 |
| LX100 hand held |
I have been using and reviewing several fixed zoom lens cameras over the last few months.
Here are some brief comments about each.
Panasonic FZ1000 was announced in June 2014. The groundwork for this camera was laid by Sony with the RX10 announced in October 2013. The FZ1000 uses the same 15.9 mm diagonal Sony sensor as the RX10 but increases the zoom range from 8.3x to 16x and delivers improved performance and ergonomics.
At their introduction the RX10 and FZ1000 (and Sony RX100) had the largest sensor seen on a FZLC with a consequent big jump in picture quality from previous models.
The FZ1000 is the most versatile single piece of photographic equipment I have ever owned. It can replace an ILC for most non professional photographic purposes and even quite a few professional requirements.
It delivers excellent picture quality at all focal lengths, good performance for still subjects or sport/action with very brisk response to user inputs and very good ergonomics, with 4K video capability.
I quite often read posts on user forums from former users of APS-C DSLRs and M43 ILCs who have, like me, traded in their ILC kit for a FZ1000 and have been very happy with the result in terms of both picture quality and user experience.
The only deficits of the FZ1000 when compared to full frame (43mm) or APS-C (27-28mm) sensor ILCs with several lenses, is a lack of ultrawide and ultra long zoom range and more noisy picture quality at high ISO sensitivity settings.
Ultrawide photos can readily be made using the inbuilt auto panorama mode or by merging several RAW or JPG frames in Adobe Photoshop.
Respectable shots up to FLE800mm can be had simply by cropping the original RAW capture from 20 Mpx (FLE400mm) to 5 Mpx (FLE800Mpx).
I found these 5Mpx crops to have better picture quality than one might imagine given all the hype recently about cameras with 50 Mpx.
Somewhat to my surprise, Sony has not yet answered the challenge of the FZ1000 with no update to the RX10 yet announced.
Even more surprising to me is that no other manufacturer has released a competitor for the FZ1000.
Either I am wrong about the FZLC being the future of amateur photography or a lot of product development people are asleep at the corporate wheel.
 |
| Here are the five cameras referred to in this post |
Panasonic LX100 was announced in September 2014.
This is a major step up from previous cameras in the LX line with a much larger 19.2mm diagonal multi aspect ratio sensor from Panasonic.
The trend to put a large sensor in a compact camera was started by Sony with the RX100 followed by the Mk2 then the current Mk3 versions which use the same sensor as the RX10/FZ1000.
The LX100 is considerably larger than the RX100(3) but still qualifies as a compact. It delivers excellent pictures, good performance and reasonable ergonomics with a fixed (no need to pop up) built in EVF.
I believe the LX100 is probably the best advanced compact available right now. The RX100(3) comes very close (some say equal to) the LX100 in image quality but its user experience is less engaging.
I would find that pop up EVF irritating.
Richard Butler in his review for Digital Photography Review described the LX100 as “one of the best photographer’s cameras on the market” and “probably the best zoom compact ever made”.
I am not a fan of the LX100s ‘traditional’ control system but can live with it well enough. A fully articulated monitor and a Mode Dial based control system would improve the user experience.
The LX100 works very well as a street camera. It is unobtrusive, fast and responsive. It is ideal indoors or outdoors. The camera’s exposure algorithms make good choices for aperture, shutter speed and ISO when set to A on the aperture ring and shutter speed dial with auto ISO.
The LX100 was announced in September 2014.
Again we as yet see no effective response to the LX100 from any other manufacturer. Maybe Panasonic’s move took them all by surprise or maybe those product development people on the other teams are still asleep at the wheel.
 |
| LX100 hand held |
Small sensor/Long zoom or Big sensor/short zoom ? It’s a trade off.
The LX100 has a large (for a compact) sensor with a zoom range of just 3.1x.
The FZ1000 has a slightly smaller sensor with a very substantial zoom range of 16x.
The next three cameras have a very much smaller sensor with a diagonal of just 7.66mm and a much longer zoom range.
They work best outdoors in good light particularly at the long end of their zoom range which has a restricted lens aperture of around f6.5.
They are most suitable for still subjects (even if like birds they are only still for a few seconds) not moving subjects or sport/action.
Canon SX60 was announced in September 2014. It is the latest in a long line of Canon SX superzooms.
I would like to say it is also the greatest but that appears not to be the case.
It has a nice handle, is nice to hold and has a behind-the-shutter-button front control dial just like an EOS DSLR.
Unfortunately picture quality is noisy with RAW capture and exhibits excessive noise reduction in JPGs.
Performance is slow and operation awkward due to the flat, recessed 4 way controller and adjacent buttons.
Canon needs to upgrade every aspect of the SX60 which is lagging behind its competitors in picture quality, performance and ergonomics.
User forum posts would suggest the SX50 may be a better or at least not less capable camera.
 |
| LX100 |
Nikon P900 The SX60 has a remarkable 65x zoom lens but the P900 announced in March 2015 trumps that with an amazing 83x zoom going all the way out to focal length equivalent (FLE) 2000 mm.
The P900 is at its best photographing birds and small animals.
It has an excellent lens which is good even at full zoom and a good VR system which allows handholding at ridiculously slow shutter speeds with the reasonable expectation of a usable result.
Unfortunately RAW capture is not offered and performance is pedestrian.
An alternative to the P900 is the P610 which appears to be basically the same camera with a slightly shorter but still huge zoom range.
Panasonic TZ70 (SZ50) Unlike the two cameras above, the TZ70 is very light and compact in dimensions. Into its diminutive frame Panasonic has somehow fitted a 30x zoom of quite good quality.
The TZ70 which was announced in January 2015 is the latest in a long line of Panasonic travel zooms. Apparently these sell well and the reason is easy to see.
With good picture quality, good performance and good ergonomics, the TZ70 does just what it sets out to do which is to provide travellers with an all purpose photographic device in a very compact package.
Of the three small (7.66mm diagonal) sensor cameras described here (SX60, P900, TZ70) I rate the TZ70 as having the most coherent realisation and the most engaging user experience.
On my testing it also makes the best pictures in the near-wide to mid range of the zoom (RAW).
 |
| FZ1000. I have photographed this scene many times over the years with a variety of cameras and lenses. The Canon EOS 60D with EF 70-200mm f4 L IS did a good job but in my hands the Panasonic GH4 with Lumix 35-100mm f2.8 delivered slightly better detail and the FZ1000 is slightly better again. I find the FZ1000 gives away nothing in picture quality to M43 and APS-C ILCs in most conditions and is sometimes better. |
What’s next ?
Sony is currently the leading camera sensor manufacturer. On this website http://www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/IS/sensor2/products/index.html there is reference to the IMX204, a 1/1.7” (about 9.3mm diagonal) 20Mpx Exmor RS sensor, available to other camera makers.
This appears to be the first RS type sensor offered to the market.
R, (presumably for Reverse) indicates a back illuminated type.
S indicates Stacked, which is a further development designed to improve sensitivity.
The 9.3mm sensor has about 1.5x the area of the common 1/2.3’, 7.6mm type seen in the TZ70, SX60 and P900 referred to above.
The increased area and new architecture should provide a significant improvement in image quality.
I hope this sensor finds its way into a FZLC sometime real soon.
Đăng nhận xét