canon SX30 and panasonic FZ100 HD video comparisons

[nkroy1]

Hello, this comparing style is very good !

[horaciobarroco]

Excelent test! Just a Question: do you think the Full Hd resolution on Panasonic (1920, 1080) makes a difference? Or we have to argue the preeminence of the optical quality on Canon ?

[ghough12]

@horaciobarroco The 1080i implementation on the Fz100 is from 25/30fps progressive sensor. It is not a true 1080 full hd as in a 1080p progressive mode. This is now available with the FZ150. The FZ150 also now produces much cleaner jpeg files than the FZ100. The optical quality is now better through nano crystal coating on the lens surface to reduce flair/ghosting.

[horaciobarroco]

Many thanks for your answer. Actually -as many others- I couldn't take a decission between the sx 30 and fz 100, both cameras availables in my small town (I haven't other options) I am as doubtful as Hamlet....I want the camera specially for video. Congratulations for your work and clear explanations!

[macporteiro]

Amazing comparison, thanks for that!!! I've just bought the FZ100. But its image quality...Neither for photos, nor for videos: saturated colours, blurry pixels, looks like impressionist painting hehe. I was considering a Canon DSLR, or maybe a Nikon D3100, but investing so much money - for me - for not using all their power... besides, I wanted a good camera that could also record good quality videos, too - OK, I know, I want too much! Anyway, which camera did you use for recording this video?

[ghough12]

@macporteiro Hi the opening sequence was shot using the Panasonic SD700 camcorder. With the Fz100 you will get better images if you always use ISO 100 or 200 and shoot in 720p mode for video.

[macporteiro]

@ghough12 Thanks a lot for your answer! I've tried that yesterday, but the results were not as good as I expected. Some of the photos are good, yeah, even though when I zoom in, it's easy to see blurred pixels, and noise in dark zones. Video is great, the images just are not. It's a shame, such a great camera... I'll return that to the store tomorrow - change for another camera, although I still don't know which one.

Happy New Year!!

[gwaogi]

Please help me,im choosing between this 2, wat do u tink is better overall? I dont knw anyting about camera, this is going to be my first camera if ever..many thanks

[ghough12]

@gwaogi Hi. both of these cameras have both strengths and weaknesses. If i was going to buy another camera it wouldn't be either of these two. Have a look at some of my Sony HX9V videos. This camera beats these two in many ways. The only thing it lacks is greater zoom, buts thats not the end of the world. It really depends on what you want your camera to do for you. If you want good quality video then the HX9v is probably the best choice. If you want great zoom then its the SX30

[neglected2010]

@gwaogi CMOS is always better. id go for PANASONIC!!!!!!!

[neglected2010]

@gwaogi and i find the colours of panasonic more vivid :D

[andres527]

* (sound) = canon * (geen and white colors) = panasonic *  (grey and black) = canon

**BOTH ARE GREAT CAMERAS!** winner goes in personal taste and the way settings are manage!

[itsageoffrushthing]

Excellent video.

[weavingfun]

Dear Graham,

Thanks and 'due' to your informatif videochannel, I bought the Lumix FZ 100, a few weeks ago. Now I'm editing my first films (shoot out of hand, i bought a tripod as well now!!). I discover some extensions/files I do not recognize and via google I was not certain. What do they mean? Can I remove them:

.cont, .pmpd

I hope you are able to give an advise,

thank you so much,

betty smit (the netherlands)

laptopbetty@online.nl

[OnYeaBike]

Great.. I would have liked to have seen more zooming and panning..

fz100 has RAW. 1080 HD and expensive battery. (Price more then my car Battery)

Canon uses AA batteries 720 Hd and 30xZoom

It's a Choice I'am going to have to make!

Keep up the good work.

[Kopfkiller1]

The Panasonic FZ100 record is a lot better in quality xD :D :)

[northerngirlie08]

The more i saw of the FZ100 the more i like it ! Excellent video Graham.

[Nomad397]

the pani seems to be over vivid in the green while the canon is too vivid on the brown/red... nice comparison but it leaves a lot to personal taste

[Nomad397]

were you shooting in normal mode for the canon... the fuji seems to be almost too vivid in alot of shots and then visa versa in others... odd to say the least

[skinnyguay]

this is the best video of comparision ever, i can see you put a lot of effort in it.

both cameras are good, not a big difference in quality of video or still photos. but i would say 35 zoom for sx30 vs 24 zoom for fz100 is big. so after watching your video I will prefer sx30. thanks a lot again for this video

[ghough12]

@skinnyguay Thanks very much for viewing and your comments, appreciated

[barroweskimo]

I watched it without sound just used my eyes as a judge I would get the sx30is unless you like all things dark,fuzzy,and about a 10 degree wider view.I like the fall leaves red rather than brown how you see the trees in the back ground rather than a dark area.see how dark the houses are in mid-day.you see the bubbles in the creek not just round things in the water.you buy what you think will be a good product and produce a good picture

[10mism]

i see that FZ 100 has given better performance than canon sx30. so i will go for FZ100.

[ghough12]

@10mism Thanks for viewing and comment.

[10mism]

i see that FZ 100 gave perform better that canon sx30. so i will go for FZ100.

[808FlyBy]

FZ100 has a overall green cast IMO ... but ive managed to tweak it out in the auto WB setting using the fine tune.

[poulainfandubs]

thanks for this !!

[ghough12]

@poulainfandubs Thanks for viewing

[die4try]

the canon is more natural !!

[verbo0508]

I'll buy one of the two. In their view the fz100 would be better?

[1Andr1P]

sx30 is has more balanced colours compared to fz 100!! and i like it a lot because with the fz100 the picture doesn't show more vivvid but a little bit fake!!!

[adilonline82]

In my opinion, i think the FZ100 was the better camera full stop, especially that the FZ100 also comes with full manual control over aperture and shutter speed, as well as iso and color in video mode.

the scene where a lots of tree leaves were on the ground was very important, as you can tell canon was having a bad time as they almost looked red !!! the fz100 however saw them brown, naturally !!!

[weavingfun]

@adilonline82 I fully agree that the canon made the leaves red. On the other hand, the colors of the FZ 100 seem a bit cool, blue-ish. But 808FlyBy wrote that he could use the fine tune setting to make it better

[augustopktd]

this video was taken with which camera?

[bignos29]

okay, what camera are you using to record yourself in the beginning ??????

[ghough12]

@bignos29 its the panasonic sd700.

[panteranegra9897]

thankyou very much for this upload.. really i was looking for a video like this in fact i had the same question and i´m confuseless but i would love to have both in one. i love the canon but i love the video in lumix fz100 with 1080x1900 but hummmm i think its a hard dessision to me but i decided canon.!!

[lifewasters]

Green is clearly more pronounced in the FZ100, which results in a better contrast when non-green colors are present. But that doesn't necessarily mean the SX30 is bad when it comes to greens. Think about it: how does one know how green was green in those places? In other words, which camera was more faithful to the actual green as seen by the eye? I think only Graham can tell us that as he was there, not us. Fantastic shot at the very beginning where you do the introduction:)

[barty1982]

@ghough: First of all Kudos to you...

Awesome ,was an eye opener for me........

FZ100 wins the Video department hands down, Sound is a bit muffled on FZ100, so the sound goes to canon Sx30...

How is the image stabilization on both of these models??

May be the stills could give us an answer.

This fight will sure go down to the wire.

[nate42nd]

Amazing how the Pansonic handles green!

[ghough12]

@nate42nd Yes it does like low level and low contrast light such as these clips. Reds can be a little tricky as they tend to oversaturate a little. But that cab be post edit corrected if needed. Graham

[iamgurung007]

@nate42nd hue is more on panasonic which is not true and natural colour that u saw but c the original colour tone produced by Canon... Canon is amazing.... photograph has 2 b original not like more green or blue... Canon is best...

[BikeTripod]

@nate42nd - Yes I noticed that seems to have a dark green and then the bricks or the building looker darker.

It looks more darker and less sharp on each picture. Cannon looks brighter and sharper.

[nate42nd]

Auto WB? he S30 looks like it has better WB for sure. Don't know about the quality utself. Good look at it....thanks.

[pankitoy]

which has better picture quality?

i'm really stuck on which to buy?

any advice?

[ghough12]

@pankitoy You know this is the most often asked question and the one which is most difficukt to answer as there is so much going for each camera. The SX30 has the longer zoom lens and gives pretty good images at that setting, at the wider end you do see a lot of fringing. The FZ100 does give fantastic video quality and a lot of manual control where the sx30 does not. On balance if its still you want then the sx30 is marginally better but the camera is let down by poor screen and viewfinder. Grah

[Carloscarmo]

@ghough12 i know that the Canon Sx30 is not so good in videos, but in picture quality it´s better than the FZ100, i think... Next week i´m goin to buy a new camera, but i still didn´t decide because i´m thinking on CanonSx 30, and also in the Lumix FZ40...What´s your opinion?Thanks!

[arnijodi]

@ghough12 Actually, the FZ100 has a much longer optical zoom with no or little degradation of quality!

I-Zoom = Multiplier of 1.3X

Extended Optical Zoom with I-Zoom ON

14mp = 32X

10mp = 37.9X

7mp = 45X

5mp = 54X

3mp = 67.4X

[ghough12]

@arnijodi Yes, this is a useful feature and i use it for stills quite often as the 3mp is still good enough for HD video. Pity they didn't incorporate this into the video as that would be really great.

[arnijodi]

@ghough12 With the Intelligent Zoom on, video on the FZ100 goes up to 32X without any degradation.

[drdickbigger]

Love this video these are the two cameras i am looking at.Thankyou for all your efforts.

[luissylar]

The colors in Panasonic looks better, or its my eyes? I was going to get a sx30, but now I dont know...

[RonanChromy100]

@luissylar The colour is definitely better in the Panasonic

[scodgerott]

Hi Graham,

I wonder if you could answer this question? I have the FZ100 and every time I use the video the screen blacks out for .5 sec or so. Did your model do this? I also have the FZ18 and it doesn't do this.

[ghough12]

@scodgerott I haven't noticed this particular bug. Is it just the lcd or is the video clip also missing?

[scodgerott]

@ghough12

Hi Graham, Thanks for your response. It happens on both the LCD Screen and viewfinder. There doesn't seem to be any loss of video, just a blackout of image when you first push the record button. I find it very annoying, especially when you are filming a moving object, like a bird, as when the image appears in the viewfinder the subject may not be there, as its moved. I sent an enquirey to Panasonic, but they haven't bothered to reply.

[ghough12]

@scodgerott Hi, doesn't surprise me the forums are full of "no response from panasonic" statements. I'll recheck my camera for you today and get back to you.

[scodgerott]

@ghough12

Thanks I look forward to hearing your reply.

[ghough12]

@scodgerott Hi, I've just tested my Fz100 and yes the lcd/evf do black out for .5 sec but the video is okay. I can see this is a problem with moving objects as, as you say, the object will have moved position when you release the shutter and then ther is this blackout!

[ranzdelfindelacruz]

@ghough12 i think its the card ur using that might be causing the problem

[scodgerott]

@scodgerott

Hi Graham,

Thanks for that, I was wondering if I had a problem, but it sounds like that's the way its meant to be. Not very satisfactory.

[jazvecina]

really good comparison , can i ask you, did you recorded on the 720p quality on both? or was quality on lumix set up to 1080i ? thank you

[ghough12]

@jazvecina the lumix was in 1080i mode for this test as it was done to show the max capability of the cameras.

[OrlandoLuxuryHomes]

The sound of the FZ100 is always less clear and more muffled as compared to the SX30.

[ghough12]

@OrlandoLuxuryHomes Hi, randy so you're still no closer to an absolute winner then! The sx30 has audio gain control on the mike ( i think - can't check because its just sold and i've posted it out to the buyer!).

[Sufibooks]

A lot of work Thank You

But it is was much too long

some detailed technical conclusions would of been nice

[moonboots69]

good comparison... i think as a birders' tool the Canon is simply amazing..

to get anywhere near 800mm in a DSLR system you need to be spending 3k - 5k plus the hassle of carrying around heavy and long equiptment... ok, IQ is not comparable to a DSLR system, but its damn close...

[mrrandom177]

not sure which i prefer..... the canon looks better in some scenes and the panasonic better in others.

ironic really that a few years ago we would have given our right arms to get video footage even approaching this kind of quality from a consumer camcorder, and now we moan about subtle ( or no so subtle) differences in shade.

[ghough12]

@mrrandom177 Absolutely! and still we push these devices to the limit and expect almost broadcast quality material in the bargain. I am posting another video to look at the super zooms and their application to bird photograhers as the 834mm equivalent lens of the canon, plus the compactness, should be a good tool. Thanks for viewing.

[weavingfun]

@mrrandom177 How right you are... On the other hand: when will Panasonic update this hybride. I think when I buy it, the next day, there is another version that performs in a way I regret I bought it already...........

[AZOROJO]

Excellent video, Graham. Very good comparison between the two chambers, which shows the lights and shadows of both models. In my opinion, Canon has a dominant red, ocher, which turns red frame, while a bad fz100 faithful color reproduction, giving a more natural, balanced color and better detail. Congratulations for the video.

[panmaew]

I'd rather get an SD700 and pay more money than get one of these two for shooting video. From your video, the SD700 overall image quality is just miles ahead of the two P&S', even at 720p. I wonder how much if any better, besides the shallow DoF enabled by the larger 4/3 sensor, the GH2 will do under most real world shooting environments but you definitely will have to pay a lot more! Thanks for sharing.

[nazri940115]

thnks alot..xD

[swanty32e]

It seems that the green colour is slighty better on the lumix?

[ghough12]

@swanty32e Yes, I was not happy with the auto white balance of the canon, it seems too yellow/magenta which would make greens paler. In auto movie mode you cannot adjust the white balance so you always have to be in a manual mode to do this. Its only 720p and small lcd screen so I think it will soon be sold off in favour of getting the GH2

[au1947]

nice