other cameras.

Anyone got any tips ?

I don't have the FZ5, but assuming that it is fairly similar to the other FZ's, a few things I use to make things work better for low light photos (and I am usually quite happy with them) include:

1. Using aperture priority to get the smallest f-stop (largest aperture size). This will in turn give you the fastest shutter speed.

2. Increasing the flash brightness (the FZ15 and 20 let you adjust this, perhaps the FZ5 does?) that will help illuminate a bit further distance as you need. It will have its limit. A slave flash should not be looked at as a bad thing.

3. Increase the ISO to get a brighter photo. Increased ISO does bring more noise, but it really isn't much worse than any other super-zoom camera.

Most of these super-zoom cameras do not take spectacular night and low light shots. However, I managed to get the following image with my FZ15 at night without a flash and without a tripod even. A tripod would have been ideal though. At full size there is a bit of a blur to the lights on the bridge. Never-the-less, it was a great photo and shows that these cameras can take good low-light shots. The anti-shake is a great feature too as it helped me hold this shot at 1/4-sec and ISO 100.

One other thing, don't overlook noise reduction software for cleaning up your photos. They work well, and would be necessary if you really want a super-zoom type camera, although I haven't used any yet with my FZ15.

I hope this helps a bit.

-Erik

[timk99]

Thanks. I appreciate the time to add a few tips.

I'll certainly try them out. I haven't used apperture priority yet so I'll take a look at it.

[emalvick]

One other thing to mention, although it isn't always convenient, is that a tripod is great for being able to take shots at lower shutter speeds with a lower ISO. Lower ISO means less noise, but it requires a lower shutter speed.

Pretty soon you'll see the relationship between shutter speed, aperture, and ISO. That is a key relationship for any camera, especially in low light. It will give you an idea of what to expect and how to compensate for different conditions with the camera.

One last thing... when it comes to indoor shots, I find that correcting the white balance be it in the camera or in post-processing afterwards makes a huge difference. I usually just use a 3 x 5 card to set the white balance and go from there. The images improve a bit because you don't have the influence of whatever artificial light is in the room to give a cast over the colors in the image.

Erik

[timk99]

Thanks but I have decided to return the camera.

It is a truelly pathetic excuse for a camera when it comes to low light situations. The amount of noise in the pictures is pathetic.

I have taken some more pictures with this camera and my 4 year old Digital Ixus kicks it into oblivion.

£280 for a sad excuse for a camera. BY FAR the worse digital camera I have either owned or used. It is criminal to have such a poor excuse for a digital camera in low light.

NOISE, NOISE and more NOISE. It is PATHETIC. I am so annoyed at wasting my time on this camera.

It doesn't even come close to my Digital Ixus - not even close. The margin is ENORMOUS !!! A 4 year old 3 megapixel camera that makes this thing look like it should given away free in packets of cornflakes.

Those Panasonic fanboys don't know what they are missing. They should try out a few other cameras and find out how inferior this piece of cr@p really is.

I wanted to love this camera but it IS pathetic. I am so annoyed at wasting time and money on this piece of junk.

[timk99]

Sorry for previous post but I am so disappointed with this camera. Its low light ability is so easily beaten by my Digital Ixus - a camera which should really be showing its age by now.

Very frustrated.

[tim11]

Fair enough but I wish you'd post some of the disappointed pics along with some comparisions from your Digital Ixus, along with EXIF. That will benefit everyone who is interested.

[timk99]

I would but they are all portraits. I wouldn't post pictures of other people without their permission and I don't think they would like it anway.

I will take some more without people in them tomorrow although I may have boxed it up ready to return by then.

[pipe]

Hi,
I take occasionally photo in dark (with no flash) . These are just a test at ISO 80 and f4/60

http://www.janvasa.us/ny43.jpg

This one was the same in zoom 100mm

http://www.janvasa.us/ny42.jpg

You can NOT zoom to the dark!