Panasonic FZ40 Sports Photography Score
Panasonic FZ40 has a score of
47 for Sports Photography which makes it an
AVERAGE candidate for this type of photography. If Sports Photography is important for you, we recommend you to check the Alternative cameras at the bottom of this page.
Read our detailed Panasonic FZ40 Review
Panasonic FZ40 Sports Photography Detailed Analysis
Manual Exposure Mode
Even though modern digital cameras features advanced algorithms to calculate the right exposure, they still may fail some difficult conditions. Manual exposure mode in these conditions helps a lot in order to achieve correct and consistent exposure.
Manual Focus Mode
Compact cameras are not great at focusing moving objects especially at low light and your camera may not even fire bacause of not locking the focus, so manual focus mode is very useful at these times.
Electronic Built-in Viewfinder
During a sports shoot, using a viewfinder allows the photographer to stabilize the camera and reduce the camera shake since it is closer to the body. Besides, it comes handy where LCD screens are very hard to read under bright sunlight.
Image Stabilization
Image stabilization reduces the effects of camera shake at long focal lengths thus ensuring sharper photos during sports photography.
600 mm Tele Lens
600 mm reach lens will be adequate in most sports events.
RAW shooting capability
RAW files contains much more color information compared to JPEGs, and gives you more room for post processing without significant quality loss. They provide wider dynamic range and option to recover shadow and highlight clipping to some degree.
Average Max shutter speed: 1/2000s
Panasonic FZ40's max shutter speed of 1/2000s is not the best in class but it will be enough to freeze the moment. A potential problem may be when you use a fast aperture at very strong light, your camera may overexpose because of slow max shutter speed
Average Ergonomics&Handling
although not as good as a DSLR body, Panasonic FZ40 is good enough for most conditions.
Slow Continuous Shooting: 2.0fps
In the world of sports photography, faster is always better.
Environmental Sealings
Most outdoor sports games are held in all-weather, so your camera has to be ready for difficult conditions such as rain and snow. Exposure to dust and water splashes are also very common in sports.
Unknown Focus Points
In sports photography , you keep continuous autofocus (AFC) mode on for tracking the subject and more focus means better tracking.
No External Flash Shoe
When shooting indoor sports or outdoor sports at low light, an external flash may become very helpful.
You may also be interested in these reviews:
Panasonic FZ40 for Portrait Photography Panasonic FZ40 for Street Photography Panasonic FZ40 for Carrying Everywhere Panasonic FZ40 for Landscape Photography