GH4 with 100-300mm |
FZ1000 + i-Zoom vs GH4 + 100-300mm lens
I recently tested
The FZ1000 at the long end of it's zoom compared with a Lumix 100-300mm lens mounted to a Panasonic
GH4 body. For this I used a test chart consisting of repeating
pages of fine print. I had each camera
on a tripod and used timer delay to
release the shutter.
I found the two rigs to produce very similar and by the way
really excellent results in the focal length range E100 - E300 mm.
But at E400mm which is the maximum optical zoom for the
FZ1000, the 100-300mm lens on GH4 drew slightly ahead, with a bit more microcontrast across the frame and slightly
crisper corners.
At E600mm the 100-300mm lens was at the end of it's optical
zoom range and the FZ1000 was well into i-Zoom range. Here the 100-300mm lens
was clearly superior across the frame with better resolution of fine details.
A family member
is very keen to photograph birds in their natural habitat.
Following my initial testing I thought that the GH4+100-300mm
kit would be the obvious choice for this duty.
However birds are not test charts and the circumstances of wild bird photography are very different from those
which prevail for test photos.
So we went to a place where birds are common. I had the
FZ1000 with i-Zoom enabled. She had the GH4 with 100-300mm lens mounted. We
would be using both cameras hand held in the open with no hide. We would
concentrate on the little birds as they are the most difficult to
photograph. We swapped cameras from time
to time.
The user experience The GH4 with 100-300mm lens is really quite
small and light compared to full frame kits but the FZ1000 is even lighter.
This made the FZ1000 easier to hold and operate. The person with the smaller
camera got the bird in frame more easily than the person with the larger kit.
The FZ1000 has a more effective image stabiliser than the 100-300mm lens. This means it is easier to hold the live view screen steady on the subject while framing and focussing.
The FZ1000 has a more effective image stabiliser than the 100-300mm lens. This means it is easier to hold the live view screen steady on the subject while framing and focussing.
The GH4 is generally a super fast focussing camera but the
100-300mm lens has been on the market for a few years and is starting to show
it's age in the technological sense. The lens is a bit slower to focus than the
FZ1000 and that made getting the shot more difficult.
Again, birds are not test charts. The requirement for birds
is not so much for vast amounts of fine detail but for good contrast at a
somewhat coarser level, together with fast, accurate focus and fast operation.
The FZ1000 was operating at f4, the GH4/100-300 at f5.6.
This allowed for potentially higher shutter speeds on the FZ1000, if required.
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