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| Profound thoughts ? |
I recently set myself a little homework task: part wishlist, part appraisal of current reality, part guestimation of what might become possible in the near future with developments in technology.
This has been to write a specification for the ultimate all-in-one, do anything camera.
It goes something like this:
* Compact overall size, able to fit in a smallish carry bag. Somewhat arbitrarily I choose the Think Tank Mirrorless Mover 10 as I am familiar with this bag which is exactly the right size for the Panasonic FZ300 and FZ80. I find the size of these cameras very user friendly. They are large enough to accommodate a lens with a very large zoom range and/or a wide aperture at all focal lengths using the small (7.67mm diagonal, a.k.a. ½.3 inch sensor a full set of controls for the expert/enthusiast user but small enough to hold, carry and operate easily.
* A consumer friendly price point. This is of course difficult to specify. Some consumers think $20,000 for personal camera gear is quite reasonable, others think $500 is too much. However it is clear enough to me that the main problem with the FZ80 is that it is positioned at such a low price point that all its components are from the “B” grade parts bin at Panasonic. If all those components were of “A” grade standard the camera would cost, say, twice as much but in my view that would be money better spent.
* A “bridge camera” type (DSLR style) with a full anatomical handle and EVF over the lens axis.
* A zoom lens spanning from ultrawide (about 20mm equivalent) to ultra long. My experience of superzooms has been that focal lengths much greater than about 1000mm equivalent are difficult to use hand held. But birds and wildlife often call for a very long focal length so I set 1200mm as my desired maximum.
* Excellent performance with single or continuous AF, RAW or JPG output.
* Excellent ergonomics with very nice holding, viewing and operating characteristics.
* Good enough picture quality for large prints.
What would Panasonic need to change to bring the FZ80 up to this specification ?
In a word, everything, inside and out.
As it stands the FZ80 looks amazing on the specifications and in many respects it is amazing with a level of features never before seen at this price point.
But in practice the camera delivers too many not-really-sharp pictures, particularly at the long end of the zoom.
The camera needs a more ergonomic and better constructed body with full twin dial control system and zoom and focus rings on the lens and a fully articulated monitor screen.
It needs the best available sensor in the 7.67mm diagonal size. On my tests that is currently the 20Mpx (presumably Sony) unit found in the Nikon B700.
Contrary to opinions often expressed by armchair experts on user forums the 20Mpx version does not have more noise than the 12Mpx version when pictures from each are viewed at the same output size.
It needs a better EVF and viewfinder optics and eyecup.
A much more sophisticated auto ISO algorithm (like that used by Sony) is essential.
The lens needs to be of better optical quality with the same 20-1200mm f2.8-5.9 specs.
To cope with the long focal length the OIS needs to be the very best Panasonic can deliver, not the B grade item currently in the FZ80.
The lens also needs the best autofocus system Panasonic can muster.
Would this camera sell ?
Let us say it would be priced at about AUD1000 with the FZ80 currently at AUD550 in Australia.
If it really did deliver top quality performance and usability I would buy it in a moment.
The whole camera market is moving up the price/capability scale with previously popular cheap compacts now almost extinct.
There would be some resistance of course. I recently saw the FZ300 described by a well known review site as being rather expensive for a small sensor model.
It seems to me that the people who make, sell, buy and review cameras regard small sensor superzooms as snapshooters toys and I guess that has been the case until now. But it doesn’t need to be thus. I think that the image quality of the best sensors in this class is good enough to support a much more fully specified body, lens, processor, stabiliser, EVF and all the rest of it.
I would like to see the existing small sensor bridge type models (FZ300, FZ80) both upgraded to a level of construction similar to the FZ2000 and both presented with the same body and controls, being about the same size as the present FZ300. The only difference between them would be the lens.
We know that the body/lens housing size can accommodate a front filter of 55mm diameter because the FZ80 has that filter.
By increasing the filter size from 52 to 55mm it should be possible to increase the focal length of the FZ300 to about 800mm at f2.8 or f3.5.
I find myself no longer amused by cameras which are cheap but fail to deliver top quality results. I don’t care about cheap if blurry pictures are the consequence.
As it stands the FZ80 is ALMOST a very good camera even with all its B grade components and the FZ300 is quite good but could be much better.