Panasonic LUMIX FZ1000 announced with 4K recording

[Jeff Harper]

Ouch! 64GB card won't cut it!

[Darren Levine]

It's certainly intriguing, if it's performance is up to the average panny standards it'll be a very strong rx10 competitor.

for what it's worth, i've written up my initial thoughts: First Look: $899 4K Panasonic FZ1000 - The RX10 finally has some competition, and it's serious.

[Noa Put]

You say 30p is a limitation in 4k but the gh4 or the ax100 also only have 25p or 30p in 4K or do you mean something else?
Also the 28mbs is not exactly a limit in 1080p, panasonic most probably wanted to make a separation between this model and the gh4, just like they did with the g6 and gh3 and considering the pricedifference you can't expect too much, 28mbs has been the max bitrate for all camera's shooting 50p avchd.

[Darren Levine]

i'm not clear on what you mean, Noa, both the gh4 and ax100 do 4k at 24p, the fz1000 at least for the moment only claims to do 30p or 25p in PAL

as for bitrates i did mention in the write-up about market separation, but there still are exceptions, such as the rx100m3 which will have 50mbps

[Noa Put]

Ah, ok, I thought you where expecting 50p, but why is 24p so important for this camera? 30p should give you a little bit more fluid motion and for pal I don't see a reason to use 24p if you can have 25p?

That 50mbs codec for the rx100 is a new codec, probably better in preventing artifacts in faster motion and high detailed shots, but eventhough the fz1000 could have had other codecs implemented I"m sure Panasonic didn't do it to protect the gh4 which, considering the price difference I see as normal, you can't have it all for that prize.

About that that swivel screen on the fz1000, I do miss that on my rx10 but if I had to choose between a build in ND or a swivelscreen I"d take the nd filter.

[Darren Levine]

Over here, clients usually expect 24p these days, only recently did i get one who asked for 30, so if you're handing off footage directly, if your camera doesn't shoot the framerate they want, you'd need to go get a different camera. This of course only applies for client gigs, for which i'd likely use this as a B cam only.

Bitrate wise, i'm sure it'll be plenty good as is, but despite 24mbps looking very good, if there's one thing that manufactureres have had a strangehold on, it is bitrates. We can all assume it's for market separation, but it's a bit silly that 24mbps has now been held onto for more than 3 years with very few exceptions. Looks great for sure, but even 35mbps wouldn't encroach on their higher end cameras.

i don't know i'd trade swivel screen for ND filter. i'd use both, but given a choice, i think i'd still lean to swivel screen since i can add an ND filter, but can't add a swivel screen without adding an external monitor.

[Kyle Root]

Looks very promising indeed! To be able to get to 400mm at F4 is pretty nice. Thinking primarily as a wedding video shooter.

[Noa Put]

I already damages 2 expensive variable nd filters, when I had the rx10 I was happy to finally have a camera that had this build in like it should, I absolutely hate having to screw on filters, such a hassle during a wedding.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Darren Levine

Over here, clients usually expect 24p these days

While having extra framerate and codec options is a big plus, if you are shooting for a client then you should use camera's that are up to the task, if a client would request footage shot in raw then the fz1000 not having this would not be a negative point because this camera has a other targetaudience, of which soccermoms could be a part of as well and they don't care about codecs. I think Panasonic is saying, if you want to have it done right, get the gh4. :)

[Jeff Harper]

The articulating screen is a huge plus to me, the lack of ND filters a negative.

Lack of headphone jack (as Arthur mentions) will be a dealbreaker for many.

[Peter Siamidis]

Wow very nice, I'm currently using an AX100 which I love but I need a backup 4k camera in case it fails during a shoot. I thought about getting another AX100, but at just $899 I'll spring for one of these as pure insurance against failure or breakdown of my AX100.

[Jurij Turnsek]

Also, 4K is recorded in crop mode (you loose the wide angle reach):
4K for $899 with the Panasonic FZ1000 – but beware the quirks! | EOSHD.com

[Peter Siamidis]

Originally Posted by Jurij Turnsek

Also, 4K is recorded in crop mode (you loose the wide angle reach):
4K for $899 with the Panasonic FZ1000 – but beware the quirks! | EOSHD.com

Oh man thanks for that, of note:

A place where any cropping is not welcome is in 4K video mode – here the lens unfortunately loses the wide end altogether and becomes a 37-592mm. 20MP down to 8MP is quite a hefty crop.

37mm in 4k mode is a no go for me alas.

[Ken Ross]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

I already damages 2 expensive variable nd filters, when I had the rx10 I was happy to finally have a camera that had this build in like it should, I absolutely hate having to screw on filters, such a hassle during a wedding.

Yup. The failure to include ND filters is a big minus for the new Panny. Of course the GH4 doesn't have that either, so Panasonic was kind of boxed in on that.

Unlike the RX10, there is also no constant aperture with the Panny lens. It remains to be seen, given the almost legendary status of the RX10's lens, how good the Panasonic lens actually is. The significantly lesser wide angle as the result of the crop mode is not a plus.

Having looked at the demo for this new camera, in 4K, I could immediately see there was less detail than the AX100 provides. Of course this is a lot cheaper.

I also don't think we can compare bitrates at this point. There's nothing new about the Panasonic's codec AFAIK, but the XAVC-S code seems to do well with less bits than the older codecs.

This is kind of a 'you get what you pay for' deal. But probably still very nice for the price.

[Jeff Harper]

+ what Ken says. Truly this is a case of you get what you pay for, kind of. The newness of 4k makes the price point of this camera exciting, but it will not be long before there will be many many other options that will make more sense for a pro.

This cam, to me, would be nothing more than a "c" cam, if even that. The lack of ND filters is diappointing but if the cam was only to be used as indoor backup, it wouldn't matter.

The lack of a mic input kills it for me.

The nice articulating screen makes me angrier at my RX10, that screen, with a LCD hood on it is just an awful pain to open and adjust when cam has a base plate attached.