My FZ1000 has arrived at last.

[Noa Put]

where i use a back up camcorder wide on the top table or isle shot or ceremony i cringe at the lack lustre footage boring and flat

Something tells me that backup wide camcorder is not a ax100...:)

[Roger Gunkel]

Steve B,

I totally understand where you are coming from and I'm sure that a combination of your equipment preferences and way of operating would probably not open itself to either the FZ1000 or RX10 apart from perhaps to grab the odd quick shot. For me it would never be the only type of camera, just a very nice tool in the box, but my lightweight and very mobile way of working is probably a lot different from your own so lends itself more easily to that style of camera. I can see me using some FZ1000 together for school work, but one of my reasons there is to be able to use less cameras on more productions by cropping from 4k, and covering double the number of productions at the same time. Quick in and quick out with me for school productions every time.

This week's school productions alone have already paid for the new camera and a second one shortly, so if I can double the number by the end of the year that will be a good result.

Roger

[Steve Burkett]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

Good points Steve...My mind flows with full frame though, it gets my juices flowing when i then start to edit, when i edit bits of the ceremony and speeches where i use a back up camcorder wide on the top table or isle shot or ceremony i cringe at the lack lustre footage boring and flat... Dslr full frame staccato effect is why i carry on otherwise i would just be the normal boring wedding video i see every where.

I had a guy cover a Wedding for me who felt as you do - full frame was there in every shot - no room for deeper flat looking video in his style. To be honest I found this constant reliance on fullframe to be just as boring as those videos you yourself complain about.

I'm also a great supporter of 4K, which brings a dynamic to the image to me that fullframe does for you. The amazing detail of 4K, like a moving photograph or the looking through a window effect, for me makes HD even fullframe, look both soft and lacking in detail. 5d Mark III shots I've edited since have been fine for close ups, but a wide shot of a building, it looks frankly terrible.

Now don't get me wrong, I love beauty shots with a shallow depth of field, creamy backgrounds, great bokeh. Buying an RX10 doesn't mean I'm losing that; its there for particular moments, certain shots. It's not going to be a main camera - that honour would still belong to the GH4.

I do like variety in my video, and whilst my 2nd, 3rd and 4th cameras for Ceremony and Speeches lack the great image my manned camera will have, they do at least add a different angle of the event, which for me is far from boring.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Sure guys i agree with all points and rightly so and you film and buy cameras how you think you will use them and of course i have to use camcorder footage with cutaways and safety shots.also. But i could not do without a DSLR and the quality they bring in regards to D.O.F. My films and work give a good mixed balance of a variety of shots but in general i love the look of the bride and groom stood out from the background which is a lovely beautiful bokeh background. Cheers lads.

[Chris Harding]

Ah Ha!! I have just seen why Colin has a Fotga variable ND on his camera ... They actually are made extra wide at the outside edge according to the blurb "so they don't vignette" .... I have seen a few posts where people have had vignetting at full wide so worth looking into especially if it's quite a "thick" filter!

Do me a favour Roger and see if the ones you ordered are OK when they arrive.

I have already ordered two Fotga slim ND's like Colin has so hopefully they wont have any problems.

[Colin Rowe]

Really is a good filter Chris. I am constantly suprised at how good it is, considering the low price

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Colin

Mine will be here next week so I'll try them out. I just wish that ND filters could go down to ND0 ..none can of course but if they could you could then leave them on the lens! It just means that for Church weddings I need to take the filter off the B-Camera once the bride has arrived cos most Churches need lots of light!! Not a big deal though and one can still use the filter even in deep shade at ND2 without any ill effects!

Chris

[Roger Gunkel]

After four school shoots this week, I have been pleasantly surprised at how long the batteries seem to be lasting. From some reviews I had expected a short life, so had taken several batteries to each school, but in fact only used one each time. Two of the productions were an hour long and the screen was on continuously including setting up. There was still plenty of life left in the battery at the end of each performance so I don't anticipate any battery problems for long ceremonies.

Just about everything was left on auto after the initial setting up and the auto systems coped very well, which is what I need when we have four cameras and sometimes five running all through school shoots.

So far my only disappointment is the lack of smoothness and proper speed control with the zoom. Why they are unwilling or unable to implement it on this type of camera is beyond me. It makes it impossible to do any sort of low speed zoom in during an interview for instance, or even a medium zoom during a wedding ceremony. The zoom is really only of use for reframing.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

I truly also expected the zoom ring to be better ...the ring around the shutter button is a bit better but still nothing like it should be at all. I certainly don't understand why the zoom works like that and for me I cannot really do a slow zoom at all ... I guess we cannot have everything perfect ...Then again shoot in 4K and zoom in post and you are done and you can control the speed exactly. Are we missing something about how to operate the zoom ring ... I'll play with it and see what sort of touch it needs to make it practical to use but I doubt it!!

On my next wedding I want to shoot a fair amount of 4K so out go the current SDHC 16GB cards and I'm getting some 64GB UHS3 cards to use ... should be interesting ... You cannot supply the bride 4K except on USB and watch on a computer but one can upload 4K videos to YouTube which could look good on a website. I'm happy you have a fair amount of shoots at present as it's helping me sift out the bugs!!

Chris

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

It doesn't seem that we will get a forum in the Panasonic category so when you get a minute your setup of the FZ1000 would be appreciated for comparison. At the moment I'm using Creative Video Mode and P mode on the Motion Menu. I find that for individuals at weddings (people as opposed to school concerts) the Centre weighted exposure seems to work best in getting good exposure.

If you want to share what you have found so far ..please let me know

Chris

[Greg Boston]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Remember too that content is still the most important thing for a bride and miss the bouquet toss with your 3 x C300's and two assistant shooters and you have failed miserably in the brides eyes but catch a really good shot with your little GoPro and you are the best ever!!

That is a long held belief here at DVInfo. You just nailed it with that statement. Content is king. But hopefully that content will be captured with a higher quality camera. In real life, it doesn't always come out that way.

-gb-

[Steve Burkett]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

That is a long held belief here at DVInfo. You just nailed it with that statement. Content is king. But hopefully that content will be captured with a higher quality camera. In real life, it doesn't always come out that way.

It's almost a cliche one could say. Look my GH4 is a lovely camera, but its size comes at a cost; there have been a few times when I have had it freeze, lock up. I had one Ceremony where it would only record for 8 - 14 seconds and then just stop. My GH3 could suffer from that little issue also. Cards didn't make a difference in the GH3's case, but the GH4 I'm sure it was a particular card it didn't like. The freezing, locking out was always when recording 96fps. Random really, but it happened on about 6 Weddings last year. I rarely use its slowmo now - image is too damn soft.

Simply put, there is no denying that such a small form factor puts more pressure on the cameras ability to record for any length of time. There's a reason there are the C300's of this world.

That said, I'm not about to buy a C300 any more than I'm buying a fz1000. Oh and my GoPro4 is a hit or miss thing also; sometimes stopping for no good reason. Very unreliable.

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Greg Boston

That is a long held belief here at DVInfo. You just nailed it with that statement. Content is king. But hopefully that content will be captured with a higher quality camera. In real life, it doesn't always come out that way.

-gb-

I have a Sony CX730 slung around my neck or nearby for most of the day because if something happens really quick and unplanned I can nail it with that camera in auto and the BOSS stabilisation works a treat. Like you guys I'd rather get the shot without the finesse of carefully chosen iris/shutter/ISO than miss it!

[Roger Gunkel]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Roger

It doesn't seem that we will get a forum in the Panasonic category so when you get a minute your setup of the FZ1000 would be appreciated for comparison. At the moment I'm using Creative Video Mode and P mode on the Motion Menu. I find that for individuals at weddings (people as opposed to school concerts) the Centre weighted exposure seems to work best in getting good exposure.

If you want to share what you have found so far ..please let me know

Chris

Hi Chris,

Claire was filming last weekend's wedding and wasn't ready to use the FZ1000 for video yet, preferring the cameras she is used to. This weekend we have a joint photo and video shoot, so Claire will be using her usual cameras andd I will use a usual camera plus the FZ1000 for video and stills, so a good work out.

I have used the camera at four schools shoots in artificial lighting of varying quality and so far the results have been excellent with both clarity and colour rendition. I use creative video mode most of the time, and centre weighted exposure seems to work well. I have also been trying full manual on exposure and aperture which gives me flexibility to take stills and use the second record button for quick video clips in between.

I've also been very pleased with footage and stills taken on the IA setting both for video and stills, and with the facility to adjust the auto setting on the go. I'll give some more thoughts after the weekend.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

Thanks Roger

I'm a bit used to having my shutter, aperture and ISO displayed on the screen and you cannot have the first two if you are in Creative Video Mode but you can switch ISO to manual which is quite nice! I'm not really trying to make "wedding films" anyway so it's not a big deal ... I'm just trying to figure out what the shutter drops down to in very low light ? I would suspect it wouldn't go down any lower than 1/25th surely but will find out at my first wedding of the season in 2 weeks time.

Your input after the weekend would be greatly appreciated

Chris