Panasonic FZ-200 (2 Viewers)

[Borjam]

The shot looks pretty good to me. Apparently the F2.8 setting doesn't give the absolute best image quality, but from what I've seen, you have to look hard to tell the difference. I always shoot jpeg, but I know RAW allows you a greater latitude with post processing. As you practice with the camera, you'll become more familiar with its various settings and you'll get better images, especially in adverse lighting conditions.

I always shoot raw. There is some magic sauce that can help a lot. In this case I just made a straight conversion to JPEG to show what the camera can achieve without trickery, which is amazing in my opinion. Even the noise is surprisingly low.

I've noticed that the camera may have some tendency to overexpose, but, anyway, shooting in "A" mode with center weight (the mode I usually use) I can just set it to underexposed by a stop and a third and that solves the problem for me.

I've just bought a circular polarizer, a real must especially when shooting birds in water. And the 2.8 aperture gives you a great margin, you can sacrifice some with the polarizer.

 

[Jock Elliott]

Eagle robs heron; caught with FZ200

For the FZ200 fans here, check this out:

http://www.seriouscompacts.com/showthread.php?t=29478

Cheers, Jock

 

[scodgerott]

An excellent series of shots Jock. Its shows one of the strengths of having a big zoom, fixed lens camera. You can do it all with one lens and a sharp lens as well.

 

[Biancone]

BIF - stabilization off

Can't remember where I read that it can be beneficial to turn off stabilization when attempting birds in flight using high shutter speeds with the FZ200. Possibly somewhere earlier in this long thread. It certainly wasn't my idea. But I tried it and just wanted to pass on the fact that I found it useful, especially in good light and at 1300 or 1600 shutter speed. Haven't got any objective tests; just my impression that several recent images of flying raptors (my only subject) have been noticeably better than than previously, when I always had stabilization ON, and when I'd always get a large proportion of fuzzy images. I have no idea how stabilization works or how it could possibly reduce image quality - but there you go. A few samples attached (all have been edited a little besides cropping, perhaps lighting tweaked or suchlike). Breaking the rule of only changing one parameter at a time I've also been trying continuous focus; this also seems to work tolerably well for birds that are not moving at high speed and especially not directly towards or away from the camera. Also use the burst mode. I have been quite pleased with some of these recent images but of course one is still stuck with basic limitations of the camera class; don't look at 100%!
PS. and don't forget to turn it back on for video.
Brian

 

[njlarsen]

I need to try that with my m4/3 camera

Niels

 

[Swissboy]

....... A few samples attached (all have been edited a little besides cropping, perhaps lighting tweaked or suchlike). ..........PS. and don't forget to turn it back on for video.
Brian

VERY convincing results, I'd say. Just the question about your editing. Did you use any sharpening ad well?

And I don't understand your PS.

 

[Biancone]

Did you use any sharpening ad well?

And I don't understand your PS.

Hi, Yes very slight USM (but most of my past images have been too fuzzy for sharpening to make any useful difference). The PS refers to the need for stabilization to be ON for video. Well, I dont know much about video, I just know that in the one trial I did the bird was jumping around like crazy in the video but usually the videos I capture are acceptable and I assumed this is because stabilization is usually ON. Perhaps its obvious I'm not a photographer. I don't know what effect there might be on RAW files because I've never had results that seemed to justify the time needed to learn how to process them!
Brian

 

[njlarsen]

Video has a lot less pixels than stills, so another way to look at it is that the tradeoffs do look different when doing video

Niels

 

[ben_lewis]

Apologies if it's already been discussed, but having just bought one of these excellent cameras I was wondering what settings people are using?

I would like to set the custom settings so that I can quickly access them while out in the field.
So what settings do you find best for
A) birds perched/relatively still
B) birds flying
C) I assume the macro feature will not need adjusting for the best insect photography.

I have had a play and found that various settings work quite well but wondered if anyone has any other suggestions.

Many thanks- Ben

 

[scodgerott]

Apologies if it's already been discussed, but having just bought one of these excellent cameras I was wondering what settings people are using?

I would like to set the custom settings so that I can quickly access them while out in the field.
So what settings do you find best for
A) birds perched/relatively still
B) birds flying
C) I assume the macro feature will not need adjusting for the best insect photography.

I have had a play and found that various settings work quite well but wondered if anyone has any other suggestions.

Many thanks- Ben

Hi Ben, have fun with the new camera. Most of my settings relate to the size of the focus square and the burst mode. For birds perched, I use the default focus square, or the smallest one. Usually the smallest one, but every time you turn off the camera, it reverts back to the default setting the next time its turned on. With birds in flight I always make the focus square larger, usually one size larger than the default, as this makes it easier to keep the bird in the focus area, with the smaller sizes its very difficult to keep the bird in the small focus square. I always use 5.5FPS burst mode although not as quick as the 12 FPS it lasts a lot longer and is better for moving subjects. For stationary birds the 12FPS is really good, but I seldom remember to change it.

I would also turn off "Quick AF", as that stops the camera from focusing on everything its pointing at, like the ground and if you use AFS, the camera will hold the focus at whatever distance you had previously focused upon. I think that it speeds up the focus a little using it like that, as the focus probably isn't going from close in to further out.

Hope this helps and doesn't confuse.

 

[ben_lewis]

Thanks for that, very useful, still trying out the settings in different situations.

 

[Stephen Mark]

Alidea
I red your post about US version of the FZ200. Could you elaborate?
Thanks
Steve

 

[Swissboy]

New to the FZ-200

Got my FZ200 today which will replace my trusted FZ150. I'll have to use the two cameras side by side first, till I'm sufficiently familiar with the new one.
So far some first comments:
-The EVF is greatly improved. But I have some problems looking through it with my glasses which I need to wear at all times if I'm to see things well.
- I notice that it takes considerably more care to get the battery in the correct way around. On the FZ150, one side was rounded thus preventing wrong placement when in a hurry. Also, I much preferred the previous charger that could be plugged into the outlet directly. Now a cable must be taken along. :-C Maybe that's because the battery has become too heavy?
- I think the old camera has a somewhat more slip-proof surface. So it will be even more important to secure it with the strap. Could this difference come from the fact that the new camera has "Made in China" on it, whereas the older model comes with a "Made in Japan" sticker?
- Are there users who prefer the new on-off switch? That will take some getting used to for me. And of course I will need to get accustomed to some new placements of the buttons, trying not to inadvertantly touch the "wrong" ones.
So, it's more negative remarks then, but most importantly, the camera should have a clean picture again. The reason for having replaced the FZ150.

 

[Swissboy]

I tried my new camera yesterday at an air show, going the learning-by-doing way. As I have owned an FZ150 for years, I did not feel completely lost despite the fact that there had been no time to read any instructions provided in digital form only.
So, over all things went smoothly as far as I tried them out, except for struggling with the wheel at the rear. It took a while till I had found out how the exposure compensation system works. And likewise, I felt the focus area change did not work reliably. But most likely, it was a matter of how to deal with it. But for a time, I switched back to my FZ150 before trying the new model again.
Unfortunately, the FZ200 has two of he same drawbacks as the 150: For one, that a preferred focus area size can't be stored. So every time I switch off the camera to conserve energy, I then need to re-enter my preferred setting. A wide area is preferably used for flying objects, regardless whether these are birds or airplanes.
Second problem is the burst mode. Why do the pictures of each burst (or series) need to be in separate folders? I had close to 250 such folders at the end of the one day, completely preventing an overview of my photos. And getting the shots in line with the rest is a completely stupid and time consuming repeat operation. Does anybody know of how to get around this? The only thing I found out is that it could be prevented if no time is set in the camera. But that's not an attractive option.

 

[lulubelle]

I have read through every single post because I was considering buying this camera. After reading all the comments, I am curious if, at this point, would any of you have chosen to go with another brand?

 

[Swissboy]

I have read through every single post because I was considering buying this camera. After reading all the comments, I am curious if, at this point, would any of you have chosen to go with another brand?

So far, I have been quite happy with the new camera. Maybe part of it is that it's sufficiently similar to all my previous FZ models that it did not take much to feel comfortable with the new one. The negative points I had mentioned earlier are not that critical to me, and I can now use the EVF more comfortably with my glasses on. It just took a bit of getting used to. In fact, I keep using the FZ150 as well. So it's easy to switch back and forth. You might check Sony (Sony Cyber-shot DSC-HX400V) and Canon (Canon PowerShot SX60 HS, only just announced) as well. These have much longer optical zooms. But I question the usefulness to a certain extent unless one uses the longer extension for stationary objects only.

 

[timmyjones]

For anyone who is looking to get a teleconverter for their FZ-200, I have a top quality Nikon TC-E15ED 1.5x listed here

http://www.birdforum.net/showthread.php?p=3107367#post3107367

 

[Swissboy]

video problem when panning

I notice that the video function has problems with panning operations. It seems to run less smoothly than on my FZ150. The result are choppy sequences instead of a smooth vision.

My FZ200 is the European version, whereas the FZ150 is the North American one. Could it be that the difference comes from the fact that Europe uses 50 Hertz whereas North America has 60 Hertz AC standards? Any suggestions to improve on this for my camera?

 

[Swissboy]

..... Any suggestions to improve on this for my camera?

Well, so far my own conclusion is to buy in North America in the future. Possibly the FZ1000 in summer? Though I kind of dread the idea of getting a - once again - larger and heavier camera.

 

[njlarsen]

I notice that the video function has problems with panning operations. It seems to run less smoothly than on my FZ150. The result are choppy sequences instead of a smooth vision.

My FZ200 is the European version, whereas the FZ150 is the North American one. Could it be that the difference comes from the fact that Europe uses 50 Hertz whereas North America has 60 Hertz AC standards? Any suggestions to improve on this for my camera?

No, video differences comes in in a different way, using pal vs other standards etc. As far as I recall, common video is at 24 or 25 frames per second, so a difference that is negligible. Interlaced vs non-interlaced may be a bigger difference. It will probably still be worth your time looking through the video menu to make sure you know what video encoding you have available and test a couple of them out.

Niels