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

Panasonic FZ1000 Review... (1 Viewer)

Straight out of the Box today...still ''fumbling'' with the menus and buttons!

A few shots and grabs from the Lumix FZ1000.

The 1st Image was a c16.5cm Bullfinch taken circa 30+metres at full zoom 16x (400m).

The rest of the images (Stonechats) were taken as before full zoom 16x at circa 7m. am very happy with the 4k grabs...looking better than the shots?

At 2.5m and 16x, the images are superb! but when compressed they are not worth showing, will muddle through and hopefully produce more ''demanding'' shots later.

Forgot to add...no sharpening involved, just a small reduction in mid-tone.

Cheers
 

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This is so confounding !

I’d almost decided to take the plunge and KenM goes and does this. Thank you.

I’d hoped to see some shots taken in ‘our’ autumnal lighting conditions.

Below are three of my recent efforts with the FZ-150, taken whilst birding in the field. The last was in very low light, in a wood.

At the mo, therefore, I’m going to hold fire.
 

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Beautiful images. The FZ150 is a great camera and can produce terrific shots. The FZ1000 will produce better images, especially in lower light and is so much faster in every way. Its shorter lens can easily be made up for by cropping, either in PP or "in-camera".
 
Not bad for a first attempt. I think for small birds like this, you should try making your picture size smaller (10mp) and turning on iZoom. That will give you a 1120mm reach with great results. Give it a try, if you don't like it, go back to the way it was. Although what I've suggested can be done by cropping the original 20mp image, the extra zoom allows you to better see that the focus and exposure is correct.

I read you comment about the 4K video, it does give great results. Here are a couple from my camera.
 

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Not bad for a first attempt. I think for small birds like this, you should try making your picture size smaller (10mp) and turning on iZoom. That will give you a 1120mm reach with great results. Give it a try, if you don't like it, go back to the way it was. Although what I've suggested can be done by cropping the original 20mp image, the extra zoom allows you to better see that the focus and exposure is correct.

I read you comment about the 4K video, it does give great results. Here are a couple from my camera.

Thanks for that iZoom tip scodgerott!, and as for your 4K grabs....''a picture paints a thousand words'' springs to mind :t:
 
A couple of comparison Redwing shots on a very grey day at circa 80m+distant, taken with my 3 year old Sony on idiot mode at max 30x and the FZ1000 16x optical, cropped and auto corrected only.

Also a c12m distant shot of a Song Thrush (quite pleased with the result), again cropped, and with no sharpening or auto-correction.

Obviously the compression reduces the original (Redwings) by 90%+ and Song Thrush by c40%, although the shots are not up to Gallery standard :) I believe that being taken under challenging light and distance extremities, they might just show that reduced reach (50%) with the FZ1000 is somewhat compensated, by the 1'' sensor? Cheers
 

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Ah ! Now that’s (Song Thrush) more like it, KenM.

That’s precisely the kind of shot which could tip me, and my bank balance, over the edge.

Keep ‘em coming: I still need a little further persuasion.

Thanks.
 
Ah ! Now that’s (Song Thrush) more like it, KenM.

That’s precisely the kind of shot which could tip me, and my bank balance, over the edge.

Keep ‘em coming: I still need a little further persuasion.

Thanks.

Here are 3 shots I took with the FZ1000. One (the small bird with the nesting material in its beak) was taken at the 35mm equivalent of 1120mm. The other two are basically the same shot, but one image was taken from the 4k video and the other is a normal still shot. The 4K video offers a lot of potential to get good still shots at 25 fps.
 

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A few more shots from the FZ1000...Peregrine taken from the Millennium Bridge at circa 100 metres. F4, 125, AFS, ISO 250. considering the range, I was very pleased with the result.

Blackcap taken at c 8-10 metres, (was impressed with the result and AFS in P mode) very quick! However it did hunt on occasion, hope to test it on more challenging FMJ's later on.
 

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A few more shots from the FZ1000...Peregrine taken from the Millennium Bridge at circa 100 metres. F4, 125, AFS, ISO 250. considering the range, I was very pleased with the result.

..............

Looks like the focus is on the brick wall, though. Like all too often in such situations. I usually don't find out until it is too late.
 
Agreed Swissboy, a perennial problem :( Here are two more shots taken this am, Goldfinch at 2.5metres (from window)...and a 15-20m Song Thrush. Cheers
 

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Agreed Swissboy, a perennial problem :( Here are two more shots taken this am, Goldfinch at 2.5metres (from window)...and a 15-20m Song Thrush. Cheers

Both those shots look really good to me, especially the Goldfinch, as its closer and shows a lot more detail.
 
as its closer and shows a lot more detail.

I dont know if you have read the comments about the 150-600 mm lenses from Tamron and Sigma. These words could just as easily have come from there. The further the distance the less certain the AF and the less details are captured.

Niels
 
A few more shots from the FZ1000...Stonechat at c5m and 7m respectively, sequential Nuthatch at c25m.

Also timing the switch-on to focusing with AFC at 16x and image capture....average 3.8secs!!!

Am certainly impressed so far.
 

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Great Stonechats! The Nuthatches are over-stretching the limits a bit, I think. They are also underexposed for my liking.
 
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I agree somewhat with Swissboy, the chat shots are great, with loads of detail, the nuthatches lack definition. I assume you were using digital or izoom on those. I use izoom all the time and get quite good results with it, so I'm not sure why yours lack that detail.
 
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