Panasonic FZ8 Has Arrived

[mwfanelli2]

I love Amazon: one day shipping using standard rates! The new Panasonic DSC-FZ8 arrived today. I had a couple of classes to teach today so it was dark when I could finally open the box.

I have only done a few things with it but some stuff stands out:

The image quality is fantastic. I have been a long-time Canon S400 fan and, secretly, a less pixels is more follower for the tiny sensors. The FZ8 blows it away. I tried movie mode and was amazed, it was almost as good as my fellow professors expensive video camera (albeit with huge file sizes).

I have been shooting indoors at ISO 400 just to be critical. I am surpriised that the noise is not the horrible mess everyone was complaining about. I have the noise reduction set to "low" asnd the saturation and contrast set to normal.

The flash actually works well. This is more than I can say about most tiny flash units.

My photo editor, Picture Window Pro, immediately recognized the FZ8s RAW format. That surprised me.

The menus take some getting used to.

The EVF is amazing, even indoors. I have never liked EVFs, this one I will actually use more than the LCD. The LCD is big and bright, very clear.

The image stabilization works very well. I have set it for "on with shutter release" just like my Canon lenses. Saves battery power over the "always on" mode.

Amazing. DP Review complains loudly about the Canon S5 having the card slot inside the battery compartment. This camera has the same thing but its never mentioned in the review. I really don't care either way.

The 12X zoom is cool.

You can take as many shots as you need without having a memory card loaded. I know, I did it. Can anyone say "oops, no film" as back in the old days?

Time between shots in RAW is very long. JPEGS are snappy.

Silypix, the raw converter, does a good job with everything except noise removal at high ISO. Neat Image does that much better..

I really need a ND filter as the lowest ISO is 100.

Please excuse the wires, these are not "rea;" shots. I gave Wire software a chance but it was too erratic.

The first image below was converted by Silkypix and cropped/enhanced a bit in PWP.

The others had minor changes. All are at ISO 100.

[Liz]

Congratulations Michael! I'm glad you're happy with your new purchase. I'm looking forward to seeing more photos later.

Liz

[mwfanelli2]

Again, as above, taken in bright sunlight. The need for an ND filter is evident.

Also, the LCD/EVF can be set to display a grid pattern to help line up images. Cool.

I also shot a movie of a large barge moving out of the river into the bay. It is remarkable quality compared to what I am used to. It will work extremely well in Calculus Physics class using Video Analysis to measure the mechanic frame-by-frame.

[Liz]

These look really good.....sharp with good color rendition.

That Panny has some great features. It looks like you're going to really have fun with this - even the video for work! Nice!

Keep 'em coming!

Liz