44 8 June 2019 I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.uk I subscribe 0330 333 1113
around20glighter.Thatsaid,
though,weighingin at
around800gtheFZ1000II is still
actuallyquiteheavy.It’salsoquite
large,withthecamerabody
(minusthelens)beingcomparable
in sizetoanenthusiast-grade
APS-CDSLRsuchastheNikon
D7500orCanonEOS80Dor
indeedthePanasonicLumixG9.
Thebottomlinehereis thatwhile
theFZ1000II isn’taslargeasa
full-frameDSLR,anddoesn’t
requireyoutocarrya bagof
lensesaroundin ordertomatch
itsbuilt-infocalrange,it’sbyno
meansa compactorlightweight
camera.Becauseof thisit’salso
a camerathattakestwohandsto
operate,especiallywhenshooting
at extendedtelephotosettings.
In termsof construction,the
FZ1000II is predominantly
housedwithina polycarbonate
protectiveshell,withonlythe
rearsectionof thelens
barrelbenefitingfroma
metalconstruction.
In termsof ergonomicsthe
handgripis nowa bitthinnerand
alsoslightlydeeperthanit was
ontheoriginalFZ1000,whilethe
contouredthumbbraceonthe
backis lesspronouncedthan
previously.Therubberisedcoating
thatcoversthemaincontactareas
is alsoslightlymoretexturedthan
it wasontheFZ1000.Button
placementhaschangedquitea bit
too,withtheone-touchmovie-
recordbuttonmovingtothe
outsideof thetop-plate,in effect
swappingplaceswiththetwoFn
buttonswhicharenowcloserto
thecentreof thecamera.While
boththeFZ1000andFZ1000II
providetwincontroldials,the
newermodelreplacestheinset
thumbdialonthebackof the
camerawitha morepronounced
metaldialonthetop-plate.
TheFZ1000II providesno
fewerthan 13 individualFunction
buttons,allof whichcanbe
assignedin linewithyourshooting
preferences.Eightof thesetake
theformof physicalbuttons
dottedaroundthecamera,with
fivemoreaccessedviatherear
touchscreendisplay.Someof the
physicalbuttonsdefinitelyfall
withineasierreachof yourfingers
thanothers,soit’swellworth
consideringwhichonesyou’re
likelytousemostoftenwhen
assigningthem.Weespeciallyliked
theZoomAssistbuttonthat,by
default,is allocatedtothelowest
Fnbuttononthelensbarrel.
Pressingthistemporarilyzooms
thelensoutto25mm,withan
illuminatedwindowin thecentre
of theviewfinderhighlightingthe
areacoveredbythezoom’sinitial
focallength.ReleasingtheFn
buttonsnapsthezoombacktoTheFZ1000II’sAutoWhite
Balancemoderendered
faithfulcolourin thisscene
PanasonicLumixFZ1000II at35mm,
1/200secatf/3.1,ISO 125The FZ1000 II’s 16x optical zoom
lens is great for filling the
frame with your subject
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II at 400mm,
1/320sec at f/6.3, ISO 200this highlighted area. Although
by no means a new feature, it’s
defi nitely a useful one as it allows
you to quickly re-target faraway
subjects in between checking
your images and making other
adjustments while shooting at
extended telephoto settings.
The front of the metal lens
barrel is encircled by a 2-cm
wide control wheel that can be
customised to alter things such
as exposure compensation,
sensitivity, white balance, Picture
Style and much more on the fl y.
While this is all very neat and
clever, we suspect most users will
simply use it to extend and retract
the zoom as you would on a
regular zoom lens, as this feels by
far the most intuitive way to use it.
More importantly using it in this
way also gives you more precise
control over the focal length than
the small spring-loaded zoom
lever in front of the shutter button.
Switching the camera into manual
focus mode reassigns the control
ring to act as a focus adjust ring
rather than a zoom ring, with an
enlarged focus area appearing in
the EVF/rear display.Viewfi nder and screen
Whereas the FZ1000 came
equipped with a 3in, 921k-dot
rear display, the newer model
benefi ts from a 3in, 1.24-million-dot display that’s of the vari-angle
variety and adds touchscreen
functionality to the mix. The
touchscreen is quite sensitive so
you don’t have to press particularly
hard on it to register a command.
Touchscreen functions include,
but certainly aren’t limited to,
things like selecting the active
AF point in Single Area AF mode,