Panasonic FZ72 or FZ70 Bridge Camera & Zoom

The Panasonic Lumix FZ72 ( Europe) or FZ70 (USA), is a "bridge" camera, with a very wide angle lens and 60X optical zoom   at 16Mpx.... .(20 - 1200 in 35mm terms)... .. as with previous FZ models, it is possible to reduce the Mpx count, which increases the Optical Zoom.... There are 3 "personal" C settings available, so, at present, I have C1 at 16 Mpx, C2 at 10Mpx, and C3 at 7Mpx..... however, there are three more stages... 5 Mpx, 3Mpx and 0.3Mpx ( for email & Web photos)... I have a 8Gb SD card in my camera, so the last setting of 0.3Mpx would enable me to take 40,380 pics !!!!! ... YES ! Over 40 thousand pics on one card ! ! ! ... definitely enough for a days shoot ! ! ! ....

At 10Mpx the Optical Zoom is increased to 72X.... add on the Digital Zoom it goes up to 379X zooOOOM !...

At 7Mpx the  Optical Zoom is increased to 90X .... add on the Digital Zoom it goes up to 450X

Of course, the more digital zoom you use, the noisier the pics will be... but it is a lot of fun seeing just how far things can be photographed...

I have not tried the lower than 7Mpx settings...perhaps I should !...

Here are some pics to show what this camera can do, regarding ZOOOOOM !... They are not intended to be "definitive", not intended to be "quality"... just taken for the fun of using the zoom !..


NOTE..... CLICK once ON the PIC, and YOU will get a LARGER pic on screen !....

Here is a Zoom Movie of a blackbird in a tree, at the bottom of our garden.... about90 feet away..and about 25 feet up. ( the bare tree to the right of the fir tree in the bottom pics (same tree as the bluetit) )... ... considering the distance involved, the sound is remarkable for its clarity......

Click on the square bottom right for a full screen version.... turn your speakers or phones on  !.....

Next we have a "comparison shot"... to show  ( as the first ones on here do )... what this camera can see....
A Magpie was in the tree three neighbours houses away... first the "normal" view... then a 72 X optical view, and a crop of that.... The crop is to show how much detail has been recorded.... Whilst the crop is not good enough for printing, or competition, it does give a clear pic of the bird for identifying purposes....

Another use I have found for the ZOOOOOoom on this camera, is what I call, "Extreme Plane Spotting".... I have a program on my computer, that gives an Air Traffic Controllers radar type view of planes, coming into England, across the channel, and some of them over fly my house, or are within a few miles... so I estimate where the planes are,... get my camera ready and "go for it "... here are a couple of the better ones !.... These pics have been "adjusted" for Gamma and Contrast, and the text inserted by the use of   IRFANVIEW a free pic viewing software, ( see much earlier posts on this blog ).....

With these aircraft pics, it is worth noting, that 13,000 feet is about 2.5 statute ( uk ) miles... and 19,000 ft is about 3.6 statute ( uk  ) miles high...   The TAM flight, would also be about 3 miles distant, whilst the RyanAir flight would be about 5 miles distant.... the ARIK and Virgin flights were directly overhead.  Also remember that it is very difficult to zoom in and focus and track and keep re-focussing a plane doing 300 knots against a blue sky background.... the auto focus does work, but it keeps going into and out of focus at the slightest chance ! ! ...



And now for some "ordinary" bird pics.... the subject birds are all within 25 feet of the camera.... I am sitting down in a comfy chair, with a parosol shading me from the sun, and hand hold the camera to "point and shoot"...

Robin, On a mission to feed the chicks !

Looks as though he has had a busy time,.... and needs some feed himself ! ! ...

Starling, not going hungry today !

Starling, singing for his mates to come to supper !

Finally..... a Bluetit, in a tree at the bottom of our garden..... The captions explain what is going on !