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All photos Lumix FZ300 |
How often do you see a review of a camera introduced six years ago which uses the same sensor and lens as one released nine years ago ? Can such a thing be relevant in 2022 ?
The nature of marketing is such that the entities which make and sell stuff constantly promote the latest thing as being indispensably superior to that old previous version.
And of course new gear actually is generally better than the old stuff in some significant ways relevant to photographers.
But some cameras introduced several years ago retain sufficient appeal to make them viable products in the current market.
One of these is the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 introduced in 2015. This compact bridge camera remains in the Panasonic Lumix catalogue and is still available new at an average price about the same as it was on first release. This suggests that the model continues to attract enough buyers to keep the production line running.
My own history with this model has been of the intermittent/ambivalent/greener-grass-over-the-fence variety. I buy a copy, use it for a while, think, hey that’s quite a nice camera then get distracted by or attracted to something else and sell the FZ300 as it has not been used for a while. This cycle has been repeated four or five times. This year I decided to buy myself a present for the holiday season and selected the FZ300 as I suspect that I never really gave this camera a chance to show what it can do with more prolonged and thoughtful use.
So what is this FZ300 ?
Matsushita/National/Panasonic corporation started making digital camcorders in 1985 with the NV-M1 VHS camcorder.
In 2001 Panasonic announced a partnership with Leica to produce digital still cameras using Panasonic’s electronic expertise and Leica’s understanding of optics. This partnership produced a long string of cameras under the Panasonic Lumix name with many using lenses carrying the Leica brand. The first model released was the Lumix DMC-LC5 with a wide aperture Leica zoom lens and sophisticated electronics.
Over the years the distinction between still and zoom consumer cameras has become less clear as many are very capable at both types of capture.
The FZ series models began in 2002 with the FZ1 which utilised a wide aperture Leica zoom lens.
The FZ30 arrived in 2005 with a body style readily discernible as the precursor of more recent bridge cams with the EVF housing over the optical axis and a prominent handle on the right side.
The FZ100 came in 2010 with a 25-600mm (equivalent) lens and a design and control layout which would be familiar to current era users.
This was followed by the FZ200 of 2012. This became a popular model for the Lumix brand which is hardly surprising as it packed an enormous amount of capability for still and video capture into an attractive compact package which was very reasonably priced.
The lens in particular was notable with a constant f2.8 aperture over the entire 24x zoom range. This was achieved by use of a sophisticated formulation using 9 aspheric surfaces and advanced design.
In the first ten years of the 21st Century camera sensor development proceeded at a dramatic pace. Every year saw increased pixel counts together with higher signal to noise ratios and faster processing speeds. But then around 2010 the rate of improvement in sensor capability slowed. Improvements came of course but they were more incremental and less dramatic.
Back side illumination replaced the more traditional front side illumination and output speeds increased with improved circuitry and on board processors.
So when Panasonic came to specify the FZ300 they re-used the same 12 Mpx BSI sensor as that in the FZ200. Us mere consumers can only suppose that no better one was available.
They also decided to use the same lens as that in the FZ200 which was actually pretty hot stuff for a consumer bridge type zoom in 2012.
And so the FZ300 arrived in 2015. This wrapped a new body, controls, viewfinder, monitor and processor around the sensor and lens from the FZ200. The result is a substantially better all round performer which remains in the catalogue today.
Why are people still buying the FZ300 ?
Picture quality The sensor measures 6.17 x 4.55mm giving a 4:3 aspect ratio and a diagonal of 7.67mm. I have used many cameras with a sensor this size or similar and I have to say most of them delivered at best mediocre picture quality. Some were just unacceptable.
But the FZ300 delivers consistently good to very good quality pictures with nice color, good rendition of detail, minimal color fringing, aberrations and flare and good rendition of highlight and shadow detail in a wide variety of conditions.
Somehow, the clever boffins at Panasonic have figured out a way for the FZ300 to get consistently better pictures out of this tiny sensor than any other camera which I have owned which uses the same sensor size including several from Panasonic.
It’s not perfect though. In general the system delivers best results in the wide and middle parts of the focal length range. Contrast and sharpness drop off significantly at the long end with an increase in optical imperfections. There can be localised flare around high brightness white subjects, some complex color fringing and in some cases in bright sunlight a busy out of focus background with many small bright torus-like specular highlights.
Capability There are still numerous tiny sensor (diagonal 7.67mm) bridge cams and long zoom compacts out there and over the years I have bought, owned and used several of them from Canon, Nikon, Sony and Panasonic. Some are smaller than the FZ300, some have more pixels (actually I think all of them do) some cost less, some have a greater zoom range. But none of them has the all round capability of the FZ300 in a wide variety of picture taking situations.
Size/price/portability Some bridge cams like the Sony RX10.4 and the Panasonic Lumix FZ1000.2 use the larger 15.9mm diagonal Sony 20Mpx sensor. This delivers technically better image quality but the trade-offs include greater size, mass and price. Having used these cameras extensively over a period of several years I have found that the image quality of the FZ300 is good enough for my purposes most of the time and on balance provides a more appealing package considering all the variables.
Versatility The FZ300 can do general photography, street, documentary, portrait, people, lifestyle, landscape, urban-scape and close-up-near-macro photography without the need for any accessories. It can tolerate dust and light water splashing better than most other cameras.
It has an extensive selection of video functions including 4K video and 4K photo.
It is best outdoors in reasonably bright light, but can deliver decent results indoors and in low light with careful use and a good understanding of the limitations of the sensor.
The in-camera auto-panorama function works well provided the operator gains enough experience with the process to get it working optimally.
It is not the first camera I would choose for bird photography either still or in flight. But the FZ300 can do birds perched and birds in flight and I have plenty of pictures to demonstrate this. But some extra care is required. The bird(s) need to be close, generally inside about 4 meters, there needs to be a decent level of light, preferably sun and cropping needs to be done in camera as far as possible.
Similar considerations apply to wildlife photography in general. Fur and feathers are best rendered in bright light preferably with direct sun.
The FZ300 can do outdoor sports in good light as long as the subject(s) are not moving very fast when close to the camera. The FZ300 uses an early version of Panasonic DFD contrast detect autofocus which is generally very fast and accurate for single shot work but can struggle when presented with a subject moving fast towards or away from the camera.
Performance These days we have cameras which can track the eye of a flying bird and keep it in focus at 30 frames per second. The technology behind this really is amazing and a genuine benefit to sport/action and wildlife photographers. But these cameras and the lenses which permit this outstanding level of performance are big, heavy and very expensive.
They offer a level of performance way beyond the needs of most photographers.
The FZ300 offers a much more modest but still very useful level of performance which is actually well above average for the market segment.
It can follow focus on a moving subject with live view in the EVF or monitor at 6 frames per second. In my hands as long as the subject is not moving too fast close to the camera this can deliver a decently high percentage of sharply focussed frames. The process does require more operator skill and experience than is the case with the latest mirrorless full frame wunderkameras but I think that is all part of the experience of using the FZ300. You have to monitor the firing solution (shutter speed, aperture, ISO) focus area and focus mode closely to achieve best results.
In general the camera is very responsive to user inputs. Single autofocus is very fast and accurate. The shutter fires instantly when the shutter button is pressed.
Ergonomics Using my standard schedule I give the FZ300 a score of 68/100. This is a decent score for this type of camera. It has a nice comfortable handle and thumb support, a sufficiently comprehensive set of controls which are easy to use, a nice clear EVF with clearly displayed camera data and a fully articulated touch screen monitor of good quality.
The menus are comprehensive without being excessive and are easy to navigate.
The thing is a pleasure to use without any egregiously irritating quirks or foibles.
System Unusually for a budget bridge cam there actually is a system. Panasonic Australia lists LT55 tele converter, LC55 close up lens, LA7 adapter, FL580L flash and RSL1 remote shutter release. The remote release is now redundant for most users as the camera is readily controlled from a smartphone using the Panasonic connect app which works well.
Likeability This is always very dependent on individual preferences. Some camera users like to scrutinise their image files at 200% on a big screen hunting out the slightest sign of grain. Some like to be seen with a camera which makes a statement of some kind.
The list goes on …… Some people like a camera which is compact, has a long zoom range and can operate unobtrusively in many different types of picture taking situation.
Each unto their own. I find the FZ300 very likeable and some other cameras frustrating and irritating. But another user might reverse those preferences.
The paradox of small sensor cameras
Here it is:
The people most likely to select a budget small sensor bridge cam are snapshooters and relatively inexperienced camera users. These users are likely to set the mode dial to [iA] and shoot on automatic, hoping for the best.
The people most likely to get the best results from small sensor bridge cams are experienced camera users who will set one of the PASM modes and use Raw capture with thoughtful Raw conversion and post processing.
I have found that with these small sensor cameras, Raw capture and a degree of expertise in post processing can make a substantial difference to the final result.
The thing about these cameras is that they are often on the edge of slipping into unacceptable image quality with little headroom for mistakes with the firing solution or with camera operation.
The optimum lens aperture is f2.8-f4 for everything except close-ups which can use f5.6. Fortunately the camera’s processor knows this and will generally set f2.8-f4 in P mode.
The crop factor of the FZ300 is 5.6x so the full frame aperture equivalents are
FZ300 f2.8 > full frame f16 approx
FZ300 f4 > full frame f22 approx
FZ300 f5.6 > full frame f32 approx.
ISO 100 is the best sensitivity. Digital noise levels rise quickly at higher ISO settings. I set an upper ISO limit of 800.
Shutter speeds often need to be slower than one might select for a larger sensor camera due to the need to keep ISO setting low. This means holding the camera still becomes rather important. Fortunately that is easy to do given the substantial handle, thumb support and viewfinder eyepiece. The optical image stabiliser works very well to keep the viewfinder image steady and the photos sharp.
All this means good results require rather more attention to camera settings and operation than might be the case with a model which uses a larger sensor which is more forgiving of variations from ideal settings.