FZ2500 Impressions and Comments?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Bill

Not too serious about a forum post ... Retail is supposedly $1699 but I paid $1499 cos I did a preorder so I was hoping to get back around $1100-$1200 However for an Aussie mate and a forum user I reckon I would part with it for $1000 firm for you ...Only shot 6 ceremonies with it and it's truely being wasted as a livestream camera as I'm just using it for the HDMI output.

If you prefer you can also email me at strain@iinet.net.au

[Tom Mussatto]

Chris, I'll be selling my 2500 also. Real shame as the video features of this cam could have made it the perfect all round cam for video and stills. The bottom line is image quality and it's just not there with the 2500. Hopefully they'll put some decent glass on future renditions of this model. Back to carrying 2 cams around, the FZ300 for video and FZ1000 for stills.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Tom

I never had any quality issues with my 2500 at all!! Video is pristine as the FZ1000 to be honest .. For me it just seems a waste to use such a brilliant camera for live streaming and not use all the awesome qualities it has .... (we zoom and crop and the switching software) so I really just need a dumb camera for that Could end up with a PTZ as well.

Of course I'll keep both FZ1000's so I'll carry two around too. I would have rather kept one FZ1000 and one FZ2500 and sold an FZ1000 but the 1000's have worked very hard over 2 years whereas the 2500 is virtually new and better for video for someone else.

[Frank Grygier]

It is possible to get great still images with this camera:
https://visualsciencelab.blogspot.com/

[Chris Harding]

Sounds like a no brainer to me! Just don't use the touch screen focus and half press focus together and you should be alright. I'm old and grumpy so I don't use the touch screen anyway!! All my video has had no focus issues at all but I never used the touch screen.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Tom

Did you look at this post from Simon Denny? He is convinced the Fuji is the ideal still and video combination camera?

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/open-dv-...ml#post1932873

[Tom Mussatto]

Chris, I did look at the Fujifilm X cameras. Great option for stills but limitations on videos....battery life and 15 minute limit on clips among other things. It would have been great to have a single camera for both video and stills but I've given up on that idea after my experience with the FZ2500. At my age and point in time I'm perfectly satisfied with the video from the FZ300 and stills from FZ1000 (and in a pinch both cams can do both stills and video well) and really don't want to go through the hazzle and cost of switching out to completely different systems. I guess if I was really smart I'd just bite the bullet and invest in a D500 and UX180 and be done with it. If the update version of the FZ2500 addresses my concerns with current version I may revisit that. I'll be selling the FZ2500 and, as much as I like it,my G7, and keep the FZ300 and FZ1000.

[Tom Van den Berghe]

the FZ2500 (FZ2000 in Europe) has 20x zoom and 1inch sensor

I now use the sony hxr-nx3 20xzoom with
3x 1/2.8-inch Exmor. I bought it 3 years ago for filming stage events because of the 20x zoom.

But I already have some situations with little lighting on stage so the low light and zooming here is an issue.Also the footage doesn't look so crisp.

What about the FZ2500 for filming stage events? The sample 1080p footage seems (much) sharper than my NX3.
and does it have auto iso (gain) when zooming in and out?

I still have my sony FS100 when I want to use XLR inputs or shooting in dark environments with a fast prime for example.

What are your thoughts?

[Chris Harding]

Hi Tom

You can select manual or auto ISO on both the FZ1000 and 2000 it's up to you. I find that the low light is really awesome! I used to use an LED light on my EA-50's at weddings all the time (I know you had one) but I find I can shoot 99% of a wedding now without any lighting at all.

Yes the image is really sharp on both cameras actually .. dunno if it's the sensor or the Leica optics or both! Just for interest the cameras use a Sony 1" sensor that is the same as the RX series so I would suspect that the processing and optics make the difference. I also use a 2 channel Saramonic XLR adapter which solves the XLR issue as most theatres will give you an XLR audio feed!!

[Bill Watson]

Last I recall, you sold your FZ2500 Chris. Did you buy another one mate? I don't find my FZ2500 all that good in low light but it doesn't concern me as I can use my Nikon D750 in those cases, certainly for still shots.Once the sun is up though the FZ2500 is my 'go to' camera. Just have to remember to use the 'slow' zoom when filming at full stretch.

[Chris Harding]

Hi Bill

I actually replaced it with a Panasonic A8 Shoulder Mount Camera as we use that for Live stream shoots ..the micro HDMI ports on the FZ's are a disaster and break so easily and the repair is almost as much as a new camera!!! The A8 has a full size HDMI port which takes a decent amount of abuse. I still use both my FZ1000's for ordinary video 1080 and UHD too but both cameras have damaged HDMI ports so I cannot use them to stream live!!

[Tom Van den Berghe]

Originally Posted by Chris Harding

Hi Tom

You can select manual or auto ISO on both the FZ1000 and 2000 it's up to you. I find that the low light is really awesome! I used to use an LED light on my EA-50's at weddings all the time (I know you had one) but I find I can shoot 99% of a wedding now without any lighting at all.

Yes the image is really sharp on both cameras actually .. dunno if it's the sensor or the Leica optics or both! Just for interest the cameras use a Sony 1" sensor that is the same as the RX series so I would suspect that the processing and optics make the difference. I also use a 2 channel Saramonic XLR adapter which solves the XLR issue as most theatres will give you an XLR audio feed!!

thanks Ron! I had the EA50 but now only the FS100 because it's better in lowlight and bit sharper image.
I also have lookes to the RX10 I,II,III but only I has a nd filter and these more expensive than the FZ2000.

Did you ever filmed a theatre with it? Or someone else?

[Tom Van den Berghe]

changed my mind. I saw the panasonic HC-X1 with 1 inch sensor an 20x zoom. I suggest this a FZ2500 in a bigger camcorder body? I find my 1080p output of my sony HXR-NX3 become a bit soft.

[Bill Watson]

What did you end up getting Tom? Just a follow up on my earlier comments on the FZ2500. I'm not that thrilled with the low light results on still shots but on video it seems fine. And about a third of the price of the HC-X1.

[Tom Van den Berghe]

Originally Posted by Bill Watson

What did you end up getting Tom? Just a follow up on my earlier comments on the FZ2500. I'm not that thrilled with the low light results on still shots but on video it seems fine. And about a third of the price of the HC-X1.

I putted my sony HXR-NX3 on ebay for sale but nobody bought it. In meanwhile I discovered that the firmware of the sony was updated to the XAV S codec which is a higher bitrate.

After updating this I decided to keep the camcorder because I wanted some money for it so I could buy the HC-X1. Actually my clients are 90% asking for DVD and I don't film weddings but mostly theatre.

I just bought a second hand A6000 for filming from my steadycam. So I will stick for a while on the 1080p.
Just received the A6000 today and it seems great to me sony FS100.

I had already 2 fast primes for sony (zeiss 24mm F1/.8 and a 50mm F1.8 from sony)