Anyone using the FZ1000 for weddings?

[Roger Gunkel]

Got notification yesterday that my FZ1000 is now in the UK at the Parcelforce central hub, so hopefully it will arrive Monday or Tuesday :-)

Also had a hot bright sunny day for the wedding I was filming yesterday and used the FZ200 a lot more for outside footage to practice what should be pretty much the same with the FZ1000. Results look very good, I'm surprised I haven't used it more, although that's partly because the zoom speeds up and slows down in use.

Is the Zoom smooth on the FZ1000 Chris?

Roger

[Peter Rush]

I was filming yesterday and the sun was punishing - how did you find the little eyepiece held up?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

The sun was punishing?? You want to come here in February when it's 42 degrees C and the sweat is running down your face as you film outside!!! Never mind OK, it was hot I'm sure and bright!! We actually had sun too today and nice and bright.

Roger, sorry to tell you this but the zoom has a delay as you turn the ring on the lens barrel ..you twist and nothing happens then it zooms ..once it starts it's smooth as silk but we warned there IS a small delay before it actually starts the zoom ...I'm sure there is a work around for it?? I only zoom during cake cut and register signing to get a close up of the knife and the register ... I haven't looked at the digital zoom though ..that might work //I'm not to phased about it as 99% of the time I only frame with the zoom. I will investigate further though. I only tried the zoom ring not the one around the shutter button.

Roll on Monday or Tuesday for you!!!

My modded Hoodman was perfect in direct open sun with no issues so it's an easy fix Pete ... I wonder if the cup on your loupe would work better??

Chris

[Chris Harding]

Hi Guys

Here is the zoom (and focus) ring issue video. However if you turn it a decent amount zoom is smooth ..I just had to get used to twisting the ring a lot further than expected otherwise it doesn't do anything or stutters

Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 Manual Zoom and Focus problems - YouTube

[Roger Gunkel]

I tend to like to use a slow zoom from time to time, especially during the vows for more impact, so I am going to have to play around to see if I can get that. The Panny video cams do it very well and with variable speed, so it will be something to look at carefully. I will at some point soon be replacing the video cams with probably the Panny 970, so hopefully the zooms will be smoother on that, although I will try one first.

Roger

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Roger

Beachtek MCC-2 2-Channel Audio Adapter and Bracket MCC-2 B&H

This mounts on your hot shoe and provides 2 channels with gain controls and also gives a few shoe mounts on top. It's great if you want to feed two inputs into the camera as it creates two channels ..one goes to the cameras left input and the other to the right input so when you edit you have the choice of using either channel, whichever sounds best.

Chris

Here's one that's a little cheaper for anyone still in the market - bet it's got the same components under the hood

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Saramonic-SR...microphone+xlr

Pete

[Chris Harding]

Hi Pete

I ordered this one

Brand NEW Mymyk Smartlynk Portable ON Camera TWO Channel Mixer | eBay

Reason was it's an active circuit not passive so you can add a bit of gain ..It also has an AGC defeat circuit which is important but most of all the FZ1000 has no headphone jack and this unit has a headphone amp built in! Here it's a tiny bit cheaper than the Beachtek too

Mine should be here in the next day or two (coming airfreight !) and I promised Roger that I will give him a review of it too!! A passive mixer WILL work but it does need a mic that can push out at least -39db otherwise you lose unity gain

I'll update you guys on the progress

Chris

[Roger Gunkel]

Camera arrived from HK this morning :-( :-( :-(. I ripped open the package on a slightly small box, only to find that they had sent me a Panasonic LUMIX DMC-G5 even though the paperwork was for the FZ1000 #*%#*%****
I now have to wait for a returns form to send it back before they will send another, or get a full refund.

Roger

[Peter Rush]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Pete

I ordered this one

Brand NEW Mymyk Smartlynk Portable ON Camera TWO Channel Mixer | eBay

Reason was it's an active circuit not passive so you can add a bit of gain ..It also has an AGC defeat circuit which is important but most of all the FZ1000 has no headphone jack and this unit has a headphone amp built in! Here it's a tiny bit cheaper than the Beachtek too

Mine should be here in the next day or two (coming airfreight !) and I promised Roger that I will give him a review of it too!! A passive mixer WILL work but it does need a mic that can push out at least -39db otherwise you lose unity gain

I'll update you guys on the progress

Chris

Not cheaper in the UK Chris - £114 over here or even £176 on ebay.co.uk! - I think If I'm going to outlay that much I might as well get this
Tascam unit - probably mainly for corporate work though as my rig is bulky enough now for weddings and i think the Rode Videomic will do a good enough job for me

TASCAM DR-70D Portable recorder: Amazon.co.uk: Camera & Photo

Pete

[Chris Harding]

Hi Roger

What a let down! I would have been fuming!!! Do you HAVE to buy from Asia ? I found that the FZ1000's in HK were actually $940.00 on eBay and I got my from my favourite camera store just 15 minutes down the road for $899.00 I could see the point in buying from overseas if there was a massive price difference ?? Hopefully they will sort it out fast for you but another wait is really frustrating!!

Maybe get a refund and find another dealer???


Wow Pete that's quite a machine ..I think Noa has one of those on his GH4 shoulder mount rig ...at the small price difference I would have gone for that too I think!! Over here that unit I'm getting is $140 and the Tascam is $499.00 so there is a marked difference but it's still awesome ...Maybe the 114 pound price was with their smart mic???

[Chris Harding]

OK, I'm confused with ordering from Asia compared to buying local!! Apart from warranty issues, I found that buying from Hong Kong the FZ1000 would be roughly 450 pounds .. then you have shipping cost and I assume you would pay VAT when it hits customs as well?? Looking at a local place like Jessops .. an FZ1000 is 600 pounds less 50 cashback so you are looking at 100 more only for a local purchase. Is your VAT from local dealers already in the retail price or do they still put VAT on top of that ??

We have a 10% general sales tax here on goods but retailers MUST include it in the price so my cameras were $899 each and that included the 10% tax already added. I have bought from Global Media Pro overseas but here if the item is under $1000 you don't have to pay tax otherwise customs charge you an extra 10% on what you have already paid (and the 10% is on the price and the shipping too!!)

Do you really save that much buying overseas compared to local in the UK???

[Roger Gunkel]

The cheapest I have found in the UK Chris, is from Wex Photography in Norwich which is £609 at the moment and was £629 when I ordered from HK and those prices don't include delivery. The Jessops price is the same and was also more when I ordered. The price I am paying is £484 including taxes and delivery which when I ordered, was still almost £100 less even allowing for any cash back offer. The cash back is only from some main retailers and some of those don't have it in stock. So even if I could get cash back, I would still have to pay 20% more and considerably more without it. The nearest store that may have it in stock even at full price, is 140 miles return journey, so collecting one and saving postage is not possible as the fuel alone would be nearly £30

The camera that I did receive was delivered 6 working days from order and they quoted 4-7 working days, so it is just a pity that some **** in HK put the wrong one in.

There is no urgency, but I was getting excited about testing it out, so I will just have to wait. I even went back to my original Dutch company, but they still have no delivery dates to offer, so there seems to be a shortage of them.

Roger

[George Kilroy]

Having followed your posting here I'm surprised that someone of your experience is buying important kit outside the UK, even if it does provide an initial saving. As a business item surly any additional cost is simply nullified over useful earning life of the thing and anyway can be set off against income tax. With you number of weddings surly you are not desperate for a £100 saving.

After so many years in business I'm also surprised that you don't have a working relationship with a local supplier. My experience has been that by cultivating a relationship with a local outlet often means that you can negotiate discounts and also can be helpful in trying a range of cameras before committing to one and may also help out in the case of equipment breakdown. The company I used in UK were always competitive on price or prepared to negotiate; could nearly always source items within a day or two and send items when necessary by next day courier. They have let me borrow cameras to try and on quite a few occasions have given me replacement cameras, batteries and chargers while problems with mine were sorted out.

[Chris Harding]

Hi George

Nice to hear from you! I must admit I have bought cameras from Global Media Pro based in New Zealand and they were actually shipped from Singapore but I never had an issue and even with tax payable on entry they saved me a bundle. With the FZ1000's There were on eBay between $940 and $980 but my local guys had then for $940 as well and they are 10 minutes down the road so it would be instant delivery. I asked if they could match an East Coast dealer who was selling for $899 and they said no problem and gave me both cameras at $899 each ... I would have had to pay shipping from over East and of course wait so the local pickup was the winner

100 quid over there is equal to $200 here and I think I would also do the same as Roger if I could save that much.

Roger? you are taking this a lot more calmly than I would! I would be ranting by now because you have to pay for return shipping (even if they give it back to you) then wait a week for it to get back to them and then another week to send you the correct model! I admire your restraint!!!
BTW: My little mixer unit arrived today...just making up new cables for the receivers as they had XLR plugs on them and I'll test it and let you know the results

Chris

[George Kilroy]

Hi Chris.

I have been reading this thread with interest as my wife has been using older versions of the FZ series cameras for a long time for her holiday stills and has also shot some reasonable video so I'm curious as to how seasoned video camera users judge the results of this latest version. I must admit that despite the convenience I'd never had the courage to use one in a paid for job. If would make life easier if I could travel back to UK with a couple of those rather than the HM700's.

We are experiencing some of the heat you are no doubt use to, so as it nears 40degrees here in southern France it's more comfortable to have a session on the computer during the long leisurely lunch time which often runs from 12 till 4pm.