FZ1000 1st Year, Was It Worth It?

I bought the FZ1000 a year ago, to replace the heavy and awkward Canon 100-400 L lens I used on my 7d. I still use the Canon for all really wide angle shots and most stuff up to about 60mm equivalent. Has the Panasonic proven worthwhile or at least an adequate replacement?

It's a balancing act, and I have to say it's leaning heavily towards YES. It might not be quite as sharp, but since it's lighter, quicker focusing, with me when good shots can happen, and much more likely to be ready to shoot, I get more excellent medium-long lens photos with it than I would have with the larger camera.

I'm an "old school" photographer, having shot lots of large format view camera photos and worked with several medium format film cameras, so I really don't use many of the functions on the camera! I shoot entirely RAW images and use Adobe DNG Converter, then ACR and Photoshop CS5 for post processing. Most of the images have been cropped to some extent, but rarely very much, I like to pretty much fill the frame.

I have a very limited internet connection, sorry pixel peepers, I can't afford the bandwidth for larger images. I'm satisfied that any of these is magazine publication quality or better.




Mountain Chickadee in cherry tree, early April.




We were at the largest Ponderosa Pine in Oregon, when I spotted this nearby, also in April




Amtrak at Rattlesnake Point along Klamath Lake with Mt. Shasta in the Background, late April.




Cows coming to feed, "follow the leader", June.




Great Egret with an itch, taken at Lake Ewauna in Klamath Falls in August.




Mt. McLoughlin with Agency Lake frozen over in February 2016.




BNSF Military freight train coming into Chiloquin, Oregon in February.




Downy Woodpecker a couple days ago in our front yard!



--
Steve T.

really nice photos for someone with a limited internet bandwidth connection

Impressive compositions with very good detail. I especially liked the feather and Mt. McLaughlan.

Jack

Inspiring work, a treat to look at!

Thanks,

South central Oregon offers immense photo opportunities! With Crater Lake only 30 miles from us, Klamath and Agency Lakes very close and incredible birding, it's hard to know which way to point the cameras!

Very nice work. The "old school" experience shows!

Thanks for posting.

Superb results Steve. I know my FZ1000 can't match the super detailed images from a bigger sensor camera, but it does a reasonable job just the same and its a lot more convenient to carry and use. My wife has an Olympus M43 camera with only two lenses and she can never decide which lens to choose, whereas I don't have that problem.

Very enjoyable images Steve. Thanks for sharing.

-Tim

My photography isn't always "old school" serious though, for instance, we have gray squirrels that visit daily. I haven't decided on a caption for this one yet!



[ATTACH alt="Maybe "Hit him, hit him" or "Let's dance"... "]1330991[/ATTACH]
Maybe "Hit him, hit him" or "Let's dance"...

Actually there's only 1 squirrel, several shots and a bit of Photoshopping.

--
Steve T.

I would call it "Trivia", the word comes from the Greek - three ways, where the locals
would gather to gossip.

I continue to have a great time with this camera. We made a trip from Klamath Falls down to Weed, California across Hwy 97 yesterday. I had no idea the highway got so close to Mt. Shasta! This photo is a slight telephoto shot of a Union Pacific Freight at Grass Lake, heading towards Weed. According to the map, the peak of the mountain is about 12 miles away.





At Weed (what a name for a town!) I really don't see how anyone living there can get anything done. The peak is only 6 miles away and it totally dominates the eastern sky. I'd spend my whole time staring and photographing the mountain, certainly driving there is dangerous with that distraction.

--
Steve T.

They look pretty good to me Steve, a range of subjects, light and colour all turned out well. The FZs are just so convenient, with zoom ranges that fit most situations, with the 1" sensor adding extra megapixels and higher ISO range. What's no to like ;-)

Great photos (1 like from me), make me think that nowadays 1" sensor cameras are pretty adequate for non pro enthusiasts. I am eagerly waiting for the Nikon DL review and maybe I will return to P&S.

For your caption how about "Scissors, paper, rock."

Awesome images!

earthseaimagery said:

I continue to have a great time with this camera. We made a trip from Klamath Falls down to Weed, California across Hwy 97 yesterday. I had no idea the highway got so close to Mt. Shasta! This photo is a slight telephoto shot of a Union Pacific Freight at Grass Lake, heading towards Weed. According to the map, the peak of the mountain is about 12 miles away.



At Weed (what a name for a town!) I really don't see how anyone living there can get anything done. The peak is only 6 miles away and it totally dominates the eastern sky. I'd spend my whole time staring and photographing the mountain, certainly driving there is dangerous with that distraction.

--
Steve T.

Click to expand...

Hi, really nice images! How did you process this..raw or jpeg? I cover lots of N. Cal territory in sales and represent a pharma company in Chicago. I like to call my C/S rep from our towns with funny names: Weed, Paradise, Cool, etc. Most back there have no clue about CA since they usually visit LA, SF, or SD. Agree about Mt. Shasta and I always make a overnight in the local area. Native Americans claim it's spiritual place..who can argue?

I've owned my FZ1000 for almost two years and I'm still delighted with it. I was a longtime Canon DSLR user, my most recent Canon having been the 70D with several lenses, including the 100-400. It was great, but it was "fiddly", heavy, and I wanted a simpler solution.

I used both the Canon and the FZ1000 on the one and only African wildlife safari I took. I'm rather famous for being a fussy person, but I really can't tell the difference between the images I shot with the C anon and those I shot with the FZ1000. The Canon had one advantage, and that was really distant wildlife, or small birds, where the 400mm wasn't quite enough and the 600mm equivalent of the Canon (since it has a 1.5X crop sensor) took the edge.

Was it (the FZ1000) worth it? Hell yes. More than worth it.