Customer Ratings & Reviews

This camera does a little of everything. It takes great photos, has a fairly long zoom, superfast focus, high burst rates, good battery life, and of course, it takes 4k video. I bought this for that last caveat and I am not disappointed. The video is stunning on my 4k display, but even if you don't have a 4k display, the 4k video converted to 1080p looks better than video actually captured at 1080p. Also, the zoom is 25-400mm in 35mm equivalent, however during video it is increased To about 37-592mm which still gives an ok wide angle, while giving a really long zoom. Thankfully there is a really good optical image stabilization or the range would be a mess at the long end. I'm really pleased with the video quality and I'm glad I bought this over a similarly priced camcorder because of the larger sensor(better low light/indoor) and the added fun of taking stills. The quality of which are good enough that I'm considering selling my Canon dslr because I rarely make poster size prints, and even then, this camera could probably pull it off. Not to mention that the focus speed and burst rate put my Canon to shame. I love it. I've included a picture grabbed from a 4k video. The video was taken from the top level at the back of very large auditorium during a program. To be clear, this photo is not an example of the photograpic capabilities of the camera, but rather a still frame representing video capabilities.

I have been a DSLR user for years and have just gotten tired of lugging a suite-case full of camera equipment around. The 25-400mm lens on this camera is amazing. The "Scene" settings do a quick and easy job with setting the camera to do things like action, portrait, night, sunset or whatever you need with very good results without having to figure out more complex camera settings. I know the "pro" will scoff at this, but I no longer have the time or energy to work that hard. And did I say tis camera takes great picture!

Panasonic FZ1000 Review Ergonomics and Useful Features + buttons are generally easy to find, near your fingers, and stand out from the body of the camera + secondary mode dial that gives instant access to Single Shot, Multiple Shot, Timer, Bracketing, and Itervalometer modes. Good job, Panasonic - however, at times it is easy to accidently wander into the unknown - I found myself shooting at 2500 Kelvin or shooting at plus 1.5 EV because I accidently pressed some button(s) + Quick Menu button + Programmable Function buttons + 4 custom buttons + Automatic Viewfinder/Monitor changing (saves time and battery life) - I prefer to have the red video button the back of the camera, not the top Mechanical Issues + rapid fire in Burst Mode is brilliant - auto focusing in Burst Mode is poor; it cannot follow an overhead bird in flight - menu is vast and may take a while to find what you're looking for (a plague of many modern cameras# Image Quality - I would have guess that the larger sensor and greater MegaPixel count would have put this camera above the other Point & Shoots. Not always so. Daytime and sunshine - close distance to subject - acceptable to very good Daytime and sunshine - far distance to subject - unacceptable to good Daytime & overcast sky - acceptable to poor Macro - Excellent Night with tripod - excellent Night hand-held - very good, but high ISO's For General Use - family, pets, parties + good - I tend to be less critical in these situations. Here, you're more interested in subject matter than you are of the image quality. Many FZ1000 photos are soft and this softness increases on overcast days and with distance to the subject. Sharpness was best on subjects within 30feet or so. Saturation is good and exposure is a bit on the light side. The camera does an good job documenting everyday events. Software-adjusted photos look good on a large screen TV Setting the metering mode to SPOT and setting i-resolution to HIGH sometimes helps image quality. Shooting photos in Aperture Mode #as opposed to Auto# typically didn't improve Image Quality Lens suffers from sun flare and a lens hood would be a good addition As a Travel Camera + 16X optical zoom is totally adequate for travel/vacations - you don't need a longer lens. - this category could be combined with General Usage, but I want to point out that the camera is a bit bulky, making it conspicuous when trying to capture candid shots - focal length only goes down to 25mm instead of the more useful 20mm found on other Panasonic Point & Shoot cameras such as the FZ70 + otherwise, good photos with the limitations mentioned in the section above Macro Photography + Excellent, good edge sharpness. The FZ1000 performs well in close up mode, as do all other Point & Shoot cameras Night Photography with tripod ++ Amazingly good. I shot photos using Night Scene called Clear Nightscape #12, in the Scene Mode, with a tripod. I compared the photos from the FZ1000 to that of the small sensor ZS40/50 and the larger APS sensor from the Fuji X-T10. FZ100 photos are clear and sharp, showing good detail with good edges. Parallel lines in neon signs remained distinct whereas they blend together in the smaller format cameras. Shots from FZ1000, at least in my test shots, rivals those of my larger APS sensor camera! Good job, Panasonic. It's odd that night photos seem so good and even better than many daylight photos. Night Photography handheld, no tripod I also did hand-held night shots using Scene #17 in the Scene Mode. This setting produced some good photos, but the camera pushed the ISO to 3200+ resulting in noise. Still, photos are acceptable and would adequately capture those shots where a tripod is not feasible, i.e. when traveling. Wildlife - Perplexing results - For wildlife photos, I check the animal's eye. If I can't get sharpness in the animal's eye, then the camera is a problem for me. I got inconsistent shots. If the subjects were physically close to me #within 25 feet# the FZ1000 did better. However, for longer shots, the smaller sensor ZS40 sometimes did better. This softness from the FZ1000 was not always correctible by software. I suspect that in some of the photos, the camera was not focusing on what I was pointing at. For example, I found several pigeons on a wire. Oddly, pigeons BOTH to the left AND to right of the one I was targeting were in better focus than the one I was aiming at. Strange! Flash - Panasonic loves wimpy flashes, however, the flash on the FZ1000 is relatively decent and does well indoors. There is a flash compensation adjustment. In addition, you can add an external flash. Digital Zoom#s# The old adage is to never use digital zoom . However, in recent years, in-camera digital zoom has improved enormously, and if you have to use digital zoom, you won't be disappointed in the Panasonic FZ1000. + Intelligent zoom - up to 800mm - very good, little loss of information + Additional digital zoom - up to 1600mm - images are still acceptable Manual Focusing ++ Sweet! The center of the screen enlarges the image and Focus Peaking drives the focus home. As with Auto focus, manual focusing does not seem to work well for distant objects nor for shaded/poor lit objects. ISO + up to ISO800, photos are great + a photo of my cat in darkened garage at ISO 1250 was still acceptable after cropping, but this was pushing it. Night photos downtown were pushed to ISO 3200 but were still good Special Effects or Creative Mode + I realize that these special effects can be added after the photos are downloaded on the computer, but don't be afraid to try them out. The One-Point Color is right on the money and the Impressive Art adds drama to the sky. Scene Modes - 6 people modes seems like overkill to me - a food mode AND a dessert mode ? Who cares. +/- hand-held Night Scene - acceptable + tripod Night Scene - excellent + Panorama Mode is oddly located in the Scene Mode, not on a mode dial Missing features from the FZ1000 - EV dial on the body - 20mm wide instead of 25mm - the much cheaper Panasonic FZ70 goes down to 20mm and this is great for travel - you can take a photo of a building without stepping back into the street -aperture of f/16 or smaller for land and cityscapes - Panorama Mode should be on the secondary mode dial, along with Single shot, Burst Mode, etc. modes. - there should be a Glass Through mode on the scene dial, like other Panasonic cameras have. I use this mode a lot when photographing wildlife in the backyard. Final Impressions: #1# The FZ1000 produces good day-light images when the subject is close to the camera. Photos are good for general photography and travel, but weak for wildlife #2# The camera is very good/great for tripod night photography #3# The camera is full of great technology. #4) camera is a bit heavy but ergonomically, it is easy to use and to change functions PS - Sadly, I am limited to uploading only 2 photos. The night scene was hand-held

I shoot it from the hip, from behind, upside down and in complete darkness, under spray of waterfall and pointing at a racing hare - every shot looks a miracle!

Bought this camera shortly before taking a trip to the DC/Maryland/New York area so there wasn't much time to get comfortable with it but I have to say it was easy to get accustomed to the controls and ergonomics. At first it seems like a pretty large camera but it is actually really light and easy to carry when walking around. The convenience of not having to carry extra lenses also helped a great deal in that regard. My girlfriend is pretty small and has small hands and she was comfortable using it for long periods of time while walking around the city. She's also more of a beginner photographer so she spent most of her time on the auto modes but the photos came out great none the less. The 25-400mm reach is sufficiently wide angled while also giving you the zoom you need to capture details you might not have otherwise been able to. The image stabilization worked great and allowed for sharp pictures even when fully extended. One major concern with fixed lens long zoom cameras is the low-light performance but I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of this camera. I was able to walk around New York at night and photograph camera buildings, people, and even managed to take some pictures inside a nice restaurant thanks to the silent shutter feature. Performed really well at higher ISO for fixed lens without a fixed aperture. I'm still working on mastering the camera but from what I've seen this camera is a great buy especially in this price range. It's a great camera for travel due to its convenience and also accommodates both beginners and avid photographers alike. I would highly recommend this over other super zoom cameras in this price range and even some more expensive cameras.

Overall well designed but rather slow. Automatic setting always chooses large aperture so depth of field is not that great. In low light one has to use manual setting. In sunlight and bright conditions the photos are sharp and OK. I would not buy it again.

Like it. I asked an expert for a camera with many features for great capability but simple to use in point and shoot mode. I wanted a long zoom. He recommended this model. I agree. Good camera for us simpletons who want to be able to shoot high quality on automatic settings with the option to learn a lot more later.

We have really enjoyed this camera so far! Excellent pictures, and pretty easy to use. We still need to learn more about it's features, but are very pleased with this purchase.

The quality of pics surpass my expection .. Everything is superb from the looks to handling , ease , modes etc

Perfect camera, excellent zoom, great action shots

The FZ1000 is a great camera for taking good photos. It provides a variety of automatic and manual settings. The zoom lens is sufficient for handling all of my photo needs. Now I do not have to carry around a variety of different lens. A minor drawback is that it makes a soft whirring sound that was not mentioned in any of the reviews I read but after “googling” the issue, I found that this is a common complaint with this camera. The sound is due to the 5 axis vibration stabilization system that is used. This can be an annoyance when taking videos in a quiet environment because it is picked up by the built-in mic. An external mic may solve the problem. For the features it provides, it is well worth the price when compared with similar bridge cameras offering features like a 1 inch 20 meg sensor but lacking some of its other features like 4K video. I gave it only 4 stars due to the whirring sound.

This camera is not for the beginner- it is a very advanced bridge camera with a 25-400mm (equivalent) f 2.8-4.0 lens. The one inch sensor provides very good quality photos and videos. It has plenty of direct function buttons which makes it easy and intuitive to use. It is not a small camera but is ok. One hidden secret is that the flash system is compatible with Olympus remote flashes and essentially works the same. I'm using an Olympus FL-36R for both on camera and off camera use. The camera has very fast and accurate autofocus. I highly recommend this camera for photo enthusiates.

The FZ1000 has a lot of great features. I bought this camera mainly because it has 1" MOS sensor and 16x optical zoom which equivalent up to 400mm, the photos' quality are exceed my expectations. The battery's life is good. If you need a spare battery, I recommend to purchase the original one. Because non-original battery was not decoded so the screen will not show the "real" run time of its life. The camera comes a low level of noise but it doesn't annoy me. So far, I am a happy camper.

Panasonic keeps putting out fantastic 4K video cameras with amazing stills capability. At a much lower price point than the gh4, this fz1000 can definitely compete for amateur and enthusiast alike photographers to shoot amazing shots and video. The lens has very good reach. The battery life for me has been wonderful. And made in Japan. Fantastic and fast lens. Highly recommend this camera!

This camera compliments my DMC-FZ200. Although the 200 has a longer focal length and wider aperture, the FZ1000 is an equal in light gathering capability, in part due to the larger diameter lens.. The larger 1" sensor is a vast improvement over it's predecessor, giving crisp clear photos with low noise in low light. A great concert camera.

The camera taking great picture. The only issue there is no GPS sensor. We are in a long trip (2000 pics) and at the end some of the picture we did not know where we took them.

Easy to use, great pictures. Viewing a little small for my eyes, normal for most.

This is a great camera for limited room and big performance in a compact body

Took on trip through five national parks. Great pictures!

I pitted this camera against the Sony RXIV. For 4k footage, this camera wins hands down - no overheat issues and the picture quality is great in light - the darker the room, the quality will suffer obviously. 4k Photo mode is impressive - it's where you can take snapshots in camera of any frame you want and since it's 4k 100mb - the snapshots look sharp. It's not perfect - again depends on the light - but you can grab an 8megapixel image practically anywhere. Very nice. The regular photo quality is very good. Getting familiar with the different functions can be a little challenging - but it's worth it. Great camera for the price.