Panasonic FZ50/LX2 firmware petition..

[odklizec]

Guys, I've just started a petition for a Panasonic firmware update. The Venus III engine is simply too aggressive and kills a lot of details. We discussed this problem at dpreview forums and then I though about petition for simple firmware update (applicable on LX2 and FZ50), which will allow us to to turn the in-camera picture adjustments completely OFF, especially the Noise Reduction. Adjusting Noise Reduction to LOW is simply not enough.

If you check these full resolution FZ50 images..
www.pbase.com/fz3pics/fz50_low_light_test_pics

..or these full res. crops I made from the above full res. images..

ISO 100:
www.filexoom.com/files/23998/ISO100_crops.png

ISO 200:
www.filexoom.com/files/23998/ISO200_crops.png

ISO 400:
www.filexoom.com/files/23998/ISO400_crops.png

ISO 800:
www.filexoom.com/files/23998/ISO800_crops.png

ISO 1600:
www.filexoom.com/files/23998/ISO1600_crops.png

Also this is very good example of the problem, this time taken with LX2:
www.filexoom.com/files/23998/lx2_more_high_iso_crops.jpg

Please, ignore the ISO 200 RAW shot. It's blurred by an accidental camera shake

You will clearly realize how strong is the Venus III noise reduction, even at lowest possible level. It would really be great if Panasonic would release (finally) a user installable firmware, which will allow us to set the JPEG noise reduction to OFF.

So if you are interested, read and sign the petition, which is available here..

www.gopetition.com/online/9523.html

Maybe if we collect enough petitioners, we will change something?

Some time ago, many Casio z850 buyers cried about bad quality of video taken with this camera in high-quality mode. The official Casio statement was "there will be no firmware update nor we are working on it". But now, few months after Z850 release, there is a firmware fix (better said workaround) for this problem!

So why not with Panasonic? I'm sure, we can be successful if we will act together..why not give it a try? We can't lose anything. So please, read and sign the petition and tell about it to as many Panasonic photographers as you know.

[odklizec]

Quick update! Up to now, we collected 900+ petitioners. It seems, we will soon (tomorrow or so) turn over the 1000 signed people! Not bad for 15 days of running this small petition, what you think?

Leica now released their rebadged versions of LX2/FZ50 so we will see if the noise reduction and other image processing is less or more the same as in the original Panasonic cameras and if the same, I'm ready to extend this petition also to Leica equivalents of LX2/FZ50.

[odklizec]

Just another update

After first month of running this petition we collected over 1500 signatures (exactly 1570 for now) and the numbers still increasing. Sure, it's small number in comparison to all sold Lumix cameras. But it's solid proof of something wrong with default in-camera noise reduction, or at least a proof that some "pro" users simply need better control over in-camera NR. Check the people's comments in their signatures.

Unfortunately, we don't have any reaction from Panasonic yet. But it can have two reasons.. Panasonic simply playing dead horse, or most probably, the petition is running too short for an official reaction from Panasonic's side. Who knows? Maybe if we collect few more thousand of signatures, Panasonic will finally take us seriously? Or maybe not.. But at least we tried something. Wise marketing would easily turn this petition into their favor.