ZS-10 - how to turn off Noise Reduction / improve IQ

<p>Hi</p>

<p>I bought my 1st Panasonic last week as a replacement for my Canon G9 and and am generally happy with the camera. It has lots of great features but I'm not very happy with the IQ. Returning it would be a shlep, and I will if needs be, but I want to see if I can still make this baby work for me.</p>

<p>I know it doesn't shoot RAW but with the G9 I never worried about that. Anyone have a method for working with Panasonic jpegs that extracts the most detail from the images?</p>

<p>thanks</p>

<p>Russ</p>

<p>Before you go insane searching for it, make sure it actually exist. This sorta things happens to me more often than I like...</p>

<p>Sigh. So there is no real workaround?</p>

<p>I don't know as I'm not familiar with the ZS series...</p>

<p>OK, perhaps someone else can help with the following:</p>

<ul>

<li>Can I adjust the Quick Menu options (add/remove options) or am I stuck with what panasonic has to offer?</li>

<li>Can I set a custom auto-ISO? (For example: 100-400?)</li>

<li>Can I turn off NR?</li>

<li>Can I enable in-camera sharpening, contrast and colour?</li>

</ul>

<p>I know I can adjust this all in LightRoom to some extent...</p>

<p>Russ, if these things would be possible, they're probably described in the user guide. If they're not there, quite safe to assume these options are not available.<br>

Note: with many cameras, the "full" user guide is as PDF file on a CD with the product.</p>

I think you should return the ZS10, if you still can, or sell it. Image quality is disappointing even at the lowest ISO. Hard to believe you bought it instead of a G12 or S95 on sale. The only travel zoom compact with overzealous zoom and RAW mode is the Fuji F550 (and virtually identical F600). If you get one with a good lens, results can be very good.

<p>Wouter, there wasnt a CD in the box, but I pulled it off the Net. It was almost as lame as the Panny's IQ.</p>

<p>Bill, yeah, I'm going to move on from this. Didnt go for the G12 or S95 because the lenses don't have the reach of the G9. Also, Im not in the US so they are a lot more expensive.</p>

<p>That said, you get what you pay for. I'm considering the S95.</p>

Do you have Lightroom? It supports the F550 and F600 very well. You can dial in the noise reduction you want. Zoom 24-360, lens is faster than the S95 at 105mm (crop equivalent) however the S95 is much sharper in the corners at wide angle.

<p>Bill, I do have lightroom. V4 Beta.</p>

<p>I did look at the 550 and 600 but wasn't impressed by the plastic bodies and the time they took to lock focus. I also checked out the PowerShot SX230HS but got annoyed with the silly flash that popped up every time I turned the camera on.</p>

<p>Online I had checked out the Ricoh CX1 and CX2 and the Sony WX1o and WX1 but when I got to the store that advertised them they said there were none in stock.</p>

<p>When I joined the Panasonic fraternity the consensus was to turn all settings to low and use an editor to bring things back up to what was required. That was the the FZ20 back then. I continue that to today with subsequent cameras from Pany. I'm biased and know nothing about other makes :-)<br>

Judging that dpreview says it is one of the best in its class of travel cameras I would suggest regarding the comments above with caution. Since it has plenty of manual controls I'm sure you will find the appropriate adjustments in the menus to reduce noise reduction, contrast, sharpening. For AF I use the smallest 'spot' area I can get the camera to give me and bear in mind it needs contrasting subject matter within that area to work quickly, this is particularly relevant when working in low light as I found the other night working by street lights outside my home.</p>

JC, you might have the FZ line mixed up with the ZS line. Jeff at DCresource said "I can't help be disappointed by the Lumix DMC-ZS10, a camera that does everything very well, except take good photos." DPreview didn't love it either as I recall, but they are offline at the moment. Whereas the new FZ150 seems to be quite good.

<p>I did some editing in Lightroom today. Thought Id post em here (incl settings) and get your opinion</p>

<p>Detail</p><div></div>

<p>Details</p><div></div>

<p>Not sure if anyone can see the images properly so I am writing down the settings which are based on a suggestion I took from this blog and have used occasionally for photos taken with my G9: <a href="http://mycanong9.blogspot.com/2008/01/reducing-noise-with-acr-and-lightroom.html">http://mycanong9.blogspot.com</a></p>

<p><strong>Sharpening</strong><br /> Amount = 60<br /> Radius = 0.8<br /> Detail = 30</p>

<p><strong>Noise Reduction</strong><br /> Luminance = 10<br /> Detail = 100<br /> Colour = 0</p>

<p><strong>Presence</strong><br /> Clarity = -25</p>

<p>I have since gone on to work on the <strong>White Balance</strong> (custom) as well as selecting the preset <strong>Sharpening, Narrow edges (Scenic)</strong>. I think it gives the image more pop and the colour is closer to where I want it.</p>

<p>Adjustments</p><div></div>

<p>Gee, I thought your camera would be just like my ZS-7 and that I would suggest turning sharpness up and noise reduction down but alas no dice. Here is the advanced manual for your camera and the only adjustment I see is for something Panny called i.resolution. I've never played with this on my camera but with the ZS-7 you can adjust saturation, sharpness, contrast and noise reduction and has as well the i.resolution thingy.<br>

<a href="http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMCZS10_ADV.pdf">http://service.us.panasonic.com/OPERMANPDF/DMCZS10_ADV.pdf</a></p>