 |
| FZ300 |
You can find the Rec Menu items on page 336 of theOperating Instructions for Advanced Features.
I will refer only to those items which I think require clarification or suggestions beyond those in the Instructions which are actually very comprehensive.
The Instructions describe all manner of things you can do but not why you would. I hope this post helps with that.
* Photo Style. This is Panasonic’s term for JPG settings. You can select one of the presets (Standard, Vivid, Natural..etc) or create your own Custom style to individual preference.
For the record I have Contrast +/- 0, Sharpness -1, Noise Reduction -5, Saturation +/- 0.
These settings are always a work in progress and could change. However I do recommend NR -5 for the FZ300 and other current Panasonic cameras to prevent the JPGs from looking soft and mushy.
* Aspect Ratio. The camera does not have a multi aspect ratio sensor so anything but 4:3 is a simple crop which you could make in post processing.
* Picture size. There are only 12 Mpx to begin with so I do not recommend reducing picture size any further.
* Quality. I shoot RAW + JPG and process in Adobe Camera Raw. I find that I can invariably tease a better final result out of the RAW file than the out-of-camera JPG.
Of course some users do not care for the labour of post processing and that is fine. Always use the highest quality JPG setting (the double row of three rectangles).
Just be aware that you can get more out of the camera by shooting Raw.
JPG capture can be useful with AFC and Burst as you can shoot many more frames with JPG than RAW.
 |
| I was able to focus on the young channel bill cuckoo's face and avoid the foliage because the FZ300 allowed me to quickly change the position and size of the active AF Area |
* AFS/AFF. I find that in some conditions AFF produces a disconcerting flutter in the image indicating the focus has not locked. So I use AFS and switch to AFC for moving subjects.
* Metering Mode. There is a choice between Multi, Centerweighted and Spot. I always use Multi as it is the most reliable in a wide range of conditions. However spot could be useful with small birds and similar. In such situations I just leave metering on Multi and apply some exposure compensation which is quicker.
* Burst rate. If you want AF, AE and live view on each frame use Burst M. For analysing a golf swing and similar where the in focus position is static, Burst H or SH (JPG only) can be used.
* 4K Photo is described in great detail in the Instructions from page 164.
* Auto Bracket. This is where you tell the camera what to do when Auto Bracket is selected in Drive Mode. See page 178 of the instructions.
* Highlight/Shadow. This is one of those features which I suspect has been included because they could rather than because anybody asked for it. You can alter the standard tone curve by presets or a personalised version. Something to play with I guess.
* iDynamic actually works. When ON the camera underexposes the shot a bit then lifts the tone curve in the shadows to give a pleasing JPG result with better highlight protection than is available with a straight exposure. You can have Auto, High, Standard, Low and Off.
I set Auto and leave it there.
iDynamic also works on Raw files but only to the extent of the reduced exposure. You have to correct the tone curve yourself in the Raw converter.
* iResolution also probably works but not necessarily on every shot. It tries to find unsharp areas of the frame and applies extra sharpening there. I just set it to Standard and leave it there.
* Post Focus. I am from the silly old school which holds that one should focus on the subject before pressing the shutter button. Apparently that is now passe.
Anyway, post focus is another thing to play with I guess.
* iHandheld Night Shot, iHDR and HDR are JPG only options which work as described in the Instructions.
Multi Exp. Time Lapse Shot and Stop Motion Animation also work with Raw.
* Panorama Settings. To access these first turn the Mode Dial to the Panorama icon.
Now the Settings tab is active. You have four choices for Direction. The one I use and recommend for most purposes is the bottom one. To use this hold the camera in portrait orientation handle side up and sweep from left to right. It works well.
I usually use Standard picture size. Wide is very wide. Give it a try.
 |
| Hand held close ups are easy with the FZ300. This flower was blowing about in the wind but I got some decently sharp photos anyway |
* Shutter Type. See page 159 of the Instructions.
I always use the mechanical shutter unless for some reason I want a shutter speed faster than 1/2000 sec. There are no problems with the flash which can be used at all shutter speeds and no distortion with moving subjects.
Note that you can set up to 1/4000 sec with the M shutter but the aperture will be restricted to f4 at 25mm focal length and f7.1 at the long end of the zoom.
The reason for this is that the diameter of the aperture at f2.8 (the actual dimension of which increases as the lens zooms out) makes it impossible for the diaphragm type shutter to open and close in the required time.
* Flash. Instructions pages 208-214.
The FZ300 has an extensive repertoire of sophisticated flash functions including multi unit off camera studio flash setups.
I generally use the inbuilt flash for a bit of extra light indoors and then just as a supplement for the ambient light.
I set Firing Mode to TTL and Flash Adjust to -2/3 stop and Red Eye Removal OFF as this fires an extra flash which is bound to annoy the subject.
* ISO Limit Set. 1600 is a good upper limit. With RAW capture I can get acceptable pictures at 1600 but anything above that is a step too far.
* ISO increments. There is no point in using 1/3 step increments as the other exposure parameters (aperture, shutter speed) will do so.
* Diffraction Compensation. I haven’t explored this one yet so I don’t know if it is really useful.
* iZoom and Digital Zoom are long standing Panasonic interpolated non optical zoom features.
My own experience is that shooting at the maximum optical zoom of 600mm and cropping is easier and produces slightly better results.
* Conversion. You need this if fitting a teleconverter or close up lens.
* Color Space. There are great debates about this on internet forums with some complex arguments which are over my head. Some prefer sRGB, others adobe RGB. I just set Adobe RGB and get on with making pictures.
* Stabiliser. Put this on a Fn button or the Q Menu for quick access. Turn the stabiliser off when the camera is on a tripod.
* You can read about Face Recog and Profile Setup in the Instructions. Even better, don’t read about them, go out and take pictures.