 |
| FZ80 |
The Operating Instructions for Advanced Features give comprehensive information about all the menu items but some further comment may be helpful.
Photo Style This is Pana-speak for JPG settings. The basic issue with all the small sensor cameras is that the sensors produce considerable digital noise even at base ISO.
The temptation, therefore, is to pile on lots of noise reduction. But this makes the pictures look like a smushy watercolour which is probably worse than luminance noise (grain).
My current settings are Contrast 0, Sharpness -5, Noise Reduction -5, Saturation 0.
I run all images including JPGs through adobe Camera Raw where I can increase sharpness a bit if required.
If you will be using straight out of camera JPGs more sharpness might be desirable.
Aspect Ratio The camera does not have a variable aspect ratio sensor so anything other than 4:3 is a simple crop.
Picture Size Small sensor cameras like the FZ80 are always struggling for picture quality so anything smaller than the maximum of 18 Mpx is definitely not recommended.
Quality My guess would be that lots of FZ80 users just want to output JPG files for easy download and sharing. Indeed some experienced users achieve very decent output from initial JPG capture. But these users run their files through one or several image editors and noise reduction software programmes.
For best results I recommend RAW capture. I use Adobe Camera Raw as my raw converter and initial image editor with generally good results.
AFS/AFF/AFC AF Single and AF Continuous are easy enough to understand.
AFF appears to be a kind of hybrid, a “helper” mode for users who mainly encounter still subjects but don’t want to fiddle about changing focus modes when confronted by, say, an active grandchild or similar.
I have had occasions when focus wobbled with AFF so I am not really confident with it. I allocate AFS/AFF/AFC to the Fn1 button so I can switch from AFS to AFC quickly as required.
Metering Mode The choices are Multiple, Center weighted and Spot. I use and recommend Multiple most of the time. Those who photograph birds frequently might find Spot useful if the bird is small in the frame.
You can allocate Metering Mode to a Fn button or the Q menu.
Burst Rate The FZ80 is the second most capable small sensor long zoom model for follow focus on moving subjects. Only the FZ300 is better at this end of the market.
Burst rate M gives about 6 frames per second with AF, AE and live view on each frame. So for moving subjects burst M is the one to use.
For a static subject such as a golfer practicing a swing Burst H can be used with AF fixed at the first frame of a sequence and no live view.
4K Photo is very well described in the Instructions.
Bracket Budget cameras from Panasonic give you lots more camera options than those from other makers, except perhaps Sony, the problem there being the nearly incomprehensible menus which burden several models from that maker.
You can bracket exposure or white balance with options for Step, Sequence and shutter response.
If you might like to try bracketing it is worth putting this item on the Q Menu.
Make sure bracketing is OFF for normal photography or the camera will fire three shots every time you press the shutter.
Self Timer 2 Seconds is good for most things, 10 if the photographer wants to get in the photo and 10 sec with three shots for groups in the hope that one of the frames will have all the subjects looking at the camera with both eyes open.
Highlight/Shadow I think this is one of those little frolics which Olympus and Panasonic put in there because they can. I have yet to find a use for it but maybe someone would like to play about with it.
i.Dynamic If the camera detects a subject with high brightness range it can give an exposure a bit less than normal to protect highlights from blowing out then raise the dark tones when creating a JPG. I set this to Auto and leave it there.
i.Resolution Another JPG feature, this one tries to clean up areas of the frame which lack sharpness, for instance corners. On my tests it does work. I set Standard and leave it there.
i.Handheld Night Shot This is a fully automatic feature which only works in iA Mode. There is also a Handheld Night Shot in the [SCN] Mode on the Mode Dial.
This makes a series of short exposures then blends them in camera, the idea being that this will produce a better result than one single long exposure.
i.HDR is a fully automatic function which works when iA is set on the Mode Dial. The camera detects high subject brightness range and makes a series of exposures which are blended in camera to deliver a single JPG output.
HDR does the same thing except you tell the camerawhen you want HDR to operate. It is suitable when one of the PASM Modes is set on the Mode Dial.
Multi Exposure (P181) Time Lapse (P129) and Stop Motion Animation (P131) are well enough described in the Instructions.
Panorama Settings Note ! The Mode Dial must be set to the Panorama icon for these settings to become active. The FZ80 makes very good and very wide auto panoramas, sometimes as good as I can achieve by stitching multiple images in Photoshop.
Some practice is required to become familiar with the technique and with selecting suitable subjects.
For Direction I use the bottom of the 4 options listed in the submenu. Hold the camera in portrait orientation handle side up and sweep from left to right.
Standard picture size is huge covering about 200 degrees horizontal.
Shutter Type You can just set MSHTR (mechanical shutter) for use all the time. It is the most versatile option.
ESHTR can give a faster speed than 1/2000 but I have never found a reason to use such a fast speed.
Flash Although the FZ80 is a budget camera is supports Panasonic’s extensive realm of on and off camera functions including multi off camera flash setups.
I generally use the built in flash for fill light with [Flash Adjust] at -2/3 stop.
ISO Limit Set This is the upper ISO setting which the camera will use in one of the Auto Exposure Modes with Auto ISO. I use 1600.
Some users express horror at the amount of grain present at ISO 1600 but with RAW output and Adobe Camera Raw decent results can be obtained.
ISO increments There is no need to use other than 1 EV.
Extended ISO This allows you to set ISO 6400 which on my inspection of the files is just unusable.
i.Zoom and Digital Zoom These tabs will be greyed out unless Quality is set to JPG as they only work on JPG files.
i.Zoom allows the focal length to be extended to an (equivalent) 2400mm and Digital Zoom goes up to an amazing 4800mm.
You know the old saying …If something seems too good to be true it is probably untrue.
Well these electronic zooms do allow you to reach the focal lengths stated but image quality deteriorates markedly as you zoom beyond 1200mm to the extent that I do not care for the results and never use these features.
But some JPG only shooters do, with variable success, which is one way of saying mostly dreadful pictures.
Conversionis set if one of the accessory lenses is used.
Color Space There are long running and highly technical arguments on forums about whether Adobe RGB or sRGB is preferred. It’s all too arcane for me. I use JPG + RAW capture so I just set Adobe RGB all the time.
StabiliserShould be allocated to a Fn button or the Q Menu.