Lumix FZ300 Thoughts on optimising picture quality 8 February 2020

This shot is not as sharp as it could have been. The day was cloudy/bright with a lot of light bouncing around. I had MSHTR set which allows a maximum shutter speed of 1/2000 second. At ISO 100 this gave an aperture of f4.5 which is not as sharp as f3.5-4 would have been. I should have (and now routinely do) set the shutter type to AUTO which allows a faster shutter speed and I should have been paying more attention to my exposure parameter readings. 

The reader might reasonably wonder why I am writing about a camera which was released in 2015.   

I have owned and used several of these but in the past been somewhat disappointed by the lens which has produced inconsistent sharpness across the range of focal lengths.

I always felt however that if I could find one with a consistently good lens it would be a very desirable camera.

Anyway an Australian vendor had the FZ300 on sale at a very good price so I bought one in November last year and lo and behold this one has that previously elusive lens which delivers good sharpness across the frame at f2.8 at all focal lengths. It is also my impression that the stabiliser seems more consistently effective than I recall from previous samples.  

I rate the Panasonic Lumix fZ300 as the best small sensor  superzoom bridge camera on the market today.

I guess the sensor is probably made by Sony although neither Sony nor Panasonic is saying.

I have no idea why camera makers are so coy about the source of their sensors.

Anyway the FZ300 sensor measures 6.17x4.55mm giving a diagonal of 7.67mm and an area of 28 square millimeters. 

This is about one third the size of my little fingernail.

Thirty one of these would fit on a standard 24x36mm “full frame” camera sensor.

Many smartphones use a sensor about the same size.

There are imaging costs and benefits which come from using such a small sensor.

The main benefit is that a compact, low cost bridge model like the FZ300 can be fitted with an (equivalent) 25-600mm f2.8 lens. The FZ300 is still the only camera on the market with this feature.

The main imaging costs arise from the tendency of the small sensor to generate more luminance noise than larger sensors.

There are ways by which the thoughtful user can minimise luminance noise to produce good quality pictures.

The paradox of small sensor cameras is that they are most likely to be used by snapshooters who probably set the Mode Dial to one of the fully automatic modes and forever fail to realise the best image quality which some of these cameras can deliver.

Expert/enthusiast users who understand how to work the controls to get better pictures are more likely to use some other kind of camera altogether.

But not all enthusiast photographers want to use the latest full frame super mega pixel wunderkamera.

I have been using the FZ300 quite a bit lately and am finding that with thoughtful camera work surprisingly good results can be obtained.

The essential feature of that camera work is controlling the firing solution.

By firing solution I mean the combination of aperture (fstop), shutter speed, ISO sensitivity and exposure compensation used for each exposure.

Fortunately the FZ300 has a very good EVF and monitor screen. Both can be configured to have an identical appearance and both can be set to “viewfinder” style with camera data located in bright white text on a black background beneath the preview image.

This is very desirable because the f number, shutter speed, ISO setting and exposure compensation need to be monitored at all times in Capture Phase of operation.

The Mode Dial is best set to P, A, S or occasionally M.

The best f number is 2.8, 3.2, 3.5 or 4. At higher f numbers lens acuity deteriorates due to diffraction at the aperture diaphragm. If great depth of field is needed f4.5 can be used. For close up work f5.6 can be tried for greater depth of field but also experiment with f4.

Bear in mind that at the wide end of the zoom at f2.8, if the lens is focussed at 2 meters, depth of field extends from 0.84 meters to infinity. At f4 depth of field extends from 0.67 meters to infinity. 

The best ISO sensitivity setting is 100. For outdoor general photography I try to keep the ISO setting at 100 if possible. Indoors and in low light a higher setting must be used. I use Auto ISO with a maximum of 800.

The FZ300 has an older style Panasonic menu system without a minimum shutter speed, so shutter speed needs to be monitored for every shot to make sure it is fast enough for a moving  subject if that is the case, fast enough for the focal length in use yet as slow as possible to ensure the lowest possible ISO setting.

This is highly dependent on the subject. Running dogs need bright light and 1/1000 second or faster.

A landscape at the wide end of the zoom might be quite satisfactory at 1/15 second with careful hand holding technique.

Street photography with people walking about needs 1/125 second or faster if lighting conditions permit.

The FZ300 has zebras which are an important aid to deciding whether exposure compensation is required.

I use Zebra 1 at 105% for Raw capture. If highlights show a lot of zebras I dial in negative exposure compensation until just a few remain.

For outdoor, street and general photography P Mode often gives a workable firing solution so I usually try this first.

For sport/action I prefer S (shutter priority). I set up a Custom Mode for this with 1/500 sec as the starting shutter speed, auto ISO, burst mode continuous high, focus mode (on the focus mode lever) AFC.

For landscape work on tripod I use another Custom Mode with ISO 100, Stabiliser off, timer 2 sec, AFS, single shot.

If I also want auto exposure bracketing I set that via the Q Menu and trigger the shutter with my smartphone using the Panasonic Connect App. Unfortunately on this model Timer Delay and AEB cannot be set together.

In very bright light I will often set A (aperture priority) on the Mode Dial at f4 to make sure no larger f number is set.

In low light I generally set S on the mode dial and the slowest shutter speed which I think will work in the conditions and which I can hand hold. If the subject is not moving that could be 1/15 sec at the wide end of the zoom.

Note that aperture affects the character of the image via its effects on depth of field and diffraction and ISO also affects the character of the image by increasing noise as ISO is raised. However changing shutter speed does not directly affect the character of the image. It may have an indirect effect due to camera or subject movement.

Setting up the camera

Rec Menu

I use and recommend RAW capture and Adobe Camera Raw/Photoshop.

Use AFS not AFF, multiple metering, Shutter type auto, Flash adjustment -1 EV, Red eye removal off, ISO limit set 800, ISO increments 1 EV, Color space sRGB.

Custom Menu

AF/AE Lock  AF Lock, AF/AE Lock Hold ON, Shutter AF ON, Half press release OFF,  Quick AF OFF, Eye Sensor AF OFF, AF assist lamp OFF, Direct Focus Area ON, Focus/Release priority Focus, AF+MF ON, Histogram OFF, Zebra 1 105%, Expo Meter OFF, LVF Disp style Viewfinder, Monitor Disp style Viewfinder, Auto review OFF, Zoom lever continuous , Side lever  Step zoom, Zoom resume ON, Video button ON, Eye sensor sensitivity Low, LVF/Mon Auto, Touch settings: Touch screen ON, Touch Tab OFF, Touch AF  AF, Touch pad AF  OFFSET.

Fn Button set (Rec Mode):  Fn1 ISO, Fn2 Drive Mode, Fn3  Q Menu, Fn4 Macro, Fn 5-9 disabled.

Side button setting F/SS

Dial set:  Rotation default, Exposure comp on side dial, Dial operation switch not used.

Q Menu: Custom Q Menu contains Stabiliser, Quality, Post Focus, AF Mode, Motion Pic Set, Self timer, Auto Bracket, 4K Photo mode, Drive Mode.

Setup Menu

Menu resume ON, Exposure comp reset ON,  Self timer auto off  ON.

With the controls set up this way the rear dial always controls the primary variable which is Program shift in P mode, Aperture in A mode and Shutter speed in S Mode.

The side dial controls the secondary variable which is exposure compensation.

In M mode the rear dial controls shutter speed, the side dial controls aperture.  Exposure compensation in M mode is simply achieved by watching the analogue exposure level indicator and setting the desired amount with either the shutter speed or aperture or both.

Hints and tips

Managing camera shake

One is often wanting to use slow shutter speeds to keep ISO down.

The camera is more stable when viewing through the EVF so that is my preference.

Good practice involves breathing technique, holding technique and shutter release technique. These can make or break the result so deserve close attention.

Always activate the stabiliser unless the camera is on a tripod.

Experiment with slow shutter speeds at the short and long ends of the zoom. Discover how low you can go and still get consistently sharp pictures.

Firing solution planning

Check aperture, shutter speed and ISO when entering a new photographic situation. Make mode dial and aperture/shutter speed settings and confirm they are optimal before beginning capture.

Managing RAW files in Photoshop

I will cover this in another post but for now just observe that good file management in Adobe Camera Raw/Photoshop can make or break an image.

Summary

It is possible for the expert/enthusiast user to make very good photos with the Lumix FZ300. But good pictures do not just fall out of the camera. 

It is also possible to make bad pictures if the capture process is not carefully managed.

The small sensor does not leave the user much wiggle room for any errors in the firing solution.

But with thoughtful use those errors can be minimised and good pictures produced.