FZ2500 Impressions and Comments?

[Mike Griffiths]

Larry,
I'm editing through FCPX on a 2012 i7 i Mac 3.4 GHz with 32 GB Ram, 2Gb GPU . It handles 4k fine. I only shoot in 4k sometimes like Chris, so that I can crop without loss of 1080 quality but all my output and editing is done at 1080p. I've been playing with MOV files 100mbps 50fps. I've not tested zooms , just fixed focal lengths
I suspect your computer is not up to it.
I can also view footage in Quick Time and it runs fairly well.
Until you can afford a new computer why not just stick to 2K or buy FCPX and edit your 4K at 2K or try running proxy files, they will run well and when you've finished editing output at whatever resolution you want up to 4K

[Mike Griffiths]

As I video plays I need to know how long these batteries will last. They are smaller and have less capacity than my old GH3 batteris. One act can be 40-60 minutes of continous recording.
The manual says 110 minutes without zooming on switching on and off or 55 minutes if doing some zooming and on/off
I set the camera to1080p MOV 100mbps, 25fps and tried three batteries, all had been charged less than 10 times and were fully charged to start. Time to red light or stop.

Authentic Panasonic (supplied) (£48) no on/off or zoom 148 minutes

Chinese copy 'Panasonic' (£28) no on/off or zoom 147 minutes

No Name Chinese battery (£14) on/off twice, no zoom 118 minutes

So it would seem that I will get a 1 hour act recorded safely as I wlil use this camera as a 'B' camera with no on/off and little if any zoom.It seems pointless testing on/off or zoom as that is highly variable and will consume a lot of power.
Of interest to me, hope it's of interest to others :)

[Chris Harding]

Hi Mike

Thanks for that ..I get an hour continuous quite easily on my FZ1000's which have the same battery. Did you know that you can also use a DC Coupler (no mains supply) and connect that to a biiger Li-Ion pack?? As long as the input voltage is 8.2 or higher the camera won't reject the battery as "non genuine" as it thinks it's getting mains power. You can get 12V Li_ion CCTV battery packs up to 9000mah on eBay but of course you would need a simple voltage regulator circuit to keep the output at 8.2 not 12 ....Cameras will run all night on that!!!

[Mike Griffiths]

Thanks Chris, for the information about attaching bigger capacity batteries to the DC coupler, I've got one on order and will play with it when I get it.

[Chris Harding]

No problem Mike

Just remember it MUST be 8.2volt output otherwise the came will come up with the "This Battery Cannot be Used" error ....that's why you cannot use a normal 7.2 volt battery as it expects a decoded battery ...if the camera "sees" 8.2 or more then it assumes mains is being used and will run fine. I put my battery into a neat plastic box from Jaycar electronics and wired in the voltage regulator kit inside too.

[Mike Griffiths]

Thanks Chris I'll get the soldering iron out :)

[Chris Harding]

Hi Mike

If it helps at all, I also made a little tutorial on the battery pack ..it also has a built-in led level meter which can be ignored ...my local guys never had any voltage regulator kits so I made my own on a piece of veroboard.

[Mike Griffiths]

I bought an AC adaptor- DMW-AC8 and DC coupler from Ebay, cost £11 .I apprehensively plugged it and and Yippee! it works in my FZ2500.

[Larry Johnson]

I can't figure out how to prevent the LED display from dimming after about 1 minute of no use. I've turned off Economy and WiFi Economy, but the display still dims down about 20% unless I touch a button or the display.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Larry

I see nothing in the manual ...seems like instead of omitting components on the display but retaining the image at full brightness, it just dims everything! Guess we have to keep touching the screen to bring it back unless anyone has found out another method? Does this happen during video and stills for you?

[Larry Johnson]

Chris,

I haven't tried it with stills. The 2500 is dedicated to video.
If I have to keep touching the screen the focus point keeps changing or I shake the video. Need hands elsewhere.

[Roger Gunkel]

The FZ2500 is not a dedicated video camera, it is a hybrid camera which has greatly improved video facilities over the FZ1000 and is equally capable of both video and photography shooting.

Roger

[Noa Put]

The last wedding I did in december last year the photog had a fz1000 and a gx8.

[Roger Gunkel]

I've done a number of photography only weddings this year where I have use a Canon DSLR alongside one of my FZ1000s. The beauty of the FZ1000 and presumably FZ2500 is the speed and convenience of using it with it's big Zoom, excellent viewfinder and screen, and on the newer model the built in ND filters.

Roger

[Chris Harding]

I think Larry means he has dedicated his FZ2500 to shooting video ...I'm the same, I use the 2500 for video and the FZ1000's for stills and sometimes also B cam video.

His issue is the FZ2500 dims the LCD screen after 30 seconds and if you touch the screen to bring it back to full brightness and you have touch focus enabled you could easily change the focus point without realising it ..equally if you use the shutter button to "wake up" the screen you could quite easily push a tad too hard and stop the video!!

I will experiment later today and see what I come up with..have a wedding rehearsal to attend this morning