Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Shooting Modes (Part 5 of FZ1000 Review)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 shooting modes (Part 5 of FZ1000 Review)

If you haven't read them yet, parts 1, 2, 3 & 4 can be found at the links below.
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (part 1)
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 2)
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Part 3)
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Part 4)

 

The Lumix FZ1000's mode dial has all the shooting modes represented by a white icon on a black background. There are two intelligent Auto modes: Intelligent Auto and Intelligent Auto Plus. Both use scene detection to determine correct exposure using one of nine scene modes including portrait, macro, handheld night shot, baby, and sunset.

 

If the camera is on a tripod, Intelligent Auto sets a slower shutter speed than for hand-held shots and automatically sets face/eye detect autofocus, backlight compensation, and intelligent ISO, i.resolution, and i.dynamic and enhances images with sharpness or contrast.

 

Intelligent Auto Plus allows you to change the auto exposure settings. Both modes allow background defocus to produce more or less depth of field, but Intelligent Auto Plus allows exposure compensation and color balance adjustment using the rear thumb dial. Other menu settings available in Intelligent Auto Plus include photo styles, image quality, and single or continuous AF.

 

In the PASM modes the rear thumb dial is used to change exposure settings. In Manual mode you switch between aperture and shutter speed control by pressing the dial.

 

The FZ1000 can use a mechanical or electronic shutter. The range of the mechanical shutter is 60s to 1/4000 plus a bulb setting with a maximum of two minutes. The electronic shutter extends the shutter speed range to 1/16000. Silent mode automatically selects the electronic shutter and turns off the flash, AF illuminator, and other sounds.

 

The FZ1000's mode dial's palette icon provides access to 22 Creative control filter effects.

 

Four of the filters are monochrome- Monochrome, Rough Monochrome, Silky monochrome, and Dynamic monochrome. Others include Old days, Toy pop, Bleach bypass, Fantasy and sunshine.

  

Most Creative effects filters can be adjusted, and can be used with video, except Rough monochrome, Silky monochrome, Soft focus, Star filter and Sunshine. Creative effects cannot be applied in 4K which needs the mode dial to be set to Creative video.

 

The Multiple Exposure mode can automatically combine up to four images. The Lumix FZ1000 has a traditional Time Lapse Shot mode and Stop Motion Animation. In either mode, the FZ1000 can assemble the sequence into a movie; the still photos are kept if you want to use them later.

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Viewfinder and Screen (Part 4 of FZ1000 Review)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 4)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Viewfinder and Screen

If you haven't read them yet, parts 1, 2, & 3 can be found at the links below.
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (part 1)
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 2)
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Part 3)

The FZ1000 has an articulated 3-inch screen and high quality OLED electronic viewfinder with 0.7x (35mm equivalent) magnification for composition.

 

The native 3:2 image ratio for stills doesn't fill the 4:3 viewfinder, so narrow black bands appear at the top and bottom. These areas display information; shooting mode, photo style, flash mode, movie mode, image size and quality, focus mode and battery life on the top; and metering mode, aperture and shutter speed, exposure compensation and card capacity at the bottom.

 

The viewfinder quality is excellent. It's big and bright although there is a slight lag when panning.

 

The 3-inch TFT LCD screen has 920k dot resolution and is 3:2 proportioned so stills fill the entire screen area. The articulated screen can be positioned at any angle and folded in when not in use.

 

An eye sensor underneath the FZ1000's viewfinder switches from screen to viewfinder when you raise your eye to it. If you want to see the EVF image as soon as you put your eye to it, Fn5 toggles between EVF and screen displays. This is also useful to stop the EVF switching when you don't want it to, for instance I found this pretty annoying when shooting from the hip or kneeling down.

 

The Disp button on the rear toggles between the four viewfinder displays:

1. full information
2. full information with a two-axis level
3. exposure details
4. exposure details with a two-axis level
   The viewfinder display is replicated when you switch to the screen, but the screen has two extra options: a detailed information only display and blank.
    
   If you're not using the screen, set the blank option as it uses less battery power.

Part 5 of Panasonic FZ1000 Review (Shooting Modes)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Autofocus (Part 3 of FZ1000 Review)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 3)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Autofocus

If you haven't read them yet, parts 1 & 2 can be found at the links below.

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (part 1)
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 2)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Autofocus

 

The FZ1000 has a contrast-based AF system with 49 AF areas. It supports eye as well as face detection.

 

The FZ1000 uses the same defocus DFD technology as the Panasonic GH4, which profiles the out-of-focus characteristics of the lens to establish where the focus is. This lets the FZ1000 get close to the correct point of focus quickly, before using traditional contrast-based method to fine-tune.

 

The autofocus is quite fast, even in fairly low light levels. The FZ1000 has good focusing assistance for manual focusing including peaking, and the ring on the lens barrel can be configured to adjust focus rather than zoom.


See part 4 here: FZ1000 Viewfinder and LCD Screen

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Design and Controls (Part 2 of FZ1000 Review)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 2)

Part 1 of the Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review can be found here. 

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Design and Controls

 

The Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 is more like a DSLR than a standard super zoom. The only similarity to a super zoom is the fixed lens. I did consider the Sony RX10 or RX100 instead as they are smaller form factors and both have the criteria I wanted.

 

The FZ1000 measures 137x99x131 mm and weighs 831 g with battery and SD card. It is quite hefty; an entry level DSLR such as the Nikon D3300 with a 18-55mm kit lens actually weighs 20% less than a FZ1000.

 

The size makes it comfortable to hold and also allows ample room for the FZ1000's numerous physical controls.

 

The FZ1000's large lens barrel diameter provides good support for your left hand and allows comfortable operation on the dual purpose zoom/focus ring. The zoom ring is smooth but slow, so small adjustments are better with the rocker switch around the shutter.

 

There's a mode dial on the top left, and the main mode dial on the upper right side. A rear thumb dial is only control wheel. The dial is pushed in to switch function between aperture and shutter in manual mode.

 

The FZ1000 has five programmable function buttons. Fn1 is slightly larger and protrudes slightly, making it easy to differentiate from the smaller, flush mounted Fn2 behind it. Fn5 to the back left of the viewfinder toggles the display between the electronic viewfinder and the LCD screen. In default mode this happens automatically via an eye sensor below the eyepiece, but it's good to have the override when shooting from the waist using the articulated screen. Fn3, the Q.menu button, is on the right side of the viewfinder close to Fn4 which is the four-way controller. Also on the back right are a three-way switch for selecting AF modes, the playback button, and display overlay toggle button.

 

There's a mini HDMI port, USB / A/V out port, and a socket for the DMW-RSL1 wired remote on the right side of the body. On the other side there's a port for an external stereo microphone, but no headphone socket.

 

From a full charge you can get 360 shots from the FZ1000's DMW-BLC12E battery, so spare batteries are essential. I bought an extra three and so far haven't needed more.

 

The FZ1000 has a pop-up flash which is raised by sliding a switch on the right of the viewfinder. It has a maximum range of 13.5 meters and has forced on, forced on red-eye, slow sync and slow sync red-eye modes. The standard hot shoe allows you to fit an external flash. I've tested it with a few Yongnous and it works fine.


Read Part 3 of Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Links to parts)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Part 1) Introduction


Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 2) Design & Controls
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Part 3) Autofocus
Pansonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Part 4) Viewfinder & Screen
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Review (Part 5) Shooting Modes

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 1)

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 review (Part 1)

 

I've had the FZ1000 for a few months now and thought I'd share some thoughts on it. I was choosing between the FZ and the RX10II, but as far as I could make out the FZ1000 did everything I wanted at a lower price than the RX10II. I didn't care about photos as I use my Canon 6D for images. I was primarily interested in the 4K and slo-mo video capabilities. Both of these lived up to my expectations.  

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Introduction

 

The Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 is a DSLR-styled super-zoom camera with a 16x / 25-400mm range, a 1 inch sensor and 4k video recording. The FZ1000 was the first compact camera to record video at resolutions up to 4K (3,840x2,160) in MP4 at 30/25fps or 24fps.

The FZ1000 has a 20 MP/1 inch sensor with four times the surface area of models delivering lower noise, wider dynamic range, and higher resolution. The lens starts at f2.8 on the wide-end and ends at f4 at the long end.

The FZ1000 has the same fully-articulated 3 inch LCD screen and a 2359k dot OLED viewfinder as the Lumix GH4, top shutter speeds of 1/4000 or 1/16000 (with mechanical or electronic shutters), 12fps continuous shooting, built-in Wifi with NFC, autofocusing down to -4EV, and defocus profiling from the GH4, an external mic socket, and support for 1080p video at up to 120fps (100fps in PAL regions), or 4K UHD at 25 or 30fps.


Part 2 of the review can be found here.

Godox SDi250 Studio Strobe Review

What's in the Box?

1. One 250w/s Godox SDi250 Smart Studio Flash
2. One Sync Cord, One (1) Power Cord
3. One Modeling Light
4. One Instruction Manual

Features

• Durable Aluminum Housing
• High Power in Compact Size
• Buzz Function
• One Fire Anti-Preflash System
• Precise LED Power Display
• Multiple Auto-self Protections

Model 250SDi 300SDi Max Power(ws) 250WS 300WS Guide Number(ISO100) 48 58 Flash Power Variation 8 steps Recycle Time 0.5~2s Modelling Lamp(w) 75W (adjustable) Color Temperature 5600K±200K Trigger Mode Test button，Sync cord，Flash trigger，Slave Operating voltage 220V/50Hz or 100V~120V/60Hz Flash Duration 1/2000-1/800s Triggering Voltage 5V DC Fuse 5A 5A(220V); 8A(100V~120V)

(Source: Godox Photo Equipment Co., Ltd) 

Godox has the Smart Studio Strobe in 250w/s and 300w/s models, the 250SDI and 300SDI respectively. They are also sold under the names, Blazzeo, Neewer, and Cowboy Studio.

I bought three Godox 250SDIs for less than $300. One 250SDI is equal to the power of an Alien Bee 400 for the same price as a Yongnuo speed light! If you want extra power you can try the bigger brother, the SDI300, which is about half a stop more powerful than the SDI250. There is also the smaller 160w/s SD strobe which appears to fit into the same product lineup but is not the exact same series.

I have been using them for about five months an the quality is good and I have had no problems with any of the three 250SDI units I own. (2014-11 UPDATE: The sync port on two of my three units has stopped functioning, making them only useable in slave mode. A considerable nuisance and a letdown considering they are just over a year old)

I use them mostly with 80 cm brolly boxes, but I have used one in my 180 cm parabolic umbrella and it filled it perfectly (I used to need three speedlights to fill this umbrella).

The light fittings themselves will fit onto any standard light stand, and have a hole for an umbrella. The flash heads are daylight-balanced at 5600 K, so the color is accurate so long as you have white balanced. With a guide number of 48m (98.5ft) at ISO 100 I find that I need to back up the lighting quite a bit in even to shoot at large apertures like F8.  

The flash head has a stated recycling time of 0.5 to 2 seconds. It seems to be a bit longer when used at maximum output, but I have not timed it to check the exact time. Even at the lowest power setting they seem to recharge slower than my Yongnuo YN560s, which was disappointing as I expected AC powered strobes to be significantly better in this regard. Although comparing it to similarly priced options this isn’t bad, but won’t cut it for fast-paced shoots. If speed is a priority for you, then there are better (read: more expensive) options. There is a buzz function to tell you when the unit is ready to fire again.

 
The range of power is rated at five or six stops. It seems to be closer to four stops. The power level is adjusted by a dial which has a "LED Precise Power Display." The blue LED bars are useful for reference in a dark studio but are anything but "precise."

The LED power indicators are not quite linear and appear to be in increments of between quarter and half stops.

 
It can be triggered by a sync cord or optical trigger (slave mode). I have tried both methods and both work perfectly. I use Phottix Strato II triggers to trigger with the sync cord. The Slave 2 anti-preflash setting allows it to be used with flashes that have preflash as it only fires on the second flash.
 
My main problem with them is they only have a 75W modeling lamp, which is useless if there is even a little ambient light. This may not be a problem for some people, but for me, modeling lights is one of the reasons I chose to change from speedlights to studio strobes.
 
It does not have cooling fan, but I wouldn't expect lights at this price point to come with fans. I haven't had any problems with units overheating even when enclosed in a brolly box (note that I generally do not use the almost worthless modeling light).
 

The light casing is well built and is all aluminum with a bakelite plastic stand mount. So it is relatively strong and sturdy but still lightweight.

Overall, I can agree with the Godox's statement that the quality, reliability, and durability of the SDi250 is perfectly adequate for non-demanding portrait, fashion, wedding art, advertisement photography, shooting video, etc.

 

I plan on buying one or two of the 160w/s versions too as there are times 250w/s is too much power indoors. I will also try out the Godox beauty dishes with these and let you know how well they work.