I call it the FZLC (Fixed Zoom Lens Camera)
The photo above highlights some of the key features of hand
held camera design and technology over the last 60 years. I photographed these
particular cameras because I happen to own them and because together they
illustrate my little story.
On the right is a Baldafix 6x9cm folding rollfilm model
produced in 1950. I first used this camera at age 10. It is still in the
household and still works although it's lens succumbed to the ravages of fungus
many years ago. There is a built in lens of fixed focal length and a dreadfully inadequate viewfinder. It has by far the largest "sensor" of
this little group and even at it's prime made the least sharp pictures which
were really only intended for contact printing.
Due to it's folding bellows design this has the smallest carry mass and
volume of the group, even though it uses the largest film size.
Next comes a Pentax Spotmatic, introduced in 1964. This uses
35mm perforated film to produce an image 24x36mm (43mm diagonal). This imager
size remains in use today for professional and enthusiast DSLRs. This is a Single Lens Reflex camera (SLR), a
type of Interchangeable Lens Camera (ILC). The lens fitted here is a 55mm f1.8.
This type of camera was very popular in
it's day.
Compared to the Baldafix the Spotmatic's imager size has shrunken
dramatically yet picture quality has improved markedly. Versatility and speed
of operation have improved also.
In the middle we have the Canon EOS 300, a consumer film SLR
launched in 1999. Here we see the
arrival of a consumer zoom lens with a decently useful range of focal lengths
from 28-105mm. Electronic controls, a Main Mode Dial and motorised operation
all make an appearance. The transition
from all manual device to hybrid mechanical/electronic machine is well under
way. Another key feature of the consumer
SLR is seen. This particular camera like many others of it's type has never
been used with any lens other than the 28-105mm zoom with which it was
initially purchased. The convenience of
the zoom easily outweighed the slight improvement in picture quality which
might have resulted from using several single focal length lenses.
Further to the left we come to the Panasonic GH4 fitted with
a 14-140mm all purpose zoom lens. While Pentax and Canon have a long history of
making cameras, Panasonic did not begin making cameras until 2001. They jumped
straight into the digital/electronic era. The GH4 shown here is a highly
sophisticated hybrid stills/video model with very advanced specification and
features. The imaging sensor has a
diagonal of 21.5mm giving it only a
quarter the area of the old 35mm film. Despite this the imaging output is of
very high quality. The small sensor also allows the lens to be much smaller. Canon
does or did make a zoom of comparable focal length range for the 43mm sensor.
It is huge, heavy and expensive.
Last is the Panasonic FZ1000. This has a fixed zoom lens with an even
longer zoom range and wider aperture than that fitted to the GH4. The sensor
continues the trend to even smaller size while giving up very little in picture
quality.
This camera has the zoom range, picture quality and
performance to replace many DSLR and MILC multi lens kits on the market today. It
is much smaller than or has a much greater zoom range than any current
interchangeable lens camera (ILC) fitted with a superzoom/travel zoom lens.
I have been making a lot of photos with this camera in recent
weeks and have been very impressed with it's capability both indoors and
outdoors. I have been printing some of
the pictures at 600x400mm size and been very favourably impressed with the
results. People look at these prints and
say, Wow ! that looks good.
The FZ1000 is a nice
camera to use, with good ergonomics and performance. It is very versatile and competent
in many different photographic situations. I will probably use it exclusively
for several months and in due course decide whether or not to keep my ILC and
lenses. (Update- I sold all my ILC gear)
FZ1000, casual hand held snapshot. This picture illustrates the excellent clarity, resolution, highlight and shadow detail which is routinely available from the FZ1000. |
Summary The little group camera photo illustrates some very clear trends in design
and technology over the last 60 years. Each camera is approximately the same size. No
surprise there, each is intended to be used hand held and human hands have not
changed size in the last little while. The use of electronics is one dramatic
change. Imaging sensors have become progressively smaller. This has allowed
designers to fit compact lenses of ever increasing zoom range. The FZ1000 lens would
have been hailed as the ninth wonder of the modern world had it appeared ten
years ago.
Discussion In retrospect it seems to me that the
interchangeable lens camera was a clever answer to a specific question arising
in the first half of the 20th Century, namely "How can a camera system provide for different angles of view when
lenses are of fixed focal length ?"
Now we are in the first part of the 21st Century and zoom
lens technology has improved dramatically. It is no longer necessary to use
different lenses to cover the angles of view required by most photographic
situations.
It seems to me the question now is "Is it possible to
include most of the benefits provided by
an ILC in a very much smaller, more affordable
single module package ?"
And I think the answer to that question is moving closer to
"yes" with each generational improvement in the FZLC.
I totally agree with your suggestions for the firmware upgrade as far as it goes, but would add that there is a very serious deficiency of the FZ1000, shared by nearly all its competitors: the wide f/8 minimum aperture. I recently bought my FZ1000 as a serious contender to replace my excellent Sony A580 DSLR, fed up with carting around 3 lenses, and ongoing dust on sensor problems (very visible at f/22 and smaller), and the wide minimum aperture alone means I have to retain my A580 with at least my Sigma 50mm macro lens, and probably also my KonicaMinolta 18-70 standard zoom. But I no longer need to carry my 70-300 zoom (the Panasonic is clearly going to be excellent for bird photography!)
ReplyDeleteMy macro work is flowers and insects, not coins and stamps, and I often need very small apertures for adequate depth of field, and also for my favourite trick of doing a plant close-up with distant mountains in the background, and getting the whole lot sharp to show the habitat.
I started photography half a century ago, with Olympus OM film cameras, two bodies, and after a few years had settled down with two bodies, with 64ISO and 400ISO slide film in each. With slide film you quickly learned how to get your exposure right! Since then, I eventually moved to a KonicaMinolta then Sony DSLRs because they had IS in the bodywhich thus worked with all lenses. I used to choose my ISO (choice of 2!) and then used aperture priority, or occasionally full manual control, for everything. In the decade since I went digital I STILL choose my ISO then use AP for almost everything – and NEVER use any of the scenic modes (two or three will be useful, when I can bother to look at them). I'm trying to use my FZ1000 in the same way, but there are so, so many options that I still haven't worked out a quick way not to get bogged down in the menu, or to unset a default I've set by mistake.
WHO ON EARTH wants 25 scenic menus, most of which are rubbishy bling? Some of the burst modes, sports action, and hand-held night shots are the sort of invaluable options that the digital revolution has made available, and I will be using them, but not “Cute Dessert” and “Relaxing tone”? That's what Photoshop tweaks are for, if you must!
I use perhaps 20% of the menu options in my A580, and will (eventually) use possibly 10% of the FZ1000 (because they've doubled the menu size).
But whether the FZ1000, or its yet-to-come successors or serious competitors, allows me to ditch my DSLR, depends entirely on one issue: the provision of a minimum aperture of at least as small as f/22. As for the FZ 1000 itself, is the aperture set by a servo motor which could be programmed with additional resting points at f/ll, f/16, f/22, f/32? If so, that must be No. 1 on Panasonic's to-do list – alongside dealing with highlight blow-out in jpegs and the un-asked-for lens retractions!
Hi John, I found on test chart that M43 starts to have visible loss of sharpness at about f10. I would expect to see the first signs of sharpness loss at f8 with the "one inch" (15.9mm) sensor in the FZ1000. Presumably that is the reason for the limitation to f8. Have you tried focus stacking in Photoshop, also available in Lightroom I think. It mostly works well and may be the solution to your problem.
DeleteCheers Andrew
As far as focus stacking software goes, I have used Zerene Stacker for several years and found it to be very effective.
Delete