FZ8 discussion

[Pauche]

FZ8 owners fall in here!

[Pauche]

More info on the Panasonic Lumix FZ8:
http://www.dpreview.com/news/0701/07...nasonicfz8.asp

[Simon_84]

how's the noise?
is the noise reduction too intensive?

[micah4]

Originally Posted by Simon_84 how's the noise? is the noise reduction too intensive?

if u want user's viewpoints, go to dpreview's panasonic talk forums...there's plenty of user's pics and comments. It's also officially reviewed there in full...and now on more other review-sites - do a google and u'll find them.

I test handled it at the recent IT show and between the Oly SP-550 and FZ8, I preferred the latter for it's size, design, great EVF...design-wise, the FZ8's lens does not protrude as much as the 550 at its maximum zoom, which appealed to me. If really 18x is needed, the FZ8 can reach it too through its EZ mode, though of course, u'll hv to settle for a lower MP. And of coz, the 550 starts off with 28mm vs. 35mm for the FZ8 for which it matters little to me as the tele end is my main interest. IQ comparison between the two, (gleaned from the forum) seemed to indicate that the FZ8 is better throughout the zoom range.

As for noise, the Venus III circa 2007 seemed to be much much better handled than the first version found in the LX2, etc...so noise and the watercolour effect is less of an issue, and how much it matters now with the new version still depends on the user's preference and tolerance - for me, I'm okay with the first and perceivably definitely so with the new version.

An equote from MScolor a week ago put the price at around $640 with 1GB and casing. From another thread here, the new TZ3 seemed to be priced around this too. So if pocketability is not ur priority, the FZ8 would be a great bridge digicam, though it can fit in a very large pocket whereas the 550 wouldn't.

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[Simon_84]

from fz5 to fz8, i noticed that apart from the increase in lcd size, battery power, mega pixels, even slower shutter speed, bigger body and more control over noise reduction, there was never an increase in ccd/sensor size.
even though panny is maybe the 1st to keep using the same size ccd for its mega zoom cameras, looks like sony is also following the same trend with its H series cam.
so is canon with their powershot S series.

[ExplorerZ]

Originally Posted by Simon_84 from fz5 to fz8, i noticed that apart from the increase in lcd size, battery power, mega pixels, even slower shutter speed, bigger body and more control over noise reduction, there was never an increase in ccd/sensor size. even though panny is maybe the 1st to keep using the same size ccd for its mega zoom cameras, looks like sony is also following the same trend with its H series cam. so is canon with their powershot S series.

increase CCD size is not as easy as what you think... you will have to increase the image circle of the lens, which equate to a bigger lens for the same 36-432mm, or lesser zoom range, or small aperture thru out the lens (not f2.8-3.3 anymore)

is just like why dSLR lens are so much bigger than PnS. another example will be FZ30/50, iirc they uses bigger sensor, thus you can see a bigger lens and also slightly smaller f-stop of f2.8-3.7