Panasonic Lumix Fz300 Long Zoom Digital Camera Features 12.1 Megapixel, 1/2.3-Inch Sensor, 4k Video,
Panasonic LUMIX FZ300 Long Zoom Digital Camera Features 12.1 Megapixel, 1/2.3-Inch Sensor, 4K Video, WiFi, Splash & Dustproof Camera Body, LEICA DC 24X F2.8 Zoom Lens - DMC-FZ300K - (Black) USA
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- 4K video and 4K photo: Panasonic’s exclusive 4K photo technology uses 30 frames per second in high resolution 4K ultra HD video to extract them as photos; You’ll never miss that moment again
- Leica DC Vario Elmarit lens: 24x zoom (25 600 millimeter with Full zoom range F2; 8 aperture for enhanced low light shooting meeting the stringent quality standards established by Leica
- High image Quality: The 12.1 Megapixel high sensitivity MOS sensor with the venus engine excels in diffraction compensation, yielding images that are crisp and Free from artifacts associated with small aperture settings
- Rugged Camera Design: Splash Proof/dustproof rugged camera design with tight seals on every Joint, dial and button, so it stands up to harsh weather conditions and challenging
- 5 Axis Hybrid Optical Image Stabilizer Plus: Reduces blur from 1 handed video shooting by compensating for 5 types of movement; Level shot function detects horizon line and maintains it, even if the camera is tilted
Brand : Panasonic
Category : Electronics,Camera & Photo,Digital Cameras,Point & Shoot Digital Cameras
Rating : 4.6
ListPrice : US $597.99
Price : US $447.99
Review Count : 2545
Panasonic LUMIX FZ300 Long Zoom Digital Camera Features 12.1 Megapixel, 1/2.3-Inch Sensor, 4K Video, WiFi, Splash & Dustproof Camera Body, LEICA DC 24X F2.8 Zoom Lens - DMC-FZ300K - (Black) USA
- The media could not be loaded. BACKGROUND:.I’ve been a hobby photographer pretty much all my life and honed my photography skills on a 35mm Canon EOS 650 in the nineties. I wanted to go back to a decent camera after using my phone most recently. I hated carrying that big camera bag of accessories!Bridge cameras seemed the way to go for a reasonably priced all-in-one camera, but I’d have to accept the low light limitations, greater depth of field, and the lower overall quality from the small 1/2.3 sensors. Low light is not that big a deal when I have a very capable phone for those occasions.I finally decided upon the Panasonic Lumix FZ300. It is a very budget-friendly price and, most importantly, has a 25 to 600mm, 35mm equivalent focal length zoom lens with maximum f2.8 throughout that focal range. I’d have to spend maybe $10k to get the equivalent capability with a DSLR and a constant f2.8 is unheard of with bridge cameras. That’s a great feature. Of course, you have to consider that f2.8 from a cropped sensor camera like the FZ300 is actually a 35mm equivalent of f16. So, getting a shallow depth of field is a challenge, though not impossible with a longer zoom setting and large subject-to-background spacing..BUILD/ERGONOMICS:.The FZ300 is a very well-built camera. It is not too heavy or bulky, but it feels solid and there are no parts which feel cheap. The dials have a good detent, the buttons work well and the zoom is smooth throughout its travel. The camera just feels ‘right’ in the hands, though with an extended zoom, I do have to get used to holding my left hand under the shorter, fixed part of the lens body, rather than out at the front on the extending portion. I don’t want to overload the motor or put undue sideways force on the zoom. I like how the lens hood can be reversed and stowed on the lens.Once you get used to the location of the buttons, it’s fairly easy to find what you need without taking your eyes off the scene on the monitor or the view finder.You\'ll need to buy an extra battery or two as it only lasts a maximum of 350 shots and takes at least a couple hours to recharge..FUNCTIONALITY:.This camera has all the same functions as a DSLR, including time-lapse. So, this is definitely way beyond a point-and-shoot camera. If you don’t know the basics of photography or don’t want to spend the time it takes to learn, don’t buy this camera.You will also need to play with the settings to get the best from this camera. It’s very easy to get poor quality photos. The two Intelligent Auto (IA) modes help the amateur but are not foolproof.The 25 to 600mmm zoom lens is an excellent feature for both macro and long-distance photos all in the same camera. The fully tiltable and articulating view monitor is a must-have. Both the electronic viewfinder and monitor are very detailed, clear, and bright.So far, I’ve taken only about 50 shots. I’d watched Graham Houghton’s superb tutorial videos on YT for the FZ series of Lumix cameras, but it still took some head-scratching to work out what was going on at certain points. As with any new camera, trying to remember where the menu settings are is a mental challenge. Then, some settings disable other options. For example, the flash wouldn’t work. The manual didn’t help. By trial and error, I found that selecting SILENT MODE not only turns off all beeps and shutter sounds, but it also disables the flash! STEALTH MODE might be a better description. You can actually set the volume of the beeps elsewhere in the menu with 3 levels from OFF to HIGH, which allows the flash to work with no camera sounds. Also, I couldn’t get a shutter speed longer than 1 second. It turned out that selecting electronic shutter, instead of mechanical, limits the shutter speed range. Reverting to mechanical shutter and I was able to achieve a 60s exposure time.With a 600mm zoom range, camera shake is a major problem for great shots. The on-board optical stabilization (vertical and horizontal) does not eliminate that, though it’s a useful aid. A tripod is a must in those cases, unless you have lots of light, and then you can get some great pictures from the FZ300. You also have the iZOOM function which doubles the zoom. It works similar to cropping and enlarging in a PC, but only on the JPEG files, not RAW. I find just cropping in post-processing on a PC provides a less noisy image. Digital Zoom, which adds another 2x zoom, is rarely worth using unless you must get that shot. The quality is pretty poor.I have found the 4K BURST MODE particularly useful for animal shots. The camera takes a 4K video and, in-camera not on your PC, you can extract individual JPEG frames and save them as 8MP photos. Most of the animal shots in this review are 4K Burst frames. I can never get a good single shot with fast-moving critters!The flash is pretty powerful, though utilitarian. My dog shot is with the flash in a dark room from about 8ft. At 20ft, the illumination gets a little weak for a nice shot.Focus seems fast and precise, though spot focusing doesn’t always find its mark.With the f16, 35mm equivalent aperture, it is not like a DSLR when trying to achieve minimal depth of field. You have to have a good distance between your subject and the background, plus use a higher zoom factor. I miss what I could do with my 650’s larger effective apertures.I’ve yet to use the camera\'s 4k Video mode, other than the attached slow-motion clip, created with no preparation, just hitting the record button. Video is not something I’d use very often to be honest..OVERALL QUALITY:.With good lighting, a still camera and the optimum settings, this camera produces good images. They do lack some sharpness.As mentioned, bridge cameras perform poorly in low light. The FZ300 optimum settings for best quality are f4 and an ISO of 100. With a long exposure and those two key settings, the quality is very good. Of course, you have up to ISO 6400 and you can always use noise as part of your artistic photography.However, I typically post-process my RAW files to optimize what I take. Most of my shots here are post-processed to improve sharpness, exposure, composition, and color and they show the best you can get from this camera.The shot of the field and the distant green toy is the JPEG straight from the camera, handheld at a wide 25mm focal length, f2.8, 1/500s and ISO 100 on a very overcast, dull day at noon. No post processing. The camera is reaching about 135 yards. The close-up is the complete 135-yard view at full zoom (600mm) and the extreme close-up is just cropping that image to show the image at 100% actual size. The quality with diffuse light is excellent..APP SUPPORT:.Quite frankly the app isn’t worth bothering with unless you absolutely need it.Firstly, I couldn’t get it to open and stay open in Android 13. I found that was because, if you don’t give permission for Location to be on all the time, not just when the app is open, when setting up the app, the app will open and immediately close without any notification as to why. Once the app stays open, you have to try and connect to the camera’s WiFi. The whole process is VERY slow and you think it isn’t working, then suddenly it connects. Do NOT cancel the pop-up message that appears. If you do the connection process is cancelled. Leave it and eventually the connection might be made. When you do get connected, you’ll likely lose the connection in the app at some point and have to start all over, even though the camera still indicates it is connected and the phone also says it’s connected. VERY frustrating.I did manage to remotely take a photo and transfer that photo to my phone. It was quite a fast transfer with a connection speed of 72mbps. However, I initially kept getting a message that stated ‘this function is not yet available’ when I clicked the transfer icon, until I found an option with all the camera photos displayed in a grid, where selecting one and sending that to the phone actually worked..CONCLUSION:.So far, I’m impressed with the value of this camera. It does a lot for comparatively little. Yes, it’s not as high resolution as an expensive DSLR, but it is capable of some great photos, though those do take some effort, and technique relearning, to get a really high-quality photo. Do some off-camera processing and the photos really can shine. That f2.8, 25-600mm lens is an awesome feature.The FZ300 is only 12MP, (it sounds low for today’s cameras), but an 8 x11 print only needs an 8MP, 300 dpi shot for a high-quality rendering. A 4k TV also needs only 8mp. Higher pixel count is just marketing hype for photographers like me, and most of you. Don’t be put off by the number on the FZ300.The app support was very disappointing and removes one of the features I was really looking to use for remote control of time lapse and bird photography..I can certainly recommend this camera if you want a budget camera with expensive features which does a superb job for the price.
- This camera is amazing. Image quality. Auto focus. Zoom. Touch screen. Articulating screen. In-camera features. Raw. Face recognition. 4K video. The ergonomics of the camera grip is excellent in design. Dollar-for-dollar this is well worth the cost. No buyers remorse. Look closely at what the nay sayers are saying. Learn the camera. It will give you many good picture taking times. Highly recommended.
- I\'ve only had this camera for 2 or 3 weeks so my experience is limited, but so far I\'m very happy with it.I had a fairly cheap digital camera before this (GE X550), and I was looking for something that was a step up while trying to stay to $500 or $600.This camera has a lot of fancy features. It has what you\'d expect from any camera that\'s above the point-and-shoot level. You can set it to full auto exposure, manual, aperture priority, or shutter priority. Etc. The features you\'d expect to find in any DSLR or mirrorless camera.It has a bunch of handy features. Like a burst mode, where as long as you hold the shutter button down it will keep clicking pictures. (Choice of speed ranging from, don\'t quote me on the numbers, I think something like 5 shots per second up to maybe 20.) Auto-bracket mode: Click a picture and it will automatically take 2 more, one with a slightly darker exposure and one slightly lighter. (How much darker or lighter is a setting, and while I usually use 3 you can also do 5 or 7.) Image stabilization that works very well. I did some night shots hand held with shutter speeds of 1 or 2 seconds and they came out with no obvious blur. Option to have a constant brightness on the viewfinder or to have the brightness reflect what the picture will look like. One thing that you may think of as cute fluff but I think is pretty handy: You can set it so that the image shows up on the LCD panel, in the viewfinder, or you can have it use the LCD panel but then automatically switch to the viewfinder when you put your eye up to it. Or to me handiest option of all: the LCD panel folds out (I presume to protect the screen), so if the LCD panel is \"open\" it uses that, if it\'s closed it uses the viewfinder. Auto focus or manual focus. (It has a feature they claim will keep a moving object in focus, I haven\'t tried to use that.) Lots of other settings and options that I haven\'t played with much (or don\'t understand :-)It doesn\'t have changeable lenses, but the built-in lens has like a 20X zoom.Aperture ranges from F/2.8 to F/8.0. Shutter speeds range from open until you release the button to I think 1/4000 of a second. There\'s a choice between electronic and mixed electronic/mechanical shutter. If you use the electronic shutter the shutter speeds can be even faster but there are some limitations with it. (The \"mixed\" mode opens the shutter electronically but closes it mechanically.)The camera will also take video. I\'ve only played with this briefly, mostly I wanted a still camera, so I can\'t say a lot about that.There are a bunch of \"creative\" options, like you can take pictures in sepia tones, very high contrast, soft focus, etc.The menus can be accessed with buttons to scroll around or by using the touch screen. The controls you\'re likely to want to use all the time, setting the basic mode (S/A/M/P etc), shutter speed, focus, zoom, couple of others, are buttons or knobs. Common options are quickly reached from a few main buttons, like ISO speed, white balance, and focus mode. And there\'s a customizable \"quick menu\", so if you routinely use some feature you can set it to be reachable fairly easily without having to scroll through all the menus.Drawbacks I\'ve noticed:You can\'t swap lenses. It\'s got a zoom lens that\'s permanently attached.It\'s ability to give a shallow depth of field is limited. If you like to take portraits, for example, with a blurred background, you may have difficulty achieving this. I want to play with this some more.I\'m sure a professional photographer could point to more limitations but that\'s all I\'ve really noticed so far.
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