8 June 2019I http://www.amateurphotographer.co.ukI subscribe 0330 333 1113manyothertouchscreen-
equippedcamerassuffer
from.AstheactiveAFpoint
cannotbemanuallylockeddown,
youronlyrealoptiontoprevent
thisfromhappeningis toeither
turnthetouchscreenoff,orfold
thescreenbackintothecamera.
Despitetheissuesmentioned
above,I hadfewcriticismswith
regardtoAFspeedandaccuracy.
AswithmostLumixcameras,the
FZ1000II featuresPanasonic’s
proprietaryDepthFromDefocus
(DFD)technologythatusesstored
lensdatatoquicklydetermine
distance,therebyeliminating
muchof the‘focushunting’that
contrast-detectAFsystemscan
beproneto.Asa result,focus-
lockis allbutinstantaneousin
goodlight,whilein lessthan
optimalconditionstheAFAssist
lampcangenerallybereliedupon
toilluminatenearbysubjectswith
onlya slightdropin AFspeed.In
poorlightandwiththeAFAssist
lampdisabled,theAFsystemis
morepronetohuntingandcan
sometimesstruggleto focus at all.Performance
TheFZ1000II’sVenusEngine
imageprocessormakeslightwork
of processingduties.Loadedwith
a SanDiskExtremeProSDHC
Class 10 UHS-1card,I shotin
excessof 100full-resolution
JPEGimagesoverthecourseof
ninesecondsat themaximum
continuous shooting speed of12fps.Switchingtoraw,I managed
30 consecutiveimagesin justover
threesecondsbeforethebuffer
filledandtheframeratedropped.
In raw+JPEGcapture,thefigure
droppedto 27 consecutiveimages
in around2.5seconds.
I havetoadmitthatI wasreally
impressedbytheimagequality
theFZ1000II’s1insensoris
capableof outputting.Shooting
JPEGsin the‘Standard’Picture
Stylesettingproducesgenerally
pleasingresults,althoughcontrast
andvibrancycansometimesdo
witha bitof a boost.Thankfully,it’s
possibletotweakeachindividual
PictureStylepresetorindeed
createyourowncustomones.In
ordertogetthebestresultsfrom
theFZ1000II it’sdefinitelyworth
experimentingwiththesesettings
andsettingthemupasyoulike.
Elsewhere,meteringproves
consistentlyaccurate,whilewhite
balancecanberelieduponto
producelifelikecolourin a variety
of lightingsituations.
Ofcourse,onetrade-offwith
havinga 16xopticalzoomat your
disposalis thatsomeimagequality
is necessarilysacrificedin order
toaccommodatethezoom’s
expansiverange.Whilethelens
performsverywellat itswider
settings,criticalsharpnessdoes
falloffwhenit’susedtowardsthe
400mmlimitof itsrange.Overall
though,I wasverypleasedwith
theimagesproducedbythe
Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II.Thispictureofsomebluebellswas
takenata distanceofaroundone
metreusingthemacrofunction
PanasonicLumixFZ1000II at400mm
1/640sec at f/4, ISO 800THISbeinga Panasoniccamera,
theFZ1000II comeswiththe
fullcomplementof 4KPhoto
modes,allof whichtake
advantageof thecamera’s4K
video-recordingabilitiesin order
toproduce8MPstillimages.4K
Burstmodeenables30fpsburst
shootingforaslongasyouhold
theshutteropen;4KBurstStart/
Stoprecordsuser-timedclipsof
4Kvideothatyoucanextract
stillsfrom;and4KPre-Burst
records4Kvideocontinuouslyon
a two-secondloop,presenting
youwith 30 framesfromthe
secondimmediatelybeforeand
afteryou’vepressedtheshutter
button.Allthree4KPhoto
modescanbecalleduponin
certain situations to increase your
chancesof successwhentrying
tocapturea fleetingmoment.
Whilethequalityof the8MP
imagesobviouslyisn’tona par
withthefull-resolution20.1MP
imagestheFZ1000II is capable
of,resultsareperfectlyadequate
foruploadingtosocialmedia
platforms,viewingonmobile
devicesorevenmakingsmall
printswith.Tosummarisethen,
while4KPhotomightnotbe
particularlynewtechnology
(Panasonicfirstintroducedit with
thereleaseof theGH4mirrorless
camerain 2014)it nonetheless
remainsa usefultooltohave
onboard.Thosewho’dlike6K
Photomodeswillneedtolookat
higher-specmodelssuchasthe
Lumix G9 or Lumix GH5.4K Photo mode
TheLumixFZ1000II’s
4KPhotomodesare
immediatelyaccessible
fromthedrivedial
on the top plate