I tried one of these and, although colur reproduction was good, I was appauled at the amount of noise in images taken in anything less than bright light. I compared it to shots taken with a very old Canon IXUS and a very new Pentax and both were considerably better and sharper, even in low light. Needless to say it went back to the shop pretty sharpish.
Yep, it's the price we (as a society) pay for being obsessed with the megazoom and megapixel arms race. The sensors have to stay small to allow practical zoom ranges in a pocketable camera, and the (alas) vast majority of people still think an 8Mp camera is inherently better than a 6Mp one, all things being equal, when for the same size sensor the 6Mp one will deliver significantly less noisy images and still be perfectly adequate for printing at typical sizes.
Unfortunately, the manufacturers play to the mass market, and the retailers can't explain this kind of thing to the average customer. Retailers don't want low megapixel cameras on their shelves because they simply don't sell against the often inferior high megapixel stuff. As a result, the megapixels and zoom ranges carry on up and up as the image quality flushes itself down the loo. If you want to avoid bad image noise in a new camera, you have little choice but to go down the dSLR route now.
Still, console yourself with the fact that the successor to this camera (the DMC-FX35, announced in January) has 10Mp and a 4x zoom for only a minutely larger sensor, which will inevitably be still worse on the noisy image front.
It's not just the megapixel race that gives us noise on this camera. Panasonics are renowned for noise at anything over ISO100. I use a fantastic FZ20 with that amazing 12x Leica zoom and am constantly impressed by the class-leading glass stuck on the front, and constantly annoyed by the noisy low-light performance.
Swings and roundabouts ... if you live somewhere bright, get a Panasonic and marvel in the optics. If you live in gloomy Scotland, get a Canon or get a tripod and learn to work in low-ISO.
Canon EOS Rebel XSi Black SLR Digital Camera Kit (12.2MP, 4272x2848, SD/SDHC Card Slot)
Nikon D90 Black SLR Digital Camera Kit (12.3MP, 18-105mm, 4288x2848, SD/SDHC Card Slot)
Canon EOS Rebel T1i Black SLR Digital Camera Kit w/ 18-55mm Lens (15.1MP, SD/SDHC Card Slot)
Nikon D5000 Black SLR Digital Camera Kit w/ 18-55mm Lens (12.3MP, SD/SDHC Card Slot)
Canon EOS 7D SLR Digital Camera Body Only (18MP, CompactFlash Card Slot)
Brian Miller
If you filmed a vid #
Posted Friday 14th March 2008 15:41 GMT
Why not post it so that the quality can actually be seen?
Lloyd
And #
Posted Friday 14th March 2008 16:30 GMT
You can get these two to edit the video for you and your loved ones:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC0sR5_NTFo
Seriously? Would you trust these people with any sort of technology? Your wedding videos would have dueling banjos as their background music.
Perry
@ Lloyd #
Posted Friday 14th March 2008 21:15 GMT
Re: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AC0sR5_NTFo
Holy God!....
Paris because she'll need this video team for her next hamburger commercial
Herby
Is YouTube just... #
Posted Friday 14th March 2008 21:15 GMT
...Wayne's World continuously??
No I don't think I'd trust those two with ANYTHING! Of course, they should have been better at reading cue cards. Maybe take acting classes.
MaXimaN
Image Noise #
Posted Friday 14th March 2008 21:15 GMT
I tried one of these and, although colur reproduction was good, I was appauled at the amount of noise in images taken in anything less than bright light. I compared it to shots taken with a very old Canon IXUS and a very new Pentax and both were considerably better and sharper, even in low light. Needless to say it went back to the shop pretty sharpish.
Anonymous Coward
Dust? #
Posted Friday 14th March 2008 23:50 GMT
Isn't that a pube in between the I and the 8 on the keyboard close-up shot????
Anonymous Coward
@Dust? #
Posted Saturday 15th March 2008 18:29 GMT
Looks that way - probably been used one handed ...
Mine's the mac with the white stains in the lining near the pockets.
David Gosnell
Re: Image Noise #
Posted Saturday 15th March 2008 18:43 GMT
Yep, it's the price we (as a society) pay for being obsessed with the megazoom and megapixel arms race. The sensors have to stay small to allow practical zoom ranges in a pocketable camera, and the (alas) vast majority of people still think an 8Mp camera is inherently better than a 6Mp one, all things being equal, when for the same size sensor the 6Mp one will deliver significantly less noisy images and still be perfectly adequate for printing at typical sizes.
Unfortunately, the manufacturers play to the mass market, and the retailers can't explain this kind of thing to the average customer. Retailers don't want low megapixel cameras on their shelves because they simply don't sell against the often inferior high megapixel stuff. As a result, the megapixels and zoom ranges carry on up and up as the image quality flushes itself down the loo. If you want to avoid bad image noise in a new camera, you have little choice but to go down the dSLR route now.
Still, console yourself with the fact that the successor to this camera (the DMC-FX35, announced in January) has 10Mp and a 4x zoom for only a minutely larger sensor, which will inevitably be still worse on the noisy image front.
Jared Earle
Panasonic and Noise #
Posted Tuesday 18th March 2008 11:14 GMT
It's not just the megapixel race that gives us noise on this camera. Panasonics are renowned for noise at anything over ISO100. I use a fantastic FZ20 with that amazing 12x Leica zoom and am constantly impressed by the class-leading glass stuck on the front, and constantly annoyed by the noisy low-light performance.
Swings and roundabouts ... if you live somewhere bright, get a Panasonic and marvel in the optics. If you live in gloomy Scotland, get a Canon or get a tripod and learn to work in low-ISO.
This forum is now closed for new posts.