Panasonic FZ1000 in 2024 = underrated

[Andrew Reid]

The lens on this thing is bonkers, most of the shots come out looking like they are shot on at least an APS-C sensor. The FZ1000 had been going for under 400 euros in recent months but I got lucky and found one for 150 at Foto-Meyer in Berlin.

I don't remember the lens ever being this good.

The close-focus ability is nuts.

The contrast at the long end is very nice for a 25-400mm, it is very crispy for such a ridiculous zoom and it is really quick to AF. The whole thing is more ergonomic and snappier to use than Sony's RX10 series too.

The 4K is a crop, that's the only flaw. Sony didn't let them use the later stacked 1" sensor so it has the older version.

It was a bargain at 900 euros 10 years ago and I think it is one of those shot-getters that has really stood the test of time, so a mega thumbs-up at 150-400 in 2024 from me.

The original review:

https://www.eoshd.com/review/panasonic-fz1000-review-bargain-4k-super-zoom/

[Emanuel]

I also bought mine for same price in 2018 when went to the private vendor to buy a 35-100mm f/2.8 zoom and left with a GX85 and FZ1000 for extra 300 euros :- )

[MrSMW]

I went with the RX10ii back in the day and my only criticism was the lack of low light performance otherwise it was a superb bit of kit for photo or video. At the time.

[BTM_Pix]

13 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

The original review:

https://www.eoshd.com/review/panasonic-fz1000-review-bargain-4k-super-zoom/

I bought an FZ1000 based on that review !

And then eventually moved up to the like the FZ1000 but on steroids FZ2000 (which I won’t bore everyone with banging the drum about again but it is an absolute belter).

However, as much as it has an edge everywhere else (NDs, v-LOG etc) the lens on the FZ2000 at its longest end isn’t quite as sharp as the FZ1000, albeit it that it has a longer reach.

 

[Tim Sewell]

1 hour ago, BTM_Pix said:

the lens on the FZ2000 at its longest end isn’t quite as sharp as the FZ1000,

I found it unusably soft - sent it back to MPB actually.

[FHDcrew]

Can confirm these are awesome. My church has 3 fz1000s being used in a multicam live-stream setup I built. Great image quality, awesome zoom range and clean HDMI out that is good except it doesn’t have the lowest latency out there. The lens so good especially on the long end. 

[FHDcrew]

Biggest caveat is I find them to be rather cheaply built. Micro HDMI sucks too. 

[Marcio Kabke Pinheiro]

Got one some time ago for around 280 euros in today's exchange.

Of course with some problems, but all far from deal breakers.
- The back LCD have some coating delamination, but only visible when it is turned off. Turned on, zero problems - id just a cosmetic issue.
- The EVF have a little "fogging", looks like the camera is using a black mist filter. But the stills and video ouput are perfect, hence for framing and exposure evaluation, is a no problem.
- There is a dust spot on the sensor. It is a very "glued" one - tried to dislodge it with a variety of methods, but with no sucess. Only appear with very close apertures in stills, and in video with some directional light.

Planning to clean the sensor myself - iFixit have a complete and detailed disassembly guide, and I guess that the sensor could be removed without removing the lens assembly like in their guide. Biggest trouble - to realign the sensor again after removing, the sensor assembly is mounted with screws + springs. Common method is to mark the screws positions, tight them to the end and count the number of rotations befor removing; my plan is to use this method in conjuction with a precision digital depth meter (already bought one), to measure the depth between the lens assembly and the sensor backplate around the screws. Using the two methods together, I guess that I could mount it again with good precision.

The images looks like that have a bit of "halation" - much less than the EVF one. Since the camera came from a beach city, my take is that some of the sea moisture entered the EVF and on the sensor surface, one more reason to clean the sensor.

But even in the current state, was weel worth the price. Is my live concert camera - since security generally have rules agains "cameras that change lenses", this one they cannot do nothing against. Stils are very good with a bit of sharpening post. Video have the greener cast of the GH4 pipeline era, but is good enough, and filming in Cinelike-D with a good LUT have a solid quality.

Love the ergos - I was "raised" with Panasonic cameras, and their ergos / interface are second nature for me. The camera feels a bit hollow, though.

One particular thing (that I don't know if it another issue from my unit) - the external mic input is VERY hot. With the external mike that I use on all my cameras (a Andycine M1), the level explodes even when turned down to a minimum. Will buy an attenuator cable (in fact, a headphone volume controller) to lower the input signal. The internal mikes were bad as the last Panasonic ones are - since it had two big grilles, I expected that were good ones like the GH2 had, but...not.

Like it a lot - my old M43s cameras had a a bit better IQ, and the X-S20 have a much better IQ, but for the praticality (and in most cases, being allowed into venues) and the current prices, was a very good aquisition.