What is wrong with my Olympus FE-370 digital camera?

This is weird? my new camera takes worse pictures than my old one, it's supposed to be better quality?

• I recently purchased a Panasonic Lumix DMC FZ48, and I am finding that, while it's a decent camera, the picture quality is worse than my previous camera, an Olymupus FE370, which is supposed to be much lower quality. The pictures look incredible on the Panasonic's screen, but once I upload them to my Mac on iphoto, they look alot less neat and detailed than the Olympus ones, and the picture size is much smaller. Am I doing something wrong? I've been taking pictures of the same things with both cameras, mainly animals and outdoor nature pictures. Thanks in advance for any advice.

• Answer:

  What makes you sure the Panasonic is supposed to be better? There is nothing spectacular about it. It has the same tiny 1/2.3" sensor as your Olympus did. It is a bridge camera, and while I have no direct experience with your Panasonic, my following statements are general in nature from owning a bridge camera. If your camera does not have these issues, consider yourself lucky. I generally dislike bridge cameras, as they can be worse than even basic cameras (after owning one and seeing these things first hand for myself). Bridge cameras are the result of marketing hype with the myths that high megapixel counts and super powerful zooms are better. Any lens with a 24x zoom is likely going to under-perform a shorter zoom lens. While the huge zoom gives you more range, they often suffer from optical quality. This was true whether it was the 18x zoom lens on the inexpensive bridge compact camera I used to have, or even the 11x DSLR lens that I still own (that cost $800 just for the lens). High power zooms usually have optical quality issues along their zoom length. Another myth is the notion of high MegaPixel count cameras are better. Not always - especially with compact cameras, as there are a lot of other factors involved in a camera's quality than high megapixel sensors. To keep costs down, many compact cameras have slower processors, and that coupled with high megapixel count sensors means high shutter lag. Since you indicated the photos are smaller, make sure you have your bridge camera set for the largest photo and the best quality. Sometimes camera manufacturers set them smaller from the factory so you would have better shutter performance, but if you crank the settings up to their maximum performance, shutter lag will surely suffer. Take the time to mount your bridge camera on a tripod, then take several photos along it's zoom range; then compare them in your PC. You will likely find that in some spots along the zoom the photos are decent, but in other spots they are terrible. Since you have manual controls, set the camera to Aperture Priority and shoot one set of zoom shots at f/8, and the other set at the widest aperture (f/2.8 to f/5.2 depending on the zoom setting). Then compare the shots at f/8 to the ones at f/2.8 to f/5.2 and you will be able to see that at f/8, your lens will probably be sharper. If so, try it again at f/11. After you do that, you will know what aperture settings vs. zoom settings are for the best photos, and which settings to avoid. Also turn off digital zoom if it is on, as digital zoom is all but worthless. Finally, make sure the ISO is as low as it will go. While I don't paint a pretty picture of bridge cameras in general, the above suggestions might improve your photos.