My FZ1000 has arrived at last.

[Colin Rowe]

Thanks Roger. The grabs are well below the files ize limit for upload. Will try a few different resolutions

[Chris Harding]

Hi Colin

I seem to remember that I had an issue with physical dimensions on a forum once so maybe over 3000 pixels is too wide???

While we are talking computers what is the next step in processors ...I have one i5 (much too slow) and then an i7 2600 which is also very jumpy using Vegas 10 ..I don't see i9 processors listed yet???

Last question : I have Win7 Pro and my MP4 and AVCHD 1080 files will play in Media Player with no problem at all but the Slomo MP4 100fps files are not recognised and neither are the 4K ones by media player. It's no massive issue as Sony Vegas recognises and plays both with no issues!!

Chris

[Chris Harding]

Just a heads up Roger

I have read in a few places that if you put a 62mm filter on this lens it does vignette slightly and full wide angle so as I have a couple of 67mm filters already I've ordered a step up ring (62-67) to make sure it doesn't do it (plus I already have 67mm ND's and from a few tests in bright sun the camera seems to benefit from having a ND4 in full sun ... if you have any 62mm filters from the FZ200 (if they are the same) it might be worth checking if the filter does in fact vignette at 25mm??

Chris

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

I don't see i9 processors listed yet???

Because they don't exist? A i7-4790 is a popular processor now and used in most sold pc's, Dell is currently selling a xps 8700 with such a processor and 24gb of memory, a 2tb harddrive and a GTX 750Ti 2 GB DDR5 card for 1080 euro (there is a 100 euro cashback) with windows 8 delivered to my door which is dirt cheap. I was planning to get it to replace my 4 year old pc but Dell is known for limiting expansion possibilities and locking bios features to prevent people from messing about so that might be a problem if I want to use quicksync in edius.

[Colin Rowe]

Chris.
I use a 62mm Fotga fader ND, its always on the camera for exterior shots, no vignette problems

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Colin that's good to know ! I actually have a brand new Hoya ND 4 filter that I bought for my Sony but never used so I figured it would be more practical to get a step up ring for a few bucks and put it to use

Some of my bright sun footage looked a little blown out today (I try NOT to shoot in open sun but brides often do a ceremony here in the sun) I just did a quick test with the ND4 in front of the lens and it makes it a lot better. I can now just use a 62mm then on the second camera!

Chris

[Roger Gunkel]

I've got a couple of Hoya 62 mm filters coming tomorrow, so I will see how I get on with them.

Roger

[Peter Rush]

I've just gone back to using an ND filter after smashing my Genus ND Fader last year and remembered the one real issue I had with it - forgetting to take it off when going indoors - seriously I could film for 5 minutes before noticing the gain was too high and I'd forgotten to take it off!!! I was using a Hoya ND4 on my A7 on two weddings this weekend and in bright sunlight I could keep the shutter around 100/200 without stopping down too much.

On a positive note you guys should consider the Xume magnetic adapters - big time/frustration savers

Pete

[Noa Put]

On a positive note you guys should consider the Xume magnetic adapters - big time/frustration savers

Until your filter pops off and hits the ground, happened to me with a expensive filter causing it to crack. The magnetic ring doesn't come off by normal use but I accidentally bumped it while attaching the camera to a belt and next thing I see my filter flying through the air, I"m screwing my filters onto the lens now, much safer.

[Steve Burkett]

I looked into the magnetic adapter - but ease of attachment vs stability when I'm on the move and I do move pretty quickly at times. I prefer my £300 investment in variable ND to feel more secure. And to be honest, unless it sticks, I can attach it in under 5 seconds.

[Peter Rush]

My problem is, at a wedding i can go from sunny outdoors to dark interiors a dozen times in 5 minutes if there's a lot going on - also the lens hood on my main lens (zeiss 24-70) will not allow my fingers to get in there to screw a filter in without getting fingermarks all over it but i can just get my tips.in to pop off the xume

[Roger Gunkel]

Finally got to use the FZ1000 at a school production of Joseph. It was in a local theatre/venue with lights that were a lot better than the usual school efforts, but with no white fed in at all. The production was on a large stage about 5ft high, with a full youth orchestra and a youth and adult choir. All of the seating was in sliding out. tiered format, so very theatre like with the orchestra on the floor at the front. We were able to remove about 5 seats about 3 rows back for the best filming position, and set up two follow cameras and two full stage, with the FZ1000 doubling up the full stage video cam as I wasn't totally sure how it would behave. I also had a long chat with the sound engineer and took a feed from his desk to a Zoom H1, but more about that on the radio mic thread. I also had of the two cameras with their own mics, one higher sensitivity directional mic into another camera and another sound recorder with a feed from one on the Boya radio mics on the front edge of the stage.

I use a video mixer for the output from each camera, so that Claire and I can see all four cameras on one screen while filming, but unfortunately we couldn't get a line out from the LUMIX to the mixer, but wasn't a problem.

The colours on the FZ1000 were very crisp and bright, and I left it on auto to see how it managed. I have to say that I was mightily impressed with it's speed at adjusting effectively to various changes of colour and light levels. The lighting extremes on stage were quite marked at times, so the camera did very well at striking a good average level. At times there was pronounced Zebra striping as highlights were starting to blow, but at the same time other parts of the pic were extremely dark, but that does tend to be the nature of theatre productions with no proper balance of white light for video. I took some shots of the orchestra in very faint light infront of the stage and the camera handled it much better than I expected from some of the comments and reviews that I have seen. Certainly very useable and I will attempt to show some of it once we have finished all the filming this week.

First impressions are very positive and confirms to me that the decision I made to buy the camera is one I am definitely not going to regret. I did only film in 25p tonight and the 29.59sec recording time fitted just into the two halves of the show. As I am going down to DVD the results will be excellent and will allow for a certain amount of cropping.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

Thanks for the feedback! Was all that done at the Standard setting or did you use the Cinelike settings?
I'm sticking for now with Standard (they can also be tweaked anyway) Regarding Dynamic range issues you seemed to have, you know there is an iDynamic setting in the menu?

Looking forward to comments once you have finished your run of productions


Chris

[Roger Gunkel]

Hi Chris,

I was just using the standard setting which seems to give good results and colour. The dynamic range was not really an issue with the camera, but more down to massive variations in the light levels from time to time. There are often lighting hotspots in these type of productions and I could underexpose to bring the highs down, but feel it would lose some of the impact of the shots.

I'm not convinced that iDynamic would have added anything in this instance and a lot of the footage was superb for the majority of the time. I get used to being frustrated with theatre lighting when now allowance is made or understood for video.

Still lots more experimenting to do and another production this evening.

Roger

[Steve Burkett]

I think too much is sometimes expected from dynamic range. TV shows and movies benefit from dedicated lighting for each shot. For live filming, its often a case of setting exposure to what's important in the shot and overlook either some burnouts or crushed shadows.