KM Z-3 vs. Pan. FZ20 shootout

[wmussatto]

Wonder if Jeff used the current firmware. Minolta released new firmware (1.02) which is supposed to have effected exposure and a number of major problems. According to the people on other forums who had experienced the problems, they have now gone away.

Bill Mussatto

[Jeff Keller]

Wonder if Jeff used the current firmware. Minolta released new firmware (1.02) which is supposed to have effected exposure and a number of major problems. According to the people on other forums who had experienced the problems, they have now gone away.

Bill Mussatto

I used the standard firmware (1.01u) for the initial shots. For the test shots in the review I will be using 1.02.

According to Konica Minolta USA the 1.02 update fixes four problems:
1. The horizontal line noise that appears along the top of an image.
2. Delay in the built-in clock
3. System error appears or operation of switches is not accepted when capturing continuously.
4. The card capacity decreases if the 1GB SD memory card is formatted. (No problem with a card of 512MB or less.)

I have not had any of those problems.

[wmussatto]

Thanks for the quick resonse.
One of the proponents of the Z3 implied on another forum (dpreview) that the upgrade also solved some of the exposure problems, hence the question. Looking forward to your reviews. The FZ-3 that I looked at in a store had quite a pronounced barrel distortion in macro. Didn't see that in the Z-2 which you had reviewed earlier. Still trying to find a method of connecting my old Minolta Flash (from the X-700 days) to the new Z's. If not the panasonic would be cheaper.

Bill Mussatto

[Jeff Keller]

Thanks for the quick resonse.
One of the proponents of the Z3 implied on another forum (dpreview) that the upgrade also solved some of the exposure problems, hence the question.

I've heard people say this too, but I have to wonder: if exposure problems were fixed, wouldn't Minolta say so in the release notes? I would hope so. :confused:

[JimCockfield]

I've heard people say this too, but I have to wonder: if exposure problems were fixed, wouldn't Minolta say so in the release notes? I would hope so. :confused:

Well... not necessarily.

I've seen lots of problems fixed by firmware upgrades that the release notes did not mention.

For example, with the Minolta G500, firmware version 3.38a fixed a problem with incorrect reporting of ISO speed used in Auto ISO to the EXIF. It also fixed a problem with slow transfer times via USB (it's dramatically faster after the upgrade). I've also seen some memory card compatiblity issues go away (cards that didn't work before the upgrade, started working after the upgrade).

Sometimes, manufacturers don't like to advertise problems fixed in firmware.

As for the Z3 exposure problems some people have commented on (overexposure in some conditions), I'm not sure people have tested the camera well enough to know if this was addressed yet. You'd really need to test a camera with different firmware versions in controlled conditions to tell (and most users don't go to this much trouble).

[ruggedtoast]

Ive been with this cam since the beginning and in my experience the exposure problem is a little better with the new firmware but by no means fixed.

As its the major thing that z3 owners are complaining about theyd do well to address this problem and then shout it from the rooftops.

[wmussatto]

In the review of the KM Z3 you said the Pan FZ15 has a hot shoe. The pictures I have seen show no hot shoe on FZ15, but it was of a preproduction model. You might check.. That and sound are the major differences. I'll ask over on dpreview's forums. There are some FZ15 owners there.

bill

Owners of FZ-15 confirm. No hot shoe for flash. They talk about how to use a slave flash with it.