FZ1000 The most versatile camera I have ever used

Sculpture By the Sea

I have been using cameras for 60 years. In that time I have been able to own or use just about every size and type of camera ever made.

Until very recently the enthusiast/expert photographer like me had a choice:  I could have

* An Interchangeable Lens Camera (ILC) with a bunch of lenses.  This was the most capable option and probably  still is.  But it is also the most expensive, large, heavy and unwieldy due to the need to carry and change lenses.  This is the 20^th Century answer to the problem of providing a wide range of lens focal lengths. Some Micro Four Thirds (M43) kits can be very compact but you still need to buy, carry and change lenses and that is the least ergonomically satisfactory aspect of camera use.

* A fixed lens camera with good picture quality but with a single focal length or limited zoom lens.

* A fixed lens superzoom camera with a broad range of focal lengths but a very small sensor delivering suboptimal picture quality.

Many people,   myself included,  wanted  a superzoom  style camera with ILC equivalent picture quality.

I almost bought a Sony RX10  which comes close to my requirements on paper, apart from the restricted lens reach at the long end. But I was not happy with several aspects of the RX10’s ergonomics.  The handle is too thin, the shutter button perched on the tip of the handle so the right index finger has to pull back to engage with the button. The thumb support is way across to the right forcing the thumb into a vertical position rather than the preferred diagonal  position which is both stronger and more relaxed.  The user interface is a curious, and to my way of thinking somewhat incoherent mix of modern and retro features. Aperture is changed with a ring on the lens, but there is a Mode Dial and Control Dial.  There is live view on both the EVF and monitor but the top deck has an LCD panel which appears redundant to me.  There were other complaints from reviewers such as slow zooming and focussing.

Anyway I am now glad I passed on the RX10 because the Panasonic FZ1000 came along with (reportedly) the same very good 15.9mm diagonal BSI sensor, almost double the zoom range, better performance and better ergonomics at a lower price.

So I bought the FZ1000  three months ago and have now sold all my ILC gear including some very good and expensive lenses.

Of course  I could easily find an ILC with a wider lens or a longer one, but not both at once. I could find a more compact camera with better picture quality. But only at one focal length.  I could find an ILC with better high ISO image quality. But I would have to mate it to a wide aperture lens to gain full benefit of that quality. I could find an ILC which performs better with moving subjects with the right lens.

But the thing I could not find until the FZ1000 came along  is any kind of camera with enough of those things for my needs in one single package with one lens which I do not need to change.

The FZ1000 is versatile. It is:

* Quite compact considering it provides a complete camera kit in one unit requiring no accessories other than a 62mm protect filter on the lens and one or two spare batteries.   This fits into a small carry bag which is easy to carry. I use a Lowe Pro Apex 110 AW which is exactly the right size.

* Very reasonably priced considering the functionality on offer. When the FZ1000 was released, some observers cried “it’s too expensive”. I suspect they were probably comparing the FZ1000 with small sensor superzooms such as the FZ200, most of which are half the price.  But these cameras also offer half the picture quality. The real comparison is between the FZ1000 and an ILC with two or three zoom lenses. This makes the FZ1000 look very appealing even if those lenses are budget small aperture types.

* Able to quickly zoom from convincingly wide (E25mm) at one end to usefully long (E400mm) at the other and provide very good to excellent picture quality all the way.

* Able to manage static or moving subjects even indoors, with a decent percentage of keepers.

* Easy to use (practice and a good knowledge of the operating instructions are required) with good ergonomics.

* Fast and responsive in all conditions.

* Has a built in flash for those who require this feature.

* Can do 4K or less ambitious video.

* Can be driven from a smartphone.

The march of progress  in camera design has seen the SLR morph into the DSLR. In recent years we have seen  the  Mirrorless Interchangeable Lens Camera  (MILC) challenging the DSLR for market dominance in the ILC category. 

But now we are starting to see fixed lens long zoom cameras which question the need for any kind of ILC at all for many enthusiast/expert photographers.  This is the 21^st Century’s answer to the problem of providing a range of focal lengths.

I was intrigued  and frankly a bit surprised to see that at the recently concluded Photokina in Germany not a single manufacturer challenged Panasonic with an offering to compete with the FZ1000.  Even Sony which started the trend and supplied the sensor, did not upgrade the RX10.

Maybe they are waiting to see how well the FZ1000 performs in the marketplace.  Maybe they don’t want to challenge their own ILC product lines.

Maybe they are just dozing at the wheel of their product development convoys.

We shall  see. In the meantime I am enjoying the FZ1000 and making more photos with it than I have  done with any other camera.