Bald Eagle release with the FZ300 at DVinfo.net

Tom Mussatto · January 23rd, 2018, 09:48 AM

Saturday I filmed the release of a female eagle that had been seriously injured last year. She was reunited with her mate of 14 years after many months of rehabilitation. My FZ300 has a lot of miles on it and getting beat up but still going strong. I gave up on the FZ2500 as a do everything cam and settled on the FZ300 for video and FZ1000 for stills.

Chris Harding · January 23rd, 2018, 06:25 PM

Nice Tom

I'm still using just the two FZ1000's now for both video and stills but also an AC-8 for our live streaming camera ..Both my FZ1000's have damaged micro-HDMI ports so I decided to get a camera that had a big and tough full size socket that I could replace if it got damaged.

The FZ2500 had really nice zoom but I still sold it before I damaged the microport as well.

Tom Mussatto · January 24th, 2018, 07:40 AM

Chris, the FZ2500 pushed all my buttons. It was an all in one camera and a big improvement over the FZ1000 in features. However, I get better stills from the FZ1000 and same quality video with the FZ300. I now have an issue with my FZ2500 in that the top dial no longer works so can't use the cam in manual mode. Back to Panasonic for repair.

Chris Harding · January 24th, 2018, 06:49 PM

Hey Tom

The A8 (it's called an MDH2 here) I believe has much the same sensor as the FZ300 (so it's not the 1" one) but I would say that optics are inferior to the 300 which still has Leica lenses. Yeah I get awesome stills from the FZ1000's .. amazing quality at the price point. To be honest I felt that the FZ2500 I got here was an inferior build to my FZ1000's when it comes to controls and my mode dial seemed cheap and nasty. Over here the 2500 is made/assembled in China whilst the FZ1000 is made in Japan (well mine are anyway) and you can see the build quality is way better.

I had a poor experience with two Panasonic AC-130 cameras which were out of China (I think they shifted manufacture to China after the Tsunami in Japan) and seriously they were very poor quality and I actually sold them and went back to HMC80's at that stage and 1/4 of the price.

Is your 2500 from China or Japan .. there seems to be a big difference especially with buttons and dials! My mode control felt cheap and nasty and nver smooth like the 1000 dial .. Is that what's failed on your 2500?? I also felt the on/off lever wouldn't last that long either!!

Tom Mussatto · January 24th, 2018, 08:13 PM

Chris, my FZ1000 was made in Japan and the FZ300 and FZ2500 were made in China. I got each of them when they first came out and have had no problems with the 300 and 1000 after a lot of hard use . Those flimsy dials were the first things to go bad on my old SD Sony cams so I don't have a lot of confidence in them. The dial on the FZ300 is a solid exterior dial as found on the G7. It's possible I got a bad copy both in image quality and build quality. I do have the 3 year warranty so we'll see how Panasonic handles it.

Chris Harding · January 26th, 2018, 07:36 AM

Hope it works out with the repair Tom! I still (due to experience) feel that the Chinese Panny factories simply don't have the expertise to produce anything near as good as the Japanese factories. I must admit the my FZ2500 worked without a glitch but the mode dial was very cheap looking and not smooth at all when compared to both my FZ1000's .... Apart from the mode knob and a sticky on/off lever I must admit the rest seemed adequate but still not as polished and professional as the FZ1000.

On the other hand they have definately improved as my AC-130's were really terrible! Cheap plastic body and a "no name brand lens" Which a lot of users had to replace and terrible auto focus too !! When I ordered them I really expected the usual Leica optics!!

January 23rd, 2018, 09:48 AM	#1
Tom Mussatto Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: worden, illinois Posts: 76	Bald Eagle release with the FZ300 Saturday I filmed the release of a female eagle that had been seriously injured last year. She was reunited with her mate of 14 years after many months of rehabilitation. My FZ300 has a lot of miles on it and getting beat up but still going strong. I gave up on the FZ2500 as a do everything cam and settled on the FZ300 for video and FZ1000 for stills. Release of bald eagle after re-habilitation on Vimeo

January 23rd, 2018, 06:25 PM	#2
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Bald Eagle release with the FZ300 Nice Tom I'm still using just the two FZ1000's now for both video and stills but also an AC-8 for our live streaming camera ..Both my FZ1000's have damaged micro-HDMI ports so I decided to get a camera that had a big and tough full size socket that I could replace if it got damaged. The FZ2500 had really nice zoom but I still sold it before I damaged the microport as well.

January 24th, 2018, 07:40 AM	#3
Tom Mussatto Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: worden, illinois Posts: 76	Re: Bald Eagle release with the FZ300 Chris, the FZ2500 pushed all my buttons. It was an all in one camera and a big improvement over the FZ1000 in features. However, I get better stills from the FZ1000 and same quality video with the FZ300. I now have an issue with my FZ2500 in that the top dial no longer works so can't use the cam in manual mode. Back to Panasonic for repair.

January 24th, 2018, 06:49 PM	#4
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Bald Eagle release with the FZ300 Hey Tom The A8 (it's called an MDH2 here) I believe has much the same sensor as the FZ300 (so it's not the 1" one) but I would say that optics are inferior to the 300 which still has Leica lenses. Yeah I get awesome stills from the FZ1000's .. amazing quality at the price point. To be honest I felt that the FZ2500 I got here was an inferior build to my FZ1000's when it comes to controls and my mode dial seemed cheap and nasty. Over here the 2500 is made/assembled in China whilst the FZ1000 is made in Japan (well mine are anyway) and you can see the build quality is way better. I had a poor experience with two Panasonic AC-130 cameras which were out of China (I think they shifted manufacture to China after the Tsunami in Japan) and seriously they were very poor quality and I actually sold them and went back to HMC80's at that stage and 1/4 of the price. Is your 2500 from China or Japan .. there seems to be a big difference especially with buttons and dials! My mode control felt cheap and nasty and nver smooth like the 1000 dial .. Is that what's failed on your 2500?? I also felt the on/off lever wouldn't last that long either!!

January 24th, 2018, 08:13 PM	#5
Tom Mussatto Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: worden, illinois Posts: 76	Re: Bald Eagle release with the FZ300 Chris, my FZ1000 was made in Japan and the FZ300 and FZ2500 were made in China. I got each of them when they first came out and have had no problems with the 300 and 1000 after a lot of hard use . Those flimsy dials were the first things to go bad on my old SD Sony cams so I don't have a lot of confidence in them. The dial on the FZ300 is a solid exterior dial as found on the G7. It's possible I got a bad copy both in image quality and build quality. I do have the 3 year warranty so we'll see how Panasonic handles it.

January 26th, 2018, 07:36 AM	#6
Chris Harding Inner Circle Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Perth, Western Australia Posts: 8,441	Re: Bald Eagle release with the FZ300 Hope it works out with the repair Tom! I still (due to experience) feel that the Chinese Panny factories simply don't have the expertise to produce anything near as good as the Japanese factories. I must admit the my FZ2500 worked without a glitch but the mode dial was very cheap looking and not smooth at all when compared to both my FZ1000's .... Apart from the mode knob and a sticky on/off lever I must admit the rest seemed adequate but still not as polished and professional as the FZ1000. On the other hand they have definately improved as my AC-130's were really terrible! Cheap plastic body and a "no name brand lens" Which a lot of users had to replace and terrible auto focus too !! When I ordered them I really expected the usual Leica optics!!