Hi folks welcome back to the channel. Now it's been nearly two and a half years since I opened
this box and got my hands on my very own panasonic fz82. Now in this video I'm going to talk about
what I like what I don't like about this camera after two and a half years of use. I've taken over
several thousand photographs with the fz82, used it for video, all sorts of other things,
so stick around if you're thinking of buying a panasonic FZ82 or perhaps one of its rivals.
Also you may be contemplating buying a one-inch sensor bridge camera which are much more expensive
but can they offer more in the way of image quality or perhaps you're thinking of going for
a dslr or a mirrorless system and you just want to make sure that it's the right choice for you.
The first point which I consider a pro is the fact that it has a fixed lens,
now normally that's considered a negative point, however, in the case of using this for travel
it's a positive because you've got a camera there with a wide angle lens and a zoom all in one.
It's a compact size, you're not having to take a separate body and several lenses, and this will
fit into your hand luggage no bother at all. So onto point number two and that's another
positive for this lens. It goes from 20mm in its widest angle to 1200mm at the full length
of the telephoto. Now few bridge cameras in this price bracket can match the fz82 in this respect.
Image stabilization - now some cameras have pretty average image stabilization however,
the fz82 and quite a lot of the other Panasonic models do have indeed an excellent image
stabilization system on board. Without a doubt the image stabilization on the Panasonic fz82
does work best at the wider end of the lens range, however I have taken some really
good shots, nice and sharp at low speeds, hand held, with this camera. So that's number three
there's a plus point for the Panasonic fz82. Point number four - the cost! Let's face it
photography is a really expensive hobby and if you're in the same boat as me
then I don't have a bottomless pit of cash to spend on camera gear. The fz82 currently retails
in the UK for around the £300 mark which in terms of photographic gear isn't much at all.
So we'll move on to some of the benefits of the Panasonic fz82 in some of the specs that
this camera has. One of those benefits of the Panasonic fz82 is that it will shoot in RAW mode
and if you're unfamiliar with that, raw mode will capture all of the details that the sensor picks
up and allows you to take all of that data and decide what's important and what's not. Whereas,
jpeg only, well that's a bit like going to a restaurant ordering a steak and nobody asks you
how you'd like it cooked. It's pre-determined, Panasonic has decided what the jpeg should look
like and that's what you're stuck with. With the RAW file you can take that into Photoshop
or Lightroom or one of the other equivalents and then play with that image and get the image
exactly how you want it, or how you actually saw it on the day you took the photograph.
The camera also has what's known as P A S M, pasm settings which all dslrs have and if you're using
this camera as a stepping stone to a dslr or mirrorless camera then you can learn how to
use these modes and what you can do with them before you graduate to a bigger better camera.
Another one of my favorite features on this camera is the fact that it shoots time lapses
really well, and in fact has the software to build the final video in the camera for you,
no hassle with thousand images and trying to turn those into a movie it's all done inside the fz82!
The next thing to consider is that Panasonic fz82 will shoot in 4k video,
and given the fact that this camera is three four year old now, 4k was fantastic then it still
isn't standard on every single bridge camera out there. I think that's another plus for the fz82!
Along with the 4k video Panasonic also include the 4k Photo Mode which means you can shoot a
piece of video and then extract images from that video, which means you'll never miss a shot.
So one of the other things I quite like about the camera is some of the mode settings in the
Scene Mode. Now Scene Modes generally aren't talked about a lot in photography videos,
let's face it if you're a series photographer you're going to be using the camera in manual
and putting all those settings in yourself. However this is a budget bridge camera and
one of the things you can't do is to take an image longer than 4 seconds in manual mode. However,
if you move the camera into a scene mode and use an ND filter, then you can take really long
exposures of up to 60 seconds with this camera. Number six and speaking of filters, the Panasonic
fz82 has a filter thread on the front of the lens, now not all bridge cameras have that facility.
So that's pretty much what I like about the Panasonic fz82 so what don't I like?
The first negative is the image sensor size, now any bridge camera that offers
a compact body like this with a huge optical zoom then you've got to consider that something
has to give and in this case it's the fact that the cameras sensor is quite small.
The fz82 is very similar to other bridge cameras (at this price point). Now that's going to lead
to a couple of problems with this camera and that is the fact that this camera's small sensor means
that it's going to struggle to operate in low light. The obvious answer is to crank up the ISO
however that's going to put more grain in your images and it's really noticeable above ISO 400.
Another point to consider is when i first got this camera i did try shooting in the iA / iA+
modes and I found that the jpegs the camera produced were particularly disappointing.
For me the best thing you can do is to start using the PASM modes,
so either P Mode, Aperture Priority, Shutter Priority or full manual with this camera.
Once you start using the camera in those modes it is like a completely different camera altogether.
Another negative for me is the fact that the rear screen is fixed. A tiltable screen on this camera
would be an absolute god send, however, there is a little bit of a work-around in the fact
that you can use the rather excellent Panasonic Image App and you could have the camera mounted
really low down and you'd be able to see what was the camera was seeing using your mobile phone.
That said, the touchscreen itself is pretty brilliant and it is a feature I really enjoy
using. You can use it to pinpoint focus, all sorts of other things like that, set menus,
all the rest - a really good feature. However, if Panasonic would upgrade the fz82 with a tilt or
articulating screen then I think that would be a game changer.
With this next little gripe I think I'm being slightly unfair given the price point of this
camera. However, this camera has no weather sealing, and to be honest I've absolutely
battered this camera. It's been in loads of different hostile environments, dusty areas,
taking to all the Canary Islands with me, it's been out in damp weather, it's been out
to motorsport events where it's really dusty and the lack of weather sealing has seen it,
I think I've got some dust inside the lens.
But you know in fairness to the camera it stood up to a hell of a lot of abuse.
Again being able to add an external microphone to this camera would be a boon,
however, but it's understandable that Panasonic are probably not going to do
this on the entry level bridge camera that they have, otherwise why would you buy an fz330!
One other thing I didn't particularly like when I first got the camera was the fact that I had
to charge up the battery inside the camera itself. I wasn't used to that and it didn't go down well.
However, I suppose if you're used to a mobile phone then that's exactly what you would do.
There is a solution to that, and that is to pick up an aftermarket battery charger and you might
as well get spare batteries at the same time. I did do a video called my super six accessories
for the Panasonic fz82, I'll put a link to that video above now and check that out.
Another problem with the fz82 is the dioptre/diopter on the EVF. Now several people
have stuck that in place with glue of some kind or something like blue tack to try and get around it.
I just have to remember to adjust it every time. It's just a little niggle that this camera has.
So we've discussed the Pros and Cons of the Panasonic FZ82 and I suppose the question is would
I buy a Panasonic fz82 again. When I first bought this camera I wasn't producing vlogs, so the fz82
was fine for what I using it for then, however, now my requirements have changed somewhat.
If I was looking to move up from my mobile phone and get this as a first camera
then certainly I think you can't touch the fz82 for the money this camera is priced at,
it really is a good little camera. That said now that I vlog regularly then the fz300 or 330
would probably be the camera of choice because of its weather sealing, the opposable screen and the
fact you can attach an external mic. Okay so it doesn't have the fantastic zoom range that the
fz82 does but I think for my current circumstances then yes the fz330 certainly makes more sense.
Also on my list would be the Panasonic fz-1000, FZ1000ii and the FZ2000/2500 bridge cameras.
Available second hand between £300 and £500 you've got to consider one of those, that one inch
sensor in those cameras would certainly help to alleviate some of the noise and low light issues
that you get with the fz-82 or even the fz-330, but strangely none of those trio of cameras are
weather sealed either! If money was no object and I was looking for the ultimate bridge camera then
the Sony rx10 mark iv takes some beating. A good friend of mine Dave
Fletcher has just purchased one of those and it really turned my head. He did take this portrait
of me and then printed it out on his Canon printer - there and pretty much that's the dslr quality
out of a bridge camera. The downside to the Sony however is the fact that it was gonna
cost me one of my kidneys to be able to afford it. So a Panasonic certainly makes more sense.
There you go, those are my thoughts on the fz82 after two and a half years of ownership. If you
have found this video interesting then please do give it a thumbs up helps channel out an awful lot
and if you are not a subscriber please consider subscribing the channel. It helps
me out and you'll get to see more videos using the Panasonic FZ82 in the future.
Now I do have a little bit of a surprise at the end of this video. Recently I was looking online
and came across a deal I really couldn't pass up. I have purchased a Panasonic Lumix fz1000. I
managed to get a good deal at a really good price and 0% finance which made it affordable for me.
Now going forward that camera has a lot of features that I was looking for in a camera
to upgrade from the fz82. However i still think the fz82 is such a cracking camera
I'm going to be keeping that camera and using that for a lot of things things like zoo photography
where you need that extra range on the lens and I think it's going to come into its own. There
things like that certainly doing time lapses help me out when I'm vlogging - definitely a keeper!
So that's my final thought on the fz82, definitely a camera that once I've bought
it don't want to pass it up and pass it on to anybody else, really really think it's worth
holding onto. Thanks for watching see you again next time bye for now.