For this test I grabbed a bag full Panasonic cameras and headed out to take some 4k video.
The test includes the compact TZ80 (SZ60), two bridge cameras the Fz82 (Fz80) and the Fz2000 (Fz2500), and two micro for thirds cameras the G7 and the G9. Lens used were the Panasonic 14-140, Leica 12-60 and 100-400.
As it wasn’t going to be practical to set up the cameras side-by-side, my biggest challenge was the changing lighting conditions. All of the cameras were set to standard picture profile and auto-white-balance. No ND filters were used.
In the test I have compared how the cameras look at their maximum and minimum focal lengths and then how they looked if I adjusted the zoom so they show a similar crop of the subject. I also recorded one test indoors, so I could replicates the same shooting conditions by using studio lights.
The G7 and G9 have different crop factors, so this was allowed for. Unlike the G7 which has a crop factor of 2.42 the G9 uses the whole of the sensor and down samples it, so it only has a crop factor of 2.17. However, the built in (EX) tele convertor in the G9 uses a smaller area of the sensor increasing the effective focal length of the lens by a factor of 2.94. So, a 400mm lens on the G7 gives you the equivalent focal length of 968mm. On the G9 it would be 871mm or 1177mm using the tele convertor option.
You will see that the results were very similar. All of these cameras performed well, especially at the longer focal lengths. In the wide angle test, the Tz80 and the Fz82 both struggled with the poor light conditions and they were unable to record the detailed brickwork of the church and the grass in the foreground. In the indoor test both of these cameras introduced some noise at ISO 200. The lens on the Fz82 was noticeably sharper than the TZ80 at all focal lengths.
The Fz2000 appeared less saturated and with less contrast than the others, it also seemed over sharpened - although this could be fixed by adjusting the colour profile slightly. With the G7 I noticed a tendency for it to look warmer than the other cameras, so I tried another G7 and there was a clear difference between them, which can be seen in the wide angle test.
The G9 was more detailed than the G7, but using G9 in tele mode it was much closer. There was actually more difference in the lens than there was with the cameras. The indoor test shows the lack of sharpness in the corners of the Leica 12-60 at 50mm, especially when fully open. The Lumix 14-140 was a lot more consistent and was sharp across the whole image.
Although there were subtle colour differences between the cameras, none of there were far off. The indoor studio test shows just how close they were.
Audio was recorded with the built in mics, this highlighted some issues with cameras like the Fz2000 which appear to have a background hum. Plugging in a mic should resolve this. Some shots were taken from a hide, others from my kitchen, so you may hear talking or a fridge in the background!
I hope this video will be of interest to anyone thinking of upgrading or getting one of these cameras.
23 авг 2024
