Luminous Landscape Forum
Equipment & Techniques => Cameras, Lenses and Shooting gear => Topic started by: PeterAit on May 29, 2015, 09:30:36 am
-
My wife is a very talented photographer with a primary interest in the natural world, birds in particular. She has no interest in carrying a heavy camera with interchangeable lenses, so has been using a Nikon Coolpix 820 - and I must say she gets some surprisingly good results, technically speaking, with this $200 camera. She particularly likes the 22-675mm (equivalent) zoom range of the lens for zeroing in on birds. Yet the camera is missing a few features she would like:
- Ability to take filters.
- Completely manual exposure and focus in addition to auto modes.
- RAW file output.
If there's a camera currently available that meets these needs, we have not been able to find it. Perhaps some manufacturer will read this and act - or would such a camera be a threat to their "pro" camera sales? Heck, I might get one for myself!
-
The Panasonic FZ1000 has had very good reviews - it has a 62mm front thread, full manual option, shoots raw with in-built 5-axis stabilisation.
The zoom only goes to 432mm (in 35mm sensor terms)
If she wants a longer lens the FZ200 goes to 600mm.
-
The Panasonic FZ1000 has had very good reviews ... The zoom only goes to 432mm (in 35mm sensor terms) ... If she wants a longer lens the FZ200 goes to 600mm.
For birds, it can be important to note that the FZ1000 has a significantly higher pixel count of 20MP vs 12MP, (and each pixel is bigger), so there is more cropping latitude. One way to think of it is that when FZ1000 images are cropped to match the 12MP of the FZ200, its FOV is the equivalent of 558mm, so at the level of "details revealed on the bird" scarcely any less than the FZ200.
Also, since I find it very hard to keep a moving bird in the very narrow "600mm equivalent FOV" of my EM5 with 300mm lens, I like the idea of using a somewhat wider FOV with more than enough resolution, and then cropping to the framing I like.
Panasonic also boasts about the faster AF of the FZ1000 compared to the FZ220, due to its "new linear motor" and "new Depth From Defocus technology". To quote: "ultra high-speed AF of approx. 0.09 sec (wide-end) / approx. 0.171, sec (tele-end) is achieved."