Camera Labs

I received an answer from Panasonic as I had queried what was the proper AC adapter for the DMC-FZ150. This is the response:

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prodcameras@callcenter.us.panasonic.com to me
show details 10:13 PM (2 hours ago)
Thank you for your inquiry. Unfortunately the DMC-FZ150K dose not support an external power source.
Therefore there is no listed AC adapter for the unit.
We hope this information is helpful to you. Thank you for choosing Panasonic.
END

I hope this proves to be incorrect or I can find a work around as I will be doing a lot of time-lapse. I suspect it is wrong as when I mentioned before I previously called their tech support and got a gum smacking young man that didn't seem to know what a SDHC card was, and after looking it up was told incorrectly that the DMC-FZ150 did not support UHS-1 memory.

There is a rubber flap at the battery door edge that I suspect would accommodate a battery shaped adapter that plugs into an external AC power source. For example the Canon SX230 HS, comes retail with such a device by default.

Not a deal breaker for the DMC-FZ150 but something I will have to look into.

Hi Bugbait,

According to page 12 of the Basic Owner's Manual:

37) DC coupler cover
• When using an AC adaptor, ensure that the Panasonic DC coupler (DMW-DCC6; For shop display purpose only) and AC adaptor (DMW-AC8PP; optional) are used.
• Always use a genuine Panasonic AC adaptor (DMW-AC8PP; optional).

So it seems you need both a DMW-DCC6 and DMW-AC8PP or eBay clones.

Btw, I received my Olympus TCON-17 and DMW-LA5E. It fits perfectly, but at the tele end the image stabilisation suffers. Zoom back a bit (can't go far back because you'll end u seeing the inside of the tube pretty quickly) and you'll get better stabilisation but that makes little sense. It's a nice (and cheap) addition, but you'll need a tripod and shutter release. Can't wait to try it this weekend.

Thank you SkullOne, for the heads up on the ac adapter numbers.

I tried them in a couple searches and the two combined can be had for a total of about $70. Worth it to me but it will have to wait till next month.

Glad some of your goodies showed up. Until you have a shutter release, you can always use the built in 2 second timer.

Perhaps a mono-pod would help in less tripod forgiving areas as well. Nothing but rain here.

Thanks for all your updates guys - keep 'em coming!

PS - don't forget you can support cameralabs when shopping at Amazon or ebay by clicking through the links on the support us page - thanks!

Hi and thanks a lot for the nice review and posts!!

In the FZ150 and FZ47 doc, it is mentioned that those camera support SD/SDHC/SDXC card but there are no words about UHS-I bus support.

I thus asked the question to Panasonic Support and here is the exact re-transcription of the conversation:
-Hi, Can you tell me if the camera fz150k is UHS-I enable ... or in other words, does it take advantage of the UHS bus of SDHC cards ? (me)
-Thanks for holding, checks show that they do support UHS-1 (panasonic support)
-Ok to confirm: the FZ150k is able to use the UHS-I bus ? This info is not in the manual ! (me)
-On I do apologize for the misinformation I provided you with, i was looking at the incorrect model. It doesn't indicate the FZ150 supports with UHS-1 cards. (panasonic support)
-Ok, thanks. Are you 100% sure ? this means that the camera write speed on the card is limited to HS speed (20 MB/s). (me)
-Yes I'm sure, the model doesn't indicate that it supports the UHS-1 cards (panasonic support)

On the other hand, in your review and on other forum many reports that the sandisk extreme pro memory card works perfectly on this camera with no lag (even at 5.5fps continous shooting)

This would mean (if the support answer I receive is true) that the camera just use the HS bus and thus that the transfer from the buffer to the card is around 20 MB/s.
However, considering that the camera can take 5.5 fps (with no limitation in the number of images) and the images produced (jpg) are arround 5 MB, this make 27.5 MB/s. This speed is not reached by classic SDHC cards and requires UHS-I. I'm thus a bit perplex.

All this appears to be an important question for the choice of the memory card, considering the premium price of the UHS-enable cards ... so I wonder is someone have any comments or more details ?

Thanks for your help,

Nico

ps: I bought the FZ150 with the Lexar Professional SDHC card. I will receive it soon and follow in this post to tell you is I face lag in 5.5 fps continuous shooting.

Hello Nico, and welcome to the friendly Camera Labs forum!
To enjoy your stay here please have a look at the house-rules!
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Interesting thing you found out! (Unfortunately) Gordon used a UHS-1 card: "To put the numbers to the test I fitted the FZ150 with a 16GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-1 card rated at 45MB/s. When set to 12fps at the full resolution, the FZ150 fired-off the quoted 12 frames in one second, confirming Panasonic's quoted speed." So is there anybody out there, having tested the fps with a non UHS-1 card?

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Thomas (beware: Nikon-fanboy and moderator!) My Lens Reviews, My Pictures, My Photography Blog
D800+assorted lenses

Thanks,
Indeed, I read this in the review which make me think that the answer I had from Panasonic support is wrong!

In fact, from my understandings, I don't think the 12 fps mode is the problem as it is limited to 1 s (I may be wrong). It will just take longer to transfers the stills to the card.
However, the 5.5 fps continuous shooting mode is more of concern as there are no limitation in time and shoot frequency can be limited if the buffer is full and the card is too slow.

Nico

Hello Nico,

I use a 'regular' Class 6 Transcend SDHC card in both my GH1 and FZ150. If shooting both @ ±5 fps the GH1 starts to lag much quicker than the FZ150. But in the end it also does lag a bit. However I was quite (positively) surprised with the performance. It takes a couple of seconds before the lag becomes noticeable with this class 6 card. So maybe a class 10 would keep up with it.

So while I can't confirm the FZ150 has UHS-1 support, maybe you won't need it and can't tell the difference if the SD card is fast enough.

Btw, why would you need this feature? Do you want to know if it has UHS-1 support just for the heck of it, or do you need to know if it's possible to shoot 5.5 f/s without lag (on a 'regular' SDHC)?

Thanks thats sound great, and I can't wait playing with this camera!

My question is more to elucidate this detail as UHS card are at least twice the price of HS cards.
Also, it would be helpful for others to know exactly what cards the camera can support!

Hi,
my first post here..
I have the FZ150, the Sandisk 16GB UHS and a Transcend 16GB Class 10.

Tonight I tried the Sandisk for the first time, and even though I can see a difference, it was not impressive shooting 5,5 AF..

It buffers pretty soon in RAW but it shooted 19 pics in a row with Jpeg only

I wrote a mail to Pana in DK and UK asking them to confirm UHS support, and if no, I asked them to have this sent to Pana in Japan for a future firmware update.

If they listen to "me/us" I really do not know.

To clarify my experience I want to add I didn't use RAW.

But I think it's safe to presume the FZ150 doesn't have UHS support. If it had Panasonic would certainly used that fact somewhere in their marketing.

I asked the Pana support in DK but it seems they do not understand the question

I hope in a firmware update... if thet can enable this feature.

I will ask them and see what they say.

Thanks, maybe you will have more chance!

If UHS-I is not supported (which seems to be the case), it would be great to know if there are some benefit using the sandisk extreme cards (SDSDX3, not SDSDRX3) as 30 MB/s seems to be reached only through a sandisk proprietary mode ?

Concerning the firmware update, I wasn't able to find any information on the web: Is that something the end-user can do ? if so, I wonder where to find some more information ? and, where to download new firmware (when a new version will be made available) ?

Thanks!

Hi everyone, I have spoken with Panasonic Japan and currently NONE of the existing Lumix cameras (including the FZ150) exploit the extra speed of UHS cards.

So UHS cards will work, but at the same speed as slower ones.

Given Panasonic is so close to SD though, I wouldn't be surprised if they support UHS properly on future products.