Camera Labs

Cruiseman, were you deliberately shooting in 16:9? Is that a photo taken while filming video, or cpatured from video?

It's like captured from a video, or it's compressed very much!

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Hi Everyone,

Can someone answer these questions about the Lumix TZ10?

1) Does it photograph in 16:9 aspect ratio at full 12megapixel resolution, or does the camera lower the pixel count for that ratio?

2) Will this camera allow certain creative photograhy, like blurring water and the sense of motion, like the tutorials in your DSLR workshops?

3) I've noticed on sample videos that when its quiet the zoom motor can be heard on recordings. Is there anyway to cut that down?

Thanks for your help.
Nick

1. Actually the sensor is 14.5 Mp, but it uses 12 Mp. The extra pxels are used to avoid cropping in different aspect modes. See Gordon's review.
2. The camera has the seme modes as a DSLR so, with some limitations, you can do all those things. You can't blur the background like a DSLR with a fast lens does, because the sensor is so small, the field of view is quite large at the distance and focal lenth you use for a portrait, but you can have decent blur with good light and a relatively distant background. You can surely do the "dreamy water" effect ( I personally don't like it, water loses it's transparency and highlits/sparks that make it to look like water, it looks like wool to me-but this effect is so commonly accepted that I feel like wistling in church when I express my opinion )or the panning thing with the fast mooving subjects.
3. I'm afraid that it's not possible. Although the camera has a slower zoom when in video mode in order to minimize motor sound, in relatively quiet scenes you can still hear it.

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Radu
Canon PowerShot S100
Canon 50D , SIGMA 10-20 f3.5 ,Canon EF 24-105 L IS USM, Canon EF 100/2.8 macro Canon EF 50/1.4 ,Canon EF 85 f1.8,Canon EF-S17-85 4-5.6 Old Tamron 28-300 inherited from my Canon Rebel G film camera
Canon580EXII
http://www.errre.net

thanks for that, I think I might purchase this ahead of "bridge cameras" FZ38 or the new FZ45, simply cause I like the fact its still technically a compact, with some advanced features.

Hi. I like this camera very much. I'm getting one soon. I find Gordon's review here and in youtube very helpful, especially the comparison review! Thanks a lot, Gordon!

Now, I'm just confused with the region version of this model. Can someone clear my mind on these please?

1)What's the difference between NTSC and pal?

2)What region does 'Asian' region fall into?

3)Which region enable me to record unlimited video duration?

@aaffendy, the PAL or NTSC question depends which part of Asia you're in, but the Far East is usual NTSC...

The important thing to avoid the video cut-off is to avoid European models.

For example, my test model came from NZ, so may have been designed for PAL TVs, BUT it didn't have the video restriction in AVCHD mode. SO don't base your decision on whether it's PAL or NTSC, but which region it's designed for.

Thanks Gordon for the info! I've got mine (ZS7 model) yesterday and I'm really happy since then! Great camera it is! I love the super zoom!

After fiddling around and trying to transfer my videos into my laptop, I can't copy the .MTS (AVCHD) files to my laptop using Photofunstudio because the app says my system is running on PAL but the video is on NTSC. However, I can still copy the MTS files using the card reader and they play fine on VLC player.

By the way, I'm wondering if you guys can recommend me a good AVCHD converter? I can see there are a few on the net but is there a good, reliable, high-quality converter around?

Thanks!

Arh, screw my previous question. I used Any Video Converter Professional and converted an MTS file to AVI and MPG successfully. IMO the AVI file looks flawless. I'm very happy (:

I understand that with limitations, the TZ10 can be quite creative.

I'm particularly interested in slower shutter speed photos during the day, like blurring waterfalls but I am concerned that the image may be over exposed due to the fact its daylight.

I therefore looked into ND filters, but I'm struggling to find ones for this model. I reckon because it's still a compact it isn't designed for ND Filters, which probably means long exposures during the day are totally out.

However, I then heard that you can manually hold an ND Filter over the lens to try to create the effect, if that's the case and I can get one then what size do I need, and what "ND rating" would I require for strong sunlight conditions?

You can first try it if you need ND filters. I made shots of waterfalls in daylight too, with the FZ28, and it's quite simple, I didnt need any filter for it. Just f/8 and 100 ISO with 0,5s. 1/10s could make the waterfall shots you mean too.

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Ruben

Panasonic DMC-FZ18, Panasonic DMC-FZ28, Canon G5, Canon 350D, Canon 50D + BG-E2N
Tamron 17-50 2.8, Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM,
Canon 18-55 II plus lots of Minolta MD/M42 lenses and bodies

Nic2k83, one way to avoid ND filters is to simply shoot your moving water under dimmer conditions, say at dawn or dusk.

Just got this camera off of ebay and it's a good little camera. Would recommend it. The pictures are very focused and it has lots of good features.

you can't use the camera for wildlife photos though, bit disappointing.

Gordon, the photo with the streaking was not taken from video, it was shot at 16:9.