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Panasonic FZ200 topic, 24x zoom with constant F2.8 aperture
  • 350 Replies sorted by
  • wielkiczarnyafganwielkiczarnyafgan

    Does anybody have direct comparison or can say which of those two cameras is better in low light conditions: FZ200 or panasonic AG-AC90? I suppose AC90 is better but I am still very curious.

  • jcmrjcmr

    Did anyone tried to use Twixtor plugin to make extreme slow motion with the FZ200? You think FZ200 can do the same or better than what is shown in this video?

  • wielkiczarnyafganwielkiczarnyafgan

    The what counts is framerate, not the camera... You will achieve the same effects with FZ200 as with every Canon or Panasonic etc... To achieve best twixtor effects you should record with maximum framerate possible ( and high shutter speed also like 1/500 etc. ). FZ200 has it's own High Speed 100/120fps mode, but quality drops a lot... So the best choice avaiable for you will be 50/60fps, 720/1080p

    EDIT: Personally I hope so that VK's team will be able to achieve 100/120fps output in normal 720p mode with some good bitrate.

  • dadixdadix

    @jcmr if you want slow motion you can do post processing in Avisynth with some scripts for free and it is better than any other paid software.

  • eyenortheyenorth

    Here are 3 shots first in 100fps, then interpolated with twixtor default settings to 800fps:

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @eyenorth

    Yep, this is how proper unpack videos must look like.

  • jcmrjcmr

    Hey guys. Thanks for the replies. @eyenorth Great video. You think 1080 at 50p with another subject like for example a bird flying or a person walking would give good results also?

  • eyenortheyenorth

    @jcmr

    It depends. If you have relatively fast motion in 2d space on screen then interpolation will be more difficult at lower framerates. F.ex. a CU of the bird, then the wings will give quite fast and big movements in 2d, and be difficult to interpolate from 50p to higher framerates. If the bird is further away, then the movements will be realtively smaller in 2d and easier to make higher framerates.

  • haribabisharibabis

    Short test from the SONY presentation in Thessaloniki, between FS100 and FZ200, reduced to 25% of the 100fps. I did not take high speed shots with FS700 because there is no point to compare it with FZ200 and also a file of 800fps as they inform me, takes about 15minutes to be written on the card!!!

    FZ200 normal 100fps (handheld)

    FS100 normal 100fps

    Only edit, i bring with vectorscope the signal between 0-100. In FZ200 it was from -10 to +120 and in SONY it was from 0 to +120

  • wielkiczarnyafganwielkiczarnyafgan

    Just donated the FZ200 research! :)

  • wielkiczarnyafganwielkiczarnyafgan

    I don't know why but I don't really like way that camera behaves in High Speed Mode - those artifacts are awfull... If only VK could hack FZ200 to provide 50/60fps in PSH mode and 100/120fps in SH mode...

  • jcmrjcmr

    Can anyone tell me of a good wireless remote shutter with timelapse that works with the FZ200? Thanks. Btw, I'm receiving my FZ200 tomorrow and I'm very excited :D

  • tcarrettitcarretti

    Well, just got an email from Panasonic about a one day sale. It showed the FZ200 advertised as "$250 Off" they just didn't say off of what...

    I pulled the trigger anyway and ended up getting it for $429 + tax, shipped to my door for a total of $464. Hopefully, it'll be worth it. FYI, it was through their Facebook Employee whatever program. I'm not an employee, but got the deal just the same in case anyone else was interested.

    Tony

  • jcmrjcmr

    I payed 510€ for the FZ200+Sandisk 16GB class10 45MB/s SDHC card from pixmania.

  • jcmrjcmr

    It has arrived!! I'm still exploring, but first thing I noticed was the zoom noise that Vitaliy also refered. If we zoom very very slowly while shooting video we can barely notice it in the captured video, but if we push the zoom lever all the way (zooming faster) it is easily audible out of the camera and in the captured video. In photo mode the zoom is even more audible out of the camera. I knew the noise was there and from the footage I saw here I thought it was very noisy, but honestly, it is even more noisy than I expected. But I have to say that I don't have a reference for this kind of cameras or lens because I never had one before, so I don't know what is the normal zoom noise to expect from them. I only used small point and shoot cameras, mainly Canon ones like the Ixus models and Powershots (not the power zoom ones). Since I don't think I will use the zoom many times while recording video, it doesn't bother me to much. Battery is charging now, so done exploring for a while. Btw my camera is made in Japan.

  • wielkiczarnyafganwielkiczarnyafgan

    Due to heavy zoom noise discussion - I shot some noise test with GH2:

    Shot with GH2 being 30cm away, recorded with built-in stereo microphone set to level 1 . Only noisy thing in a room was computer, which was 3 metres away. ( Remember to read the video description ).

  • jcmrjcmr

    Thanks for the video. I can hear the zoom noise in your video but just barely. Specially when you push the zoom lever all the way to the left or right just like you said in the description. I guess as expected our ears can pick the noise out of the camera much better than an internal mic at 30 cm. Unfortunately the internal mic of my camera can pick the zoom even if I try to zoom slower. But of course, zooming slower produce much lesser noise which I think is pretty much usable in video. Is there a way I can limit the sensibility of the internal mic of my camera?

  • jcmrjcmr

    Here is the first video I did with the camera. Sorry, filmed in vga because I was using the internal memory, I was so excited when the camera arrived that I started shooting even without puting the memory card in lol. Anyway, I can hear zoom noise in this video. Can you hear it too? The ambient noise is mainly my computer and the camera.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev
  • wielkiczarnyafganwielkiczarnyafgan

    I've shot another test in my garden.

    ISO 100 Focal length 672mm ( mostly ) and handheld PSH Full HD 50fps 28mbit/s mode ( render to 18mbit's ) some light colour correction and sharpening done

  • jcmrjcmr

    Very nice video. Those birds are just beautiful. I wish I could shoot videos like that, but I'm still struggling with the camera. Btw, can anyone tell me what setting I have to change so that my FZ200 stop doing this strange effect while I'm shooting video on iA mode indoors? I was just coming from outside, and going through my house corridor when I noticed this kind of ghost or lag in the LCD, and I thought it was just from the LCD but after I saw the footage it was there also. Outdoor and in bright sunlight it seems to work ok. I'm sure is something I'm doing wrong, but I don't know what.

  • wielkiczarnyafganwielkiczarnyafgan

    I suppose your camera automatically drops shutter time to low values like 1/10 1/ 20 in order to catch more light while indoors - when you are outside shooting in bright light- it doesn't occur - because there is enought light coming into sensor. Fast movement with low shutter values always creates motion blur...

    Solution?

    Use the Manual Movie Mode...

    jcmr- u are rookie, aren't you?

    Set recording mode dial to Manual control movie mode Set camera to PSH 1920x1080p mode ( I recomend ) Set ISO to lowest possible - ( example ISO 100 when outdoors ) and try to avoid using high values as ISO 800 and higher Set aperture to f.2.8 ( if too much light - then drop it to higher value as f.5.6 , f.8 and so on... ) Set shutter speed to 1/100 or ( 1/120 when shooting in NTSC ) or higher ( when too much light ) you can drop it to 1/50 in hardcore low light conditions, but never don't go below 1/50 or 1/60 ( NTSC ) otherwise it will provide too much motion blur...

    Remember that auto modes will not replace thinking, and will never give as good effects as manual control movie mode.

  • trevmartrevmar

    Actually, I routinely use 1/30 shutter in PSH Creative Movie mode. It gives nice, fluid, motion blur for my subjects, and easy YouTube (etc) streaming. The Shutter Preferred mode will automate some of your exposure decisions. It allows a fixed ISO to be selected, and then adjusts only the aperture. You can select down to 1/30 shutter in this mode, 1/8 in full-manual mode.

  • jcmrjcmr

    @wielkiczarnyafgan I'm definitely rookie. My photo and video experience until now have always been from a point and shoot perspective, and fortunately, or in this case, unfortunately, I always got very nice point and shoot experience, that always amazed me with the results. I usually film with an old miniDV Sony DCR-PC5E and I love the quality and its all automatic. I shooted some video with it to see if it did the same ghost effect has the FZ200 but it looked perfect. But I'm starting to learn the new terms (Aperture, Shutter speed) and how changing them affect the image. I'm struggling at this moment to make macro video and sometimes (not often) it focus on the subject fast enough but if I move out and in on the subject it often lose the focus and the image gets blurred for some seconds, sometimes I can't get the subject to focus again without zooming out and then zoom in the subject again. That never happened with my old camcorder. I'm sure its mostly user error here, since I'm still experimenting with this very complex and nice machine.

  • trevmartrevmar

    There is a switch on the side of the lens barrel which optimizes autofocus when the subject is close to the lens. It has three positions - Manual focus, auto with macro, and auto.

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