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Panasonic FZ150 (3 Viewers)

Hi, I have just come back from a trip to north Queensland (Australia), where I stayed at a lodge in a rainforest area. The forest was quite dark and the camera really struggled with focus.......

These are definitely fine pictures. But I wonder whether you had the focus problems with your teleconverter on? Or was it the same without the converter? I think the converter further reduces contrast, thus probably contributing to the focus problems?
 
If you were at Kingfisher Lodge I understand the difficulties. I was there for a few hours trying to digiscope a few years ago and it was very "hit and miss" due to slow AF and fast birds.
Not much you can do about this with digicams which is why DSLRs are still much the preferred instrument for bird photography.
Neil.

That was the reason for me to move up from FZ18 to GH2 + 100-300, which I am so far very happy with. I could not see myself lug around a canon or nikon with a lens with a decent reach, just too heavy.

Niels
 
I didn't use a teleconverter while I was there. The camera was taking well over 1 second to focus in the low lighting conditions and sometimes it just wouldn't focus at all.There were people at the lodge who had DSLR's and they were also complaining about the light problems, but I'm don't know whether they had the focus issues that plagued my camera.
 
Hi Sean, I definitely didn't have macro set. I have managed to do that once or twice before and it will slow down the focus process. While I was in this rainforest, I often had the camera set to manual focus and used the one touch focus button to try and achieve focus. As I have mentioned before, I think I may have a problem with my camera and yesterday dropped it off at the Panasonic service centre for them to have a look at the focus issues. We'll see what happens after that.
 
Focus issues

I had a chance for a short video of a rare bird yesterday. But I was unable to get it into focus. It turned out I accidentally had the side switch on MF but did expect it to be on AF. I think I mainly keep forgetting that side switch, but maybe yesterday's experience will have cured me? I guess there is no setting to inactivate or lock it? When things get hectic, it's just impossible to check everything before using the camera.
 
Hi Swissboy, No there's no way you can deactivate that switch. The switch itself is the way you do that ie, you switch off the manual focus to use autofocus. I have got caught out like that as well, although usually its because I have switched to Macro and was wondering why the focus became slower, but I have had the switch on manual and was wondering why the camera wasn't focusing. I always check now when I turn the camera on just what position that switch is set.
 
Hi all, just thought I'd say a quick "thank you" to everyone who have contributed here. I'm considering buying the FZ150 in the next couple of weeks and have found these photos very helpful. I already own the Nikon TC E15ED and will be looking to buy a red dot sight soon.

Couple of questions...

1. Roughly how far away are you when taking the BIF shots ?

2. Swissboy, a couple of months ago you mentioned that you also use the FZ150 for shooting aircraft. Do you have any info/examples you could show me as I'd be very interested how it performs ?
 
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2. Swissboy, a couple of months ago you mentioned that you also use the FZ150 for shooting aircraft. Do you have any info/examples you could show me as I'd be very interested how it performs ?

Simon07: Rather than posting some reduced pictures, I think you should look at some of the videos I posted on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/my_videos?feature=mhum

The link should show the listing. All the ones of this year were taken with the FZ150 in HD light mode. Full HD takes up too much storage space and is not needed for my purposes.

What's clear is that a modern DSLR is still faster, but using serial mode, I have got some good results as well. As this is a BIRD forum, I'd rather not post aircraft pictures here.
 
Hi, thanks for your quick response. Unfortunately the youtube link doesn't work.

You should find the videos anyway. Just search for my Youtube name: piebstrains1. There are 128 videos, but I hope you'll get them in chronological order. At any rate those that I uploaded in 2012 are FZ150 videos. If it still does not work, I'll try to post some links for individual videos.
 
Hi Simon, I have taken quite a few in flight shots of birds, but I couldn't answer your question on how far away form the bird I was when I take them. It varies so much, you just take the opportunity when it arises. Usually, you have a better chance when the bird is further away to get the shot, but that won't give you the best shot. The closer the better in my opinion. The best chance is in an area that is wide open and you can see the bird approaching from a distance. That way you can find it in the viewfinder and track it, at the same time zooming in, or out, to keep it in view and pulsing the shutter button to keep focus on the bird. Its a situation where the side lever (set to zoom) is especially handy. The side lever set to zoom is the camera's default setting.
 
I also find it helpful for BIF photography,with this Great Camera,is to press the Focus button on the side of the lens,and Enlarge the Focus Area, with the wheel,this allows you to focus on a larger section of the sky,where the Bird is.

John
 
Hi, I have just come back from a trip to north Queensland (Australia), where I stayed at a lodge in a rainforest area. The forest was quite dark and the camera really struggled with focus. There were birds I couldn't shoot, as their period of movement from one spot to another was quicker than the camera's ability to focus on them. I even tried manual focus, but that didn't work either, as I couldn't do it much quicker than than the slow auto focus. In good light the results were excellent, but much of the time I was after birds that were at best in marginal light. I also think my particular camera does have an issue with auto focus and I'm going to have it looked at at some stage, probably this week. Here's a couple of shots from the trip. One was in low light and was one of the best I got in those conditions, the other was in full sun.

I just thought I'd come back to this post from Roger. I went out today to photograph a Wood Warbler locally. It was going to be under tree canopy and I had in the back of my mind this post. I decided to take both my FZ150 and G3 kit and see how I got on.

Just as you experienced, Roger, the FZ150 struggled enormously to focus under the tree canopy. I think the problem was the numerous distracting light sources and high contrast areas where leaves are sillhouetted against bright white sky. I quickly abandoned the FZ150 and had much better success with the G3. However, it's worth saying that when the FZ150 did focus, it did a remarkably good job in the low light setting. I was expecting lots of really horrible noise. Yes, the shots were noisy but not to a point of spoiling the photograph (IMO). With my G3, I was shooting at ISO1250 (to give an idea of the condition).

Attached is one of the FZ150 shots. I've selectively reduced the noise and also used the dodge tool to de-emphasise the background leaves (for aesthetics only). It has been cropped, reduced in size and saved at lower resolution.

Thanks
Hobbes
 

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Hi Hobbes, this shot has come out very nicely. The G3 should do better that the FZ150 in low light. I have been looking at some of shots I took while I was away and in some the iso was up at 2000 and I couldn't really see any appreciable noise. At other times it was down around 800 and there was some noise. I can't work it out. What I have discovered is that when I used "sports" mode it uses Intelligent ISO and I think that was a bit of a problem, as it held the ISO down lower than I would have if I had been doing it myself. That resulted in a slower shutter speed. It wouldn't have had any effect on the autofocus times, but may have given me some clearer shots once I actually hit the shutter button. I was really impressed though that I could used such high ISO and not have an awful, grainy image. This is a big difference between the FZ150 and the FZ100. I use iPhoto quite a bit and it has a slider adjustment called shadows. When I slide that lever across on images I have taken with the FZ150 the darker areas brighten up beautifully, but when I do the same thing with images from the FZ100 they're all grainy.
 
scodgerott: I think one determinant of noise in high iso shots is the extent to which you have nailed exposure: even a slightly underexposed shot looks a lot more grainy when the shadows have been pulled up. (my experience is with an old FZ18 and with the GH2)

Hobbes, your experience adds to my conviction that I made the right move when I skipped a newer superzoom for the GH2 + 100-300, a lot of my local motifs involve shooting small birds inside or at the edge of the rainforest.

Niels

Niels
 
Hi Niels, I think that if most of my time was spent in a darkened environment, I would have to reconsider my options in regards to getting a different camera. As it is, most of the time, I'm in sunny or light conditions, so its not too critical. Thanks also for the info on the ISO.
 
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