The PYKtures Guide to FH20(FS30) coolness :: PYKtures Tricks

And so I gave my FH20 to my sister and bought myself an LX3. See my impressions there

It’s been a while I posted anything. On this blog and I have many articles that are in writing at the moment. After listening to all the requests and questions I’ve received about the FH20, I now believe to have gathered enough practical information on how to make the best out of the Lumix FH20 (including how to pull of the 425 pictures trick). I write this article to be a guide and not a manual to your photographic journey with this amazing camera. There are things I might be wrong about and you can add some of your own feedback and experience in the comment section.


Summary
Compared to higher models (like the ZR1), the FH20 lacks some cool features such as
- A settable minimum slow shutter speed value (The FH20 is locked at 1/8…)
- 11-point AF mode (The FH20 can go up to 9-point AF)
- 3 shots burst mode at high fps (frames per second) (The FH20 can only go at a 1.5fps constant fps rate with infinite shots)
- Metering mode to average, center-average or spot (The FH20 is only average)
- the ability to select high-speed autofocus (not like the FH20 doesn’t focus already quickly….)
- Intelligent exposure mode that recovers highlight and shadow details using area specific ISO values (lower isos in highlights and higher isos in shadows)

Aside from video mode, there are 4 main modes that I use on the camera:
- Normal Mode
- Intelligent AUTO Mode (iAUTO)
- Sports Mode
- Film Grain Mode

I also use Lightroom3 Beta 2 to process my pictures where I usually take out the classic Lumix chromatic noise signature that looks like a pack of yellow blotches that pollute my pictures.

Cool ways to use Intelligent AUTO Mode (iAUTO)

lol at the picture... this is how cool selfshooting at 28mm can become XD

Well Intelligent AUTO Mode can be also described as “Panic Mode”, “Savior Mode”, “OMFG I need a picture taken… Mode”. Because the button is so easily reachable, it’s the Mode I always jump back on when I’m shooting in other modes and want to snap something quick and sharp with a slight compromise of image quality.

A pioneer of digital camera technologies, the Lumix Intelligent Mode reacts and adapts to many types of scenes according to the proximity, the movement speed or the lighting of the subject. Yet sometimes, it overcompensates the scene and reaches hi-iso values to capture something that can be humanly possible to get at lower-iso values. The color profiles are also quite limited in this mode: Standard, Black and White, Sepia.

I also use this mode when I have a group shot to take or have to selfshoot myself with my friends.


Cool ways to use Normal Mode


The FH20’s Normal Mode is the equivalent of the Program Mode found on more advanced cameras. As such, you have access to many practical things like color profiles, ISO value, image stabilization and autofocus behavior etc…

First cool way to use Normal Mode
- Stabilizer : Mode 2
- Color Mode : Vivid
- Burst Mode : On
- ISO: Intelligent ISO
- AF-Mode: 9-Point
- LCD Mode: Auto Power LCD
-- Flash: OFF

At all times, I shoot at -1/3 EV to save the highlights for later post-processing and get a faster shutter-speed. Intelligent ISO works in tune with most of the Intelligent AUTO Mode’s means of scene detection, so it might sometime go overboard with the ISO values.

I use Vivid because Panasonic Lumix’s Standard color mode always seems to desaturate the colors to try to match real life. Yet in our gray lives, we tend to seek life in vivid color palettes sooooooo, I choose to shoot in vivid. This way is cool to shoot anything you have your eyes at.

And sometimes, you can make the shutter speed go below 1/8 and reach 1/4 sometimes. This is the only way you can get the camera to go below 1/8 limit that Panasonic has put on this camera.

I use the Mode 2 Stabilizer because it activates only when the camera is taking the picture. Therefore, it is saving battery.

Second cool way to use Normal Mode (and the 475 pictures trick)
- Stabilizer : Mode 2
- Color Mode : Vivid
- Burst Mode : On
- ISO: 80,100,200,400,800
- AF-Mode: Single Point
- LCD Mode: Auto Power LCD
- Flash: OFF

Fooled? I’m just using a specific ISO value to shoot still subjects that don’t require a fast shutter speed to freeze. The Single Point accelerates the camera’s focusing speed to quickly lock on my main subject. This way is the most “manualistic” way to shoot with the FH20. For the ISO performance, I can get some decent sharp results up to 400. At 800, the color balance becomes weird-greeny and you have a huge lost of details. You can overcome this by selecting a proper white-balance. ISO 1600 is a no-man’s land because nothing can be recovered and the camera does a horrible job at shooting at this ISO… unless you are using iAUTO mode.


Sports Mode (found in Scene Mode)


This is THE MODE to shoot anything moving fast or when you are moving fast. It forces the camera to reach a fast shutter speed to freeze anything regardless of ISO. I usually make use of this mode when I’m shooting on a moving vehicle and when I have enough daylight. NEVER USE THIS MODE FOR NIGHT or INDOOR PHOTOGRAPHY, the camera will cram the ISO up to 800 and it will look ugly. Remember to activate burst mode in this mode. If you have a still subject to shoot while you are in Sports Mode, always revert back to iAUTO mode to capture it instead of staying in Sports Mode.


Film Grain (found in Scene Mode) in full 14.1-megapixel glory




This is THE MODE to use when you are shooting… anything black and white. This mode is better than any black and white setting I’ve seen on any camera. The brains over at Panasonic are probably the smartest ones when they thought of creating this mode.

As you might know, noise is one annoying thing that plagues the digital era mainly because it adds some unwanted color blotches to the image instead of something resembling film grain. Over the years, the processing of noise (also called noise reduction) has improved to mimic film grain (like the Nikon dSLR noise signature).

As we can see, Panasonic’s noise reduction on ISO values above 400 removes detail and fails to suppress additional coloration. What if the noise reduction behavior was not to reduce noise at all? The Film Grain Mode is the result of that way of thought!

Every shot I take in Film Grain Mode is taken at ISO 1600 and 14.1-megapixels with no noise reduction. As expected I get a shitload of noise, but because I don’t have noise reduction, I get all the sharp details I would have if I was shooting at ISO 100 and a nice grain-like render to my pictures.

The cool way to use this mode is to cram the exposure compensation to +2 EV to create that cool looking high-contrasty black and white look with little to no mid-tones.

This is also the mode I use for night or lowlight shots without flash.

Using flash for this mode is also very cool.


HD720p Video Mode
It’s functional, it’s sharp, decent colors better than the cellphone… what else? Oh, you cannot zoom when recording… bummer.

And voilà!
My secrets have been unveiled! Please go forth and spread the joy of shooting with such a cheap yet awesome camera! If you have other questions and feedback please comment.


Appendix A: Lightroom
Yes, I do use Lightroom to process my pictures regardless of their source. For the FH20 jpgs, I usually just remove the chromatic (color) noise (slider located in the details tab in Develop mode) and slightly bring some vibrancy (in develop). For the full article about lightroom, please refer to this one.


Appendix B: Lumix FH20 Vs. ZR1
Yes, both cameras have similar feature. Fortunately, I have had a user in my community do some interesting testing and also done some reading for my sake to come up with some interesting results. Replaced by the radically better ZR3, the ZR1 is an older camera than the FH20, I think of it as the testing form of the FH20...
- The ZR1’s lens is Leica-branded: think of a wider (25mm instead of 28mm) non-distorted version of the FH20 lens with a slightly sharper rendering.
- The ZR1’s lens supports Power O.I.S. : This is Lumix’s new optical image stabilization engine. It is advertised to be much better than the old Mega O.I.S. equipped on the FH20 so this mean lower reachable shutter-speeds (so that you can set the minimum shutter speed to go as low as 1/2)
- The ZR1 has almost all the Lumix features you can find in higher models: as mentioned above.
- The ZR1 has an HDR mode.
- The ZR1 has a better screen: better view angle so that you don’t have to activate this crappy high-angle lcd crap mode.
- The ZR1’s lens can ZOOM WHEN RECORDING VIDEO!
- The ZR1 has Venus V engine: faster AF (thus the ability to select the high-speed focusing modes…).
- The ZR1 cannot reach max resolution with film grain mode
- The ZR1’s lens is 25-200mm in 35mm equivalent and the FH20 is 28-224mm

If you are hesitating between FH20 and ZR1, there is around an 80$ difference between both. It really depends if you want a better lens due to the Leica-branded nature of it combined with Power O.I.S. If I had more money, I’d get the ZR1 instead. But so far, the FH20 has served me plenty!


and now the answers...

To the people who can’t reach my results,
you are not me… Having been in photography for a while and being incredibly good at it, I am known to push some photographic hardware above their consumer specs to see how cool they can really be. What can you expect from a cheap high-valued 200$ camera? This is entry-level price for a decent performing camera, not a premium! If you are complaining about performance just go grab a Lumix LX3 or a Canon S90 and be done with your complaints!

To the manual control freaks of photography,
I believe in automatism. Through the advances of technology, AI has evolved to help and render some human practices practical so that the user can think of other things like composition and creativity. To understand how a camera thinks is to be in sync with the creative tool rather than force our beliefs onto it. If you can't evolve, please let me be the first to welcome you to 2010.

While using my dSLR, I mostly take my pictures in some kind of automatic modes either it is with program mode, aperture, or shutter priority or even manual with the auto-iso function activated. Like anybody, I just want a sharp picture when I’m in low light conditions (shutter priority) and I want to control my DOF on a selective focusing situation when I have enough light (aperture priority)...