dalite Offline Upload & Sell: Off
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For years now i have been shooting wildlife with my Canon 7D and trusty 400mm/f5.6L lens. I love the combination, but as I get older (and as my body and especially my back complains about the excessive weight that my 5'-8" frame has to bear) I begin to sense the day when I will no longer be able to handle those gear without my body complaining to me for my steadfast adherence to my current equipment. And so I began to humbly consider something smaller, something lighter and something that can satisfy one's reasonably critical eye viewing photos on a 21 inch Mac desktop and be able to make 8 x 10 prints to grace a photo album or wall frame.
Enter the Panasonic Lumix DMC-FZ200, Panasonic's bridge camera with a focal length range of 25-600mm with a Leica badged f2.8 lens aperture the entire range. What's not to like about those features? OK, so it has a tiny 1/2.3 sensor and noise level above ISO 100 is something one has to contend with. Let's take a look at some photos taken with both the 7D+400mm and the Panasonic at 600mm.
I had two more pics to upload for comparison purpose but only one was allowed (??)
Anyway, the whole point of this thread is to cite alternatives for those who need a lighter camera that can do some of the features of a DSLR and still be acceptable. It could even be a nice companion to a heavier DSLR with a big lens. Differences in the photos result from slight differences in post processing. For example, in Lightroom the Canon had a "warmer" temperature of 5250K compared to the Panny's 4750K, and the former's "whites" were reduced 62 in the breast area of the heron versus zero for the Panny.
Panny's newest FZ1000 (see separate thread) is getting a lot of attention and is another alternative. Sooner or later, you, too, will be toting one of these lighter cameras. Like death and taxes, old age and a creaky body is inevitable.
P.S. For those clamoring for the need of EXIF date, here they are (I clicked Show Exif but it did not show, so . . .)
Canon 7D: ISO 400, f6.7@1/350 + tripod
Panasonic FZ-200: ISO 160, f4.5 @ 1/500, hand held
Peace.
Black Crowned Night Heron, Uncropped frame, 7D+400mm
Black Crowned Night Heron, Uncropped frame, Panasonic FZ-200, 600mm
Canon 7D+400mm, cropped frame, 1280 x 1595
FZ-200, 600mm cropped frame, 1280 x 1794
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