Practicing with my lumix fz70. It isn't going well.

First, let me say I am a total camera dummy. Please dumb down any advice to the dumbest level possible. I won't be offended. I recognize my dumbness. Lol. I have been trying out the zoom fully zoomed. A lot of my pictures are blurry. I'm holding it as still as possible and slowly pushing the button. Without blowing my mind, could someone give me some pointers and other advice and tips with it? I'm not heading to Alaska until September. I gave myself plenty of time to improve lol. I also have lots of kids. Improving my all around camera skill would definitely be a plus. Thank you!

From my experience it's very difficult to hand hold the camera and get a sharp image fully zoomed, especially 60x.

Try setting the cam on a tripod or 'cushioned' on a solid surface and set the shutter delay to 2 second. This will prevent any camera shake when pressing the shutter button regardless of how careful we are. Even hand held this 2 second delay will help somewhat.

You'll realize that what I termed 'shutter delay' is actually the self-timer function.

The suggestion of the tripod is a good one. Shooting hand-held with an equivalent focal length of over 400mm is not easy and your camera's full zoom is three times that.

A few things to try.

On top of your camera, try setting the dial to "iA" mode. this Intelligent Auto will attempt to maintain the optimum settings for the type of picture you are taking. It should raise the shutter speed when you zoom out to combat camera (read as user) shake.

If that doesn't work as well as you like, try setting the dial to "S" mode. This allows you to set the shutter speed to a higher setting than the camera normally will. Try 1/500th of a second or if it is a bright day, 1/1000th. This will minimize the effect of camera movement blurring your photos.

Zoom less. Try taking the shot at a lower zoom. Too often, people will use two zoom levels on a camera like yours: wide open or full zoom. The problem with superzooms it that the longest end is almost never necessary and is kind of a marketing gimmick. Professional wildlife photographers almost never use a lens over 600mm and even then, they use very sturdy tripods. Cut back on the zoom and see if it helps.

Hope this helps.

Dave

Zoom less. Don't expect good pictures in bad (i.e. insufficient) light. Find some sort of attachment that gives you a better way to hold/stabilize the camera. Drink less coffee. Lean on something.

Zoom less. Try taking the shot at a lower zoom. Too often, people will use two zoom levels on a camera like yours: wide open or full zoom. The problem with superzooms it that the longest end is almost never necessary and is kind of a marketing gimmick. Professional wildlife photographers almost never use a lens over 600mm and even then, they use very sturdy tripods. Cut back on the zoom and see if it helps.

This is good advice. Don't forget you can always crop the picture before you print it.

What shutter speed are you shooting at?

DON

Thank you! I don't drink coffee so at least I have that down. Lol. And Rowrow, thanks for clarifying cause ummm nope, I didnt. Dumb, I'm telling ya!

Gonna see about a little tripod. I will try not to zoom all the way.

Taking it to the ball park tonight to try some more. Thanks so much!

Using the iA setting is the first thing to try. Shutter speed next. Third thing might be setting the ISO to a higher number value (although the photos might be bleached). That said, try taking the same photo adjusting the settings and see where the sweet spot is. If all that doesn't work, try zooming out little by little until you see the photos get better.

And don't worry, it's not you, extra shaky hands, or coffee. The human body just physically can't hold a camera steady enough to take sharp photos at extreme zoom lengths. That's why photographers use tripods, camera companies have started making image stabilization, etc. Consumers want really big zoom ranges, but it's physically hard to get a sharp image because every tiny shake makes things blurry and it's really magnified when you zoom that much.

There's no magic bullet. You can see if your camera lets you manually set a fast shutter speed (ie 1/1000th of a second), but that will bring up other image quality issues.

I'm not heading to Alaska until September.

The only time you'll want to shoot at full zoom is (possibly) when shooting wildlife. There's really not much point in trying to shoot scenery with that much zoom. Alaskan scenery is rather large, and if you try to shoot scenic features that are more than a several miles away, atmospheric haze will probably ruin the shot anyway.

First, let me say I am a total camera dummy.

I'll assume you're a camera newbie, not a camera dummy. A newbie is someone who hasn't learned the knowledge they need. A dummy is someone who can't learn the knowledge.

Optical vs. Digital Zoom:

Turn off the digital zoom on your camera, and only use optical zoom. Optical zoom magnifies the image (like binoculars or telescopes do). Digital zoom simply crops the photo (which you can do at home after your vacation, rather than trying to do it while in the middle of taking a picture).

Camera modes:

What mode are you shooting in? (The options for your camera are Automatic, Program, Aperture-Priority, Shutter-Priority, and Manual ... according to the specs I found online.)

Shutter-Priority:

You might want to set up your Shutter-Priority as your go-to setting for taking long-range wildlife photos ... especially for the instances when you don't have time to set up a tripod (i.e. you're taking a picture of a flying bird, or an animal that's about to disappear, or you're in a moving vehicle).

That way, you can set the shutter speed to something fast (like 1/500 or 1/1000 as others have suggested). The camera will adjust your other settings (ISO and Aperture) to accommodate the fast shutter speed. There will be trade-offs, but there are other ways around those. You may want to take test photos at full zoom to see whether you're stable enough at 1/500, or whether you need 1/1000.

The ISO trade-off:

In order to increase the shutter-speed, your camera will increase the ISO of the shot. The higher the ISO, the grainier the photo will look. (Photographers refer to this graininess, when it's caused by high ISO, as "noise.") Your camera has ISO from 100-6400, and at the higher numbers, you'll definitely see "noise" in your photos.

You can work around this (somewhat) by shooting in RAW + jpeg. Your photos will take up more space on your SD card (so bring extra cards). But when you go to edit a RAW photo, one of your options is "noise reduction." Even if it takes you several months (or years) to figure out how to edit your photos in RAW, you can always go back and get a better version of your original picture.

The Aperture trade-off:

In order to increase the shutter-speed, your camera will increase the aperture of the shot. Aperture is also sometimes referred to as f-stops. It will show up in your camera display like "F2.8" or "F6.4" or "F11". Just to make life confusing, the number scale is inverted (i.e. f/2.8 is a larger aperture than f/11). In other words, as you increase shutter speed, the f-number will get smaller.

If you're shooting Alaskan scenery, you want a medium to large f-number. The higher the f-number, the more of the scene will be in focus. If the f-number is lower, the objects in the foreground and background will be blurry, while your target should be in focus. (No promises on this one. Accidents happen.)

If you're shooting wildlife (or portraits), having a low f-number actually makes for a better picture. It makes the subject stand out from the rest of the scene. So for wildlife photos, the trade-off will generally work in your favor.

I'm holding it as still as possible and slowly pushing the button.

If you don't have a tripod (or if you don't have time to set up the tripod), brace against something solid. I will try to put some part of the camera (usually the edge or bottom) directly against a tree, wall, railing, table, hood of a minibus, etc.

As rowrow suggested, set a 2 second timer. Pushing the button jiggles the camera, even if you're using a tripod. By setting a 2 second timer, that jiggling is done before the picture is taken (even if you're holding the camera in your hand). Unless it's windy, I'm not touching my tripod when the picture is taken. (If it's windy, I'll be pushing the tripod down into the ground to hold it still.)

Take multiple pictures. (Take a few seconds between each shot to re-frame and refocus the shot.) The worse the conditions are, the greater number you should take. Even in the best circumstances, I like to take two separate pictures of everything. In really poor conditions, I'll take dozens of pictures of the same scene and hope to get lucky with one of them.

Ok, I'm gonna screen shot that and print it out and slowly work through it. Thank you for making it easy to understand. I read a lot on here before I bought this camera. Some of it went way over my head lol

Circling back to my comment about don't zoom in all the way, yet trying to avoid the total techie stuff. There are two contributing factors into why I say don't zoom in all the way:

1) The more you zoom in, the more you become dependent on fast shutter speeds to avoid blur. Many newbies might not be good at managing shutter speeds through various settings/modes, so by not zooming in all the way, you avoid blur.

2) Most lenses at a newbie level have diminishing aperture capability as they zoom in, which in turn impacts the shutter/ISO settings necessary, and that in turn contributes to potential blur.

In a nutshell, zooming in can potentially be exponentially detrimental. I've made great prints at 20"x30" from a 6mp camera, so you shouldn't be afraid to crop your shots afterward; cropping a not-zoomed-but-otherwise-great shot will probably give you better results than a well-zoomed-but-blurry shot.

Going along with that, you can fix a lot of issues with software (even the free stuff). You can't fix blurriness.

Thank you for making it easy to understand.

I started out with extremely cheap digital cameras (the kind that are no longer made), and I'm still working with point-and-shoot cameras that are less complicated than what you're starting out with.

Since you're new to cameras, I'll give you a bunch of tips I'm glad I discovered ... and ones which I learned the hard way.

Simple Technical(ish) Tips:

Buy a decent SD card - Get a name-brand card, and get one that has sufficient speed. (Speed will be listed in Mbps.) As far as I can tell, the minimum recommended for your camera is 20 Mbps. Cheap SD cards are more likely to go bad, which is why I strongly recommend name brands.

Format your SD cards right before your trip - A freshly formatted card (or a brand-new SD card) is less likely to crash than one that's been used and deleted multiple times since formatting. And with your brand-new cards, you'll want to test them at home before taking them on vacation.

Take a picture of your business card - The first photo on your SD card should be a picture of your business card (or something else that allows people to contact you). If you lose your camera or the SD card, that allows people to figure out who the owner is.

Carry spare SD cards and spare batteries - If you run out with one or the other, you're done taking pictures for the day.

Save your pictures daily - I like to download mine to a laptop, but you want to save your pictures somewhere on a daily basis. That way, if you lose your camera or your SD card craps out, you only lose a day's worth of pictures.

A second photographer - If someone else in your family likes to take pictures, encourage them to do so (to whatever extent they want). My wife likes to take the occasional photo, which is why we have photos from Venice (when the card in my camera went bad). In addition, the other person may see and catch a great photo that you didn't get.

Learn how to be fast - Changing settings takes time, and family members (and cruise tours) generally have extremely limited patience. I constantly try to figure out ways to get by changing fewer settings, and ways to be quicker at changing the settings. When possible, change your settings in advance.

Practice with your tripod - As soon as I purchased a tripod, I began practicing putting it up and breaking it down quickly. When possible, I'll leave it up with the camera on it ... or I'll avoid using it at all ... just to avoid the minute or two of set-up / break-down time.

Get in the habit of always using a strap - As soon as you pull your camera out of its case, get in the habit of strapping it to your wrist (or around your neck) as a first step. I figured out how to screw the camera onto and off of the tripod while using the wrist strap (which has saved me from dropping the camera). You want to have this be second nature, so you'll be using the strap the one time you really need it. I got jostled on my last whale-watching tour, and my camera flew on a trajectory heading over the rail ... but my wrist-strap was on.

When you have a few minutes, check your pictures - When you get a few minutes, hit the playback function and look at your last dozen pictures. If all of your pictures are over exposed, under exposed, showing a smudge, etc., then you can fix the problem before you wreck an entire day's worth of photos.

When using the zoom, start wide - If you're trying to find an animal in a field or a bird in a tree, don't start fully zoomed in. You'll waste a lot of time looking at all the spots where the animal isn't. Start wide, find the animal, zoom in for a close-up.

Turn the flash off - The flash burns battery power like crazy, and it rarely provides good lighting for a shot. (There are technical tricks to get around it, but the flash is usually too harsh.) In addition, some places (like churches and museums) don't allow the use of a flash. About the only time I use a flash is when taking a picture of people ... and only after I unsuccessfully try it without the flash.

Always carry a camera ... any camera - You will be taking pictures with the camera you have, not the best camera you own. In many cases, that may be the camera on your phone. On my last vacation, I accidentally left my camera at the apartment during one outing. The smartphone can't capture every photo that my camera can, but it can capture good photos.

Simple Artistic(ish) Tips:

For the artistic(ish) tips, I'm going to use examples that I pulled off of the internet.

If you want to photograph a forest, don't take a picture of trees - If you take a picture of trees (click example here), you get a very boring picture. It fails to convey the vast, dense forest you see in person. Instead, take a picture of the spot where the trees aren't (click example here). The second picture focuses on a tiny clearing and a small stream, and therefore adds a more interesting break in the wall of trees. This principle works better by expanding the spot where the trees aren't (click example here).

Be off-center - Don't try to put the subject of your picture in the middle of the picture (click example here). It will be more interesting if it's a bit less centered (click example here). When you're cleaning up your pictures after your vacation, you can look up the "Rule of Thirds" and crop your photos accordingly. But for starters, just aim a little off-center.

I take that back. Take one shot with the subject dead center, and one shot with the subject off-center. That way, if the focus is screwed up on the more artistic picture (because of where you're aiming), you'll still have an in-focus picture to use. There's going to be a technical solution which allows you to consistently do both, but I don't know how it works on your camera.

Include humanity in your nature photos - Many photographers go out of there way to ensure that their nature photos are devoid of people or man-made objects ... regardless of how many people were crowding around. That can be a mistake. People (and man-made objects) can be used to add a sense of scale to your photos. Take another look at the second waterfall picture. The people demonstrate how big the waterfall actually is.

Whale Watching Photos:

Since you're going to Alaska, I assume you'll be doing a whale watching tour. The best whale pictures are very timing-dependent.

Sports mode - Your camera has a sports mode ... which may be useful for whale photos. It depends on how quickly it takes pictures. When I went to Alaska, my camera could only do 1 or 2 pictures per second, which wasn't cutting it. I had to switch to single-picture mode and predict the right time to take the photo.

However, if your camera is much faster, sports mode would be ideal. Get your kids to do some sports-type activities (shooting baskets, catching a Frisbee, jumping into the air, hitting a baseball, or something similar) while you test the sports mode. If the camera regularly allows you to catch a great action shot, that's what you want to use. Otherwise, go to single-shot and use the kids to practice timing your photos.

Warning: Sports mode uses a lot of memory.

Well, I'm pretty proud of myself on this list lol. I've already done a lot of this.

Simple Technical(ish) Tips:

Buy a decent SD card Bought two 85mbps SanDisk cards. I bought one 32gb and one 16gb.

Carry spare SD cards and spare batteries Check! Bought 2 batteries

Get in the habit of always using a strap. Not only did I get a neck strap, but I bought the one that goes around your hand too. I even got a waterproof bag. I might not have the picture taking down, but by golly, I have the preparation down. Lol

I didn't get to practice at the ball park. We were rained out. Looks like we might be rained out again tomorrow. I have 4 kids playing and 3 play at the same time on 3 different fields. I'm going to be doing a lot of speed practicing lol. I'm taking my phone also. For well lit close ups, it does pretty well. (Galaxy s7 edge).

Thanks again, you have been a great help.

Bought two 85mbps SanDisk cards. I bought one 32gb and one 16gb.

Bought 2 batteries

Was that 2 batteries total, or 2 spare batteries? I've run through nearly 3 batteries on one excursion.

You're doing great with the memory cards.

Not only did I get a neck strap, but I bought the one that goes around your hand too.

Personally, I found there was a difference between having the strap, and training myself to always use the strap. My strap came with the camera. It took longer for me to build the habit.

I'm taking my phone also. For well lit close ups, it does pretty well. (Galaxy s7 edge).

I've also found that my phone does better with panoramic shots than my camera does. And if you're trying to take a picture in really poor light, you might want to try it with both the camera and the phone.

I like to take photos of birds and other wildlife, but cannot afford a DSLR and the type of lens that would get me the reach the superzoom point and shoots do. I know the quality is less, but I want the range and the light weight, so I understand the desire to extend that zoom all the way. If you're going to be very mobile, hiking or driving around, and you don't want to have to set up a tripod over and over again, try a combination walking stick/monopod. It helps with stabilization and with hiking. You can get a quick release mount for the top. If you are seated somewhere, and there is no convenient surface on which to rest the camera, you can try the knee trick. You bend your knees to your chest, putting your feet onto the same surface as your tush. Then use your knees as a camera support. Last bit of advice. Remember, this is no longer a world in which you need to limit the amount of shots you take. Enough memory and you can shoot without thinking twice. So, if you see something, shoot away. Take many shots. Take shots you don't think will come out. Take sequential shots. Take shots from different angles. Hell, sometimes I take photos without even looking. Just because I can. Many may not be great, but there will always be some that are. The beauty of digital is that you just delete the ones you don't want. Sometimes you will get a great photo that you never expected, and weren't prepared or looking for. Oh, wait. One more thing. too often the one taking the photos is never seen in any. So while you may be taking shots of beautiful scenery, interesting architecture, and wildlife, as well as your friends and family, it may appear as if YOU were never a participant. Make sure someone gets you in a photo or two!

Wow, you've gotten a lot of useful advice! Since you stressed you're a "newbie" , I'm going to throw in a few things that haven't been mentioned. I'm not familiar with your camera, but I would think most of these settings are common to all cameras now-a-days.

• Make sure your image stabilizer is turned on. (On the flip side, if you're using a tripod, you're supposed to turn it off.) (But then you have to remember to turn it on again!)
  
• Hold your breath before you press the shutter button.
  
• Half press the shutter to focus the camera, before you do a full press to take the picture. Someone mentioned composing shots so the main subject is off center. To do this, you point at the main subject, half press, then while still holding it half pressed, turn your body to move the camera to put the subject off center.
  
• Put your camera on 'burst' mode (where it takes several pictures very rapidly). If you moved when you took the first shot, by the 3rd shot you might be more still.
  

If you hold your breath whilst composing/waiting for a shot your body is under tension. Better to breathe out than in.

Thanks everybody. Taking notes and practicing. I am now the proud owner of a nice tripod that my husband picked up at an auction for $3. Can't beat that lol. It is one that can be short or tall.

I have this same camera, actually the Panasonic FZ80, and have a few questions if anyone can help me out. Just returned from a European trip and Rhine River cruise and not totally thrilled with my photos, although some are good.

1. How do I turn on the image stabilization? I thought it was always on.

2. How do I turn off the digital zoom as one person suggested?

3. The iA function didn't seem to work that well for me. I was disappointed in that -- the photos seemed quite bleached. Any ideas?

I did take numerous shots of the same scene so that I could choose the best when I returned. Some of the long range scenery shots were the worst and I guess I need to zoom less. I don't really want to lug a tripod around all the time, especially since this Lumix is a bit larger and heavier than my former Lumix. I am totally faithful about the neck strap usage.

One other question -- I was even dumber and accidentally set the camera to video while taking some shots of the flower market in Amsterdam. Of course, flowers don't move a whole lot, and I wanted just still shots. Does anyone know how I can convert my one second video to a still image?

1. How do I turn on the image stabilization? I thought it was always on.

First, as an answer to all of your questions, I would recommend reading the FZ80 manual. When I went looking for tips to improve my photography, "Read the Manual" was on every list.

You can get the manuals at these links:

Basic Owner's Manual: ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/camera/*****/dc-fz80_en_om.pdf

Owner's Manual for Advanced Features: ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/camera/*****/dc-fz80_en_adv_om.pdf

I don't own a FZ80. According the manual, hit the [MENU/SET] button, pick the [REC] menu, find the [stabilizer], then choose (Normal) stabilization.

2. How do I turn off the digital zoom as one person suggested?

According the manual, hit the [MENU/SET] button, pick the [REC] menu, find the [Digital Zoom], then choose [OFF].

3. The iA function didn't seem to work that well for me. I was disappointed in that -- the photos seemed quite bleached. Any ideas?

Sometimes you can fix that by switching to the correct scene mode [sCN]. If you begin shooting in Intelligent Auto Plus [iA+] Program [P], Aperture Priority [A], or Shutter Priority modes, you want to set use the exposure compensation dial to adjust the EV downward. On my point-and-shoot cameras, I often end up adjusting it down to about -0.7 ... but that depends a lot on the conditions.

One other question -- I was even dumber and accidentally set the camera to video while taking some shots of the flower market in Amsterdam. Of course, flowers don't move a whole lot, and I wanted just still shots. Does anyone know how I can convert my one second video to a still image?

Download PHOTOfunSTUDIO, the photo editing software for your camera.

Read the manual: ftp://ftp.panasonic.com/camera/photofunstudio/PHOTOfunSTUDIO_8_0_SE_en_om.pdf

The instructions are on page 127.