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Adventures in Digital Photography With Linux
For the past couple of years I've been having much fun with two Panasonic Lumix cameras: the DMZ-FZ20, and the DMC-TZ1. These are excellent point-and-shoot cameras that I can recommend to any serious photographer who wants a small, portable, good-quality camera for all occasions. The DMC-FZ20 has 12x optical zoom (36-432mm equivalent) and a constant 2.8 aperture. The DMC-TZ1 has 10x optical zoom (35-350mm equivalent), variable aperture with a maximum of 2.8, and both have razor-sharp excellent-quality Leica lenses that do closeup to telephoto shots very well. Lesson #1 of digital photography: optical zoom is what counts. Both of these cameras will do up to 48x total zoom. This is nice for capturing those long shots for your personal photo album, but the image quality is noticeably grainy. Which is no surprise, since it's magnified pixels. Forget all those mondopixel cameras with only 3-6x optical zoom and gazillion digital zoom if you want good-quality telephoto- there is no substitute for good optics. Here is a long shot taken with the little DMC-TZ1. It has lost sharpness because it is a small .jpg- a print made from the original file size is beautifully sharp . Swan was taken at full total 48x zoom. Not bad for a tiny handheld camera! This is some amazing technology to cram all that zoom into cameras this small. The little DMC-TZ1, which is about the size of a bar of soap, puts most of the lens elements sideways inside the body. It is completely automatic with no manual settings, but like most digital cameras these days it has a useful number of profiles like Sports, Macro, Portrait, Night Scenery, Landscape, and so forth. These are all good and make better-quality pictures. My favorite features is its bright, sharp, 2.5" LCD viewfinder. The DMZ-FZ20 has a wider lens that extends at most a couple of inches. The DMZ-FZ20 has manual focus and an optical viewfinder, but the optical viewfinder is very small and dim. Most settings also have a manual option. Both cameras are amazingly tweakable; you get a lot of finicky control if you want it. They both use rechargeable Li-ion batteries; you'll want to carry two or three because they are small. I like rechargeables; leaving a trail of spent one-use batteries is wasteful. The DMZ-FZ20 can take filters, a lens hood, and assorted add-on widgets, but it is hard to find any. Camera forums are full of sad owners who want to spend gobs of money on accessories and can't find any to buy, even though Panasonic claims to make all kinds of them. Both of these have good-quality Image Stabilization, though it's no match for bad light or way shaky hands. But it is plenty good enough to capture pictures that you would ordinarily need a tripod for. The DMZ-FZ20 is one generation behind the DMC-TZ1, so there are probably newer, better models available now. The only thing I don't like about it is the small, not-very-bright LCD viewfinder. Other than that it's a wonderful camera. DSLRAs good as these little cameras are, why am I moving up to a digital SLR? It's a lot more expense and hassle, because using a DSLR means that instead of having a single, lightweight camera for all occasions, I'll have to lug around a larger, heavier camera body plus three lenses. And I still won't have the 48x reach of the little cameras, but only macro to 12x. Not to mention seeing my bank account go downright bulimic. The two Lumixes cost around $900 for both, which was the price of early adoption, as both are much cheaper now, and they've been around long enough to generate a healthy second-hand market. By the time I'm finished outfitting my DSLR the way I want I'll have dropped close to four thousand dollars.So the new outfit is going to have to be one humdinger of a performer to be worth the cost and hassle. Stay tuned for our next exciting installments to find out if it turns out to be worthwhile, or if your beloved author is merely a loony gadget hound who is too-easily enticed by Shiny Things. What is the Linux Connection?I'll get to that too, because I do all of my editing, organizing, and printing from Linux. |
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Comments (9)
digitals
It's amazing what you can get in a camera these days. When I was a wee one my dad had a darkroom and we did our own black-and-white developing and printing. Color processing was insane for a home darkroom. The newfangled innovation in cameras was through-the-lens metering, so you didn't have to lug a light meter around. But you still had to adjust the aperture and shutter speed yourself. Really Cool Photographers could do it all without taking their eyes off the viewfinder. Now the camera hardly even needs a human behind it. :)
Nope indeedy. That's why we (broke low-end shoppers) have bought Canon's. Not the highest Megapixels for the money, but low-end cameras with honest-to-gosh optical viewfinders, Canon's DIGIX magic, and really nice looking shots. Plus, they work smoothly with Digikam.
These days, I would guess that it's easier and easier to get it right when selecting a digital camera.
Quoting:You never know how good the picture are just by looking at the megapixel number on the camera
How true. Some of the best pictures I've seen were shot by my brother with his Konica Minolta Dimage Z10 (3.2MP).
Untitled
Carla, I have the FZ10 and FZ30 (skipped the FZ20) and they do have a remarkable set of features for the money. However, they do not have an optical viewfinder. It is an EVF with a tiny LCD which gives an almost unusable image. The main problem I had with the Panasonics was "noise" (especially in underexposed areas).
I have since moved on to a DSLR and couldn't be happier with it (Nikon D50). 1. Great optical viewfinder. 2. Extremely low noise )better at ISO 1600 that the Pany at ISO100 although I try to stay with 200 or 400 when possible). 3. Very pleasing out-of-focus backgrounds (bokeh). This is a function of sensor size.
In the long run, though you will spend more money on a DSLR, it will not be as bad as you might think. I was buying a new super-zoom every year or two and that adds up. Now my money goes for lenses. If I get a new body the lenses will still work on it.
Good luck with your new DSLR. You will love the image quality.
This whole business of image quality is a whole new world. In the olden days getting high-quality images was pretty simple. A decent camera with a sharp bright lens, a middlin' darkroom, and there you were. Now there's all this sophisticated digital guff, but the end product has several different forms. If you're making images for a Web page they're going to lose quality, and you have no control over what conditions people will be viewing them. If you're making prints you're at the mercy of your printer, printer drivers, and editing software. I hope there is room in my head for all this new stuff!
I am holding one at this very moment. A Nikkor 50 mm f/1.4 mounted on a Nikon F2 film camera (which I have not used in probably 20 years. That lens would work fine on my D50, except it would become a 75 mm lens and operate in only manual focus and manual exposure.
>If you're making prints you're at the mercy of your printer, printer drivers, and editing software.
I have never used a printer. Some swear by them, but I have seen pretty poor results from some, and there is no denying that printing your own is expensive. Try some of the online printers like Winkflash (there are many, just google). I have had good results from them. Sometimes they don't look quite right so I make adjustments and try again. $.12 for 4x6 and $1.99 for 8x10 s hard to beat. Quality can vary a lot between the different vendors so try several out. I have been happiest with those who use the latest Fuji print machines.
I use GIMP for all my post processing and it meets my needs just fine. I keep a spreadsheet with a row for every image I process with every change I make (cropping, levels, etc.). Then I know what I did and can make adjustments from there. You will not regret the time it takes to do this.
A good source of information and ideas would be the Canon forums at DPR Review (I monitor the Nikon forum of course). http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1019
Some additional tips.
I'll try to send you an example ir 2.
Fred
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