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  1. #1
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    Question How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    I have tried lowering the aperture to 2.8 and adjusting the shutter for correct exposure but I cannot match the focus in the foreground and blur the back ground like my 35mm slr will. What am I doing wrong or is it not possible. Note I am not shooting macro shots.

    For an example, I tried focusing on a tree that was about 5 feet away whit the hopes of blurring out the houses in the back ground. But every setting keeps the houses focused quite well.

  2. #2
    Sitting in a Leaky Dingy Michael Fanelli's Avatar
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    Quote Originally Posted by outofline
    I have tried lowering the aperture to 2.8 and adjusting the shutter for correct exposure but I cannot match the focus in the foreground and blur the back ground like my 35mm slr will. What am I doing wrong or is it not possible. Note I am not shooting macro shots.

    For an example, I tried focusing on a tree that was about 5 feet away whit the hopes of blurring out the houses in the back ground. But every setting keeps the houses focused quite well.
    The focal length of your lens is extremely wide. The DOF will almost always be very large regardless of aperture setting.
    "Every great decision creates ripples--like a huge boulder dropped in a lake. The ripples merge and rebound off the banks in unforseeable ways.

  3. #3
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    Have you tried to stand back a bit further and zoom in a bit more ?
    I think to get a nice shallow dof one should to get to a distance where you could use the zoom to maximum effect . Maybe also try to use the manual focus .And how far are the houses from the tree you tried to focus on ? What i also experienced is to get as much space as possible between the object you want to shoot and the background .

    Hope this helps a bit .
    Regards
    james

    Quote Originally Posted by outofline
    I have tried lowering the aperture to 2.8 and adjusting the shutter for correct exposure but I cannot match the focus in the foreground and blur the back ground like my 35mm slr will. What am I doing wrong or is it not possible. Note I am not shooting macro shots.

    For an example, I tried focusing on a tree that was about 5 feet away whit the hopes of blurring out the houses in the back ground. But every setting keeps the houses focused quite well.

  4. #4
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    James,
    Have you tried with your FZ20 to do as I am trying. I cant say I have tried using the zoom to see if this helps. I am at work now so I cant play around with it, but it would be interesting to see if other FZ20 owners can achieve this. I will play around with it tomorrow and post my pics and results. Do you have a SLR35mm to play with to see how that handles the same settings?

    Wes

  5. #5
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    Here is one i got with the background blurred using the fz 20 .
    I do not have a slr35 mm to play around with .I do not know if this picture could be similar to what you want to achieve ?

    Regards
    james


    Quote Originally Posted by outofline
    James,
    Have you tried with your FZ20 to do as I am trying. I cant say I have tried using the zoom to see if this helps. I am at work now so I cant play around with it, but it would be interesting to see if other FZ20 owners can achieve this. I will play around with it tomorrow and post my pics and results. Do you have a SLR35mm to play with to see how that handles the same settings?

    Wes
    Attached Images Attached Images  

  6. #6
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    Yes that is it, Was you using the zoom? I will have to play with it some more tomorow.
    Thanks

    Wes

  7. #7
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    Did some testing this morning and the only way I can get the background to blur is using the zoom and focusing in on the main subject. Kind of frustrating when my SLR will do it no matter what lens I am using just by lowering the aperture along with focusing.

    Here are acouple of my test shots:
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails How to blur background with Panny FZ20-treez1.jpg   How to blur background with Panny FZ20-treez2.jpg   How to blur background with Panny FZ20-flower.jpg  

  8. #8
    Just a Member Chunk's Avatar
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    Quote Originally Posted by outofline
    Did some testing this morning and the only way I can get the background to blur is using the zoom and focusing in on the main subject. Kind of frustrating when my SLR will do it no matter what lens I am using just by lowering the aperture along with focusing.

    Here are acouple of my test shots:
    If you put a 7-76 mm lens on that slr it will act about the same way.
    ----------------------------


  9. #9
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    Re: How to blur background with Panny FZ20

    I took a few more this afternoon just to show you some more examples.
    Yes i did use the zoom to get the effect . What i also noticed , is that you have to work a bit harder with the fz 20 to sometimes get the desired effects than with a slr camera.

    The settings i used for this was 1) Exposure time 1/400 , F-Stop 2.8 , iso - 100 and the focal length was 42.8 mm. The settings for the other two was the same except the focal length which was 50. 2 and 26.7 mm . And i used the spot metering mode .

    Hope this can also help a bit !
    Regards
    james
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