Panasonic FZ28 picture issues

[akira005]

Hey guys,

I recently acquired a Panasonic FZ28 camera and I am being a bit unsatisfied so far with quality on pictures I have taken lately. I am wondering if I changed a setting or something to get this output...

Example picture here:


This was cropped from a 10MP picture.
EXIF data as follows:

 Exif Properties
	Color Space	1
	Compressed Bits Per Pixel	4
	Contrast	0
	Custom Rendered	0
	Date Time Digitized	2009:04:20 11:24:19
	Date Time Original	2009:04:20 11:24:19
	Digital Zoom Ratio	0
	Exif Version	2.2
	Exposure Bias Value	0
	Exposure Mode	1
	Exposure Program	1
	Exposure Time	0.1666667
	Flash	16
	FlashPix Version	1.0
	FNumber	3
	Focal Length	7.6
	Focal Length In 35mm Film	47
	ISO Speed Ratings	100
	Light Source	0
	Max Aperture Value	3
	Metering Mode	3
	Pixel X Dimension	3648
	Pixel Y Dimension	2056
	Saturation	0
	Scene Capture Type	0
	Sensing Method	2
	Sharpness	2
	White Balance	0

 TIFF Properties

	Date Time	2009:04:20 11:37:11
	Host Computer	Mac OS X 10.4.9
	Make	Panasonic
	Model	DMC-FZ28
	Orientation	1
	Resolution Unit	2
	Software	QuickTime 7.1.3
	X Resolution	180
	Y Resolution	180

Looks like there's a LOAD of JPEG artifaction or something worse is happening.
Is this normal? Any other users out there that can help out? I keep seeing super crisp FZ28 pics around, but most of them I saw rescaled to smaller resolutions, which would get rid of these errors.

Any help apreciated!

[fabio]

that's pretty bad, I would take it back. I have the older version and it rocks.

[akira005]

While googling I found a gallery with crops of this camera:
http://www.cameralabs.com/reviews/Pa...e_images.shtml

Seems like it's pretty normal to have issues like this.

I have now taken a pic illuminated better and the quality was impeccable...
So it has to be some settings issue...

How do you have your FZ18 set up?

[freygr]

First the first thing JPG will do that, you have to set the compression to a minim value (larger file size). JPG will group together bits that are close to the color to reduce file size plus throwing out other data the eye can't see.

It all depends on how much control the camera will give you. My wife's Nikon PS does not give very much control at all, but my D70 I can shoot my self in the foot very easily.