Camera Labs

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum. I would like to start by thanking everyone, especially Gordon, for offering this wonderful resource. You really don't need to reply to every question and go out of your way to follow up, but you do. The format is also much more intuitive than www.dpreview.com, for example. I found this website about a year ago and the informative reviews were vital in my purchase of the TZ10, which I have been very pleased with.

Over the years, and especially the last year with the manual control my camera offers, my photography has really taken off. I live in China and new photo opportunities present themselves daily. After a year with the TZ10, however, its limitations become apparent and I was ready to upgrade.

I was considering a DSLR (Nikon D3100/D5100), but this is not really an option for me due to financial and portability issues (Baby on the way and I drive a motorcycle).

The TZ20 and FZ100 failed to excite, but then the FZ150 came out (and I started lurking on the forum) and that looked to be my ticket to better photos. The LX5 also interested me, though I'm waiting for a MOS sensor and 1080P video. I eventually went with the FZ150 and have been impressed so far.

I'd like to pose a question to photographers in the know:

I would like to begin writing a book about my travel experiences and this would be interspersed with photographs. Do I absolutely need a DSLR for this? Would an editor/agent reject my photographs based on what kind of camera I used? Something like the FZ150 or the new LX model coming out must surely be good enough for this purpose??

One last question: How is the overal "macro" performance of the FZ150? I take a lot of photos of animals, sometimes smaller ones like snakes. The bird photos I've seen have been impressive in detail.

Thank you so much for your contributions. This looks like a promising year. Here are some of my TZ10 photos from China (where the GPS function does NOT work):

http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... f=2&t=9639
http://www.fieldherpforum.com/forum/vie ... f=2&t=9944

Enjoy!

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- Cheers, Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker

Hi folks.
Further to my first post I am still struggling to understand the correlation between the class numbers and the write speed on the SD cards and whether a higher class speed than the recommended class 4 and above, say as class 10, would be OK for the 150.

I copied and pasted Gordon Laing’s choice of SD card, in his excellent review of the FZ 150, (under Continuous Shooting) into Google and got the usual spread of all things SD.
For the record Gordon’s choice was a 16GB SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-1 card rated at 45MB/s.Which I found at Amazon price at £44.99 but is said it had a updated model The SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB SDHC Card with a write speed of 95MB/s for £43.72 which had symbol of 10, presumably the class.

I have found a couple of websites which try to explain the pro and cons of various cards but they tend to stick to the perceived content for still and video capture and fall back on the good advice of sticking to the camera’s handbook.

If anyone could give me their opinion on this matter it would be greatly appreciated.

p.s I am a big fan of SanDisk

Thank you,
Regards auldbob

Hi auldbob, I'm glad you found us and found my review useful! As you probably gathered, I was very fond of the FZ150.

In an earlier post you asked about filters and covers - it's really a question of protection. I personally prefer not to use them as they can impact ultimate image quality, BUT of course it does make your equipment more vulnerable if you don't. It all boils down to personal choices and how or where you're using your gear. I will use a filter if I know there'll be splashes for instance, but generally I find the lens hood provides protection from knocks or prods. There's a discussion about this in the filters section of the forum.

As for memory cards, yes, some may perform better or worse than their ratings imply, but if you want smooth video on the FZ150 you'll need class 4 or faster.

Hello!

I'm new here, and Gordon thanks to your help, I decided to purchase the FZ150 (pretty sure with your affiliate, I can't recall at this moment). I had a quick question. I'm hoping to make some time lapse sequences while I'm traveling so I purchased the JJC TM-D Multi-Function Timer Remote Control, but having a hard time using it correctly. Can someone who has experience with this certain accessory take me step by step? Also, someone said (in another forum) that the FZ150 cannot do long exposure shots with an intervalometer, is that true?

Thanks! I appreciate all your help!

I would like some advice from anyone who has used one of the different telephoto lenses that I find available for the FZ150. The first advice is whether or not you think I need one at all. The most useful forum postings for telephoto with this camera seem to come from 'birders'. While I love their pictures, that is not my use pattern. The best way to explain my use is Mount Rushmore. Both in still and in movie pan/zoom modes, that is my typical long-distance requirement. So it is with regards to that type of shooting that I am hoping to get advice on what I've found, or perhaps what I have missed.

First, the Panasonic LT55/LA5 is really more than I want to spend.
Second, the different models from Raynox are all beyond my budget.
Third, there is some nice lens sold in England, but I don't have time to wait for that to arrive before I have to depart for my trip.

So that seems to leave these two low end choices, unless your sound advice tells me that the only good results can be obtained by purchasing one of the high-end alternatives:

A. a 2.2x Vivitar that must screw into the filter threads because it does not seem to require an adapter, or
B. a 2.2x DigitalNC lens which includes an adapter.

For whatever you recommend, is it possible to add filters to that lens?

Hi benjskim, welcome on-board - I haven't used any of the timer switches for the FZ150, but hope someone here can help as I'm interested to learn more too. If you find out anything, please update us.

tcorbet likewise, I've not tested the converter lenses, but are you sure you even need them? The lens range is already pretty powerful... I would recommend looking at photos of Mt Rushmore which you want to emulate in terms of magnification and then checking the focal length that they used - you may find you already have more than enough power built-in.

Gordon, Wow! Fantastic reviews on your site. I originally was going to buy a Canon 40hs but after reading your reviews and handling the Canon in store, I decided to buy the FZ150, through your site of course. We needed to upgrade our video camera and point-in-shoot camera so I decided to get a dual purpose camera since we always carry our point-n-shoot and rarely carry our video camera. My main DSLR is a Canon 40D and normally I would have stuck with the Canon brand but your review swayed me over. Just ordered it today and plan on taking it on vacation next month so I will let you know the results.

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John 3:3

Thanks for your support Relkins!

MaartenSFS, would an Editor accept the images? I'll put that back to you and ask what you need an Editor or publisher for these days. Just publish and sell yourself. If you have a Mac, use iBooks Author.

Thanks for your reply, Gordon. You make a very good point. If I wanted to publish physical copies could I do that myself as well? So far this camera is really proving to be versatile, but not hindering me in any way. I just need to get it out with me when the weather warms up and I'll be well on my way. Your reviews steered me towards this camera and I am much obliged.

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- Cheers, Maarten Sebastiaan Franks Spijker

Hi Gordon,
Thank you for the wonderful reviews on different superzoom cameras. I bought a Panasonic FZ150 after reading your comparisons. I want to save the manual on my Mac computer. To do that, I need the "owner password". I cannot find it from the CD manual. Can anybody tell me how to find it?
Thanks

Hi ELai,

May I wish you a warm welcome to the CameraLabs forum.

Is this a Mac issue? The reason I ask is that I have no trouble under Windows 7 opening the 10MB manual (viewable via this page) in Adobe's PDF reader and saving it. Maybe a friend with W7 could do the same for you if you can't find a fix.

Bob.

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OM-D E-M5 + ED 12-50mm, H-PS14042E, H-F007014E, L-RS014150E, M.ZUIKO DIGITAL 45mm 1:1.8.
Gitzo GT1541T, Arca-Swiss Z1 DP ball-head.
Astrophotography: TEC 140 'scope, FLI ML16803 camera, ASA DDM60 Pro mount.

Does anyone know how to turn off the FZ150's automatic shutoff (after being on standby for a period of time) in video mode?

Hi Sparky.
To control the Sleep mode . Set camera to Program mode (P). Press the Menu/Set button, step down to Setup(spanner display) use the right cursor button to move to the top of the settings list. With the lower cursor button toggle down to ECO Economy and then click the right cursor button to bring up the Sleep and Auto LCD adjustments. You will have to select Auto LCD Off value = OFF to gain access to the Sleep control options.

This was an area investigated when working on time lapse photography. For time lapse it is necessary to turn OFF Sleep mode because the external exposure control will not bring the camera out of Sleep mode. Therefore Sleep mode must be turned OFF, this however means that the LCD time out must also be OFF. I guess the solution to save battery life with the LCD ON is to switch over the EVF.

I cannot understand why the Sleep mode is not independent of the LCD thus making it possible for the LCD to be cycled OFF without any Sleep. Perhaps something Panasonic could change in a firmware revision.

Gordon. Do you have any influence with Panasonic??

Thanks so much, Davmax! Was such a pain having the camera shut itself off (and thus lose the focus and zoom settings, etc.) between takes.

Oh hey, that same area allows me to RESUME FOCUS AND ZOOM settings after the camera is turned off and back on again. That'll be a real help too!