Camera Labs

FINALLY, after 3+ months research and also because the Aussie version of the Panasonic FZ150 hasn't been available here until now -

I'VE BOUGHT MY CAMERA!!!!!

Today it was at 5 online Aussie stores but the cheaper ones were NTSC or TW which I think is Taiwanese and after talking to the Panasonic rep I found out warranty is only valid in country of origin -plus I wanted PAL because I've been told that 30fps NTSC can pick up flicker from artificial lights because of our 50hx power supply.

As I've posted here, the PAL videos seem much sharper, which I suspect is because my monitor is running at 50hz

Gordon's videos sold me, and a mate who is going to buy one

http://vimeo.com/30000656

http://vimeo.com/29360195


I rang Camera Store.com.au and was told the camera was in stock, supplied by Panasonic Australia, with suffix GN-K which is correct.

RRP is $800 in Aus ($500 in US but is NTSC) - camerastore have them for $668 plus $16 shipping.
[url]
http://www.camerastore.com.au/Panasonic ... etails.htm[/url]

I'm sure the price will come down, and that I've paid maybe $50-$100 more than what they'll be in a month or two-

but I WANT THIS CAMERA!!!

so I paid up and woohooo should be here about Monday unless very lucky and it arrives Friday!!

I've already bought a 32gb class 10 sdhc crd which gives between 2 and 5 hours video recording. If the camera lives up to its reputation I will get a second card and a spare battery, but I'll play with it first. All the research I did has paid off in that I knew exactly what to buy and I've also learned quite a bit about video and photo technology along the way.

Thanks to everyone who has helped me make a decision to buy this camera - lets hope it lives up to my expectations!!

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"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."

Congrats, hope you like it!

Thanks Gordon - BTW what was the model suffix of the one you tested- was it GN-K as our is ?

Rob

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"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."

Glad u got the camera.
Too bad u werent able to get it cheaper overseas :/
U liking the cam?

Hi Luth, I have not done very much with the camera yet, our weekends have been rainy and I've been busy - I did some tests to convince myself it is better than my old 4mp Olympus C770 - http://shed.robhealey.com.au/aaa-important-stuff/panasonic-fz150-first-tests/

Of course it is a better camera!! It does add a tinge of blue to the pictures - all taken fully auto. The video is much better than my Sony Handycam that recorded to tape and that is very important to me- and finally I can take video with blurred backgrounds.

The camera is not too heavy, although way bigger than the Olympus, as you can see in the link.

I can still improve the photo's using the unsharp function set to 1 in Corel X4 which is similar software to Photoshop. I had thought I wouldn't need to do that anymore. I think I can set that as a function in the camera, but I'll continue using Corel because I also resize there.

The stabilisation seems good

The biggest improvement for me is that the FZ150 has an excellent LCD display. Previously I have always preferred using the eye viewer but with this camera I easily prefer the LCD screen. You don't have to be square on to see it and it is bright and sharp. Perhaps all recent cameras are like this, but for me it is an amazing change to the way I normally do things and a huge improvement, I can really view the qualityof shot I've just taken or see clearly what I am videoing.

Hope that helps

Rob

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"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."

Hi Rob, sorry, mine's long gone back to Pannie NZ, so I don't have the full spec name to hand...

Thanks Gordon- it was just a question to see if the NZ was different but I think the Australasian Pal version is IDENTICAL to the European one, because mine has the 30 minute time limit on continuous video, as the european one has, to skip the Euro cam corder tax. I doubt I've ever shot 30 minutes continuous but recently did film 25 minutes so thats getting close.

Rob

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"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."

Hi Rob, what makes you think it is a Euro / 30 minute limited version?

You need to try a 16GB card, charge the battery and leave it running to really see!

Hi Gordon I have a 32gb class 10 hdsc card

The manual states 29:59 mins continuous video, I hadn't thought to test it!!

BTW there is no model suffix marked on the camera, the model suffix GN-K is on the box - which I think suggests there is only one version of the Pal camera, otherwise why not mark the actual camera?

But you're right, I shall do a test and see how long it will video for, thanks for pulling me back to the real world!!

I'll report back

Rob

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"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."

Rob, don't assume there's only one PAL version. My NZ sample was a 'PAL' model, yet wasn't restricted by the 30 minute limit. Just start it recording in one of the AVCHD modes and see when it stops...

Hi Gordon- I ran the test while pointing the camera at a stop watch so I could see the recorded time.

It appears to film for only approx 20 minutes and then restart almost instantly.

Each file was 20 minutes long - there may be a second or 2 missing between the joins - I didn't put the files into Vegas but one file ended at 40:25 and the next began at 40:27 while viewing in VLC player.

Possibly there is a seamless join if I put the clips into a video editor ? I'd deleted the files before thinking of that!! It's easy to do the test again.

The battery was not fresh for this experiment. I have taken about 20 pics over 2 weeks and it now shows 2/3rds full -that's very good, depending on how accurate the battery monitor is- I know some monitors show almost full until almost empty!

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"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."

I ran a new video test yesterday- I filmed a stopwatch for over an hour.

My GN-K model FZ150 camera made a new file every 20 minutes and there is NO GAP between clips - which is great news !! although I can only remember once filming continuously for long and that was 25 minutes.

The length of each clip was not exactly the same, perhaps it's determined by file size and there was different audio or something.

What I am surprised about is that I still have to use the unsharp mask in Corel X4 to make the photo's sharper. I am shooting in iA. I think there is a menu setting where I can adjust the sharpness, not sure if I should use it though.

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"The world is so fast that there are days when the person who says it can't be done is interrupted by the person who is doing it."