Panasonic TZ80 (ZS60) Low light strategies
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| TZ80 at ISO 1600 Original RAW capture processed in Adobe Camera Raw |
I recently read a ‘review’ of the TZ80 in a major newspaper which basically described the camera (here I paraphrase) as a piece of junk, unusable at any sensitivity setting above ISO 400 and hopeless at the long end of the zoom. This reviewer’s intemperate remarks demonstrated that he had not made sufficient effort to understand the camera’s capabilities.
He did get one thing right however. The camera works well enough for snapshooters on [iA] Mode but experienced photographers can get better results using the P, A and S Modes, RAW capture and post processing.
I suppose you could probably say that of most cameras so it should be no surprise that it is true of the TZ80.
[iA] Issues
I have been using the [iA] setting on the mode Dial over the last few days. This is not my normal practice but I wanted to see the results.
[iA] is certainly very convenient., with auto-almost-everything operation.
Photos made outdoors are generally clear and sharp with pleasing overall rendition of most subjects.
Indoors in low light AF is very fast and accurate and face/eye detect works really well.
The camera will reliably get a decent photo indoors with or without activating the built in flash.
However [iA] pictures characteristically have a very ‘smooth’ quality to them, due to strong noise reduction.
Even at ISO 1600 there is no visible luminance noise (and no chroma noise) at all. However fine textural details are banished in the smoothing process.
P Mode, JPG issues
The next step up from [iA] is to set the camera to P Mode on the Mode Dial and use JPG capture.
You now have some control over the appearance of the JPG files via the Photo Style tab which is first item on the Rec Menu.
This involves balancing noise reduction with sharpness. More of one produces less of the other.
In the Photo Style tab you can create a Custom Photo Style from any of the presets, Standard, Vivid, Natural….etc
This is a work in progress for me but my current settings are
Contrast +2
Sharpness +4
Noise Reduction -5
Saturation +1
These settings work well at low ISO sensitivity levels but can be problematic at high ISO levels with blotchy color distribution evident on Caucasian faces and a noise/sharpness balance which doesn’t quite get either right.
A and S Modes, RAW capture
The next step up in camera control is to use RAW capture and the A and S Modes on the Mode Dial.
Capture Phase
In low light with a fairly still subject you can set S Mode and explore options for slow shutter speeds. With Auto ISO the ISO setting which the camera selects will decrease as shutter speed decreases and lower ISO means better picture quality.
With OIS enabled I have found I can reliably get decently sharp results at 1/15 second at the wide end of the zoom and around 1/40 second in the mid range of the zoom.
Individuals need to make their own experiments with slow shutter speeds. Some have steadier hands then others, some have better holding and shutter release practices than others.
OIS is no help at all for subject movement. Moving subjects require faster shutter speeds.
Fortunately both the monitor and EVF on the TZ80 can be set up in ‘Viewfinder’ style with Aperture, Shutter speed, Exposure Compensation and ISO easily visible against a black background beneath (in landscape orientation) the image preview. This makes it easy for the user to continuously monitor shutter speed.
Unfortunately Panasonic’s implementation of Auto ISO is still quite basic, even on more advanced models across the range. Thus the ISO setting selected by the camera is not responsive to the lens focal length in use. Panasonic would do its customers a power of good by upgrading this.
The user should be able to set a minimum shutter speed to be set by the camera at each focal length.
Ideally there would be three auto ISO program lines, each sensitive to lens focal length. One would allow slow shutter speeds for best quality with still subjects. One would set fast shutter speeds for situations where both the camera and shutter are moving. The third would be an intermediate.
In the meantime, lacking this facility the astute user must keep an eye on both shutter speed and focal length and make sure shutter speed is kept sufficiently fast as focal length increases.
RAW conversion post capture
Here follows a high ISO image management sequence which I have tested and found to give good results using Adobe Camera Raw or Lightroom.
1. In the Basic Tab adjust Exposure, Contrast, Highlights, Clarity… etc to personal preference. I find that the high ISO files from the TZ80 often need a contrast boost.
2. In the Detail Tab go first to Noise Reduction and move the Luminance slider to somewhere in the 30-60 range. The trick is to reduce but not eliminate luminance noise.
After some experiment I leave Luminance Detail at the default level of 50.
(chroma noise has been removed in camera and is not adjusted further)
3. Go to the Sharpening Tab and
Move the Detail slider down to zero.
Move the Radius slider up to 3.0.
Move the Amount slider up until the picture at 100% on screen looks sharp enough. The Amount frequently ends up at 100, but sometimes less is sufficient.
Try moving the Detail slider up slightly, maybe to 5 or 10. If this produces too much grain go back to zero.
I find these strategies usually produce a file which I can easily print up to A2+ size from ISO 1600 with good overall appearance and very low grain levels.
ISO 3200 is more challenging and gets print output into the ‘detail-free’ zone. However decent pictures can still be made as long as one’s expectations are modest and big enlargement is not contemplated.
Conclusion
With thoughtful strategies at capture and RAW processing stages, the TZ80 camera can be used to make good pictures indoors and in low light at high ISO sensitivity settings up to 1600.
Considering that the lens zooms from a wide (focal length equivalent) 24mm to a very long FLE 720mm the TZ80 can be considered a remarkably versatile camera considering its compact dimensions.
The 1/2.3” sensor
The TZ80 uses the so called 1/2.3” sensor the actual dimensions of which are 6.17x4.55mm, with a diagonal of 7.67mm and an area of 28.07 square millimetres. This sensor size is used in gazillions of smart phones and is therefore likely to be the recipient of abundant R&D funds.
So, watch this space. In the few years I have been using cameras with this sensor size their image quality has improved markedly. I expect more to come and I expect to see cameras using this sensor size to become increasingly capable and versatile.
The TZ80 is already better than some reviewers seem to realise.