brad nichol
09-28-2004, 09:34 PM
Currently I am looking at buying a super zoom digicam for my classes, (I teach digital imaging)and I am very interested in the way in which this new style of camera can lend itself to new means of photographic expression.
An image stabilized fixed aperture, 12 times zoom on a DSLR is really nothing more than a dream (a potentially ultra expensive one too) but it is a wonderful reality in the world of the superzoom digicam.
Like many I was very impressed by the FZ10 and came within a whisker of buying one, now we have 3 new options but which one really is the best.
Straight up most people would say the FZ20 of course and I would agree that it has the highest resolution and the most features.... but wait...lets think about what the real advantages of this type of camera should be.
My guess is it should be compact so you actually carry it with you, sharp throughout its zoom range, flexible enough to handle most regular conditions, not too expensive, and not overly complex for the average person to use. After having a play with a FZ3 a few days ago I can only say it is one of the nicest handling digicams I have ever held.
The FZ20 looks like it comes close but in reality the FZ3 actually really hits the target. Now I know that we seem to have become pixelly fixated these days so how could the FZ3 paltry 3 megs compete with the FZ20s almost aceptable 5 megs.
Recently I got hold of some files of an FZ3 and printed them out to A4 size, frankly I was stunned at the detail. There might only be 3 megs there but the quality is brilliant.
I was interested when this site put up some sample pics from the FZ3, FZ20 and Minolta to see how they compared, so I downloaded the full size samples of the chinatown street scene. In the interests of the principle that when you have nothing nice to say about something you should keep your mouth shut I will simply pass over the minolta. The FZ3 and FZ20 files looked very similar at a 100% veiw, the FZ3 is just a bit lighter, detail wise they are very close.
I decided to interpolate the FZ3s file to the same size as the FZ20 using just basic photoshop bicubic and compare them for detail. Guess what! they looked virtually identical, the only noticible difference is that I could just make out the word SONY on the sandwhich board near the centre of the frame on the FZ20 and I couldn't on the FZ3. bear in mind though this would be a very very small part of the actual print.
There is little doubt the FZ20 is a terrific camera, but for the money and real world use it looks like the FZ3 is a real corker!
By the way neither camera is exactly low on noise, however the sharpness of the files means it is not a problem, I have run files from both cameras through noise ninja and lets just say that this takes the images to a whole new level.
The fact that both cameras can produce tiff files should push the quality even higher.
So if you have the money buy the FZ20 but if not don't worry about holding back on buying the FZ3.
An image stabilized fixed aperture, 12 times zoom on a DSLR is really nothing more than a dream (a potentially ultra expensive one too) but it is a wonderful reality in the world of the superzoom digicam.
Like many I was very impressed by the FZ10 and came within a whisker of buying one, now we have 3 new options but which one really is the best.
Straight up most people would say the FZ20 of course and I would agree that it has the highest resolution and the most features.... but wait...lets think about what the real advantages of this type of camera should be.
My guess is it should be compact so you actually carry it with you, sharp throughout its zoom range, flexible enough to handle most regular conditions, not too expensive, and not overly complex for the average person to use. After having a play with a FZ3 a few days ago I can only say it is one of the nicest handling digicams I have ever held.
The FZ20 looks like it comes close but in reality the FZ3 actually really hits the target. Now I know that we seem to have become pixelly fixated these days so how could the FZ3 paltry 3 megs compete with the FZ20s almost aceptable 5 megs.
Recently I got hold of some files of an FZ3 and printed them out to A4 size, frankly I was stunned at the detail. There might only be 3 megs there but the quality is brilliant.
I was interested when this site put up some sample pics from the FZ3, FZ20 and Minolta to see how they compared, so I downloaded the full size samples of the chinatown street scene. In the interests of the principle that when you have nothing nice to say about something you should keep your mouth shut I will simply pass over the minolta. The FZ3 and FZ20 files looked very similar at a 100% veiw, the FZ3 is just a bit lighter, detail wise they are very close.
I decided to interpolate the FZ3s file to the same size as the FZ20 using just basic photoshop bicubic and compare them for detail. Guess what! they looked virtually identical, the only noticible difference is that I could just make out the word SONY on the sandwhich board near the centre of the frame on the FZ20 and I couldn't on the FZ3. bear in mind though this would be a very very small part of the actual print.
There is little doubt the FZ20 is a terrific camera, but for the money and real world use it looks like the FZ3 is a real corker!
By the way neither camera is exactly low on noise, however the sharpness of the files means it is not a problem, I have run files from both cameras through noise ninja and lets just say that this takes the images to a whole new level.
The fact that both cameras can produce tiff files should push the quality even higher.
So if you have the money buy the FZ20 but if not don't worry about holding back on buying the FZ3.