Generally, the look and feel
of the interface of the DMC-FZ8 is identical to that of the
previous model. Camera settings can be shown in a standard
manner, or with the addition of a grid, or using what Panasonic
calls the Out-of-frame display, which reduces the image coming
from the lens slightly and moves it into the upper left corner,
allowing current settings to be displayed on a black background
on the right and below the image.
In comparison to the FZ7, the FZ8 features an expanded Quick
menu that places most of the commonly used settings on screen
at a press of the joystick. The Quick menu is efficient, and
now includes settings which had to be changed in the menu
with the FZ7. The menus themselves, however, are similar,
presented on colour backgrounds which makes them easily identifiable
and very legible.
Basic camera settings are contained in the Setup
section of the menus, accessible through a tab on the left
side of the screen in either the capture or playback modes:
Clock Set: is to set the internal clock and calendar
of the FZ8.
World Time: allows setting a Home time
and a Destination time.
Monitor/Viewfinder: serves to adjust the brightness
of the EVF or the LCD monitor separately (7 steps).
Guide Line decides what information is
displayed on the monitor:
Rec Info: On or Off.
Histogram: On or Off.
Pattern: grid or diagonal.
Travel Date: allows setting the start date of a
trip, and then recording the date on which photos are taken
during the trip so they can be printed and identified on
the print as from the first day, the second day, the third
day etc.
Play on LCD selects where the image will be displayed
first in playback: the LCD monitor, or on the display that
is currently active.
Auto Review: displays, or not, the image immediately
after capture for a set period of time (1 or 3 sec.), or
zooms the image 4X after presenting it for 1 second to ascertain
sharpness. Note that the setting is disabled when the camera
is set to RAW.
Power Save: sets the time after which the camera
automatically shuts down when it is inactive (1, 2, 5 or
10 minutes, or Off).
Zoom Resume: On or Off. Allows the camera
to store the zoom position in memory and return to it when
powered back on.
P/A/S/M capture modes Setup
menu
MF Assist controls the type of assistance provided
by the camera during Manual Focusing: MF1 enlarges the centre
portion of the image; MF2 enlarges the centre portion of
the image, and fills the monitor with it.
Beep offers three settings to control the volume
of the sounds produced by the FZ8 during operations: Soft,
Loud or Off.
AF Beep sets the volume for the beep
sound produced by the camera when the AF has focused: Soft,
Loud, or Off.
Shutter: sets the volume of the shutter sound produced
by the FZ8, Soft, Loud, or Off.
Playback mode Setup menu
Volume: serves to adjust the playback volume for
recorded sounds or video clips over 7 levels.
No. Reset: resets the file numbering system of
the camera so that it will restart from 1.
Reset: returns all options to their original factory
settings, but not date/time settings and folder number.
Video Out (Playback mode only): sets the
output video signal to NTSC or PAL.
TV Aspect (Playback mode only): offers
a choice of 4:3 or 16:9 so that the camera adjusts its output
image to the type of television it is connected to.
MF m/ft: decides whether distances are shown in
imperial or metric.
Scene Menu: to select if the Scene menu is shown
automatically (Auto), or not (Off) when the Mode dial is
turned to the SCN position.
Dial Display: On or Off. Decides whether
the virtual dial appears on screen when the Mode Dial is
rotated.
Language selects the interface language: English,
German, French, Italian, Spanish, Japanese or Traditional
Chinese.
Panasonic includes a printed manual with the DMC-FZ8. The
manual covers all the modes and functions of the camera, making
it relatively easy to become familiar with its capabilities.
Moreover, if desired, the manual, in a number of languages,
can be downloaded in PDF format from one of the many Panasonic
Internet sites.
Software
In North America, a single CD is bundled
with the DMC-FZ8. The disc contains a number of programs,
each installed from the interface shown at right:
Lumix Simple Viewer.
Photo fun Studio Viewer.
QuickTime.
USB Driver.
Acrobat Reader.
ArcSoft which includes:
Photo Impressions 5
Panorama Maker 3.
SilkyPix.
Of these, no less than 4 programs can read
and display the JPEG photos captured with the FZ8, but only
1 of these can read the FZ8's RAW
images.
SilkyPix
is a recent inclusion with Panasonic cameras. The program
serves to "develop" the RAW images captured with
the camera — one of 4 models it supports — and
convert them, with or without modifications, to non-proprietary
image formats such as TIFF, BMP, or even JPEG.
Once an image is opened in the program, it can be adjusted
for exposure, white balance, sharpness, tone, colour and noise
reduction. The program is powerful, but operations are not
always intuitive.
Lumix Simple Viewer
is, as its name indicates, simply an image viewer that can
display photos located on the memory card in the camera, or
on the computer's hard disk and show the shooting data. The
program can also be used to print photos or attach a selected
image to an e-mail, using the e-mail client already on the
computer. It is unable to show RAW images, or edit an image.
Still, images can be rotated, and the program can show the
shooting data.
Photo Fun Studio Viewer, another program from Panasonic,
can only be run if Lumix Simple Viewer is not running. It
is a more advanced, more comprehensive viewer and benefits
from a better designed interface. It can present images in
an index view, and can be used to print photos.
The Arcsoft Suite supplied
with the camera includes Photo Impression 5, the only
program supplied with the FZ8 that allows making adjustments
or editing JPEG images. The program can be used to adjust
images for brightness, contrast or sharpness, or used to resize
or crop photos, adjust their colour tone, or eliminate red-eye.
Moreover, it can also be used to add borders or graphics to
photos.
The ArcSoft software suite also includes Panorama Maker
3, a program designed to create panoramic images by assembling
series of overlapping photos captured with the same exposure
parameters. Regrettably the FZ8 does not offer a Panorama
mode, but with some practice, the Manual mode can be used
instead.
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Interface & Software
