can't thank you enough for producing these videos. I just bought one of these, and there is no way I would have the patience to figure out all the controls, but your explanations make it a breeze!
In iA movie move the focus is always switched to continuously on and it responds to subject and camera position changes. To prevent this use the P mode for your video and in the video record set up turn continuous auto focus off. If you need to re-focus during a scene just press the focus button on the side of the lens barrel to make it focus on the subject in the centre of the frame. Hope that helps.
Thank you Graham for the info...unfortunately battery life is an issue with almost all bridge cameras espcially for shooting videos which I precisely do a lot...now i would have to search for a decent backup battery too as i go for long outdoors shooting lot
Thanks for the comment. I use the MP4 720p internet codec as I understand mp4 is the native format which youtube converts all vidseo streams to on upload.
@Sean60D Hi Sean, yes the two motion shots were made with my 2 foot slider made from track and carriage from IGUS UK. I am currently looking at modifying it to be motor driven to do some smoother dolly shot and also some timelapse stuff.
Hi Martin, the only thing i can think of is that the top control dial is set at the manual movie mode ( the movie camera icon) as in this position the shutter button starts the movie recording. Turn it the P or A and see if that clears the situation as they are the best shooting modes for stills. Get back if you still have problems.
The NTSC is set by your region. In USA it will be NTSC by default and cannot be changed. However in NTSC the frame rate for 1080p is 60fps. Is premiere mis reporting the frame rate like windows mis reports the image size. Load photo funstudio software which came with the camera and check the bit rate (27Mbps) and frame rate 6ofps
Hi martin, the display button should only cycle through the options of clear screen, shooting info etc so I'm a bit puzzled with what went on here. At least you have found a solution. Thanks for the reply
Well the implementation of v2.0 meant the possibility of higher bit rates at 50(60) frames per second in a progressive format. Previously only interlaced (from the progressively scanned sensor) was available. It hasn't altered in any way the low light capabilities that's a function of the sensor and image processing software. It does however give enhanced detail in the image but it is essential to use a tripod to get the best out of avchd codecs as they fail when there is too much movement.
Hi Graham...thank you for sharing these videos...i have a problem while shooting videos in IA mode...whenever i take videos the focus sometimes change randomly especially if i am moving my camera to take different things...mostly it remains quite sharp and focussed but sometimes it turns in blurr can u help why it happens & how it can be controlled...also wanted to know if it is possible to use the focus button during video shooting & if so how? Thank you Adil
You must set iso before starting filming, during filming exposure can only be adjusted by Aperture or shutter ( if you have set M in the menu option) or manual focus if you have set M on the lens barrel
Superb Graham, that will be a godsend to Fz150 owners, again some great info for others as well, I like the 2 panning shots at the end, did you have a slider of some sort to do that? could do with one of those bird feeders, they have it to easy on mine with a large mesh :) Cheers Sean
Hi Graham it was indeed a great help also I found that on the side of barrel the mid selection of auto focus helped me a lot too...in one of ur videos of crocus i saw d slection of parameters like iso aperture...am not great in photography so wanted to know how one can choose an appropriate aperture & shutter speed(in FZ150) for filming a moving object like cars on highway or trains...also i wanted to know does lower iso makes pictures or shots dark in low light condition...
Hi, the FZ150 doesn't have a ring to focus. You can program the side lever, which is normally set up for zoom, to be the focus lever rather than use the thumbwheel on the back of the camera. The HX200v appears to be easier to use but I believe the FZ150 has better image quality. It is really a matter of personal choice, and what you need the camera to do for you. Check carefully all the points you see as essential then make your choice.
Thank you Graham for the suggestion of SCN mode will definitely use that & compare with shots in iA & P mode...what battery life one can expect from FZ150 & which tripod would u recommend for FZ150?
Hi again, Graham. I've just sorted it by pressing the display button once, back to normal screen again. Might be worth other users knowing about this, though! I was getting quite worried! Keep up the great work! Martin
Hi. The class of card shouldn't affect frame rate. I use class 4 for video without any problems and I have the NTSC version of this camera as I wanted the 60fps frame rate. The only way I can suggest this camera is shooting 30fps is if you are in MP4 mode and not the AVCHD (version2) format which was created to give 60fps mode. The 2 files reside in different directories. MP$ in the dcim and the avchd (shooting in avchd) is buried more deeply in the directory structure. please check this out.
Great video, Graham. Now I have a stupid question. How do I get back to taking still pictures after having recorded a movie? The display screen is still showing HD MP4 for some reason, even after turning the camera off and back on. Is there a button of some kind I can press to get back to the usual picture screen? Thanks in advance, Martin
Hi Graham. Thanks for your quick reply. I must have turned the dial to manual movie last night while shooting some moon pictures, so I just took some stills which were fine. I've taken some pictures this morning on P mode which again were fine but the screen has a black horizontal L shape round it which shows the icons +999, MP4 HD ISO125 and the battery. I can't seem to get back to the normal picture screen which is obviously much better for framing photos.Any ideas? Thanks, Martin
Hi, for fast moving objects I would be inclined to use the scene SCN mode and then select sports mode. The camera will then determine the correct speed/aperture/iso to give you a good image. For iso just consider it like a volume control on a radio, the lower it is the better the sound quality. Turn if up you hear distortion and noise. Low iso means best image quality but you must have bright light to use it. You cannot use iso 160 in low light the images are underexposed (dark). Just Experiment
The battery life isn't as high as they quote, really depends upon how bright you have the lcd, whether you use the evf or not and if you have continuous auto focus enabled. I would say 1 hour max for video to be on the safe side. Tripods are as personal as cameras. If you want smooth panning then you need a video head on good legs, if only static shots then any decent tripod I will suggest the Velbon D7000 as the best all rounder and reasonable price range.
Hi,I plan to buy a new superzoom & for now,I hesitate between the fz150 & the sony hx200v. could you please tell me which one is better for an amator? i tried both in shop & with the 200v, the manual focus is really easy to use but i couldn't use the ring to manually focus with the fz150. maybe the ring was broken. So could you explain me how to use the manual focus with the fz150. maybe there is a video about it that i didn't find. thanks a lot. Perr
Hi Graham! Thanks for the video upload, very informative just like your HX9V videos I watched. This camera could be step up from there, what do you think? Just an idea: consider uploading your video in 1080p to youtube, so we can see the difference in the video modes.
hey ghough12, I am considering purchasing the fz150, mostly for its video features, so i am wondering, can you manually focus the camera while recording? and do you like this cameras video quality?
Hi Graham, I'm also puzzled about how it happened. Moral of the story ; never adjust dials in the dark, always set the camera up indoors on a dark night! Thanks again, Martin
hey graham! so i got this camera without any previous knowledge and i know this is abit late but its suuuper dark when i record and i have no idea why. do you think you could help? is it the camera i got or the cameras in itself?
Hi Graham & All Viewers. I'm New To This And I Own A Panasonic Lumix DMC Fz-62...Ive Been Struggling With The Settings For The Best Images...My Biggest Hassle Is How To Set The Camera To Enable Videos Be Taken At 50fps...Ive Selected AVCHD At 1920 x 1080 But All My Videos turn Out To Be Shot At 25fps..I Really Wanna Change That.Ive Gone Through The Entire Setting But I See No Option That Permits Me To Adjust My fps...Anyone To Help Out? I'd Appreciate It.Thanks..
You say "The new implementation of the AVCHD v2.0 codec enabling 1080p video has resulted in a camera capable of recording superb video in a variety of lighting situations." Does this mean that AVCHD is better than MP4 for low light? I haven't seen much improvement in IQ so far with the new format. [In your test it looks indistinguishable]. Many thanks for plain English talk through, though; much appreciated!
I have watched your videos for MANY years and respect your findings because you detail your findings so well!!
can't thank you enough for producing these videos. I just bought one of these, and there is no way I would have the patience to figure out all the controls, but your explanations make it a breeze!
In iA movie move the focus is always switched to continuously on and it responds to subject and camera position changes. To prevent this use the P mode for your video and in the video record set up turn continuous auto focus off. If you need to re-focus during a scene just press the focus button on the side of the lens barrel to make it focus on the subject in the centre of the frame. Hope that helps.
Thank you Graham for the info...unfortunately battery life is an issue with almost all bridge cameras espcially for shooting videos which I precisely do a lot...now i would have to search for a decent backup battery too as i go for long outdoors shooting lot
Thanks for the comment. I use the MP4 720p internet codec as I understand mp4 is the native format which youtube converts all vidseo streams to on upload.
@Sean60D Hi Sean, yes the two motion shots were made with my 2 foot slider made from track and carriage from IGUS UK. I am currently looking at modifying it to be motor driven to do some smoother dolly shot and also some timelapse stuff.
Hi Martin, the only thing i can think of is that the top control dial is set at the manual movie mode ( the movie camera icon) as in this position the shutter button starts the movie recording. Turn it the P or A and see if that clears the situation as they are the best shooting modes for stills. Get back if you still have problems.
The NTSC is set by your region. In USA it will be NTSC by default and cannot be changed. However in NTSC the frame rate for 1080p is 60fps. Is premiere mis reporting the frame rate like windows mis reports the image size. Load photo funstudio software which came with the camera and check the bit rate (27Mbps) and frame rate 6ofps
Hi martin, the display button should only cycle through the options of clear screen, shooting info etc so I'm a bit puzzled with what went on here. At least you have found a solution. Thanks for the reply
Well the implementation of v2.0 meant the possibility of higher bit rates at 50(60) frames per second in a progressive format. Previously only interlaced (from the progressively scanned sensor) was available. It hasn't altered in any way the low light capabilities that's a function of the sensor and image processing software. It does however give enhanced detail in the image but it is essential to use a tripod to get the best out of avchd codecs as they fail when there is too much movement.
Hi Graham...thank you for sharing these videos...i have a problem while shooting videos in IA mode...whenever i take videos the focus sometimes change randomly especially if i am moving my camera to take different things...mostly it remains quite sharp and focussed but sometimes it turns in blurr can u help why it happens & how it can be controlled...also wanted to know if it is possible to use the focus button during video shooting & if so how?
Thank you
Adil
OK i will try and fit that into the list of things to explain
You must set iso before starting filming, during filming exposure can only be adjusted by Aperture or shutter ( if you have set M in the menu option) or manual focus if you have set M on the lens barrel
@thepomandozzy I just use a sony fw11e laptop or a pavillion dv6 laptop with sony vegas home studio v11 as this edits the 1080p no problem.
Superb Graham, that will be a godsend to Fz150 owners, again some great info for others as well, I like the 2 panning shots at the end, did you have a slider of some sort to do that? could do with one of those bird feeders, they have it to easy on mine with a large mesh :)
Cheers Sean
Hi Graham it was indeed a great help also I found that on the side of barrel the mid selection of auto focus helped me a lot too...in one of ur videos of crocus i saw d slection of parameters like iso aperture...am not great in photography so wanted to know how one can choose an appropriate aperture & shutter speed(in FZ150) for filming a moving object like cars on highway or trains...also i wanted to know does lower iso makes pictures or shots dark in low light condition...
Hi, the FZ150 doesn't have a ring to focus. You can program the side lever, which is normally set up for zoom, to be the focus lever rather than use the thumbwheel on the back of the camera.
The HX200v appears to be easier to use but I believe the FZ150 has better image quality. It is really a matter of personal choice, and what you need the camera to do for you. Check carefully all the points you see as essential then make your choice.
Thank you Graham for the suggestion of SCN mode will definitely use that & compare with shots in iA & P mode...what battery life one can expect from FZ150 & which tripod would u recommend for FZ150?
Hi again, Graham. I've just sorted it by pressing the display button once, back to normal screen again. Might be worth other users knowing about this, though! I was getting quite worried! Keep up the great work!
Martin
Hi. The class of card shouldn't affect frame rate. I use class 4 for video without any problems and I have the NTSC version of this camera as I wanted the 60fps frame rate. The only way I can suggest this camera is shooting 30fps is if you are in MP4 mode and not the AVCHD (version2) format which was created to give 60fps mode. The 2 files reside in different directories. MP$ in the dcim and the avchd (shooting in avchd) is buried more deeply in the directory structure. please check this out.
Great video, Graham. Now I have a stupid question. How do I get back to taking still pictures after having recorded a movie? The display screen is still showing HD MP4 for some reason, even after turning the camera off and back on. Is there a button of some kind I can press to get back to the usual picture screen? Thanks in advance, Martin
birds at the end were the icing on the cake .. so beautiful ... did you use a tripod?
Hi Graham. Thanks for your quick reply. I must have turned the dial to manual movie last night while shooting some moon pictures, so I just took some stills which were fine. I've taken some pictures this morning on P mode which again were fine but the screen has a black horizontal L shape round it which shows the icons +999, MP4 HD ISO125 and the battery. I can't seem to get back to the normal picture screen which is obviously much better for framing photos.Any ideas? Thanks, Martin
Hi, for fast moving objects I would be inclined to use the scene SCN mode and then select sports mode. The camera will then determine the correct speed/aperture/iso to give you a good image. For iso just consider it like a volume control on a radio, the lower it is the better the sound quality. Turn if up you hear distortion and noise. Low iso means best image quality but you must have bright light to use it. You cannot use iso 160 in low light the images are underexposed (dark). Just Experiment
Please help me,
How to change the ISO, while shooting video in Full Manual ?????
I just managed to change the Shutter, Focus and Aperture.
The battery life isn't as high as they quote, really depends upon how bright you have the lcd, whether you use the evf or not and if you have continuous auto focus enabled. I would say 1 hour max for video to be on the safe side. Tripods are as personal as cameras. If you want smooth panning then you need a video head on good legs, if only static shots then any decent tripod I will suggest the Velbon D7000 as the best all rounder and reasonable price range.
Hi,I plan to buy a new superzoom & for now,I hesitate between the fz150 & the sony hx200v.
could you please tell me which one is better for an amator?
i tried both in shop & with the 200v, the manual focus is really easy to use but i couldn't use the ring to manually focus with the fz150. maybe the ring was broken.
So could you explain me how to use the manual focus with the fz150.
maybe there is a video about it that i didn't find.
thanks a lot.
Perr
Hi Graham! Thanks for the video upload, very informative just like your HX9V videos I watched. This camera could be step up from there, what do you think?
Just an idea: consider uploading your video in 1080p to youtube, so we can see the difference in the video modes.
I'm a bit late i know, but could you tell me if it is possible to use The EVF rather than the LCD when videoing ?
Can you use the flash while shooting video?
Where can I change frame rate?
hey ghough12,
I am considering purchasing the fz150, mostly for its video features, so i am wondering, can you manually focus the camera while recording? and do you like this cameras video quality?
Hi Graham, I'm also puzzled about how it happened. Moral of the story ; never adjust dials in the dark, always set the camera up indoors on a dark night! Thanks again, Martin
@mishamittens Hi, no this was hand held just resting against a tree trunk.
no the facility is disabled during video
hey graham! so i got this camera without any previous knowledge and i know this is abit late but its suuuper dark when i record and i have no idea why. do you think you could help? is it the camera i got or the cameras in itself?
Sorry i was on holiday and could not access my channel (no wifi) where I was staying.
Hi Graham & All Viewers. I'm New To This And I Own A Panasonic Lumix DMC Fz-62...Ive Been Struggling With The Settings For The Best Images...My Biggest Hassle Is How To Set The Camera To Enable Videos Be Taken At 50fps...Ive Selected AVCHD At 1920 x 1080 But All My Videos turn Out To Be Shot At 25fps..I Really Wanna Change That.Ive Gone Through The Entire Setting But I See No Option That Permits Me To Adjust My fps...Anyone To Help Out? I'd Appreciate It.Thanks..
GREAT VIDEO
Great advice - many thanks!
You say "The new implementation of the AVCHD v2.0 codec enabling 1080p video has resulted in a camera capable of recording superb video in a variety of lighting situations." Does this mean that AVCHD is better than MP4 for low light? I haven't seen much improvement in IQ so far with the new format. [In your test it looks indistinguishable]. Many thanks for plain English talk through, though; much appreciated!
60fps if you are in NTSC area otherwise its 50 fps elsewhere