Please do a right click on the link below and choose "save target as" to download the MEMO Excel file:
Memo for the Panasonic DMC-FZ5  

My material

Panasonic DMC-FZ5BK camera.
 
SD cards 66x (Sandisk & Dane -elec). About card speed: more than 66x is not useful with the FZ5 (even with High burst mode on, the 9 to 10 mb/sec of the 66x is enough to record at glance what's in the cache, that's to say +/- 4 pictures of 2mb).
133x cards are only interesting if you have an USB 2.0 high speed card reader on your PC, for the data transfer.
 
Cokin UV Cokinlight 55mm filter to protect the lens. "In the past" , UV filters were used to protect the film (chemical support) from the UV. A digital sensor is not sensible to the UV, so these filters are only neutral protection for the lenses now.
 
Cokin Circular Polarizer 55mm. This is useful to densify the sky, to eliminate the reflects on metallic surfaces, water, glasses, etc. The exposure correction is about  -2IL
 
Kodak Schneider-Kreuznach Xenar wide converter x 0.7    55mm. The wide angle becomes a 25mm eq.
Olympus TCON17 tele converter x 1.7    55mm.  The tele position becomes a 734mm eq.
Olympus MCON40 macro converter     55mm.  You can focus on a subject placed at 40cm from the lens at full (12x) tele
position  (instead of 1 meter). It allows you to do macro photography using any mode of the FZ5 (Aperture priority is often used to shoot with the right DOF in this case).

I attach the converters on the Cokinlight filter (better attached than directly on the filter holder). Some people sand off the front of the filter holder, in order to let the threads of it be near by the edge. This enables filters and accessories with less threads to be mounted on the FZ5 (like B+W filters). This allows also the rear lens of the converters to come closer to the front lens of the FZ5, avoiding vignetting (dark corners) with wide converters. The problem is that the filter holder of the FZ5 is in plastic, and so the threads. With the FZ1, some reimplacement metal built holders were available, but not for the FZ5 (because it is fixed with a locking system, and not screwed as previously on the FZ1), except some "click" aluminium holder first developed for the FZ3 (follow the Butabara-Tec.com link below). So, to avoid damaging the threads, I let the Cokin always mounted. Cokin filters have many threads, and it is not necessary to sand off the front of the holder with them. I know that in this configuration I have vignetting with the wide converter at A f/2.8, but it disappears from  aperture f/4.0.   

There is a Japanese factory that makes aluminium alloy filter holder:
have a look at its website, as the holder for the FZ3 will fit on the FZ5 too, http://butabara-tec.com/Lineup.htm#fz3
and  http://butabara-tec.com/





 



36mm                                                                            25mm with x 0.7 wide converter
 

 
25 mm with wide converter 0.7                                     Zooming with a wide converter creates "mist" effect
(exif)                                                                             (exif)

Macro pic
 








My tip for indoor shooting

WB on cloudy
Fine WB on blue +5
Iso at 100 or 80
No flash / sometimes slow synchro flash
Sometimes with Warm effect on
Aperture priority mode with A =4.0
Focus on button
I often put the picture type on natural instead of standard when shooting indoor.

First focus on subject
Secondly half press the shutter to lock light metering as wished
Frame and shoot

Set the light assist OFF when using the wide converter.