metallilan said:
The Fz7 is an upgrade to the Fz5 where features and functions are concerned..image quality not so...
With that, i miss my black Fz5..SOBS..
I stand corrected.. you're right! Stupid smallish CCD.
Then again, the features "package" on the FZ7 has won me over, and I find that I do take better pictures with the manual mode on the FZ7 than I did with the manual mode on the FZ5. Not true for Program mode though, I found myself having to tweak the Pict Adj settings more, to varying levels of success (or failure, depending).
Yet, the nifty 'extras' - great movie mode, which I'd never used on the FZ5 cause of the poor resolution (although the Canon S3's is probably better... but didn't buy that cause you gotta manually pull up the flash, feels like a toy!), larger, brighter screen (whose lower resolution has been talked about in the review sites but which I didn't find a noticeable problem at all... in fact, it fares much better than the screens of the H2 and the S3), extra scene modes (but seriously, who needs two scene modes for the same movie mode???), 60-second exposure, the little joystick which I found myself using so much more often, the manual focusing which I find myself using quite often too... all these add to a very enjoyable camera. In fact, I find myself bringing the FZ7 along when I go out a lot more often than when I had the FZ5 (maybe cause my FZ5 was silver
) and I guess that's the hallmark of a good camera - that you WANT to use it for daily life.
I'm not so picky bout the noise issue - I think it's been fully overblown... I actually LIKE the slight grain at ISO200... just stay away from ISO400! (The same holds true for ANY compact.) In fact I think the whole noise thing has come down to a means of comparing different cameras, but if you put things in perspective, it isn't THAT much of a problem. Yet, my night shots either always seem over-processed, or grainier than necessary (see samples below). The ISO800 and 1600 is rubbish - unless you use them for neoprints :bsmilie: or maximum 3R size prints, don't bother. (Still, being able to take a picture is better than not being able to take one at all!)
After all's said and done, yes, I do think it's an upgrade, and it's quite obvious that much thought has been put into the physical design, and the interface. The extra nifty features and design considerations has made this camera all the more joyous to use (remember how you had to press the silly out-of-place 'Exposure' button in the FZ5's manual mode??) and that's what I need in a camera - something that I can take around almost anywhere in the world without risking being robbed (since it's not a nice big DSLR... well, at least in the more developed countries anyway, I won't be robbed!) and having your subjects (the live ones anyway) take you a bit more seriously because of that biggish Leica lens.
And after selling my FZ5 I had to shell out only $100 or so more for the "upgrade"...
Anyways here goes. The pics weren't taken with a tripod but with a support of some sort... a railing/parapet/table...
And an interior/night shot taken with the defunct-but-awesome FZ5..
Now, time to get me a copy of Noise Ninja...
. As for night, i tried once or twice before only with my FZ5, it definitely not on par with videocam, and quality ain't that good as well. Not sure if the newer FZ have any improvement, afterall fz5 video mode is only 320x240 while fz7 is 640x480 or even higher if shooting 16:9
