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Maui Style: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 real-world samples posted

Published Sep 22, 2015 | Jeff Keller

Fall weather has arrived here in Seattle, so what better time to head for the Valley Isle of Maui? The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 superzoom, which features an 25-600mm equivalent F2.8 lens and weather-sealed body, somehow found itself in a suitcase. You can see how it handled the tropical weather in our real-world sample gallery.

View Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ300 real-world samples

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Comments

Total comments: 57

Unfortunately I still can't find a professional review of the FZ-300 but need to make a move for an upcoming trip.

I am trying to decide between the FZ-300 and the Stylus 1. I know the high level differences, like larger zoom and weather proof of the 300, larger sensor and compactness of the Stylus - but I'm not in a position to compare hands-on. A compact size is very important, otherwise I'd go for the FZ-1000 or RX10.

The camera will be used a lot in not optimal conditions (not full day light), like dense forest, morning or evening to capture flora and fauna. Yes, I know it would be much better to get a larger sensor but let's assume that's not an option.

Does anyone have clear advice/experience which one would produce better image quality? I guess the question is similar to comaring the FZ-200 and Stylus 1 regarding image quality and light tolerance.

Thanks a lot.

0 upvotes

I'm looking forward to a full DP review on this camera. I own it. Just returned from a tour in Japan with it. Used it all day long for 14 days - roughly 200 shots a day. For the most part, I could not be happier. The weather was mixed and it does better on sunny days. But it produced a lot of very crisp, clear shots from close-up macro mode to full 600mm zoom shots. If it can clearly capture the eyelashes and pin tail feathers on a crane at 600mm, I'm happy.

My only real issue was it had two routine mechanical / electronics glitches: 1) the lens would periodically zoom all the way out on its own and refuse to retreat until shutting the camera off; and 2) the camera would crash - maybe 2-3 times a day - I got a message on the LCD saying, "Please turn the camera off and back on." I sent it in to Panasonic for a warrantey repair yesterday.

0 upvotes

These are pretty uninspiring photos. They look cartoonish rather than realistic.

Why would anyone want to buy the Panasonic if this is the best you can do?

I wouldn't.

0 upvotes

Well, I'm sure that Jeff did his best and you couldn't ask for better subject material. But most of these photos are dull and faded in color and they just don't sparkle. If it was another brand, you'd think this was a pre-production camera, that didn't have its firmware tweaked for best performance.

Panasonic seems to be caught in a dead-end software alley. They get the best sensors from Sony and good glass, then mess up the performance with the firmware.

0 upvotes

It is not the camera, it is the location. I shoot Maui all the time with a multitude of cameras at sunrise and sunset.. this is typical unprocessed tonal range.

2 upvotes

Optical formula deserves some praise, from these samples. The contrast and sharpness look quite good across the frame, and at various lengths and apertures. That's pretty impressive and useful in an outdoor camera.

Also, some nice shots from what's usually a lovely trip. My favorites were of Haleakala, the volcano.

2 upvotes

Yikes! In P1000169 the red umbrellas are pretty bad. Looks like the DR of the sensor/processor can't handle that pretty tame scene.

1 upvote

Yikes! I think these pictures look great, colors, contrast and sharpness are all superb for a small sensor, this will be a brilliant camera for taking macro and birding shots, and with that stunning lens, wow!!!!

2 upvotes

No thanks. I will take the size hit and carry a larger sensor with me.

0 upvotes

Nope... No more 1/2.3, 1/1.7 and 2/3 inch sensors... 1 inch super-zoom and $500 by Christmas. You can do it, corporate kids. Come on.

2 upvotes

this camera is a big bag full of tricks, I have FZ200 and love it.

2 upvotes

The colours this camera produce are nothing short of superb! Plenty of saturation without over doing it. Bue skies have a very realistic hue.

Overall, this seems like a great little camera for most people.

5 upvotes

Some nice images Jeff. One suggestion for shooting flowers. Would one be able to achieve some semblance of bokeh using this kit by backing up a bit and zooming in more? When you were at 7.9mm (P1000173.acr.jpg) and 11.9mm (P1000190.acr.jpg) not too much separation. You started to get a bit more when you backed off to 24.8mm (P1000367.JPG) although the background was further away from the subject. I think you really started to see some potential at 92.7mm (P1000408.JPG) though. I would try around 150-200mm if space permits.

I would frequently use my Canon 70-300mm IS at 200-300mm on a crop sensor Canon to achieve maximum bokeh effect. Of course distance from background plays a role, but you'd be surprised at what nice effect you can achieve by zooming vs. closeup.

1 upvote

The FZ200 was well known for its noisy images and often called a sunny day camera. After these years, we now have the same sensor on the FZ300. Sigh.

8 upvotes

As a proud owner of the old FZ200, I echo your thoughts totally. A sunny day camera. I rarely use it at anything other than ISO100. But, it is a very good sunny day camera and I find myself reaching for it over my Canon 6D just for its compact versatility. As soon as it gets dark though, the 6D wins every time.

2 upvotes

ISO 200, 400, 1600 shots?

1 upvote

ISO 200!

1 upvote

You want the ISO 1600 shots, you can't handle the ISO 1600 shots!

Tiny little dud sensors that are only decent at ISO 100-200 and the sensor should have been pensioned off 5 years ago. 1" is the new entry level sensor folks.

3 upvotes

But they posted ISO 3200...
Not one ISO 200...

0 upvotes

I think a better test is to go to Flickr and look for FZ200 interesting photos using the camera finder. It is sort of disappointing to see the same sensor in the FZ300, but at least we know what to expect.

2 upvotes

Many of the photos on Flickr are cropped and you cannot know by how much. So I would say Flickr is not ideal for judging image quality.

0 upvotes

Isn't the FZ300 essentially a weatherproof FZ200? I bought a used FZ200 from eBay, but I did not keep it for long. For some reason its images were much too blotchy, particularly at the long end. I was very frustrated and disappointed. Could it have been a bad copy?

Let me add that I now have the FZ1000 and I am very happy with it. But I do wish it was weatherproof.

On a side note, I notice DPR is headquartered in one of the first states to legalize marijuana, and that you guys went to Maui, which I think is a place that is pretty famous for that stuff too. Is there like, man, some sort of connection, dudes? LOL

Comment edited 2 times, last edit 6 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

You can color me impressed. Most of these small sensor cams have smeary details even at base ISO, yet this one looks so good. The lens is wonderful. It remains very good even to the edges and without fringing. Full zoom is not bad either.

5 upvotes

For the second time I just love Panny colors, especially the greens this time.
Nice job, worth considering.

2 upvotes

You really can't take bad pictures in Maui.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

2 upvotes

Well, having lived on the island for 32+ years, I can assure you CAN take bad pictures here, just not as easily . . . (o',

Comment edited 21 seconds after posting

1 upvote

These samples show better image quality than expected. I shouldn't have been surprised, as this sensor family punches well above its weight on other cameras too. The lens handles the range well.

4 upvotes

Samples look great - similar to fz200. Hopefully some images at the long end (600mm efl) will be presented next. F/4 must be the sweet spot for IQ, as that's what most of the samples indicate. The weather looked nice, was the camera ever subjected to any water, dust or sand, and if so, did the sealing work?

1 upvote

Many of the photos designated as having RAW files attached only have XMP files, not RW2. Of those with RW2 are very clean, notably lacking the atmospheric haze I have come to expect from samples shot of landscapes in areas like Seattle. I noticed the WB on the RAW of the wave crashing over rocks showed 4800K - did that reflect an auto WB setting? With care one could coax quite acceptable shadow detail out of the rocks without destroying midrange detail. Based on these photos, one might find this camera to be a capable and genial travel companion to have along on trips.

Comment edited 9 minutes after posting

4 upvotes

Great find on the XMP bug. It should be fixed.

2 upvotes

Doesn't look bad for a tiny sensor camera :)

1 upvote

Very nice collection of photos Jeff Keller. Have you used any filter(s) and how was the reliability of battery meter? As this camera is already big, any extra items (like extra batteries and charger) will be painfull. I am looking into having this camera vs. Canon G3X or G1 X (both are guaranteed to offer ultra unreliable battery meters as other P&S Canon's and that's why I want to have this Panasonic).

1 upvote

No filters, though I wish I had a polarizer when I was there. Battery meter was fine, no major battery life issues.

1 upvote

The Valley Isle of Maui makes for "real world" samples? I hope you do add some Seattle fall photos.

1 upvote

The leaves are just starting to change so hopefully soon!

2 upvotes

Nice Cats

2 upvotes

P&S image quality with a really long lens.

4 upvotes

F2.8 throughout the range makes it better then you'd might expect.

Don't expect miracles though it's still a very small sensor.

2 upvotes

So make an excellent 2/3" sensor, reduce the zoom and make a great bridge camera for a change :/

1 upvote

They did with a 1 inch sensor.
Remember that the lens for this camera was already developed. So what you say would cost a significant ammount of R&D while getting really close to their Fz1000 camera.

They probably said nahh that ain't worth the trouble.
But hey that shouldn't stop you for buying the Olympus Stylus 1 or Panasonic Fz1000.

1 upvote

Not expecting a miracle as the IQ is the same with an FZ camera 4-5 years back.

1 upvote

i like this little Camera, i love the FZ1000 this would suit the wife perfectly.

2 upvotes

Not a single photo over F5.6. Finally someone who knows how to shoot properly with a relatively small sensor camera.

16 upvotes

It's not good to shoot over F5.6 with a small sensor camera? I used to have a panasonic FZ28 and I used F8 to shoot landscape all the time.

2 upvotes

google diffraction allen.
Your images will get less detail beyond approx. F3.5-4
By F8 this effect will be very noticeable. Just use a tripod and test on subjects with lot's of fine detail.
here is a calculator and some background info
http://www.cambridgeincolour.com/tutorials/diffraction-photography.htm

Luckily these camera's have huge depth of field even at fast apertures. So stopping down that much just isn;t needed most of the time.

3 upvotes

Even many people that do know about diffraction don't realize it strongly depends on sensor size. Even with MFT i would suggest keeping it at or under F5.6. It's F8 with APSC, and F11 with FF. Especially for cameras above 16MP.

There's a reason camera phones are usually fixed at their widest aperture of F1.8-2.8 and the likes, aside from the cost of implementing an actual aperture. Win-win basically.

Indeed F4 for this one, and also the reason why a constant aperture of F2.8 on cameras like these is so very important. Yet it still only gives you 1-2 stops of play.

Comment edited 2 minutes after posting

3 upvotes

Jesper,

Those are indeed some nice general rule of thumbs.
Even though there are sure some exceptions. Consumer Lenses that ain't that great wide-open. Or the recent fulflrame models with higher MP counts.

And indeed the constant F2.8 lens makes a big difference on a camera like this. In sharpness noise and even autofocus. That said the small sensor is still a limiting factor.

Comment edited 1 minute after posting

1 upvote

BarnET, thank you very much for your reply.
Have a great day!

0 upvotes

People like to quote Cambridge in Colour, but actual tests will show you that maximum detail on a 1/2.3" sensor is up to f/8.

0 upvotes

actual tests show m43 gets lower detail beyond f5.6.

unless the lenses of compacts are terrible they will run into this problem much earlier.

0 upvotes

Hah, good point. If a lens cannot achieve sharpness in the first place then yeah i'm sure you could go up to F8. I don't know what Cambridge in Colour in color is, but using my actual eyes and shooting pictures, the limit for each sensor (using a sharp lens) is pretty obvious, don't even need a tripod or anything.

Also, come to think of it. I'm a Raw user, but if it's a recent camera that uses smart processing, the jpgs shot at smaller apertures will of course get a higher sharpening treatment automatically, so one might not even notice it until you really push it too far.

0 upvotes

"actual tests will show you that maximum detail on a 1/2.3" sensor is up to f/8."

You can't possibly make that statement without knowing the characteristics of the lens.

2 upvotes

I make that statement on the basis of a good quality sharp lens and have already done the test to confirm. Obviously it is easier to make a quality sharp lens for a small sensor than a quality sharp lens for a larger sensor.

0 upvotes

Mario,

Do the laws of physics behave differently on prison island?

Comment edited 9 seconds after posting

1 upvote

Try the tests yourself before making ridiculous comments.

Comment edited 27 seconds after posting

0 upvotes

Becouse your contradicting the forces of nature with your stupid claims without anything to back it up

2 upvotes

I do have images to back it up.. but clearly not worth wasting my time here.

1 upvote

Total comments: 57

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