Panasonic FZ1000 review

It’s not often that a camera comes along and totally shakes things up. We’re not referring to the Panasonic FZ1000, though. It was the Sony RX10 that broke the mould for bridge cameras. Its large 1in sensor has over four times the surface area of the 1/2.3in sensors used in most bridge cameras, with an equivalent boost to image quality. Its constant f/2.8 aperture lens raised quality in low light even further. With breathtaking performance and luxurious design, it fully justified its £949 launch price.

Sensor sizes and apertures aren’t the first things most people check when shopping for a camera, though. The RX10’s 8.3x zoom range gives a fair amount of flexibility but it isn’t what people expect from a bridge camera.

The Panasonic FZ1000 is very similar to the RX10 but arrives with an immediate advantage with its 16x (25-400mm) zoom range. That’s still modest compared to the 50x and 60x zooms doing the rounds these days. We find focal lengths beyond 600mm quite unwieldy, though, as it becomes tricky to frame subjects. 25-400mm is a versatile, highly practical zoom range.

The FZ1000’s sensor has the same 1in size and 20-megapixel resolution as the Sony RX10’s – most likely it’s the same sensor. However, unlike the RX10’s constant f/2.8 aperture, the FZ1000 manages f/2.8 for wide-angle but closes down to f/4 by 170mm and stays there all the way to 400mm. f/4 is still bright for a bridge camera, but it captures half as much light as f/2.8

Both cameras are substantial, weighty affairs, but the plastic FZ1000 can’t match the luxury of the magnesium alloy RX10. It lacks the RX10’s top-mounted screen for relaying settings and its dedicated exposure compensation dial. It includes a drive mode dial, though, giving quick access to continuous shooting, the self-timer, exposure bracketing and time-lapse capture. There’s no headphone socket and no neutral-density (ND) filter, but the lens has a 62mm thread to attach filters. Both cameras have Wi-Fi with NFC, but the FZ1000’s accompanying iOS and Android apps provide far more comprehensive remote control facilities than Sony’s apps.

A lens ring alternates between focus and zoom duties via a switch on the lens barrel. However, this switch and another for optical stabilisation are too easy to knock by accident. Otherwise, the controls are nicely laid out, with labelled buttons for the most commonly used functions and various customisable Fn buttons. There’s a manual focus switch on the back of the camera, plus a command dial that is pushed inwards to cycle through exposure-related controls.

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Both cameras use the same 2.4-million dot electronic viewfinder, which compares well for size and detail with a full-frame SLR’s optical viewfinder. They both have high-resolution 3in LCD screens, too. The FZ1000’s screen is hinged at the side, which allows for a greater range of angles than the RX10’s tilting screen. Neither camera’s screen is touch-sensitive, but that’s particularly disappointing in the FZ1000 considering how effectively various other Panasonic cameras use their touchscreens.

The RX10 was astonishingly quick in our tests. The FZ1000 is even quicker. It powered up and captured a photo in under a second, and took just 0.3 seconds between shots – one of the fastest we’ve ever seen. This was thanks in part to spectacular autofocus performance, typically taking a tenth of a second between pressing the shutter button and capturing a shot. Continuous performance didn’t hit the claimed 12fps speed in our tests, but 9.5fps for 43 frames, slowing to around 1.2fps, is nevertheless an outstanding result. Even more impressive was its ability to shoot at 7.3fps with continuous autofocus. This is a massive improvement on the RX10’s 1.4fps performance in the same test. RAW shooting was at 9fps, slowing to 1.4fps after 12 frames.

Autofocus is also extremely sophisticated. The face detection mode zones in on the eyes to ensure they’re pin sharp when there’s a shallow depth of field. A Custom Multi mode lets the focus area be defined as a horizontal or vertical line or even a freely assignable array on a 7×7 grid. The 1-Area mode can place the autofocus area anywhere in the frame, with a freely adjustable size ranging from a tiny square to virtually the full height of the frame.

FZ1000 VIDEO QUALITY

The RX10 excels for video capture, but the FZ1000 ups the stakes with its ability to record 4K video. It’s recorded at 3,840×2,160 pixels at 25p, and encoded in AVC format at 100Mbit/s. There’s no Cinema 4K (4,096×2,160 at 24p) as per the Panasonic GH4, but considering the significantly lower price it’s a reasonable omission.

As with the GH4, the FZ1000 uses a 1:1 pixel ratio for its 4K output, which means video is captured using a 3,840×2,160 crop of the sensor’s full 5,472×3,648 resolution. This equates to a 37-592mm (equivalent) focal length range for 4K video, trading some wide-angle range for an extended telephoto capability. We particularly like the ability to pause playback of 4K footage and save the current frame as an 8-megapixel JPEG with a couple of button pushes.

Comparing the GH4 and FZ1000’s 4K output, the GH4’s details were a little finer and more natural looking. However, resizing their 4K output to 1080p made both looked equally stunning, and way beyond the RX10 for detail levels. As with the GH4, shooting 4K gives a significant boost to video details even when distributing the final edit at 1080p.

^ The FZ1000’s 1080p output looks sharp… until you compare it with the 4K footage downscaled to 1080p (view at 1080p on a high-resolution monitor to see the difference)

Autofocus in videos was smooth and responsive, but the lack of a touchscreen meant moving the autofocus point while recording was slow and clumsy. However, it is possible to do so by tapping the touchscreen of a connected Android or iOS device. Manual focus is well implemented, with the substantial lens barrel and a peaking mode that highlights sharply-focused areas of the frame. Meanwhile, the Cinelike D colour preset (only available for video capture) gives a flat contrast to preserve as much dynamic range as possible. This doesn’t necessarily flatter subjects but it’s ideal if you’re planning to apply colour correction in editing software later.

The FZ1000’s 1080p capture was extremely impressive too, narrowly beating the RX10 for detail levels. There’s a choice of 24p, 25p, 50i and 50p frame rates, although bit rates up to 28Mbit/s don’t match the huge bit rates available in the GH4. There’s also an option to record 1080p video at 100fps, playing back at 25fps for quarter-speed slow motion. However, focus and exposure are fixed in this mode, and optical stabilisation is disabled. Details didn’t appear as crisp as in normal-speed 1080p footage – our guess is that a lower-quality algorithm is being used to resize the 20-megapixel sensor output. Even so, it’s a real treat to be able to shoot slow motion at 1080p.

^ 100fps capture at 1080p delivers slow motion without compromising on resolution

FZ1000 IMAGE QUALITY

The FZ1000’s photos look superb, with a clarity of detail that’s much closer to an SLR or CSC than bridge cameras that use tiny 1/2.3in sensors. However, the lens didn’t deliver the same sharpness that we saw from the Sony RX10, with a slightly soft focus towards the edges at wide apertures. The RX10’s superiority was obvious in our studio test scene, although it evened out by f/8. We also noticed a slight softening of details at focal lengths beyond 200mm, but it still succeeded in capturing more detail in distant subjects than the RX10 with its shorter zoom range.

Click images to enlarge, and then click the icon to see them at their full, native resolution

^ 1/640s, f/3.9, ISO 125, 115mm – Clean, detailed skin and hair textures could easily be mistaken for an SLR or CSC’s output

^ 1/1600s, f/3.2, ISO 125, 25mm – The centre of this wide-angle shot is pin sharp but the edges aren’t quite as crisp

^ 1/640s, f/4, ISO 125, 221mm – Focus is looking pretty good at a 221mm (equivalent) focal length…

^ 1/400s, f/4, ISO 125, 400mm … but it deteriorates towards the edges at 400mm.

^ 1/1300s, f/4, ISO 125, 400mm – There’s no faulting the focus on this shot taken at the full zoom extension. f/4 at 400mm (equivalent) gives a narrow depth of field to blur the background in close-up shots

The large sensor and reasonably bright lens performed superbly in low light, producing photos that were good enough for big prints at ISO 1600. Comparing our studio test scene with the RX10 once again, we preferred the look of the FZ1000’s noise reduction at ISO 1600 and above. However, in practice, the RX10’s constant f/2.8 aperture meant it reclaims the advantage at most focal lengths.

^ 1/80s, f/2.9, ISO 1600, 28mm – Shooting indoors in ambient sunlight, there’s some evidence of noise reduction on close inspection but it’s an excellent result nonetheless

^ 1/5s, f/3.8, ISO 5000, 90mm – The FZ1000 still turns in respectable snaps under street lighting at ISO 5000 – a superb achievement

CONCLUSION

This is a camera that really can do it all. It has a decent telephoto range and fast performance for sports and wildlife, excellent image quality in low light and convincingly the best video mode we’ve seen this side of £1,000. However, we’re still sorely tempted by the Sony RX10, which has recently dropped in price to around £700, or £650 with a £50 cashback offer (valid until 31 August). The RX10 can’t shoot 4K video and it has a shorter zoom range, but its lens is sharper and brighter and its magnesium body is more upmarket.

We also have to wonder how many people want 4K and yet would be happy to forego the flexibility of the GH4’s interchangeable lenses. Then again, a GH4 plus a collection of lenses could easily exceed £2,000. For a small fraction of that price, the FZ1000 delivers exceptional photos and videos in a convenient, highly rewarding package. All three cameras are among the most exciting models currently available. The FZ1000 joins the RX10 and GH4 in receiving a wholehearted recommendation from us.