Camera Clash: Digital SLR (Canon EOS-20D) vs All-in-One (Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30) October 13, 2005

The Premise

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In this first "camera clash", we are comparing two cameras worthy of FiringSquad's Editor's Choice award, the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 with a wonderful Leica DC 12x zoom lens that extends to 420mm at f/3.7 and the Canon EOS-20D, considered by many to be the pinnacle of the performance/price ratio in a digital SLR. For our test, we'll be pairing the EOS-20D with several thousand dollars worth of accessories.

Regular FiringSquad readers also know that we prefer using real-world tests whenever testing equipment. Digital cameras are no exception. Instead of the boring discussion on camera menus and what comes in the box, we're going to take these cameras on a photo safari to the island of Kauai and then to San Francisco's Fleet Week 2005. Our goal will be to capture the best images possible with the equipment. This will help you see what the equipment is capable of and where the equipment becomes the limiting factor. This approach will help you decide the best camera for you in a fashion better than a traditional review can. Nevertheless, we'll still start this article traditionally with an overview of digital technology and then take a closer look at why we chose these cameras for the competition. Once we get that out of the way, we'll move onto a diary-format to compare the two cameras.

The last bit of detail I want to impart is that all of our camera equipment was purchased at retail. You can rest assured that we have no conflict of interest with Panasonic or Canon – they did not supply us with any review equipment.

[Editor's Note: This is one of our longer articles, but it's definitely worth reading cover to cover. It's not your typical camera review.]



SIDEBAR: Kauai is the oldest of the five main islands of the Hawaii archipelago.

Camera basics

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In the original "A Tale of Two Cameras," I explained that the critical first decision to make when buying a digital camera is not your budget, or the megapixel rating, but deciding whether or not you want a camera with a large imaging sensor (i.e. a digital SLR) or a standard point-and-shoot digital camera with a small imaging sensor. Sensor size plays a big role in the price difference between these two camera types.

Both of the cameras we will be using are 8 megapixel cameras, but the EOS-20D has a sensor that has about 9 times as much surface area. To use the diamond ring analogy, both cameras are like rings with 8 diamond stones. The more expensive EOS-20D, however, has diamonds that are around 9 times as large, and are several grades better in clarity and color. Like diamonds, price does to increase proportionally to size. A 4.5 carat diamond is not 9x as expensive as a half-carat one. For photography, a larger sensor translates into improved dynamic range and tone, and reduction of noise. Often overlooked are the additional consequences on lens design and depth-of-field.

Dynamic Range, Tone, and Noise

Larger sensors sizes have better dynamic range and tone. Digital SLRs will be able to capture more nuanced shadows, texture, and the fine gradations of tone and color better than a regular digital cameras can. In practice, a large sensor digital camera should be able to better capture the soft details hidden in shadows or the texture that makes clouds look fluffy and have mass rather than white blobs.

Noise is the digital equivalent of film grain. For low-light photography, you will need to increase the ISO sensitivity (like using higher speed film) in order to keep your shutter speed fast enough to prevent blurred pictures. As you increase the sensitivity of the sensor, you also increase the amount of grain. This is important for low-light and indoor shots. Small sensors usually only reach ISO 200 before noise becomes a problem. Larger sensors, particularly those in Canon digital SLRs have substantially less noise, allowing you to reach ISO 3200 with sufficient quality for making standard 8x10 prints. The difference between ISO 200 and ISO 3200 is "4 f-stops." This means that an image requiring a shutter speed of 1 second at IS0 200 only needs a shutter speed of 1/32 seconds at ISO 3200.

Sensor Size and Lens Design

The lens of a digital camera is just as important as the sensor when it comes to final image quality. A smaller sensor allows you to use a smaller lens. This affects you in several ways. First of all, it's cheaper to produce a smaller lens. Not only is there less raw material to deal with, it's also technically easier to design the optics. Therefore, digital SLRs are substantially more expensive because not only do you have to pay for a larger sensor, but you need to pay more for a lens with the same level of quality. This also means that lenses for digital SLRs are considerably larger and heavier, which can be problematic when traveling. More importantly, differences in lens design and sensor size have consequences on the type of pictures you can take due to differences in depth of field.

Depth-of-field refers to the difference between the objects that are in focus and those that are out-of-focus. If you'd like the foreground and background to be "perfectly sharp," you are looking to have a very high depth of field. On the other hand, if you'd like the background to blurry for a more artistic look (think about a movie where the focus changes from a character in the foreground to the background), you are looking for a shallow depth field. Larger sensors sizes allow you achieve a more shallow depth of field than small sensor sizes. Therefore, it's often better to have a small-sensor camera when your desire is to have both the foreground and background in focus. The larger sensor lets you be more creative with your photographs, but you'll more frequently have the problem with out of focus images.

The differences in depth of field have to do with the consequences of sensor size and not simply aperture.

That statement can be surprising for amateur photographers, particularly those who have not shot both 35mm and medium/large format film. As a photographer, depth of field is controlled by changing the aperture of the lens. By closing down the iris that allows light into the camera, you increase your depth of field; it's similar to a person squinting. Since photographers only deal with aperture, a common mistake is to assume that you can achieve a shallow depth of field with a small-sensor digital camera as long as you have manual aperture control. This isn't true because depth of field is also affected by focal length and focus distance as well as the "circle of confusion" (the definition of what's blurry and what's sharp). All those variables work out in such a way that smaller sensors have a net increase in depth of field. The easiest way to think about it is that depth-of-field is based upon the true focal length of a lens as opposed to the "effective" 35mm focal length. Don't worry if this doesn't make sense – the real-world examples will clear things up for you.


SIDEBAR: Wikipedia entry on depth of field

The Lumix DMC-FZ30

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The Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 is the fourth generation of the "FZ" line of digital cameras and represents our all-in-one 12x super-zoom point-and-shoot camera of choice. From a usability standpoint, the Lumix is a great camera. In addition to good ergonomics, it has a brisk startup time of just 1 second, burst rates of 2 to 3 frames per second, and a non-extending 12x zoom that covers 35mm to 420mm at f/2.8 to 3.7 with image stabilization. The fit and finish of the camera is also robust with enough heft so that the camera feels like a precision instrument yet still retains its portability. What makes the FZ30 special is that it strikes a superb design balance between the lens, the on-board computer, and the imaging sensor.

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A Real Leica Lens

One of the key selling points for the Lumix DMC-FZ30 is that it has a real Leica DC lens and not simply a "Leica-branded" lens that's a result of collaborative marketing. This statement may cause a lot of consternation among photographers and Leicaphiles. Clearly, anyone who thinks that the Leica DC 7.4-88.8 mm f/2.8-3.7 VARIO-ELMARIT lens on the Lumix DMC-FZ30 comes close to the Leica 400mm f/4.0 APO-TELYT-R lens which goes for $8500 used is deluding themselves. Nevertheless, the Leica lenses in the Lumix line-up are unequivocally using real Leica technology.


35mm lenses from Leica and Carl Zeiss are famed for their superior edge-to-edge resolution, uncanny microcontrast, and legendary build quality. The interesting point is that while both Leica and Carl Zeiss produce lenses with exceptional sharpness and build-quality, each manufacturer still has a distinctive "look." You often hear of the "Leica sparkle" or "Carl Zeiss glow", a certain look to the highlights and bright spots of an image, or Leica hue in which colors seem to have a warm tone to them with deep slightly aqua skies. In the mass market SLR range, you may hear about Sigma lenses having a warmer tone than their equivalent Canon lenses. Most of these fine differences in appearance are due to the "secret sauce" of lens manufacturing: the multi-coating.




SIDEBAR: VARIO-ELMARIT doesn't have any significance. VARIO means that it's a zoom lens and ELMARIT means that it has a non-supertelephoto lens with f/2.8 maximum aperture.

Lens Coatings 101

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Since light has characteristics of a wave, the reflected light can be cancelled out by another wave in opposite phase – just like noise canceling headphones. The idea behind lens coating is to use the reflection from the coating to cancel out the reflection from the glass. So, for any given wavelength you can get perfect cancellation of reflection of glass by applying a wavelength divided by 4 thick layer of material that had a refractive index halfway between air and glass.

The problem is that light is not made up of one wavelength -- it is a continuous range from 400 to 700 nm. Moreover, both film and digital sensors have some sensitivity to infrared and UV light beyond that range. With a single antireflective coating targeting 550 nm, you'd get great anti-reflective properties for that wavelength but lose the effect the further your wavelength deviated from that central point.

This is where multiple anti-reflective coatings, or multi-coating, comes into play. It's the same idea of canceling out the reflection from the glass with the reflection from the coating, but each layer of coating targets a different wavelength. It's substantially more complex to decide which wavelengths to target, what material to use for each layer, and even how many layers to apply. The high-end lens manufacturers all have their own formulas and approaches which ultimately results in the Leica sparkle, Carl Zeiss glow, or Sigma yellow. Going from a simple multi-coating to a higher-end multi-coating can double the cost of each coated element in the lens.

All of the Leica lenses used in the Lumix line-up use identical multi-coating to that found in the M- and R-mount Leica lenses. In comparison, most of the Carl Zeiss lenses used in Sony digital products do not use the famed T* coating. Since the Panasonic Lumix cameras use Leica's multi-coating, it is in fact a real Leica lens.

Skeptics may point out that Leica lenses used in Lumix cameras are manufactured in Japan rather than Germany. The country of manufacture shouldn't affect what is real and what is not. No one reasonable would ever claim that the Carl Zeiss T* lenses from Contax, or the five lenses for the new Zeiss Ikon rangefinder manufactured by Cosina were somehow only a collaboration of marketing. Others will point out that the lenses in Lumix line don't have the same image quality as M- and R-mount Leica lenses. This is true.



SIDEBAR: When it comes to eyeglasses, there's also a wide range of quality between anti-reflective coatings. Most of the differences deal with durability and the ease of cleaning. Crizal D'Alizé is considered to be the best coating on the market, but it's not available in the US. Our best pick would be the standard Crizal Alizé. Among the budget AR coatings Zeiss ET and Pentax SMC are pretty good.

Lens Limitations

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At the end of the day, the lens in the Lumix DMC-FZ30 is still limited by the target price point. So, while the FZ30 still has a well-designed lens with 14 elements in 10 groups with one extra-low-dispersion (ED) element and 3 aspherical elements, it is not up to the apochromatic standards of Leica and it is not going to have the edge-to-edge sharpness of the Leica R-mount zoom lenses with non-linear movement of the internal elements. However, this is where design synergy comes into play. Although the lens still has chromatic aberration and vignetting, Panasonic applies additional digital processing to further correct these flaws via the on-board processor they've marketed as the Venus Engine II. Likewise, the smaller sensor works to mask focus errors that can occur from relying on conventional optical compensation with linear motion of elements.

What about the noise?

Unfortunately, the smaller sensor has its own problems. Having a superb lens and the Venus Engine II means that Panasonic has had to make sacrifices elsewhere. In comparison to other point-and-shoot 8-megapixel digital cameras such as the Sony DSC-F828, Canon PowerShot Pro1, Olympus C8080, and Nikon Coolpix 8800, the Lumix FZ30 has a sensor that's about 30% smaller. This translates into increased noise (film grain).

Using a 7 megapixel sensor from Sony would likely have produced a camera with less noise, however this would be a moot point because it would have cost Panasonic more money to incorporate a third party sensor or required Panasonic to sacrifice lens quality or the performance of the on-board processor. As a comparison, the Nikon Coolpix 8800 is $1000. The Canon PowerShot Pro 1 which is closer in price to the Lumix FZ30 does not have image stabilization.

In practice, the smaller sensor of the FZ30 means that we'll be limited to ISO 80 and 100 for maximum picture quality. This means that the DMC-FZ30 will have a tougher time with low-light photography in comparison to its peers. Image stabilization helps by allowing you to have a slower shutter by preventing camera shake, however it cannot freeze the motion of your subjects.

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EOS-20D

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The Canon EOS-20D is the 4th generation of Canon's CMOS based 1.6x crop digital SLRs and it almost needs no introduction for any photography enthusiast. It is truly an impressive product and if I had to summarize the camera with a one liner, it’d be: “professional-grade engineering priced below its true value.”

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Accessories

One thing to factor into the cost of the digital SLR is the cost of lenses. While there are some people who never use anything other than the bundled “starter” lens, part of the price premium for a digital SLR is the engineering required for interchangeable lenses. With a digital SLR, you can use specialized lenses for specialized purposes. You can purchase a dedicated lens for close-ups, portraiture, architecture, or even wildlife or sports photography. Accessory lenses can cost anywhere from $80 to $8000. The reason we like Canon digital SLRs is that Canon offers better lens selection in comparison to Nikon. There are more budget Canon lenses featuring high-speed autofocus motors (Canon's USM vs. Nikon's AF-S). In addition, while both Nikon and Canon offer a good selection of budget lenses ($100 to $400), and luxury lenses (>$1500), Canon offers more choices in the "semi-luxury" price range giving you greater freedom of choice.


SIDEBAR: The 70-200mm f/4.0 L is one of the best values in Canon's semi-luxury range.

Packing for a Trip

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Batteries

With the 12x zoom covering 35 to 420mm, the Lumix DMC-FZ30 covers virtually all the territory I need. The FZ30 is truly an all-in-one camera. The proprietary Panasonic battery wasn't a problem in itself because proprietary batteries ensure longer battery life in a smaller package, but it became a problem because the FZ30 was so new of a camera at the time we obtained it that we had trouble finding a retailer with replacement batteries in stock. In comparison, the BP-511 battery that Canon EOS-20D uses has been around for close to half a decade and is used in Canon camcorders, point-and-shoot digital cameras and digital SLRs. If you can find a Best Buy, Circuit City, or CompUSA, you can find BP-511 replacement. I brought a bunch of Panasonic 1800 mAh NIMH AA batteries for my flash as well as an Energizer 15 minute NIMH charger.

Accessories

While the appeal of the DMC-FZ30 is its all-in-one convenience, the appeal of the digital SLRs is the ability to use specialized lenses. As the saying goes, "horses for courses." We wanted to see how additional equipment would actually help us to take better pictures, so we brought along quite a few Canon accessories.

The standard 18-55mm lens for the Canon EOS-20D is an excellent everyday performer, particularly at the wide angle. We added several lenses to this mix:

1. 50mm f/1.8 II: A low-light specialist that fits in your pocket ($80)
   
2. 24-85 f/3.5-4.5 USM lens: Allows me to share a single polarizer with the 70-200/4 ($310)
   
3. 100mm f/2.8 Macro USM: A dedicated close-up lens ($500)
   
4. 70-200mm f/4.0 L USM: A professional-grade zoom telephoto lens that retains portability ($650)
   
5. 400mm f/5.6L USM: One of Canon's sharpest lenses in its line-up ($1100)
   

Flash memory

You can never have too much film, but in the case of "digital film" there's more to think about. In the past, we have recommended buying the largest memory card that can be filled on a single battery charge. The philosophy behind that was to ensure that the camera could be used for a "day of shooting" at a major event such as a wedding or graduation. We stick to this recommendation for proprietary memory formats such as Sony Memory Stick or xD Picture Cards.

If your camera supports SD Cards or Compact Flash technology, you should consider getting an even larger capacity card for the benefit of convenience. Both SD and CompactFlash cards are becoming increasingly affordable and the stability of the technology ensures that your flash memory will very likely be usable when you decide to upgrade your camera. There are several arguments for a larger capacity flash card.

First of all, although "a memory card big enough for one battery charge" makes sense on a day to day basis, it becomes a limitation when you go on vacation. Since this trip was intended as a Photo Safari, our goal was to shoot as often as the scenario allowed. Because we would also need to take duplicate shots between several cameras, we brought an ultraportable laptop, a Dell Inspiron 700m and a Lacie external HDD. Each evening, we transferred our images to the external HDD and burnt a backup copy to DVD-R.

Digital SLRs benefit from high-speed flash memory to a greater extent than lower-end cameras. Nevertheless, buying a high-speed flash card often involves only a minimal price premium. The faster flash RAM will reduce the time it takes to transfer images to your computer. We prefer Corsair branded flash memory as it offers a lifetime warranty from a reputable tier-1 company, yet has aggressively discounted pricing that's on par with the generic manufacturers. Our guess is that Corsair is able to negotiate better prices with their component suppliers thanks to their high-volume business with desktop PC and enterprise-grade server memory. The Sandisk Extreme III line-up is faster, but we think Corsair offers better value.

Canon EOS-20D:
4GB Corsair 40X CompactFlash Card
512MB Corsair 80X CompactFlash Card as backup
Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30:
2GB Corsair 133x High-Speed Secure Digital Card
1GB Corsair 40x Standard Secure Digital Card as backup

Other accessories

A tripod should be an essential part of every traveling photographer. For the lightweight Lumix DMC-FZ30 with its image stabilized lens, we would have been very comfortable bringing a basic $50 tripod. Unfortunately, the EOS-20D and our large 400 mm lens would not have been stable on a $50 tripod. This meant that we needed to bring a higher-quality tripod, which unfortunately meant added weight. We opted to bring along our Manfrotto 3001 Pro aluminum tripod legs with a Gitzo G1337M magnesium ball-head with the Gitzo G1387B Arca-Swiss-type quick release. To compensate for the lack of image stabilization on our 400mm lens, we also brought a Gitzo G1564 Mk2 monopod. The cost of tripod and monopod essentially matches that street price of the DMC-FZ30…

Big sensors need bigger lenses for maximum quality, and the added weight requires a better tripod. That is to say that the real cost of the digital SLR comes in the form of accessories. On the plus side, most high-end lenses and tripods have a higher resale value than any other technology product I can think of because they rarely go obsolete. In some cases, discontinued lenses actually appreciate in value! When dealing with lenses or tripods in this caliber, it is often cheaper to buy and then resell used rather than rent.

This is the last page that was written before our trip. Tomorrow, we fly out to Kauai and switch to a diary-like format. It'll chronicle our trip while also evaluating the cameras from a photographer's perspective. We won't be trying to take identical pictures with the two cameras – we'll both be trying to take the best shots possible with whatever camera we happen to be using at the time.

The Fine Print

In order to keep bandwidth costs reasonable, we will only be offering full-resolution samples for a limited selection of our images. These are typical examples of the image quality from each camera. The resized images were saved at JPEG Level 7 and full-sized images were saved at JPEG Level 8 using Photoshop.

From this point on, we will also refer to approximate "35mm equivalent focal lengths" for both cameras. This means we're multiplying the FZ30 data by a factor of 5 and the EOS-20D data by 1.6 and then rounding up or down to a pleasant number. The original EXIF data is preserved for your convenience. The EOS-20D images are processed with the Landscape picture style, sharpening 0, saturation -1 unless otherwise noted. The FZ30 settings were standard for all options except for noise reduction which was set to low in order to preserve maximum detail. The FZ30 was set for a 3:2 crop. No post-processing or additional sharpening of the images was performed.



SIDEBAR: The most expensive tripod ball head is the Markins Q-Ball M20-Ti. It's $950.

Sunday

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We landed in Lihue, Kauai shortly after noon and immediately headed out to the east side of the island to check out Wailua Falls. The most important lesson to be learned was that it wasn't the camera or the photographer that would ultimately be responsible for good vacation pictures -- it was whether or not nature would cooperate and if we could actually get to the optimal point-of-view. Wailua Falls unfortunately happens to be one of the cases where we were unable to position ourselves to get the best shot possible.

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Opaekaa Falls

By the time I reached Opaekaa Falls, the clouds had already started to roll in. If I wanted overcast days, I could have stayed in San Francisco! The view of Wailua River, Kauai's only navigable river, across the street from Opaekaa Falls ended up being a nicer photo-op.

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Monday

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With the relative disaster that was yesterday in terms of the weather, I started the day early, hoping to get some photos of the sunrise shortly after 6 AM. Yep, that's right, I'll wake up early even on my vacation when I'm also on assignment. I drove to Lydgate Park on the east side of the island and reached there shortly before sunrise.

Things weren't looking so good initially, with the coast looking no better than what we see in San Francisco

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Monday continued

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Opaekaa Revisited

With the weather cooperating today, I returned to the Opaekaa Falls. Here, the difference in dynamic range is prominent. Although the forest and river are similar in brightness/exposure, the skies look very different between the two cameras. This is because the "lack of dynamic range" from the smaller sensor means that the camera was not able to capture any of the detail in the very bright parts of the scene.

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The Grand Canyon of the Pacific

Waimea Canyon is 10 miles long, 1 mile wide, and more than 3,500-feet deep. Although it's smaller than the Grand Canyon of Arizona, the climate of Kauai results in pleasant green foliage among the deep rouge colored dirt. Thanks to Kauai's microclimates, the west side of the island is much drier which made for good photographic light. Unfortunately, I happened to show up on a day that was fairly cloudy and fairly hazy.

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Wrapping up Monday

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Next Stop - Poipu

I spent Monday afternoon in Poipu, where I had a chance to check out the Spouting Horn. This is a lava tube that was formed when the top layer a stream of lava was cooled and hardened by the cold atmosphere producing an insulating roof that allowed the lava underneath to continue to flow. Now, when waves force water into the cavity, the air that is already in the space is compressed resulting in a pressurized air/water jet. The jet is accompanied by a moaning-sound because the pressurized air/water jet also drives air through small fractures in the lava.

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Monday's Closing Thoughts

Yesterday, I had almost no luck with the photography, but today was a completely different story. Between the two cameras, I shot over 8 GB of data. What has been most impressive is how good the Lumix FZ30 is in practice. Although the EOS-20D images offers more nuanced colors with a more three-dimensional look thanks to a wider dynamic range, the greater depth of field offered by the Lumix FZ30 has come in very handy. It's true that the Panasonic also has more noise than the Canon EOS-20D, but it shouldn't be a problem in prints up to 8x12." Moreover, forcing myself to ISO 80 with the FZ30 has not been much of a hindrance – the only missed shot was the Red-crested Cardinal. The EOS-20D did well today, but the FZ30 gave up almost nothing against the 20D even outperforming it at times. The fact that the DMC-FZ30 was a fraction of the cost is of course a nice benefit.



SIDEBAR: You should try printing out some of our full sized shots to see how well the camera does in print

Tuesday

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I got up bright and early again today looking for another sunrise photo opportunity. The skies were overcast, so I decided to head north to the Kilauea Lighthouse. It's the northernmost point of the main Hawaiian islands and is home to the world's largest second-order, bivalve Fresnel lens ($12,000 in 1912 dollars, so about $230,000 today). Lighthouses always make for a picturesque scene and should always be on any vacation stop wherever you may be.

Things were still cloudy when I got there, so I took a few shots and made plans to return later in the day. Both cameras had very similar appearances.

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Tuesday (cont’d)

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Tuesday (cont’d)

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The next leg of my trip took me further north as I entered the city of Hanalei. I stopped to appreciate the six-mile long and one-mile wide, Hanalei Valley. Most of Hawaii's taro is grown here.

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Kee Beach

The Kalalau Trail is an unmaintained 2 mile (one-way) hike with a 600 ft ascent in the first mile and 600 ft descent in the second. What made the hike more difficult is that the area had recently been rained-in which resulted in slippery and muddy slopes. Since I had run out of batteries on the FZ30, I only had the EOS-20D to bring along with the hike.

The question of course was what lenses did I need to bring? There is no worse feeling than spending thousands of dollars on lenses and leaving the one "perfect" lens behind. So I brought everything. I used nothing other than the 18-55mm lens. It's no fun carrying an additional 15-20 lbs of equipment up a mountain for no reason, especially on a slippery trail. The cost of the digital SLR is not simply the financial cost, but the loss of convenience

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Low-light photography

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The challenge of low-light photography is that eventually the shutter speeds required exceed your ability to handhold your camera. So, if you don't want to use a tripod, there are only three options 1) artificial lighting 2) image stabilization or 3) increasing ISO sensitivity

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Wednesday

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I started Wednesday morning by going to Wal-Mart. I seemed to have run into a bad-batch of DVD-Rs and coastered 6 in a row trying to backup the previous day's shots. After picking up a spindle of DVD-Rs from Wal-mart, I was back in business.

I started by heading out to the Menehune Fishpond. Legend has it that the large pond was built 1600 years ago by hundreds of Menehunes or tiny people. These tiny people supposedly built the 900 feet long pond in one night by lining up an entire village and handing each stone from villager to villager over a 25 mile supply chain.

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Thursday

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My last day in Kauai was a rainy one. With Kauai being a small island, I tried driving out to random locations I had previously visited. I checked out the Kilauea Lighthouse in the north, Wailua Falls in the east; both were cloudy. I did get a nice shot of the "Nene", Hawaii's state bird though.

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Observations

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Summary of Kauai

The 35-420mm zoom of the DMC-FZ30 covers an extensive range and the "functional" limitation of ISO 80 was not as significant of a problem as one might think. With the EOS-20D, I had the full freedom to select a lens from 24 to 640mm and an ISO range of 100 to 3200. In that week, approximately 2200 exposures were taken with the EOS-20D.

20% of those images were taken at a focal length wider than 35mm. 10% were taken at 640mm. So, 70% of the images I took would have been perfectly covered by the 12x zoom lens of Lumix FZ30. Another 10% of the images taken with the EOS-20D had an intentionally shallow depth of field that would be impossible with the Lumix FZ30.

In terms of ISO sensitivity, 50% of the images taken with the EOS-20D were ISO 100, 17% were at ISO 200, 25% were taken at ISO 400 (most with the 400mm f/5.6L lens mounted), 3% at ISO 800, and 2.5% at ISO 1600, and only 1% at ISO 3200. On the EOS-20D, the increase in ISO was usually done to keep shutter speeds high enough to prevent camera shake from a) poor light or b) the need to stop down for additional depth-of-field. Since the Lumix FZ30 has a lens that's about 1-stop brighter (f/2.8 to f/3.7) than the ones I used with the EOS-20D, has image stabilization, and has a larger inherent depth-of-field, a reasonable estimate is that the Lumix FZ30's ISO 80 would have been sufficient for 80% of those images.

My estimate is that the Lumix FZ30 was capable of taking about 70% of the shots that were possible with the EOS-20D. Of those 70%, the EOS-20D had consistently better color rendition and superior dynamic range, however the Lumix FZ30 had superior sharpness particularly at the wide angle about 10% of the time.

All in all, it has been a strong showing from the $600 Lumix FZ30. It has held its own against the $5400 digital SLR package.

That said, there's one more weekend of testing.



SIDEBAR: I don't think I used the 50mm f/1.8 II once on my trip.

Fleet week

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When it comes to vacation photos, the Lumix FZ30 has been able to keep up with the EOS-20D "most of the time." The thing about vacation photos is that they're often posed shots where the photographer has time to say "1,2,3…" What about action photography?

San Francisco's Fleet Week 2005 provided a perfect opportunity to challenge the two cameras. Fleet Week is an annual show put on by the US Navy in which the main attraction is an air show over the San Francisco Bay performed by the Blue Angels. It's free and is a blast for everyone, young and old.

For Fleet Week, the Lumix FZ30 cried uncle. The Canon EOS-20D with the 400mm f/5.6L completely outclassed the Lumix FZ30 in every which way or form. In Hawaii, the FZ30 kept pace with the EOS-20D. In San Francisco, the EOS-20D completely eclipsed the FZ30. There was simply no comparison, no contest. Over the entire weekend, I took about 700 shots of the Blue Angels with the Lumix FZ30. None were any good. I took about 2000 shots with the EOS-20D. About 90% were good.

Of those 700 shots from the Lumix FZ30, here were the two best shots:

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Why the big discrepancy?

As I mentioned earlier, the EOS-20D has an exceptional 5 frames per second shot buffer along with an impressive 9-point predictive autofocus system. The Lumix FZ30 had none of these. I tried using both high-speed and standard single-point auto-focus modes on the FZ30 with little luck. In high-speed auto-focus, the electronic viewfinder pauses for a moment as it locks on. During this split second, you'll lose sight of the Blue Angels. I tried continuous AF, non-continous AF, manual focus, without any success. I tried Mode 1 IS, and disabling imagine image stabilization without any success.


Another problem with the Lumix FZ30 is the shutter speed limitation. For fast moving action such as Boeing F/A-18 fighter jets doing aggressive maneuvers, a high shutter speed is needed to freeze motion and prevent blur. Panning isn't easily achieved because 1) the Blue Angels fly so fast and 2) the high-speed auto-focus freezes the screen (and the standard auto-focus is often too slow). To increase your shutter speed, you need to either keep your aperture as wide open as possible or increase your ISO sensitivity.

The problem is that the FZ30's fastest shutter is tied to the aperture. At f/3.7, the FZ30 can only achieve a 1/1000 shutter. This is because the shutter and aperture are an integrated unit. To reach 1/2000 shutter, you would need to go f/8.0. This works against you because you now have two factors that reduce the amount of light available to the sensor: not only is the shutter exposing the sensor for a shorter time but the iris is closed tighter allowing less light to enter. With the FZ30, you can't increase the ISO high enough. It didn't matter whether I was in P, A, S, M, or sports mode. I couldn't get the FZ30 to match the EOS-20D.



SIDEBAR: Creating the plane-sized cone of condensation requires having just the right conditions

Canon EOS-20D autofocus tracking

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How good is the EOS-20D's autofocus tracking? Here's an F/A-18 flying near the speed sound to produce Prandtl-Glauert clouds.

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Conclusion

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The Lumix FZ30 is a remarkable camera, and at $600 it's the best camera on the market if you want a full 12x zoom. On a typical summer vacation, the FZ30 handles most of the shots with aplomb. The Leica DC lens on the Lumix FZ30 is superb with good sharpness, even at the corners. At 420mm, the FZ30 is better than third party 300mm f/4.0 prime lenses (resulting in 480mm on the EOS-20D) and is almost as good as a 320mm shot taken with a EOS-20D and a 70-200 f/4 L at f/5.6. Still, the camera is limited by the realities of the budget and the mediocre imaging sensor. Although noise is easy to identify in the Lumix FZ30, it's not a problem in prints 12x18" in size. The presence of noise in images from the Lumix FZ30 should not be a deterrent at all.

The question is about the color rendition, the dynamic range, and the functionality of the camera. The standard color rendition of the Lumix FZ30 tends to lean toward warm hues and aqua skies, perhaps in an attempt to mimic "Leica hues." Unfortunately, due to the poor dynamic range, the skies often go too far cyan resulting in disappointing pictures. Shooting RAW and processing it with software such as Adobe Camera Raw is able to correct some of the white balance and color cast issues. Unfortunately, the RAW mode appears much like an afterthought. It only takes about three and half seconds to write a RAW image file. The problem is that the Lumix write a huge 14MB RAW file when it really only needs to be writing something around 8MB. That's what so frustrating about the FZ30 from a reviewer's perspective – just one more refinement, and the camera would have been substantially better. In addition, unlike Canon which offers Digital Pro Professional for processing RAWs, Panasonic offers no alternative at this time. This is something Panasonic will need to re-evaluate in their next-generation product.

The colors from the FZ30 aren't perfect but they're still pleasant. It's only when you compare them to the EOS-20D that you notice the difference. The limited dynamic range means that skies become unnatural, but how often are the skies the focus of your attention? The responsiveness isn't up to the level of being able to capture a F/A-18 screaming by at close to supersonic speeds, but any time you can be the photographer who says "Say cheese" or "1...2...3..." the Lumix FZ30 will be able to handle the situation. What about the ability to provide a shallow depth of field for portrait or macro photography? Are these improvements worth paying an extra $600 entry-fee for the EOS-20D and the extra hundreds to thousands when you factor in specialized lenses? For many passionate photographers, the answer is resounding yes. But the question is if it's worth it to you.

I'd compare the digital SLR to gourmet cuisine, fine wines, or exotic espresso machines. On the island of Kauai, I can get a rice plate with fresh grilled Ahi tuna and some potato-mac salad on the side for about $4.50 from a hole-in-the-wall snack shop in the town of Koloa. I can also spend $34 on seared lemongrass crusted Ahi with shrimp dumplings and a miso sesame vinaigrette. The second definitely tastes better, but is it 7.5 times better? You can't quantify that in terms like that. Or consider the choice between a Toastmaster drip coffee maker you can find for $10 at Sears versus the $3200 Jura-Capresso Impressa Z5 super-automatic espresso machine you can get from Williams-Sonoma. Any objective analysis will tell you that the Jura-Capresso Impressa Z5 is better, but that doesn't mean it's worth the extra $3190.

The decision between a digital SLR such as the EOS-20D and a superzoom point-and-shoot such as the DMC-FZ30 is not that simple. Although the more expensive digital SLR is better in many ways, the extended depth-of-field is a unique feature inherent to the lower-priced cameras with smaller sensors. It is both an advantage and a weakness. There is even a Magnum photographer (Magnum being for photojournalists what Elite is for models) who chooses to shoot with an Olympus point-and-shoot digital camera for that very effect.

The difference isn't like a fine gourmet meal versus a good home cooked meal either. At the end of the night, you only have memories of that meal. A digital camera is something tangible that should give you satisfaction for a long time. The difference isn't anywhere near the difference between the $10 drip coffee maker and $3200 super automatic. Those two products are in completely different price ranges. On the other hand, if you can afford a $600 digital camera then you can also, in strict economic terms, afford a $1400 digital SLR. That is, if you're ready to spend $600 on a camera as opposed to say $200 or $300, you can also spend $1400 with a little bit of extra saving without adversely affecting your ability to provide food, clothing, and shelter for yourself and those in your care. Rather, is that you may not find any value from spending the extra $800. Complicating the decision are cameras like the $900 Canon EOS Rebel XT or used digital SLRs which can be found for less than $600. The Rebel XT offers all of the image quality of the EOS-20D. The ability to capture fine differences in tone and extended dynamic range are all abilities that the Rebel XT shares with the EOS-20D. The difference is in the shot-to-shot speed and slower auto-focus. The Rebel XT won't be able to deal with those F/A-18 as well but is losing the ability to shoot high-speed action worth the $500 in savings? Again, only you can decide. It's an important decision because if it turns out that a digital SLR is the right camera for you and you've convinced yourself that you only want to spend $600 on a digital camera, you'll find yourself needing to spend $1400 later on a EOS-20D to be satisfied, and you've basically wasted $600. Equally true, if listening to me talk about dynamic range and tone bores you in the same way as listening to an espresso aficionado talk about crema, buying a digital SLR is a waste of money and will even make your photography a chore.

Digital camera reviews can't end with a simple list of pros and cons and score from 0-100. They're not commodity items and I won't give you a label to say whether I "recommend" or "highly recommend" something or if a camera is on my one of 40+ "picks". You have to choose the right technology for your needs. Both the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ30 and Canon EOS-20D represent the best in their class. If I were in the market for a $1400 digital SLR, I wouldn't turn anywhere else and likewise, if I were in the market for a $600 point-and-shoot with a 12x zoom, the Lumix DMC-FZ30 would be my first choice.

The point of this article was to show you the difference between two classes of cameras and show you where the limiting factor in technology lies. "The photographer is responsible for the picture, not the equipment" is a false statement. At the end of the day, it requires both the photographer and his or her equipment working together. They are partners in this artistic endeavor. Expensive equipment won't make you a better photographer, but a photographer, like a surgeon, is only as good as his or her tools.

I'll leave you with some photos of Hawaii from a $300 Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX8.

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