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ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Panasonic FZ150 (2 Viewers)

Hi Wendy, I like the owl looking up, but all 3 images have come out nice and sharp. For birds in flight, I usually use as high shutter speed as possible. I also set my focus area to the largest or second largest size. That will help you focus on the bird, because if you use the smaller sizes, its very hard to keep that area on the bird and your auto focus will shoot off to infinity. Also a must, use burst mode. 5 fps as a minimum, preferably 12 fps, although if you are in a situation where you might have a bird flying towards you, you may consider staying with the 5 fps (with autofocus between shots). Hope this is of assistance to you.
 
I did see a review on the Leica somewhere and the reviewer commented that the auto focus seemed much slower on the Leica than the Panasonic
My thoughts are that anyone who paid almost twice as much for what is basically the same camera would also be slower than someone who bought the Panasonic version.;)
 
Well, I have succumbed ;). Just taken delivery of my new FZ150 and adapter so that I can effectively use it as a super-long lens with my 1.7x teleconverter. I really like my G3 with 100-300mm lens but for shots of distant birds, it fails. I needed the extra reach. The battery is charging and I'm looking forward to trying it out.

One question, has anyone got any suggestions for the most compact/lightest bag for carrying the FZ150 with 1.7x converter attached, please? So far, the Lowepro Nova 180 AW or 190 AW (http://products.lowepro.com/product/Nova-180-AW,2105,20.htm or http://products.lowepro.com/product/Nova-190-AW,2106,20.htm) may do the trick or the Lowepro Stealth Reporter D100 AW (http://products.lowepro.com/product/Stealth-Reporter D100 AW,2044.htm), although that is a little on the heavy side.

Many thanks
Hobbes

I carry my similar sized Fuji in one of these

http://www.jessops.com/online.store/products/80856/show.html
 
Hi, just bought an fz150, had my eye on it since it was announced and gone through various dslr's etc. but if you haven't got the budget for decent lenses I dont think it really pays to go down that route. I also had the canon sx40 for a while and although the image quality was great, I wasn't impressed with the autofocus a lot of the time. I dont expect dslr speed but sometimes it would takes several times to get it to focus acurately, anyway to cut a long story short I decided after several months of looking and reading about the fz150 but not quite getting round to buying one I would go for it.
It should be here on Thursday, so looking forward to it, and in time for my day at the London bird watch too :) Just one thing, what size is the filter thread on it, as I know with the other fz's it was pretty small and sometimes, quite difficult to get them, but I'm sure I read that the filter size on this one was a bit bigger. Thanks, jacqui.
 
Hi, just bought an fz150, had my eye on it since it was announced and gone through various dslr's etc. but if you haven't got the budget for decent lenses I dont think it really pays to go down that route. I also had the canon sx40 for a while and although the image quality was great, I wasn't impressed with the autofocus a lot of the time. I dont expect dslr speed but sometimes it would takes several times to get it to focus acurately, anyway to cut a long story short I decided after several months of looking and reading about the fz150 but not quite getting round to buying one I would go for it.
It should be here on Thursday, so looking forward to it, and in time for my day at the London bird watch too :) Just one thing, what size is the filter thread on it, as I know with the other fz's it was pretty small and sometimes, quite difficult to get them, but I'm sure I read that the filter size on this one was a bit bigger. Thanks, jacqui.
52mm
Russ
 
I've had my FZ150 for a few days now and took it out for a proper test run today. Image quality is excellent for a small sensor camera, even in poor light. There is one thing that's bothering me though and I'm wondering if it's a fault or a quirk?! If I let the camera stay idle for a minute or so, the viewfinder stays active but none of the buttons function (i.e. I can't review photos already taken and I can't activate the focus function (although the zoom and shutter still work)). I have to turn the camera off and on again to get it working again. It seems like a fault. Anyone else noticed this?
Thanks
Hobbes
 
I've had my FZ150 for a few days now and took it out for a proper test run today. Image quality is excellent for a small sensor camera, even in poor light. There is one thing that's bothering me though and I'm wondering if it's a fault or a quirk?! If I let the camera stay idle for a minute or so, the viewfinder stays active but none of the buttons function (i.e. I can't review photos already taken and I can't activate the focus function (although the zoom and shutter still work)). I have to turn the camera off and on again to get it working again. It seems like a fault. Anyone else noticed this?
Thanks
Hobbes

Funny that you mention this. I've experienced the same issue the other
day, and am interested in what the experts say about it.
 
I would say that it is either a fault with the camera, or sleep mode is turned on. I have sleep mode turned off, but it still activates when I am in iA mode. I think the times can be set from one minute to 10 minutes, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Anyway, if the sleep mode is turned off, first make sure you're not in iA mode and if it still does it, then there is a fault with the camera. Also with sleep mode, the camera should come back to life by touching the shutter button.
 
I would say that it is either a fault with the camera, or sleep mode is turned on. I have sleep mode turned off, but it still activates when I am in iA mode. I think the times can be set from one minute to 10 minutes, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Anyway, if the sleep mode is turned off, first make sure you're not in iA mode and if it still does it, then there is a fault with the camera. Also with sleep mode, the camera should come back to life by touching the shutter button.

Hi Roger,
I knew you'd know ;). Thank you for replying. It is definitely a fault then as sleep mode functions perfectly. This 'locking up' of the electronics is a seperate phenomenon. I shall have to exchange the camera then.

I really have been impressed with the low light performance of this superzoom. These cameras have come on leaps and bounds since my FZ8, which I bought in 2007.
Thanks again,
Hobbes
 
If anyone is interested, dpreview have just added a review of the FZ150 to their website.

Ron

Link: http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicdmcfz150

Confirms it's one of the best superzooms and big improvement on FZ100. But not quite the image quality of more expensive cameras in other classes, so no regrets for me about sticking with my G3 (I find the "reach" of the G3 more than adequate if you use the Teleconverter setting to the max).

Jim
 
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Received my fz150 today, and so far, very pleased, tends to over expose a bit but it was a really bright day, just had -2/3rds exposure did the trick, so far very good images, although my husband has knocked up a temporary rubber eye cup for it using an old one from a dslr and some cardboard, surprisingly effective until I can sort something more permanent :) couldn't stand the amount of light it was letting in from the side because it was so bright today. But so far, so good :) jacqui
 
Had more of a chance to get out in the garden with the fz150 today and got a few bird shots, really pleased! (hope to upload a few shortly) the weird thing is though when I zoom in on the lcd its ok until about 8x and after that looks really poor. In the beginning I thought it was the quality of the actual images but when I got them on the pc they were fine, better than expected. I have just read (somewhere on a forum) that a few people have noticed this. Still, at least it wasn't the actual images. Just one other thing, to Hobbes: I noticed what you were saying about the buttons etc not working/freezing. I noticed this today, suddenly none of the buttons would work and it seemed to 'freeze'. I then realised that my finger, whilst holding the lens barrel was just slightly pushing against the zoom/focus lever and as soon as I let it go it was fine again. Worried me for a few seconds though. I hope you dont mind me suggesting this, I know its a silly mistake to make, but, hey, we all do it. Im sure if its happened more than a few times or for longer than a few seconds then yours is probably something different, just thought I would mention it, just in case. (hope you dont take offence and think I am accusing you of making a simple error, probably just me ) :)
 
Had more of a chance to get out in the garden with the fz150 today and got a few bird shots, really pleased! (hope to upload a few shortly) the weird thing is though when I zoom in on the lcd its ok until about 8x and after that looks really poor. In the beginning I thought it was the quality of the actual images but when I got them on the pc they were fine, better than expected. I have just read (somewhere on a forum) that a few people have noticed this. Still, at least it wasn't the actual images. Just one other thing, to Hobbes: I noticed what you were saying about the buttons etc not working/freezing. I noticed this today, suddenly none of the buttons would work and it seemed to 'freeze'. I then realised that my finger, whilst holding the lens barrel was just slightly pushing against the zoom/focus lever and as soon as I let it go it was fine again. Worried me for a few seconds though. I hope you dont mind me suggesting this, I know its a silly mistake to make, but, hey, we all do it. Im sure if its happened more than a few times or for longer than a few seconds then yours is probably something different, just thought I would mention it, just in case. (hope you dont take offence and think I am accusing you of making a simple error, probably just me ) :)

Hi Jacqui
Really glad you like the camera. I'm not offended at all ;). It's useful to suggest these things just so we can check. Unfortunately, I think with mine, it is a fault and I've ordered a replacement. The new one should arrive next week so no problem really.
Have fun!
Hobbes
 
I would say that it is either a fault with the camera, or sleep mode is turned on. I have sleep mode turned off, but it still activates when I am in iA mode. I think the times can be set from one minute to 10 minutes, but I'm not 100% sure about that. Anyway, if the sleep mode is turned off, first make sure you're not in iA mode and if it still does it, then there is a fault with the camera. Also with sleep mode, the camera should come back to life by touching the shutter button.

Thank you!

It was related to the sleep mode, and I now have it turned off.
 
Well, I returned the faulty model and a new one arrived today. Hopefully, it'll be fully functional.

A couple of observations though.

1. When attaching the x1.7 teleconverter and setting the camera function "Conversion" to 'tele', I've noticed that the image stabilisation actually ceases to function from x22 zoom onwards i.e. x23 and x24 are unstabilised! Crazy. However, if you switch off 'tele' in the "Conversion" function, the stabilisation at x23 and x24 is reactivated. I've no idea if this is a glitch or the way it's meant to be?? Anyway, I'd advise that when using the 1.7 teleconverter attachment, DON'T switch the camera to 'tele'. (Incidentally, you can check this easily without attaching the 1.7 converter. Just try focusing at x24 zoom with 'tele' activated and then without. You'll see the difference (I hope, unless I have another faulty model!??).)

2. Is there any way to switch off the "The zoom will now return to the same position to when the unit was turned off" message when you turn on the camera?

3. Is there any way to stop the zoom from being retracted after ~20 seconds when you press the review button. It's very annoying that it retracts whilst checking through shots!?

Thanks
Hobbes
 
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