Panasonic TZ202: Sharpness Variations

Introduction | Test Photos | Conclusions | References

On this page, I deal with the "sharpness" setting of the Photo Style function (Photo Style = Standard).

Introduction

After I had bought the Panasonic TZ202, I immediately compared the photos that I took with this camera with those taken with my Sony RX100 M4. At the beginning, I was disappointed with the results that the TZ202 produced, to say the least. The photos looked soft in comparison and as if they had been "painted" thanks to strong noise reduction. Luckily, the Photo Style function of the TZ202 allowed me to control both variables and to come a little closer to the results that I achieve with my Sony RX 100 M4. In the following, I demonstrate the effect of different sharpness values of the Photo Style function using the Standard main setting.

Test Photos

I took photos with sharpness values between 0 and +5 (Photo Style = Standard), since I wanted to increase sharpness, but did not know for how much.

Overview Sample

Photo: This photo was taken with sharpness = 0

Photo: This photo was taken with sharpness = +3

Note: In this size, a difference is hardly noticeable...

Variations of the Sharpness Setting


Sharpness = 0		Sharpness = 1

Sharpness = 2		Sharpness = 3*

Sharpness = 4 (probably with a different focus...)		Sharpness = 5

Sharpness = 0 (repeated for easier comparison)		Sharpness = 1 (repeated for easier comparison)

*) For the moment, I decided for Sharpness = 3, because from this setting on, the contours are more pronounced.

Note: I will have to repeat this test with controlled camera settings and using a tripod. Nevertheless, a "trend" is visible...

Conclusions

At the beginning, I decided to raise the sharpness value to +3 (Photo Style = Standard), because from this value on the contours become more prominent. But later I found on the Internet that most users raised sharpness only to +2. I therefore decided to follow them and set sharpness to +2.

In his book about the Lumix TZ202, author Frank Späth recommends to set sharpness to 0 or even to negative values for the case that you want to postprocess your photos. My problem is that I only postprocess some of my photos, but not the majority of them...

References

Frank Späth (2018). Lumix TZ202 - Das Buch zur Kamera. Point of Sale Verlag (ISBN-13: 978-3941761704).