E&I tour - concert photography

Originally posted by sparko:Just a note, as I am planning to get one additionally:

Panasonic released in 2016 a Traveller Zoom TZ100 / TZ101 (ZS-100 in US, Asia TZ110) which has a 10x zoom with a 1" Sensor, which is a lot better for High ISO concert photo / film. It also films in 4k (which gives you room for cropping). It has 20 Megapixels.
With that bigger sensor, you have a much better result with High ISO (way less noise) so the "dark" shutter at the long end (f5.9) is no problem at all.

Having the TZ71, with a smaller sensor, which is still great for filming with its 30x zoom; I looked at the Canon G7X (II) but then stumbled upon the TZ101 - as the Canon only has 4,2x zoom, which isn't the most useful for people not in front row.
I'll keep my TZ71 and my buddy will then use it (his Sony is nearly dead now), both are a great team then.
Getting another one is just because I want better photos, which is hard, usually using a high end rig, you cannot take to a show with a standard ticket in your hand.


For European shows: Cameras with detachable lenses are not allowed usually. And with metal detectors installed at the arenas, it will be pretty hard hiding extra lenses when you have to empty all pockets and bags.

@flowerchild: I pretty much guess, when Remy says he uses a 35mm, it's the number written on the lens, so taking the APSC Sensor, it is actually a 50-55mm in Full Frame (which is the "normal eye range"), and a 50mm would be 80mm in Full Frame. So you need to reach a Full Frame 50mm, not 30mm. And 20mm is quite a lot in that range!

Originally posted by flowerchild:I own a panasonic lumix dmc-lf1. an outdated model at this point, but it took great videos for its time! so I'm confident the newer models should do a great job as well.

if I had to choose and had the funds, I'd go with the tz-100.

Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
Thanks for the heads up I'm seeing some other options, the Sony RX series seem to be good alternatives. The RX100 V seems to be the best compact camera I've seen judging from its specs But 850€ might be a bit steep......

Originally posted by LikeASong:[..]
EDIT. Just checked the second hand market. I can get a TZ-70 for 150€ in mint condition or a TZ-100 for 300 without the box. One can't go wrong with any of those I guess.

Originally posted by ddarroch:[..]

Just be aware, that if you want to film 4k video the RX100 has had a problem with overheating. So it often shuts down after about 5 minutes, & won't start again until it's cool. I know it was a problem for the RX100 IV, & believe it's still a problem for the RX100 V (but don't quote me on it). This is not from personal experience, just from what I've read. Also the RX100 lacks a touchscreen, which can be helpful for navigating changes quickly & for touch autofocus, although it does have blazing fast autofocus.

Panasonic seems to be the way to go for video, although they are having some problems with their autofocus system for video (it hunts a lot of you leave it on AFC).

I'm hoping to get my Panasonic GM5 in. It has a detachable lens, but it's tiny, especially with a pancake lens attached.

For a fixed lens camera I'd choose the Panasonic LX100. A bit on the bulky side for a fixed lens camera (very similar to my GM5 with pancake). But with a sensor larger than the 1" cameras (cropped MFT sensor), so better low light performance & dynamic range. Has a fast 24-75mm f/1.8-2.8 lens, so similar to the RX100. 4k video, with no overheating issues (though it's limited to 15 minutes in Europe). Most importantly, lots of dials on the camera, so no delving into menus. No touchscreen, again a bit of a worry. It's getting a bit long in the tooth, & there's been rumours of a replacement for quite some time, but nothing has eventuated yet. If it does arrive, a Panasonic LX200 would be near perfect for me, but pricey, up near the cost of the Sony RX100 I presume.

The other option, quite similar to the RX100, is the Panasonic LX10. Same sort of lens, same size sensor, touchscreen instead of EVF.

So I guess the main choice between the 1" sensor cameras is either the fast 3x zoom lens of the RX100 & LX10 (LX100 also), or the slower 10x zoom lens of the TZ100 (& now TZ200). If I was mainly taking stills (where you need a faster shutter speed), I think I'd choose the faster lens. But if I was mainly filming video (where slower shutter speeds are preferred) the slower 10x zoom would be fine. Though I'd still choose the LX100

[..]

I wouldn't go smaller than a 1" sensor. The TZ60/70/80/90 have big zooms, but all have a 1 / 2.3" sensor, which has a quarter the surface area of a 1" sensor. So low light performance will suffer badly. Same sized sensor is used for cheaper compacts & phones. So I wouldn't go with those. The 1" TZ100 is a much better choice than the TZ70 IMO.

Originally posted by ddarroch:I don't have one of the new 4k Panasonics, so don't quote me on it. But yeah, they'll do that for you, look for the "4k Photo" mode. You'll be able to grab 8MP images. 1080p is only 2 megapixels, but 4k is 8 megapixels.

One problem though, video normally looks better with slower shutter speeds, as the slight blur looks more natural. While fast shutter speeds creates video that looks a little choppy. But if you grab an image from a video filmed at slow shutter speed you might have some motion blur in that image.

When using 4k photo mode, the shutter speed is faster, resulting in images without blur, but the video may look a little choppy. In this mode, as you're filming at 25fps (30fps for NTSC) you have tonnes & tonnes of images to choose from, 25 every second (much faster than most cameras burst modes). So you'll never miss that perfect shot. Just scroll through your video until you find a frame(s) to your liking.

Sounds like you can also do this in 4k video mode, just expect the possibility of some motion blur here. Other differences are an image from 4k video mode will be 16 : 9 resolution, while I'm 4k photo mode the resolution will be whatever you have selected before recording (16 : 9, 4:3, 3:2)

I think that most of the Panasonics are limited to 15 minutes of 4k video (you can just stop the video before this & restart it again, there doesn't seem to be overheating issues). I'd assume the time limit would be the same in 4k photo mode, though I'm not sure.

As I said, I've looked at it, but am no expert. So if you're interested Sergio, have a good read. Just look up Panasonic "4k photo" mode. It's in a lot of the reviews & is one of the big selling points for Panasonic's 4k cameras.

Originally posted by ddarroch:No worries. Haha, normally I'd be the same, no rush until my October shows. But VIVID festival is on in Sydney, so the city is all lit up, which looks very cool.

[image]

https://youtu.be/PcoPylRLmRo

I'm thinking of getting the ferry into the city, across the harbour. Should look great when I come right past the Sydney Opera House, with its sails all lit up with video displays.

VIVID will be a pretty low light environment (EV of 4 I'd guess). Add the fact I'll be in a moving boat, so will need a pretty fast shutter speed, & it'll be pretty difficult conditions.

I'm stuck using a 40mm fast prime, which won't have anywhere near enough reach (my zoom is way too slow), so will have to crop the 16MP images a fair bit. I would have liked to video the ferry ride, but my camera maxes or at 1080p, so I won't be cropping the video. Plus any stills I want to grab from the video will only be 2 megapixel images, so already poor quality, so there's zero chance of cropping those.

The other option is to do interval shooting, then create a timelapse. I'll be able to crop any of the 16MP images I like a fair bit, & crop the timelapse video without losing quality on the 1080p timelapse. Problem is the quickest interval my camera shots a timelapse at is 1 second, so the video will be sped up 30 times (for 30fps). That's too fast for a moving timelapse, & too fast for the lights on the Opera House & Harbour Bridge.

Decisions, decisions,... & compromises.

Really would like that Panasonic LX100 right now. 4k video + photo. 75mm's equivalent focal length at a pretty fast f/2.8. Which could then be cropped to 150mm without any loss of quality (for 1080p output), which is more than enough reach. Grab any 8MP frame I want from the 4k video, so no need for timelapse. No compromises at all with this approach.

Can't afford it, but really feeling a case of G.A.S. (Great Acquisition Syndrome).