Thread for Lumix FZ18 and FZ28 Series

[dickson fung]

i gonna use my Fz18 to shoot my cousin wedding~ but not so familair with the function of Fz18...any user here can give me some advice pls
>???

 

[ombre]

Hi all FZers, does anyone know if the FZ 28 manual is available on line. My manual is copping a fair old hiding but will still be good for a couple of years but some of the diagrams are not too clear and very small. Especially some diagrams of icons that appear on screen, too tiny for these old eyes. I would have thought a CD would contain the manual but sadly,no.

Yea, the manual can be found right here. Now with improved interactive functions. I'm sure anyone here will help you, what is it you need?

 

[ombre]

i gonna use my Fz18 to shoot my cousin wedding~ but not so familair with the function of Fz18...any user here can give me some advice pls
>???

Urm. Few issues. No offense!

1) You're using the wrong camera. the FZ18 being an excellent camera, doesn't do great justice to a once in a lifetime event. You can try, but seriously don't expect special results.

2) You need to check if there already is a professional photographer hired. They reserve all rights to ban any other photography, other than those shot by him (or her). Its part of the contract. They can even use it as a reason to charge payment without completing his work. Don't think just because you're a relative, they'll be nice to you. Not at all. And you won't want to get into a fight at your cousin's wedding will you?


If I really must answer your question, it really depends on your field of work. If you're under the big hot sun, then go for it. If you're in a dimly lit hotel, you'll be quite disappointed with the FZ18. Either ways, setting wise, you can use the full auto or P mode.

 

[Clunk]

Yea, the manual can be found right here. Now with improved interactive functions. I'm sure anyone here will help you, what is it you need?

I want to burn a CD or download the entire manual to my pc so I have an electronic copy.

 

[dickson fung]

Urm. Few issues. No offense!

1) You're using the wrong camera. the FZ18 being an excellent camera, doesn't do great justice to a once in a lifetime event. You can try, but seriously don't expect special results.

2) You need to check if there already is a professional photographer hired. They reserve all rights to ban any other photography, other than those shot by him (or her). Its part of the contract. They can even use it as a reason to charge payment without completing his work. Don't think just because you're a relative, they'll be nice to you. Not at all. And you won't want to get into a fight at your cousin's wedding will you?


If I really must answer your question, it really depends on your field of work. If you're under the big hot sun, then go for it. If you're in a dimly lit hotel, you'll be quite disappointed with the FZ18. Either ways, setting wise, you can use the full auto or P mode.

thx for ur help...Fz18 is really hard to get good result under dim lite..think like wan to upgrade to canon 40D...don know whether can perfrom better after change to a DSLR cam

 

[dickson fung]

i hav resize the photo..
just take this at my window

church beside my house

Using Fz18 take from my window,,,Westin ..a plane past by,,

 

[ombre]

Haha, Dickson do you live in some really classy place? Looks like it.

Anyway night landscape is one thing, but at a wedding, everything is moving.. even small movements spoil the pics sometimes.

Yes if you can afford it, go for the 40D, but you'll need a good lens to cut it, something F1.8... or F1.4.

I'm currently with a 350D and a 20mm F1.8, very pleased with ISO noise and all that. I can shoot at ISO 1600 and the noise is about that of 200 ISO on the FZ18 (maybe ABIT worse). =)

 

[ombre]

I want to burn a CD or download the entire manual to my pc so I have an electronic copy.

http://www2.panasonic.com/consumer-...Cameras/Lumix-Digital-Cameras/model.DMC-FZ28K

It wasn't that hard to find it! But here it is. hah.

 

[skyguy]

Urm. Few issues. No offense!

1) You're using the wrong camera. the FZ18 being an excellent camera, doesn't do great justice to a once in a lifetime event. You can try, but seriously don't expect special results.

2) You need to check if there already is a professional photographer hired. They reserve all rights to ban any other photography, other than those shot by him (or her). Its part of the contract. They can even use it as a reason to charge payment without completing his work. Don't think just because you're a relative, they'll be nice to you. Not at all. And you won't want to get into a fight at your cousin's wedding will you?


If I really must answer your question, it really depends on your field of work. If you're under the big hot sun, then go for it. If you're in a dimly lit hotel, you'll be quite disappointed with the FZ18. Either ways, setting wise, you can use the full auto or P mode.

yea, i have to agree, tat it is not suitable to shoot wedding shot with FZ18... even indoor shots, like relative birthday should be able the see that the photo might turn out quite bad... just today only is my nephew bday, photo turn out screwed up... all the noise and over expose cake and under expose face... -_- ... under dim light, it will be trickier, coz sometime the shot seem clear under the LCD, but when u transfer to pc, u realise how blur it will be...

 

[ombre]

yea, i have to agree, tat it is not suitable to shoot wedding shot with FZ18... even indoor shots, like relative birthday should be able the see that the photo might turn out quite bad... just today only is my nephew bday, photo turn out screwed up... all the noise and over expose cake and under expose face... -_- ... under dim light, it will be trickier, coz sometime the shot seem clear under the LCD, but when u transfer to pc, u realise how blur it will be...

Yup, and actually, the LCD has some "gain" function, those who did physics will understand it better than I do, which improves the brightness of the LCD. This "gain" is not reproduced in the pictures themselves, which is why your picture actually darkens significantly when you hold the shutter down. The original pic will be even darker than that. (slightly) depending on how bright your LCD was set to.

 

[dickson fung]

Fz18 can make Panorama photo?

 

[ay6810]

Funny, the CD that came with mine contains the manual... but you can get the manual online as well as a download. I tried UK's site and found it.

 

[ay6810]

tried the indoor portrait function and it didn't fare too bad and as skyguy said, somehow the pics looked sharper on LCD then on PC. Here's my kid's pic shot under florescent light...forgot to change white balance...used the trimming function-now I know what Ombre meant...

 

[Clunk]

Thanks guys, I found manual and downloaded off UK site, much better, in colour also.
Good to see you got your camera ay6810, congrats.:thumbsup:
Have downloaded trial version of photo matrix just need some spare time to experiment.
Maybe be away from here for a week or two while while exams, marking and reporting must be my focus. Will read but wife is on "Warpath;(" when she can see work piling up on my desk so will not post, at least while "Misery Guts" is home.:bsmilie:
Keep thinking about "FZer Outing" and post venue and time when all sorted.

 

[ombre]

tried the indoor portrait function and it didn't fare too bad and as skyguy said, somehow the pics looked sharper on LCD then on PC. Here's my kid's pic shot under florescent light...forgot to change white balance...used the trimming function-now I know what Ombre meant...

Its good depending on your taste. FZ18 is a tip top camera in the prosumer range. But look at the noise and you know its different. =P You're pretty cropped down but we still see specs on her faces.

If you can live with it, very good! You've just saved yourself 3000 dollars.

 

[ay6810]

Thanks guys, I found manual and downloaded off UK site, much better, in colour also.
Good to see you got your camera ay6810, congrats.:thumbsup:
Have downloaded trial version of photo matrix just need some spare time to experiment.
Maybe be away from here for a week or two while while exams, marking and reporting must be my focus. Will read but wife is on "Warpath;(" when she can see work piling up on my desk so will not post, at least while "Misery Guts" is home.:bsmilie:
Keep thinking about "FZer Outing" and post venue and time when all sorted.

Thanks! the feeling's kinda like picking up your new car and getting to know all its capabilities and finding out slowly what are fun things you can do with it!

When wife is on 'warpath', you had better smoke 'peace pipe'!! :bsmilie:
Took some heat as well from my 'better half' that said "Why do you need another camera when you have a 2MP CANON model already? She 'conveniently' forgot that I used it for 7 years+ without changing.... :dunno:

 

[skyguy]

tried the indoor portrait function and it didn't fare too bad and as skyguy said, somehow the pics looked sharper on LCD then on PC. Here's my kid's pic shot under florescent light...forgot to change white balance...used the trimming function-now I know what Ombre meant...

yea look not bad at indoor portrait mode... but i wasn't using tat mode at first... was using A, and then iA mode... which the result is quite bad, especially with flash... the worst is when there is cake and candle... the camera sort of took the candle light into its calculation tat why the facial part is darken by alot... everything happen very fast so didn't get to switch to indoor portrait until when its time to cut cake...

but the main point is, shouldn't use solely on FZ18 for a wedding shot... if got professional photographer, better...

 

[ombre]

yea look not bad at indoor portrait mode... but i wasn't using tat mode at first... was using A, and then iA mode... which the result is quite bad, especially with flash... the worst is when there is cake and candle... the camera sort of took the candle light into its calculation tat why the facial part is darken by alot... everything happen very fast so didn't get to switch to indoor portrait until when its time to cut cake...

but the main point is, shouldn't use solely on FZ18 for a wedding shot... if got professional photographer, better...

Especially when there is no professional photographer.

Imagine you volunteer to shoot... at the end of the day, the pics all turn out less than satisfactory... you're going to be totally black marked for ruining their wedding pictures.

 

[Clunk]

Hi ombre, I tried out that Photomatrix HDR free trial program, this is first try, it seems quite easy to follow. But quite blur even though tripod was used. Can fix lah? Wife's car taken 10 min ago.

 

[ombre]

Noise is part of HDR... HDR seems to double or triple the noise, so make sure you are on ISO 100, even so , noise will still be magnified because of the HDR merging... (imagine if you had 3 pixels of noise each picture, you now have 9!) If you noticed my picture, I had lots of noise too, even though the originals were highly controlled.

Try a noise remover, Neat Image is one. As for the HDR concept, it works best when you have loads of details to bring out... try it in the morning / evening? So you have sufficient light anyway.