Ready for its close-up: Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000 Review

I've been pleased with this camera, much lighter than my Nikon D7100 and the 400 mm zoom is awfully handy for wildlife, etc. I enjoy the in-camera time lapse video feature, as well. Two disappointments with the FZ1000 are its very short battery life and the chintzy build that allows dust into the battery/SD card compartment. Puzzling why Panasonic would not add water- and dust-proofing to this model as they did on the cheaper FZ300. Don't go anywhere with this camera without a fully charged extra battery or two. They go dead fast on the FZ1000 and the camera gives little warning.

i do not understand, at all, this glowing review.... this 1 inch is under performing dramatically against similar sensor-ed sony cams... iso 1600 on the sony rx looks like iso 125 on the panny a vary bad showing IMHO.

my smaller sensored fuji x 30, with fewer megapixels, blows this panny away
at all ISO to 3200 really .....your studio scene confirms this as fact.... above that both cameras look horrible ...so where is the 1 inch sensor advantage here ?? gold? and the exquisite pen f [ which i own ]get silver ....reallly!!! ....
the final conclusions of these detailed informative reviews,,,,and your precious metals badge for many reviews . border on nonsense.

i am so waiting for a decent camera like this one with an x30 type evf a 1 inch sensor with great processing and a worlfd class lens ...i wanted to love this camera, and im disappointed.

I got one of these a few months ago. I mostly use "serious" cameras like Canon D series but for holidays, most recently was using a Sony NEX kit. I brought this Panasonic on a long holiday to New Zealand, together with my Sony Kit. I shot about 50 shots with the NEX and 5000 with the Panasonic. IQ wise in any reasonable light it's excellent, it's very responsive, the IQ is excellent at all focal lengths and it'll go to 800mm in one mode (I know it's digital but it's fine). I use mine on silent mode mostly (you can can't use flash in this) because it's truly silent and it appears to increase the battery efficiency a lot. This camera is easily paired with a smartphone by wifi and there is rapid transfer of selected shots to the phone.
This is EASILY the best all-in-one camera I've had. It's fantastic for holidays etc. It's light enough to have around your neck all day.
Can I fault it? Well, it's not waterproof, but a plastic bag is.
I LOVE this camera.

Hello,

I want to thanks you on the great job you have do for this FZ1000...

I hesitate between RX10 and this and you help me to clarify this choice.

I have ordered the FX1000....

Best regards

Denis

PS : sorry for my english...

I am thinking of shooting no nonsense budget wedding photographs for clients on a tight budget. Would this FZ1000 be suitable for the job. I have people asking me to shoot their weddings for less than £1K.

I used to shoot weddings in the 80's and am happy shooting under stressful situations!!

I have been using this camera now for around a year and I am very happy with it. Here are a few recent shots from a music festival:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/maleny_steve/albums/72157656347853214

And some video here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJglsU6QDu0

I often use a plug-in power microphone with the camera for video, a Tascam TM-2X Stereo Camera Microphone.

Why is bulky a con. I consider small size a con in many ways. If it's a con for some it's a plus for others.

Look at this full-size picture:
http://3.static.img-dpreview.com/files/p/TS5472x3648~sample_galleries/5539195489/4968385202.jpg?v=3333

Do you see this gouache on cranes?
And it's called super quality?! Gold award? For what?
There are other photos with the same loose of details.

What a disappointment! Compare this to great pictures by Nikon Coolpix P7800, that is represented on this site, too. It's a far cry.

I have one of these on order, plus a variable strength ND, stereo shotgun mic, and a 128gb class 3 SD card, and if I keep the camera, I'll get a Nissin i40 flash with wireless capability. I've read all the reviews and comments I could find, and I've decided to try this. I just sold a Nikon D7000, and a Nikon D7100, plus a bag full of lenses, which replaced 2 Olympus E-M5s and lenses that I used for 2.5 years. I became disillusioned with M4/3 because there isn't a long lens available with acceptable image quality for nature/wildlife, and only the very latest, top of line, most expensive camera bodies have acceptable focus tracking for action, and even they are suspect. The 100-300mm Panasonic, the 70-300mm Olympus lenses are not fast enough, and like all entry to mid-level lenses of that focal length in any brand suffer terribly from softness and poor IQ at the longer focal lengths; I've tried most of them.

I think the FZ1000 is going to put the fun back into photography for me.

I got one last week and I've used it a lot. I've very good "serious" cameras and lenses, Canon D and Sony NEX to name some, but I've always like bridge cameras of which I've had three in the past. They are very handy.
The AF in this is as good as most SLRs and better than some. I've used it for cycling and running and it's great. The OS keeps the ISO low so in reasonable light, it's fine. The lens is great. I've a couple of quibbles. The zoom/focus button and OS buttons are easily knocked out of position, accidentally. I'm going to tape over them. The second is that the motorised zoom is a bit slow. The IQ is fine. It took me a good bit to work out all the practical workings of the camera. One thing they might address in software is button combinations to rush the zoom to particular focal lengths, or stored ones.
Overall, for what it does, this is a magnificent all-in-one. It's less than two pounds weight.

I used the FZ1000 now for over one month. I'm very satisfied with the results so far. I'm used shooting dslr full frame with good glass. I bought this camera for traveling/hiking trips because of the weight.

I agree with the review that the image quality is excellent, but it should add 'for the money this camera costs'. It can not compare with the quality of a dslr full frame with good glass, but that option costs at least 5 times more, so forget about that comparison.

But what about the video quality? that is amazing, never seen before. The result is superb. Very sharp, good colors and excellent handling. Just plug in your microphone and use a ND filter. You really will need that ND filter in bright sunlight. Excellent, I'm very happy with this camera.

For the soccer mom or dad who wants full range, video with zoom and manual when needed it's so much better then the slr they all have and barely use. Yes it's big, but smaller then an slr with a 400mm lens and still flexible with great video support.

The only issue might be indoor sports and speed which I would like to see some examples of.

I could give this to my wife and have her take pictures and not worry too much - not so for an slr and two lenses, or even a long zoom lens and non with have power zoom which is much easier and similar to most compacts.

With the new Sony though - love that sensor..... Any chance on a FZ2000 any time soon?

I bought the FZ 1000 after using the FZ 50 recommended by another pro for a light weight pack camera...and have to say i a'm very happy with camera for alot of reasons . tooo many newbies think they need all the bells and whistles and in reality as a pro we need something that has a sharp lens with a workable f stop because most of what i shoot is on a tri-pod . I was shocked at the prints i have made on my Epson wide format printer even at 400mm . It is not the box but the len's that i look for . Good Glass give's you good prints...and this thing has beautiful glass for something under $900 . Love It !

I'm personally waiting for Lumix GX 8 with 4K , ists the most beautifull camera

To DPReview: Thanks for the exellent comparison. It would also be nice to see lens comparison at 35, 50 and 85/100 mm equivalents. For example on the studio test scene at 60mm Pana has definitely sharper image in the center and 2/3 outside (cards). So those focus lengths are much more usefull than telezoom extremes such as 200 or 400mm.

So this is a really interesting option and probably the best point-and-shoot camera available today. A true bridge camera.

But, for that same amount of money or less, you can get a two-lens DSLR or mirrorless camera kit.

"Sure," you say. But those lenses aren't as fast. You'd be right, they're not. But with larger sensors, you can make up for the slower lenses by dialing up the ISO. You get more ISO flexibility with a mirrorless or DSLR camera by 1-2 stops, which makes up for it.

In terms of shallow depth of field, you won't get it with a camera like this, as you can see with the "equivalent aperture" charts.

Instead, spend your $800-900 on a two-lens ILC kit and then go find a used portrait prime lens somewhere.

The only real advantage of a camera like this over entry-level interchangeable lens cameras is that you don't have to carry QUITE as much around because it's an all-in-one solution. But this is a pretty bulky camera considering it's just a very good point & shoot.

I did not like the body work but particularly the play in the on/off and lens levers (absurd for the Leica model). The camera worked impressively but I returned it based on the body which I do not think will hold up well in any level of precipitation.

Does anyone else have a problem with the audible humming noise?

I found it to be very annoying, and I really didn't like it humming over my indoor video. It's quite audible on scenes that should be quiet, with no zooming or focusing and certainly no wind. I wondered if maybe the DPR test camera didn't have the noise, since they make no mention of it. But their sample video inside the bar has it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS7a4F3aiYU

That video sounds as if the camera was out on a busy street, not indoors.

The more I use the FZ-1000, the more I'm convinced it's the mirrorless body Canon and Nikon should have made for their lens systems but didn't.

Imagine this with an APS-c sensor and an EF mount. Or a DX sensor and F-mount. A big percentage of SLR users would add it as a body that's better integrated into video use than an SLR. They'd have sold millions.

Instead of that Canikon mucked around with odd-ball things for restricted markets, and Panasonic has had to do the sensible thing instead. But to accommodate a compact do-everything fixed lens, it needed a small sensor, which is a bit too rough for bigger print sizes in stills.

So we have a somewhat compromised version of a Canikon mirrorless body, with it's own lens. But it still complements Canon or Nikon SLR gear quite well. I'd call it the first non-fiddly mirrorless body that handles like an SLR and doesn't require Canikon users to invest in an expensive duplicate lens system.

I have ordered my Panasonic FZ1000 yesterday on amazon.de for 699,00 euros. The price is not too bad for what I will get in the end I think.

I also ordered 2x 64GB SDXC UHS-I U3 memory cards (39,34 euro each) so for total amount of 789,- euro's (included shipping and handling, normally I pay this amount easy for one L-lens for my Canon 6D).

I hope the camera will be fun to play and work with it and that it can be used semi-professional as well in some situations (when it comes to 4K video editing and so on). Also 4K full frame DSLR camera's are a bit too expensive for me at this moment, so this would be a nice solution to get the basics right.

There are comments about the RX10 having a weather-sealed body, but this is not Sony's claim, they just say "weather- resistant".

I take issue with all such claims as microphones , especially those on the top of bodies cannot exactly be waterproof, and even were they so, the water collecting inside the mic grills would surely stop them working (and probably everything else). If these machines were waterproof there would be ads on TV with footage glorifying in the fact, but other than a few AW compacts there is no such footage available from anyone-including Nikon and Canon pro "weather-sealed" bodies, and apparently it is a fact that the D800 is NOT weatherproof, and though the Canon is more so, the corrosion from water-especially salt water affects them as well. That RX10 isn't waterproof, or dustproof. Sony have not ever said it was and will not refund you or do a free repair on one, I bet, if it gets a soaking over the winter outdoors. The FZ1000 has no such pretences.

Both fail. I have had to return an RX10 for an obvious reason-when you film it insists in recording all focussing and zooming sounds to your footage. Optically the lens is good despite very heavy distortion at 24mm that can only be corrected in software-easily more than 5% barrel. As you get to 200, at f2.8 the one I had was very sharp in the centre, but only a narrow circle in the centre beyond which the fall off was rapid- think adjacent trees in a row of trees equidistant from camera, or a line of people. Even in good light you need that f2.8 but it is of limited use given most of the picture is at a lower resolution.

This is ALL deliberate of course since the zoom for size is underdesigned: at 24mm it certainly does not cover the sensor. That said the Leitz lens on the Panasonic is far worse, and I do mean a LOT worse. So wait for the next models and curse the people who lead you up the garden path to nowhere but frustration

Very intersting conclusion. At the moment (9 Dec 2014) the RX10 is 50 EUR cheaper than the FZ1000. The RX10 in the meantime received a new firmware with XAVC-S. The built-in ND filter, the professional-grade (parfocal) zoom lens, excellent XAVC-S codec, professional weather sealed body, cheaper price today makes my decision much harder. My problem with 4K is that to exploit its (great) advantages it requires a huge amount of disk space, and more importantly an enormous amount of post processing time. Decent FullHD video footage is all I'd need. Image stabilization efficiency is another big question. Hmm.

Hello,

Shot for years with a Panny FZ35. After seeing the initial issues with the FujiFilm X-S1 had been fixed I bought one. Seemed like a HUGE step up, going from the 1/2.33" Panny sensor to the 2/3" sensor in the X-S1. Along with all the other "modern" features and the price drop it was a no-brainer for me.
I shoot primarily in Aperature Priority mode, going back to my Canon SLR days and have... not... been able to get routinely decent shots with my X-S1. I get noise at 100 ISO. It's crazy. Lot of other issues as well but I'll get to the point - I've been looking into moving up to a DSLR - even the "entry level full frame" Nikon D610 is tough $$-wise when you add in suitable lenses - but the lady at Pro Photo Supply here in Portland showed me the FZ1000. WOW. I was thisclose to buying it right then and there but thought I'd research entirely too much first. ;-) So, question - are you satisfied with your results? Noise? DR? High contrast shots? Would you buy the FZ1000 again? Thanks!

"Sadly, the FZ1000 doesn't offer a touch screen."
I disagree. I wouldn't buy it if it has a touch screen.
All photographers are not working in studio or preparing photos for hours.
When travelling, walking, hiking, you often cannot keep your hands clean enough for a good use of touch screen.

I wasn't planning to get any new cameras these days, but when the review of the FZ1000 came out, I just realised that this might just be the camera I've been waiting for since I got a Canon 350D over a Panasonic FZ30 - mostly due to concerns over base ISO noise with the small 1/1.7 sensor.

So far, I am impressed. The lens is sharper than I'd have expected at the long range, a bit mushy in the corners at the wide end, as I'd have thought, but not enough to be any cause for concern.

Stabiliser works a dream, and the programming of the camera is done right. It seems to go to 1/60s exposure at full zoom before increasing the ISO. This gives me sharp pictures every time the way I hold my camera. I've also had sharp ones down to 1/4 leaning against a door frame.

Though zooming with a mechanically coupled lens is always preferable, I found myself quickly adjusting to the power zoom, using the ring around the shutter, using the ring on the lens for manual focus assist.

when i moved from panasonic to Sony's camp in 2010 it was after seeing there is not gonna be what a lot of bridgecamera users were begging for ...a bigger sensor bridge camera .

i love my SLR's ..but even a little nex camera and a 4/3 requires that pesky lens change /carry . dealing with sensor noise and what not . all things get in the way of capturing that moment.

i think this fz1000 is the first step towards a complete camera in my mind and with sensor and processor tech advancement the 1inch category at least in iso terms surpassed some of the lower end SLR's ..or older models . i need to see some numbers on DR and colorrichness but for pure ISO this 1inch cam gives a better result than my A580.

so great job . and hope to see more cameras of this type around

This is the kind of camera I can see people buying as a compliment to a dslr outfit and then hardly ever using the dslr outfit.

There is one caveat to that though and it is that problem highlighted in the review about the single control dial. Anyone used to dual dials with exposure compensation on one and aperture the other for example (as I have my camera set up) would be driven mad by this ergonomic compromise. And that kind of thing can actually spoil your enjoyment of the using the gear.

People naturally and unconsciously gravitate to well designed easy to use kit.

On a more general point this and the RX10 are obviously intended to be great travel cameras so why no GPS?

I use it all the time on my camera and it seems an obvious feature to have on a travel camera.

Pany has put all the goodies in one package [incl Time Lapse + a sensor larger than 2/3] I've been wanting in one package. . . though I do like the top LCD & body that the RX10 has, the FZ1000 wins out. This will be my every day snapshot + video clip camera. . . still will be using my Nikon & Canon APS SLRs for the 'special'/more serious use photos.

Now I need to convince Santa. . .

"The equivalent aperture figure gives a 'clear' idea of how two lenses compare in terms of depth-of-field."
So when I go to DoF calculator, do I put in real f-stop or equivalent aperture and how is this clearer than putting in FL and f-stop as it used to be?
And if you put on FF f/2.0 lens on an 4/3 body, the equivalent aperture becomes f/4.0 while the equivalent aperture was f/2.0 when it was on an FF body? How is this clear and to whom is this clear?
Well, at least you didn't say FZ1000 is faster than FZ200...
Moreover, this review would have been more interesting if compared to Nikon 1 maybe with 10-100mm lens.
IMHO, of course.