Why Does My Panasonic Lumix FZ8/82 Take Poor Images

Following many requests for help with image quality issues from this camera I thought that I would put together some of my possible explanations why, under certain conditions, this camera returns less than satisfactory images.
My Photography Blog:
www.grahamhoughton.com/

[@westsenkovec]

Graham you're always a class act. There's a lot of good information without the modern flashy style of KZbin videos with shouting, wide angle lens, annoying music, jump cutting. Keep up the good work!

[@GrahamHoughton12]

I appreciate that! I don't allow the annoying mid video ads to appear either as that is an annoyance as well.

[@WIDGI]

I just wanted to say thankyou! Your videos taught me how to use my first Lumix bridge camera, I now own a Nikon D850 and have ordered a Z9! I have struggled with depression for 40 years and with your help it's a bit more bearable. I'm still subscribed to your channel because I still love your content.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Thank you for taking the time to reply and I'm glad I can help, even in such a small way.

[@DaveAMcLaughlin]

Thanks, Graham for another excellent Photoblog newsletter. Have a great Christmas.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Thanks, you too! Appreciate the feedback on my newsletter.

[@marcuscobley6051]

Thank you so much Graham for your superb FZ80/82 tutorials series. Having just purchased this camera I’m incredibly grateful to you. It’s been an absolute pleasure to watch and endeavour to embrace your fabulous explanations & tips. If I may…it would be great to hear more about Panorama Shot Mode, Scene Guide Mode & Creative Control Mode and your thoughts on these as I don’t recall seeing any content on those. Also, at the end of the video above you stated your intention to create a series of basic photography videos in January 2022 to help beginners such as myself. When might we anticipate seeing these from you? Thank you so much in advance.

[@darleengeorge8551]

Thank you for sharing so much helpful information! I always appreciate your great knowledge, Graham!

[@GrahamHoughton12]

My pleasure!, thank you for taking the time to comment.

[@rolandixor]

Your videos are a lifesaver with this camera. It's still tricky to get consistently good shoots because of the limitations of the camera, but you've definitely helped me to find a way to get better results.

[@joebarry593]

Graham, I have a Lumix fz100, 300, and 1000M2. Your videos are nothing short of awesome. Some I watch over and over. Thank you Joe B. Southampton NJ.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Wow, thanks! many thanks for feedback.

[@BRazquin]

Concise and practical advice. Thank you for helping me enjoy my FZ80!

[@sgit1]

Thank you for all the great information - especially the + exposure adjustment.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Glad it was helpful!

[@glvn]

Thank you - very informative Q&A series. It would be great if you could cover the best settings for bird photography. I am still struggling to figure out metering, AE, AF settings for best results...

[@Ken_H_]

Thanks for all your excellent videos, especially those on Panasonic bridge cameras. Looking forward to the new series 👍📷

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Glad you like them! I'm looking forward to producing a new series.

[@silkysketch6776]

Your voice is like a documentary. It's so sold and relaxing 😁

[@petersmith6508]

I started with an fz 70, moved onto an fz 80 so I could follow your instructional videos and now have an fz300. The fz 300 takes much clearer images and works really well in low light. The weatherproofing is excellent and it is by far the best quality camera of the three.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Yes the lower pixel count on the sensor plus the bright constant aperture F2.8 lens really does help with this camera. Thanks for your comment.

[@hollybrereton3140]

Thank you for the great advise, I shall be giving it all go

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Please do! and let me know if you see marked improvement in your images.

[@andrewcrossley2448]

Highly informative. My friend has lent me his Z82 and I spotted some image degradation compared to my iPhone 13 Pro. I usually use Canon APSC or full frame and they gives me great images as does my Fuji X100VI. However, the attraction of the Panasonic is the zoom range and lightness.

[@CarlosCMPinto]

Thank you, for this new video, on this camera.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

More to come! thanks for your comment

[@quickjavaprep]

Luv your tutorials.

[@iancampbell6389]

Unfortunately I've come to the conclusion that no matter what I do the image quality from my FZ82 remains appalling. Noise is present even at ISO 80 in sunlight, and noise reduction just makes matters worse. I sent it back to Panasonic under warranty but it came back no better. I bought it when it first came out, and thought it would be an improvement on the FZ72 I had previously. It wasn't. Images I'd taken with the FZ72 are far superior. I don't use it anymore as every time I got back home and looked at the images on my PC I was disappointed. I also have the FZ300 with the tele adaptor and the TZ90. Their image quality beats my FZ82 hands down. That's not to detract from your excellent series of tutorials Graham, I have watched them a number of times over the last few years and find them very interesting, entertaining and useful. Thank you.

[@bloffs3352]

Our experience also. Very disappointed with our fz80. Shouldnt have to come to Graham's videos all the time just to try to get a good photo. My Galaxy S8 takes far better photos albeit without the zoom extent.

[@rlgenge]

Graham, I've been a FZ82 user for two years and an advent follower of your videos, learning something new every time. So thank you. I'm now looking to move onto MFT and would like to know if you have any advice on cameras and lenses.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Hello Bob although MFT is a great format and something like the Panasonic GX8 might be a good body featuring Dual IS and say the 12-60mm f2.8-F4 lens for starters however it might also be worth looking at APS-C, a slightly larger sensor, in a camera like the Canon EOS M50 with the 18-55 lens - I can highly recommend it and if budget allows the EOS M6 mk2 is superb.

[@CMdP59]

Hello Graham, Your tutorials clears a lot about copying images but what about video's + 4K? Does it work to with OTG cable? Hope to hear you soon? Kees Axel Holland

[@TheChrist11]

Hello Graham... My FZ80's rotary dial has stopped working when I want to push it in to change the fStop aperture and the directional button is now loose and makes a noise when I press it in to select anything on the menu. Do you think these parts on the camera are really cheap? Thank you for all you do and for your time. Is it worth having them repaired?? God bless

[@albertozorrilla2398]

Thank you for the tutorial. Can i use fz80 for streaming?

[@letni9506]

Got to admit even at 100 iso I've seen strange noise in images. They can appear fuzzy. But also seen great images from them. So maybe you need to shoot raw and use noise reduction software like dxo?

[@MiuraDronesKanagawa]

Thanks... A fantastic guidance video. I will be looking forward to your tutorial in January. I am still a beginner, having owned the FZ80 since July, and just recently the FZ10002... I know very little about photography and find the amount of information overwhelming, but your tutorials help a lot. Please keep them coming. If I can ask a question... Is there a default suggested setting for each mode? ie... initial settings for Aperture Mode, Shutter Speed Priority Mode.... P Mode... If you have suggestions, could you share them? Just looking for a start point and fully understand adjustments have to be made depending on situation, but surely there are "best" start points in each mode.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Thanks for the question and its something that really needs to be addressed in a video. I REALLY believe that photography and cameras have been over commercialised now for ages. Basically ISO should always be set at the native or lowest setting and then the exposure is just dependant upon two controls - Aperture (which will set the amount of front to back focus - depth of field) and shutter speed which will govern the amount of subject motion blur captured. Probably more than 98% of all my images will be in Aperture priority mode with the aperture set to F4 and my ISO set at the lowest setting. The camera now controls the shutter speed. No need for all the other digital trickery. You''ll see this in the new series and how it works to produce images that are the best you can get.

[@MiuraDronesKanagawa]

@@GrahamHoughton12 thanks so much for taking time to respond. Please keep doing what you are doing. Your channel is the only one I watch for advice on cameras. Great guidance always.

[@marcuscobley6051]

@@GrahamHoughton12 Your videos are truly brilliant Graham for a beginner too such as myself. One area I’m puzzled by based on your response above if I may as we beginners need as much clarity as possible. You say to use Aperture mode yet I recall watching in your FZ80/82 tutorials that you primarily encouraged usage of either the Programme mode or Manual mode and said there was less point in using Aperture or Shutter priority modes? Any guidance here would be very much appreciated. Thank you so much.

[@VideoAssociates]

I wish i had this camera...to video the last landing of the qantas Jumbo 747 in my city, i needed something with a decent zoom yeah

[@Sturzi]

I used to have an FZ38 for many years until it broke. I used it for landscape photos, aeroplanes in motion with lots of zoom, museums and all kind of travel photos - no still images and persons. I loved it, the image quality was amazing without processing, even with lots of zoom and in poor light conditions and in automatic mode. It was also compact enough to carry around in most situations and of all the cameras I had, I tended to find the best capture in an artistic way: what and how things were on the image. So I bought the FZ82 as substitute, hoped that it must be a great successor, but this camera produced awful pictures in comparison. Much more noise, blurries and distortions, I tried hard to get it right with tweaking in manual mode including most of your advice, but without success. I lost fun taking pictures and bought an FZ1000 later. The quality of the images is much better, but the camera is much more bulky - so it stays at home most of the time. I still don't understand why the FZ82 does not reach the quality of its pre-pre-predecessor. It's got more zoom but is it really the more complex optics that's messing up the image quality?

[@GrahamHoughton12]

You make a good point here and one of the main differences was the sensor. The FZ38 had a CCD sensor not the CMOS found in all the later Panasonic cameras. Cmos was needed to enable full HD recording as appose to 720p. The resulting image quality is not as good from CMOS sensors - especially those packed with 18MP except in very good light.

[@Sturzi]

@@GrahamHoughton12 Thanks for the response. Since the FZ38 and 82 are years apart I never thought it would be the sensor technique. I naively thought the CMOS would have improved over that time :-)

[@pilsplease7561]

@@Sturzi cmos even today is technically iferior and i have used old cameras even in 2021 and 2022 which have ccd sensors and the images are always better and more natural looking. Cmos has a ton of issues with the technology that have not been solved and make it worse, including rolling shutter when it comes to video. CCD is actually newer tech than CMOS, Cmos was invented first and discontinued because CCD was better then brought back to pad camera companies bank accounts even though its inferior.

[@juddsilver6459]

For me the biggest problem is the bewildering number of settings. Because I don't get out much due to the virus, I have to rewatch his videos to learn how to use the camera. I went to a wedding last month and after a few poor pics with the FZ80, I gave up and took the rest with my Samsung S21 phone and these came out great.

[@rolandixor]

I had exactly the same issue recently and only realized the issues with the photos after getting home (they looked fine on the LCD). I wish I'd watched this video beforehand.

[@kevinacla8291]

I love my fz80, for me, when you understand the fz80 limitation, you can get along, i always use tripod when using this camera to get high quality photos, use only ISO 80 to 400 to get low noise photos.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Thank you, exactly what I was saying in the video.

[@pnotuner1]

My Sony HX400V does some image stacking in the Superior Auto setting.

[@luislanaobellido7905]

Muchas gracias por su video, Mr. Graham Houghton; mi pregunta es directa y es la siguiente: ¿porque el CCD o sensor de imagen se torna de color PURPURA ? Es que acaso se debe de cambiar o se puede arreglar en mi cámara PANASONIC LUMIX DMC - FX 12. Gacias por su gentil respuesta. Exitos.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

El sensor CCD tiende a mostrar rayas violetas hacia arriba de luces brillantes o reflejos debido a la fuga de fotones a través de la columna de píxeles. Normalmente lo ve en la pantalla lcd pero no en la imagen final. Si está en la imagen, entonces el sensor suena como si hubiera fallado.

[@harmandhdhd5552]

thanks helpful vid

[@zappanas]

Thanks from Chile 🇨🇱

[@GrahamHoughton12]

thank you for your response.

[@bloffs3352]

Hi Graham. Cheers for your extensive and informative videos on these cameras. Sadly the reason I am here and that you do so many is that these cameras are far from user friendly IMHO. We bought this camera for my budding photographer son hoping that to start with you could really just put it into full auto and take a great photo. So far even with your help nothing could be farther from this. All photos and videos are grainy and terrible. I think it is an ISO thing but I feel the camera should be intelligent enough to adjust itself and give a good result everytime. My son's galaxy A30 and my old S8 phones are far better at point and shoot. We are so frustrated and disappointed that we will be selling it. Lets hope the new owner is as competent as you or doesn't mind watching a lot of your videos. Cheers.

[@user-iz8cb6pb1l]

Talk about focus problems - failure to focus, focus block jumping around the screen.

[@garystefan3995]

Something to add. I shoot in RAW, if I open the files from the sim card in Windows Photo viewer on my laptop the quality is awful. If I open the same files in Adobe Lightroom on my wife's Ipad or Macbook the image quality is greatly improved. So use a good quality image processing application, it makes a world of difference.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

That's absolutely right, not all RAW processors have good de-mosaicing algorithms. Adobe seem to have a better handle on this.

[@aram5642]

Where does this value 1/2.3" come from? It is so difficult to make sense of. Therefore the denominators are usually expressed in integers, 10/23" would even be simpler to say :)

[@GrahamHoughton12]

It was two thirds of an inch vidicon television tubes where this silly sensor sizing originated and I agree it is totally confusing.

[@Darwenhypnotherapy]

Had this camera for a couple of years,and I find the autofocus appalling,especially on moving subjects - aircraft at airshows,it's the same with both stills and video,feel disappointed by it,and have stuck with lugging my Nikon D700 plus lenses around with me to guarantee image quality.

[@bechguitstudio2622]

Hello Mr Graham I have fz62. I take poor quality videos with please make a tutorial of it. Please Sir. Photos I have no problem they are ok

[@ajamhuha4198]

Would you say the same about the fz300?

[@GrahamHoughton12]

It's not as bad with the FZ300 as the constant f2.8 aperture throughout the zoom range does help

[@rocknationac7332]

Just in time for the holidays LOL

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Thank you, just keep it simple, use additional lights or flash to add that all important light to the scenes.

[@soarpurpose]

I bought this camera because of the zoom at price point to get some pretty good bird & scenery pics. It's not great with low light.

[@tedbrown7908]

Focus Danielson !

[@ok8136]

I understood some stuff and i will try it thanks!

[@GrahamHoughton12]

I'll try to simplify the use of the camera with another series based on taking photos rather than the science.

[@ok8136]

Yea it seems like science 😂 thanks.

[@fransvanderbeek9339]

For me the small sensor was the reason to trade in my FZ82. A shame, because the camera has a lot of options and possibilities. But for 100 euro more I now have a second hand Nikon that makes way better photo's.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Yes the larger sensor does pay dividends in image quality though we loose the convenience of the bridge camera

[@jan-martinulvag1953]

why would the image get better with higher shutterspeed? First time I hear that

[@westsenkovec]

Because if the exposure window is smaller there's less chance of movement. Movement creates blur.

[@AndrewWaltonPhotography]

Great advice Graham. I tend to cap my ISO at 200 preferably shooting at 80/100 and only increase it if necessary. I do shoot in RAW for the majority of the time and that is a game changer with this camera, much less noise in the images.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

It's partly to do with the noise that is created during an exposure. The longer the exposure the more noise is integrated into the image. That's why the longer than 1 second exposures always include a dark noise reference exposure which is then subtracted from the actual exposure.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Yes RAW is the best option however most target customers just want the convenience of out of camera JPEG with any addition processing - just like using a smartphone - Panasonic in camera JPEG's are among the worst of all manufacturers as they tend to overdo it with global settings nor suited to any particular image situation. Thanks for that comment!

[@AndrewWaltonPhotography]

@@GrahamHoughton12 I agree about the jpegs, when I first bought the camera (I had bought it for video rather than stills) I was horrified at the image quality of the still images in the auto modes.

[@abricot68]

So a very disappointing camera. Thanks for the explanation.

[@hcahith]

Why don't your videos have subtitles option? By the way, we are making use of your videos, but it would be better if there was a subtitle option.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

I'll try to add them

[@hcahith]

@@GrahamHoughton12 Thanks

[@derekcoe9633]

Was very disappointed with this camera when I bought it and still am, images are quite soft, build quality is so so etc

[@hungarorail]

Sajnos, az ilyenek megesnek! Az ilyen helyen ahol tényleg takarás van, és tudom, hogy nincs mögöttem sor akkor kiszállnék megnézni s majd csak akkor.

[@Kampf0r]

I have a Panasonic FZ330. What a great disappoint this camera has been. Even in bright conditions with iA or iA+, the pictures are blurry and noisy. I thought I would get an easy to use point and shoot kind of camera, but no. My phone takes far better pictures than my FZ330, which is ridiculous. So my phone, which does many things very well, does better than a camera that is only built to do one thing. I suspect the camera could be faulty though. It isn't right that you have to adjust and tweak every small setting to get a decent picture (if that is the case). Even my old trustworthy Panasonic TZ10 takes better pictures than the FZ330.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

iA and iA+ modes do allow digital zoom after the 600mm (EFL) has been reached. This tempts many people to use this region and the results are not good. at F4 and ISO 100 in Aperture priority mode the camera can produce very good images - there was a change over fron Japan to China manufacturing and some cameras appeared to suffer from quality issues but not sever enough to produce really bad images.

[@Kampf0r]

@@GrahamHoughton12 Thank you for replying, Graham. I have been enjoying your videos for many years now! I bought your guide to FZ300/330 which has taught me so much about photography in general. It is a great guide! I almost never use zoom when I take pictures, and I still get blurry and noisy pictures. I have been experimenting with the FZ330 for quite a while now, but I can't take good pictures with it. It is quite strange. The only thing it does well is recording videos. I can't rule out myself to be the fault, but I am not new to photography, even though I am not even close to your expertise and know-how. I really tried tweaking the settings, but to no avail.

[@megazenn22]

24fps 🤢

[@death2putin718]

I wish you wouldn’t use so many studio photo samples without any sense of depth of field.

[@GrahamHoughton12]

Point noted, weather here hasn't been fit to venture out recently.