Panasonic Lumix FZ38

[Neil Hulme]

Hi Nick,
That's what I thought..... only 30! Aki has a lot to learn about obsessive, 'excessive' behaviour .
Neil

[AkiP]

Overall i have taken 110 pic´s but our weather makes butterflies grazy... like now it is +31 celsius at shadow

[NickB]

Indeed Neil; his tutor obviously failed

"our weather makes butterflies grazy... like now it is +31 celsius at shadow"
Ah, Aki, that's why some mad people* get up before dawn and drive miles just to be there before the sun gets up and the butterflies get warm!
* Mentioning no names, and certainly not my self, Neil or Gary for instance.....

[Jack Harrison]

When I first looked at the price for the FZ100 it was £468. Already it can be had for £400. When it’s £250, I will start thinking about it.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Noise with the FZ38 is only a problem with underexposed dark areas. This can happen when photographing very pale subjects such as white butterflies against a dark background.

However, there is a reasonable solution in the form of Noiseware Community Edition (upgradeable for batch processing for a small cost):

http://www.imagenomic.com/nwsa.aspx

Below is an extreme example – cropped and then resized by three simply to show effect (of course, far less noticeable at original size). It is of a badly underexposed background showing before and after using Noiseware.

noise comparison.jpg (7.12 KiB) Viewed 1646 times

Jack

[NickMorgan]

I had to go out with on of our Countryside Rangers yesterday to check out a right of way. I was very excited when I saw that he had a FZ38 and we stopped to take some pictures of a ringlet. Unfortunately he had only just bought it and we couldn't get the macro to work!!!
I am still left pondering my question in an earlier post. How do you guys (and girls) get those great pictures with this camera? Do you approach the butterfly close up using the macro, or can you use the zoom with the macro? The reason I ask is that my work camera used to be a Minolta which looked very similar to the FZ38, but the macro wouldn't auto-focus if I used the zoom.

[Jack Harrison]

I don’t use the official macro mode but simply put a +2 achromatic supplementary lens on the front. There are complications about need for spacers to avoid fouling on retraction, but is not expensive, perhaps £20 in total. Sussex Kipper uses a similar system but his is a Panasonic product and more expensive.

Here’s a - somewhat ridiculous - macro of a Ladybird using that system.

Jack

[NickB]

I believe you need a special adaptor to allow the FZ38 to take the achromatic 2x Panasonic "close-up" lens (which effectively turns the lens system into a short macro) which also fits straight onto the front of the FZ50 - and costs around £60, plus another £20? for the adaptor. Then I believe you will need to tell the camera you are using a close-up lens by setting a menu option. As I recall on the FZ50, with the macro in place, it was not possible to zoom very much before the butterfly became blurred and out-of-focus. Trial and error usually reveals the distances you need to shoot at and the limitations of each particular set-up....flowers are good things for practice shots - they don't fly away! (And of course, checking the manual for minimum shooting distances, etc also helps...)

N
PS - My first digital for butterflies was a Minolta - very good close-macro facility and anti-shake technology - but not great quality optics.....

[Jack Harrison]

I have bodged my own spacer adapator (from old unwanted lenses with glass removed) to avoid that fouling problem when the camera lens retracts- total cost £20.

Jack

[Jack Harrison]

Better examples taken today on my diary:

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=4056&p=36161#p36161

Jack

[celery]

I've had a FZ38 for a few months and just about got the hang of it... then (somewhat to my surprise) I received the close-up lens and adapter tube thingy as a Christmas gift...

...HELP! The manual (only on CD ) provides instructions on how to attach the add-ons and also one menu change to tell the camera that the extra lens is fitted... but nothing else.

I'm not very experienced with photography. I just used to use the AF Macro Flower setting under the 'P' position on the dial - then zoom in on the subject as much as the focus would allow. This always led to a need to crop pictures, but even so I was usually happy with the quality and detail of the cropped image. Which settings should I be using now I have the close-up lens attached?

Anything would be helpful, no matter how basic. Which dial setting should I use? Should I use the AF or focus manually? What about shutter speeds and ISO? Can I still use the zoom function with the extra lens attached?

I've tried a bit of trial and error but not with any improvement to the results than from the original lens... and every day seems to be dark and gloomy with little chance to get outside and experiment in the 'wild'. Any help would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks, celery

[Neil Hulme]

Hi celery,
PM me and I'll arrange a time for you to give me a bell. Rather than write reams it might be easier to go through the (very easy) process with camera in hand. I'm a complete numpty when it comes to the technical aspects of cameras, so if I can do it, I GUARANTEE you can
Neil

[Susie]

Hi Celery,

I am afraid that I can't help you but I am looking to get one of these close up lenses so would you mind my asking what type you have?

Thanks,

Susie.

I'll be very interested in reading the replies to your post too.

[Jack Harrison]

celery:

...I received the close-up lens...

Is it the Panasonic with the "thingy" or just a screw in filter-type supplementary lens? They do basically the same thing, but the Panasonic version is much more expensive and needs setting up. Here is where the Kipper will help as he has the Panasonic lens. But if it's a simple supplementary, then this little note I sent Susie who asked the same question in a PM might help. Whatever the system you are using, it isn't difficult and cannot really see what help the CD will be.

The FZ38 (don’t forget that in the USA, the same camera is called the FZ35) does enable you get close in macro mode but then you lose the telephoto capability. In normal use, full telephoto is available only to as close as 1 metre in Aperture Priority (A on the dial) or Intelligent (Ia). In other modes, the minimum distance using telephoto is even greater at 2 metres (don’t know why). As you have discovered, there are all manner and means of problems because of this. For a start, anything smaller than say a Green-veined White doesn’t fill the frame adequately. Also, there are times when you physically can’t get as far away as 1 metre

I reduce these minimum distances while still retaining the narrow angle of view of the telephoto by adding a close up lens, a totally different thing altogether and very much cheaper. I did in fact get a fancy close-up lens called an achromatic (this minimises any colour fringing). But I couldn’t get the right filter size 46 mms so had to do a bodge with adaptors. The whole thing cost me about £20 but that achromatic lens was very hard to find; I was just lucky to be able to get one. Almost as good is a simple close-up lens. You can get a set for very little cost but only the +1 and especially the +2 are of any practical use. With a +2 you can work at a range from the subject of between 35 and 50 centimetres and still retain zoom-out capability if required. There is no need to get one a Panasonic – any brand will work (yes I do understand this – did optics at A level). Kood and Hoya are the most easily obtainable.

Examples below but doubtless ebay would throw up cheaper options.
http://www.warehouseexpress.com/buy-Hoy ... Up-2_11988

http://www.fotosense.co.uk/hoya-46mm-st ... 7ac073a703

http://uk.shop.com/Hoya+46mm+Close+Up+2 ... 7-p+.xhtml

Do your own experimenting with ISO, modes (I personally prefer A but other modes work well), zoom, distances, etc.

The principle behind the close-up lens is extremely simple. Think of it as giving your camera reading glasses to enable it to focus at a shorter distance. The actual optics are also very simple but I have been unable to find a good website that explains. Maybe I will have to write something myself.

Jack

[celery]

What I received was the 'official' Panasonic stuff. (Insert picture of Jack shaking his fist here )

Two separate items: the DMW-LA3 Lens Adapter and the DMW-LC55 Close-Up Lens.

They're very easy to attach and unattach and there are no problems with fouling. I also managed to find the in-camera menu that allows you to 'tell' the camera that the conversion lens has been added... it's everything else I'm struggling with...

[Jack Harrison]

Forget all that camera recognition stuff – it’s a gimmicky complication.

Attach the lens – and it’s a good one, a colour corrected doublet (achromatic) - and simply use the camera in exactly the way have been doing – same ISO, modes, etc. But now you will find you can operate to a much closer minimum distance.

I have been unable to find a website that explains the physics formula 1/f = 1/u + 1/v. I understand this formula myself (and the way the reciprocals can be avoided by using dioptres). So can anyone point to a simple online tutorial to help others who might not have done O-level (GCSE) physics?

Jack

[EricY]

Jack, please excuse me for breaking into this thread but I need a 58mm close up lens for my new camera & you seem to have the expert knowledge. I tried the link for hoya lens in your post & changed spec to 58mm & Amazon have one for around £18 in +1+2+3+4 sizes. What would be the best one for me to get for insects etc? Camera is I am afraid a Fugi, not too happy with it but lumbered now & have to make the best of it. Bought it for the big zoom & fact it would take my existing 58mm Sony teleconverter for birding, does seem to work ok as long as i do not go beyond 500mm zoom with tc fitted. I have tried to get the Sony m3358 close up but this is discontinued now. The Hoya sounds a good compromise, do you think it will do the job for butterflies? Eric

[Jack Harrison]

Eric asked:

...changed spec to 58mm & Amazon have one for around £18 in +1+2+3+4 sizes....

You can't go wrong at that price. You'll probably find that the +1 and the +2 are the useful ones but it is very difficult to buy them separately and even if you could, probably not that much cheaper.

But none of those would help with a Camberwell Beauty 20 feet up in a tree

Jack

[EricY]

Thanks Jack, I have ordered the Hoya 58mm +2 from Amazon for £17.64 del & supplied by camerakings.

I thought you said you had the +2 diopter on & full zoom for the Camberwell? I missed the one you got as i had not set up the camera. Did get a poorer one than yours & higher up the tree next day with my old H5+tc. Eric

[Jack Harrison]

Eric writing about me:

I thought you said you had the +2 diopter on & full zoom for the Camberwell?

No. A +2 diopter attachment enables you to get closer than without a supplementary lens but restricts the maximum range to 1/2 metres = 0.5 metres = 50 cms. A +1 diopter similarly allows maximum range of 1/1 = 1 metre = 100 cms. And so on.

So at the range from which I had to photograph that Camberwell Beauty (at least 5 metres away), I did NOT use a supplementary. The great distance that I had to photograph from is one reason it's such a poor photo.

Guy. You might be able to help here. There seems to be so much misunderstanding here about the difference between dedicated macro lenses used on SLRs and simple add-on positive lenses which are very different beasts altogether. It is quite straightforward WITH THE AID OF DIAGRAMS to understand how add-on lenses work but sadly I am not an artist so would have trouble drawing ray diagrams. Surely there must be an online resource that explains all this? On maybe you could copy something from school text books from physics teaching colleagues.

Jack