Best Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020:

Thanks to their powerful zooms, the bridges continue to interest a large audience of users. This is certainly the case of this Lumix FZ1000 II which in addition to sporting a 16x zoom equivalent to a 25-400 mm has a 1 “sensor of 20.1 Mpx.

Presentation

Released in 2014, the Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 came to compete with the Sony RX10 , the first 1 “sensor bridge. Since then, Sony has presented three other models, the most recent of which, the RX10 IV made a strong impression during its test. side, Panasonic has expanded its range of a more muscular FZ2000 which is distinguished by its 20x 24-480mm f / 2.8-4.5 zoom in 24×36 equivalent and its qualities of videographers served by headphone and microphone jacks, as well than 4: 2: 0 8-bit recording internally and 4: 2: 2 10-bit recording on an external recorder for an unlimited period.

This Lumix FZ1000 Mark II is therefore not the most upscale model of the brand, but it replaces the FZ1000 whose age was beginning to be felt.

In the program, there is not a new sensor or a new lens, but more discreet improvements. It will be noted that the diaphragm gains a notch at its smallest opening with a maximum plateau at f / 11, which can be appreciable in conditions of strong light. The mechanical shutter is limited to 1/4000 s and it is possible to mount up to 1/16000 s in electronic shutter.

Finally, note the appearance of a Bluetooth LE connection in addition to the Wi-Fi already present on the FZ1000 allowing a permanent connection between the device and the smartphone.

Best Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020

1. PANASONIC LUMIX FZ1000 II 20.1MP Digital Camera, 16x 25-400mm LEICA DC Lens. 4K Video, Optical Image Stabilizer and 3.0-inch Display. Point and Shoot Camera – DC-FZ1000M2 (Black)

2. Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II 20.1MP Digital Camera, 25-400mm f/2.8-4 Leica DC Lens. 4K Video, Optical Image Stabilizer, DC-FZ1000M2 Bundle with Bag. 64GB SD Card, Filter Kit, Battery, Charger + More

3. Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II 20.1MP Digital Camera. 16x 25-400mm Leica DC Lens Point and Shoot Camera with Memory Card, Bag, Spare Battery and More

4. Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II 20.1MP Digital Camera, 25-400mm f/2.8-4 Leica DC Lens. 4K Video, DC-FZ1000M2 Bundle with Case, 64GB SD Card. Filter Kit, Battery, Charger, Corel Mac Software Pack + More

5. Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ1000 4K QFHD/HD 16X Long Zoom Digital Camera (Black). Polaroid 32GB+ Battery + Polaroid 62mm UV Filter. Camera Bag + Cleaning Kit + Screen Protector + Wallet

Reactivity

You have to deploy this imposing zoom made up of 15 lenses! This is certainly what leads the FZ1000 II to display such a delay on ignition (1.72 s). However, this cannot justify this value since it was one second on its predecessor equipped with the same lens and barely more on the FZ2000 with a 24-480 mm equivalent. On this point, the Sony RX10 IV does little better. The ignition time is not the specialty of bridges but we must admit that on the ground it does not particularly penalize them. The extinction is not very fast either: count a lag time between the action on the selector and the retraction of the lens. Again it is not dramatic, but notable all the same.

Fortunately, when the moment comes to press the shutter button, the Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II responds with your finger and your eye. Autofocus is extremely fast, both at wide angle and at telephoto, and is even faster if you activate the Quick AF mode, which focuses continuously. For our measurements, we obviously disabled it to isolate the performance of the autofocus system itself. But in the field, this feature gave us the impression of instant autofocus in all situations. Also remember to activate it in low light conditions, because there the device is much slower. Our measurements showed a time of 0.87 s to focus, zoom halfway. This is almost double what was measured on the FZ2000 and RX10 IV at the time.

Image quality

The Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II sensor does not change. We therefore still find the 1 “20.1 MP model of its predecessor which also officiates in the FZ2000 and has the same characteristics as that of the Sony RX10 IV.

In high sensitivity, the image quality is quite close from one model to another, with an increase in noise which is felt from 800 ISO and a limit of use that we will place around 3200 ISO as long as it is accompanied by a significant loss of detail.

In low light conditions, it is from ISO 800 that this smoothing becomes in our eyes too annoying. We will take this opportunity to note a rather random behavior of the automatic white balance measurement which no longer performs the same correction between the first and the last images of our series.

If the sensor has inherent limits to the size of its photosites (2.40 µm), the quality of its images must be compared with that of other bridges on the market, whose ½, 3 “sensors show their limits as soon as nominal sensitivity The Canon Powershot SX70 HS disappointed us on this point with a very average image quality, just like the Nikon Coolpix P1000 which relies more on its 125 x zoom than on its image quality to appeal to its audience.

Optically, the FZ1000 II is quite strong. Its Lex 16x zoom incorporates five aspherical lenses and ED glass lenses and can count on good software processing of the device to eradicate deformations and aberrations. Thus, we can see a very honorable rendering in 25 mm as in 400 mm from the full opening.

Video

Video has always been one of the strong points of Panasonic, which once again demonstrates its know-how with good image quality. The device offers 4K recording at 30p, unfortunately not 60p, which could almost seem trivial. But it also offers a Full HD high speed video mode at 100 fps, instant video clips and a 4K Live Cropping function which we already had the opportunity to tell you about during our presentation of the GX80

Unfortunately, capturing in 4K is accompanied by significant cropping which prevents taking advantage of the wide-angle position of the zoom. In this mode, the device is very sensitive to rolling shutter .

Finally, if the autofocus has been reactive in photos, it is more sluggish in video. Fortunately, a face detection mode is present to follow up on a subject. On the ground, stabilization has proven to be effective and has enabled us to carry out plans without shaking freehand. This is an important criterion in our view, given the general positioning of the device: we bet that its users will not be burdened with a stabilization system in addition to their device. The sound recording is good and the device also has a microphone jack. However, no headphone jack or assistant type zebras exposure or Focus Peaking.

Related

1. Best Panasonic Lumix FZ72 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020
2. Best Panasonic Lumix FZ82 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020
3. Best Panasonic Lumix TZ100 Black Friday and Cyber Monday Deals & Sales 2020