[Swissboy]

Originally Posted by scodgerott

......Here's a link to the hot shoe sliding plate or platform.

http://gadget.brando.com/hot-shoe-sl...1c073d003.html

Originally Posted by jimthomson

http://www.photosolve.com/main/produ...ght/index.html

This is one way to mount the red dot sight to the hot shoe of the camera.

I tried one of these but found that it was too loose in the hot shoe of my camera.

I modified it with:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pro-Type-1-4...2&cmd=ViewItem

to get a more consistent alignment between camera and sight.

Thank you both for your helpful information. I'll most likely get something along these lines, though not right now. First need a new tripod for my scope.

[Hobbes2]

Been using the FZ150 with 1.7 teleconverter for a few weeks now. Very impressed with the stabilisation. The attached shot (cropped for composition and reduced in resolution for uploading) was taken on the 5MP setting, intelligent zoom, and with the 1.7 teleconverter attached. So, basically shooting, hand-held at 1500mm focal length! Not bad, I thought. (Oh, I have applied selective noise reduction)
Hobbes

[Swissboy]

Originally Posted by Hobbes2

....5MP setting, intelligent zoom, and with the 1.7 teleconverter attached. So, basically shooting, hand-held at 1500mm focal length! Not bad, I thought. (Oh, I have applied selective noise reduction)
Hobbes

Very nice picture. And I'm impressed of the result. Did you take several pictures with many worse ones, or is this the one you took and it turned out this well?

[Hobbes2]

Originally Posted by Swissboy

Very nice picture. And I'm impressed of the result. Did you take several pictures with many worse ones, or is this the one you took and it turned out this well?

I shoot on the 5fps burst mode so I fire off a load of shots and keep the one which is sharpest. However, I imagine that it wouldn't be impossible to simply take one photo and get this result. My feeling is that at that focal length, shooting hand-held, my odds of getting the shot I want are greatly increased by firing at 5fps. The fail rate definitely increases towards the exteme end of the longest focal lengths.
Hobbes

[scodgerott]

Hi Hobbes, that shot came out really well. I tried using my old 2x teleconverter, but its not of good quality and have abandoned using it any more. The tc you are using seems to give excellent results.

[scodgerott]

Hi Swissboy, I already have something like that on my hotshoe connection. I still have to line up the sight every time I fit it to the camera. Another problem I have is that the rotating switch on the sight is very stiff and almost impossible to turn on and off without affecting the sight's alignment.

[Hobbes2]

Originally Posted by scodgerott

Hi Hobbes, that shot came out really well. I tried using my old 2x teleconverter, but its not of good quality and have abandoned using it any more. The tc you are using seems to give excellent results.

Hi Roger
Thank you, yes, I used to use the Panasonic 1.7 teleconverter (DMW-LT55E) on my old FZ8 and always thought it gave very good results. I was pleased to be able to transfer it onto the FZ150.
All the best
Hobbes

[Mark Etheridge]

Cracking Whinchat shot, Hobbes (only just seen it!), I've now got an FZ150 for offshore and UK work (the Nikon DSLR now lives permanently in Spain) and the results are much better than I expected. I'm toying with the idea of the converter, but I can't justify it for offshore work - do you use it for all your shots now or only put it on when the bird is at distance?

(Missing you in "the other place", BTW )

[Hobbes2]

Originally Posted by Mark Etheridge

Cracking Whinchat shot, Hobbes (only just seen it!), I've now got an FZ150 for offshore and UK work (the Nikon DSLR now lives permanently in Spain) and the results are much better than I expected. I'm toying with the idea of the converter, but I can't justify it for offshore work - do you use it for all your shots now or only put it on when the bird is at distance?

(Missing you in "the other place", BTW )

Hi Mark
Really nice to 'see' you. I'm glad you're getting on well with the FZ150. I too have been very impressed with its capabilities even in low light. The stabilisation is extremely robust. Yes, I leave the 1.7 teleconverter on all the time. I bought the camera specifically to use as a 'long lens' and have my G3 with 100-300mm lens for closer shots. However, I do find I'm actually going to the FZ150 more often than not.

I was asked the other day what the downsides were to the FZ150. The main ones I could come up with were the slow start up speed (you can't just flick a switch and shoot) and the fact that every time you swtich on/off you have to reset the focus square back to the smallest size. I guess the bokeh isn't that nice but no-one expects small sensor cameras to produce images with tiny depths of field and attractive blur. All in all, the FZ150 has impressed me more than the G3 set up!

All the best
Hobbes

[scodgerott]

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.

[Neil]

Originally Posted by scodgerott

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.

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.

[Hobbes2]

Interesting to hear your experiences, Roger. I've not tried the camera in a forest setting but it's a shame that it struggles. I guess where contrast is low, the auto focus will find it difficult. I hope perhaps it is a fault which you can get fixed, if you see what I mean!
Hobbes

[seanofford]

Originally Posted by Hobbes2

Hi Mark
All in all, the FZ150 has impressed me more than the G3 set up!

All the best
Hobbes

Me too. I have sold my G3. Incidentally I have an Olympus TCON 1.7 (the original one) which I will be putting up for sale soon. If anyone here would like to get in first pm me.

Sean

[awhitehead2011]

Originally Posted by scodgerott

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.

Hello,
Just waiting for mine to arrive. Thanks to all the people I contacted, who gave me great advice, before I (eventually) made my decision! One simple point. I've looked at examples of images from all the other rival bridge cameras posted on Birdforum and to my eyes this camera gives the best images, these 2 are stunning! Coupled with the speed it has to be the best for photographing birds IMHO. Yes, not as good as DSLR but I like to walk a lot when I'm birding!

[hillie]

My wife couldn't decide between the Canon and the Panasonic, in the end she went with the FZ150. No regrets so far. Here is one taken at x 24 zoom of a heron.

[scodgerott]

Great heron shot. I would be very happy with this result.

[Swissboy]

Originally Posted by scodgerott

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?

[njlarsen]

Originally Posted by Neil

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

[scodgerott]

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.

[seanofford]

You didn't have it set on macro on the side did you?
Sean

[scodgerott]

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.

[Swissboy]

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.

[scodgerott]

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.

[Simon07]

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 ?

[Swissboy]

Originally Posted by Simon07

..........
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.