Panasonic Lumix FZ1000 II Review: Bridge Camera

Thanks to their powerful zooms, bridge cameras continue to interest a wide public — and the Lumix FZ1000 II makes the case well, marrying a 16x zoom equivalent to 25-400 mm with a 1-inch, 20.1 Mpx sensor. This review is based on the published test of the FZ1000 II, not on a hands-on trial of our own.

Released in 2014, the original Lumix FZ1000 arrived to challenge Sony's RX10, the first bridge camera with a 1-inch sensor. Sony has since produced three further models, and Panasonic itself added the more muscular FZ2000, with its 20x 24-480 mm equivalent zoom and videographer-friendly headphone and microphone sockets. The FZ1000 Mark II is therefore not the brand's most upmarket bridge, but a replacement for an original whose age was starting to show.

The upgrades are deliberately discreet rather than headline-grabbing: no new sensor or lens, but the aperture gains a stop at its smallest setting, now reaching f/11 — welcome in strong light — while the mechanical shutter tops out at 1/4,000 s and the electronic shutter climbs to 1/16,000 s. Video remains 4K at 30p and 100 Mb/s, or Full HD at 60p, but the camera now also exploits its speed in the Photo 4K, Post Focus and Focus Stacking modes, adds the Sequence Composition mode, and offers Full HD at 100/120 fps, timelapse and stop motion in its Creative Video mode. The electronic viewfinder keeps its predecessor's resolution on a reportedly faster, more precise OLED panel, the articulating screen rises to 1.24 million dots and gains touch control, and Bluetooth LE joins Wi-Fi for a permanent connection to a smartphone.

The FZ1000 II is a substantial camera — though barely more so than a Sony RX10 IV, which counters with a more powerful 24-600 mm equivalent zoom of brighter f/2.4-4 aperture. At 810 g the Panasonic stays the lighter of the two, fitting the brief of an ultra-versatile travel companion. The weight concentrates in the imposing 15-element lens, the body itself being fairly light — and unfortunately without any reinforced protection: for a camera aimed at travellers, weather seals and a more confidence-inspiring build would have been welcome. The pronounced, grippy handle makes it pleasant to handle in the field regardless, and a built-in flash pops up via a lever on the lens barrel, though its hinge does not allow manual tilting.

The 0.39-inch, 2.36-million-dot OLED viewfinder renders detail well, if with a rather contrasty image and average fluidity; the comfortable rubber eyecup and generous eye relief suit spectacle wearers perfectly. The permanently active stabilisation system is audibly noisy, however. Ergonomics change little from the FZ1000 and closely mirror the FZ2000 — to a fault: there are now thirteen customisable controls (three on the lens, two on top, three on the rear, five on the touchscreen) plus four dials and an AFS/AFC/M selector. Customisation is supposed to simplify; here it borders on confusion, and the top-panel information display Sony fits to its RX10 series is absent, leaving the shooting screen busier. There is no autofocus joystick, but the touchscreen compensates: tap to place the focus area on screen, or use your thumb on the screen as a virtual joystick while composing in the viewfinder. The menu keeps Panasonic's familiar organisation — a promised simplification is hard to detect — but touch navigation keeps setup relatively simple. Bluetooth pairing genuinely speeds image browsing and transfer through the fairly complete Image App, which even handled raw file transfers to a phone. Charging runs over the camera's USB 2.0 port.

Deploying that enormous zoom takes time: start-up was measured at 1.72 seconds, noticeably slower than the one-second original with the same lens, and switch-off waits for the lens to retract. Neither is dramatic — slow starts are a bridge-camera trait the RX10 IV shares. Once awake, though, the FZ1000 II answers instantly: autofocus is extremely quick at wide angle and telephoto alike, and quicker still with the continuous Quick AF function engaged, which in the field made focusing feel instantaneous in all situations. Engage it in low light especially, where the camera otherwise slows to a measured 0.87 s at mid-zoom. More genuinely irritating is single-shot pacing: the shutter cannot chain rapid frames, and the camera locks up after the fifth raw or sixth JPEG. For fast sequences, switch to the dedicated burst mode — measured at around 10 fps with a UHS-II card against the maker's claimed 12 fps — and enjoy the improved battery endurance.

The unchanged 1-inch, 20.1 Mpx sensor also serves in the FZ2000 and matches the RX10 IV's characteristics. Noise makes itself felt from 800 ISO, with a practical ceiling around 3200 ISO before detail loss becomes severe, and in low light the smoothing grows intrusive from 800 ISO — accompanied by an oddly erratic auto white balance across image series. Those are the limits of 2.40 µm photosites; against the 1/2.3-inch competition, however, the FZ1000 II operates in another league entirely. The 16x Leica-badged zoom is a real strength: five aspherical elements plus ED glass and effective in-camera corrections deliver a very honourable rendering at 25 mm and 400 mm alike, from maximum aperture. The sliding f/2.8-4 aperture is offset by effective stabilisation. The lens coatings deserve better, though — frontal light sources provoke flare and ghosting, and the small sensor shows real sensitivity to blooming. Automatic exposure proved dependable in the field, and curious users get a generous playground: panorama, three black-and-white styles, the three-mode Photo 4K function, Post Focus and more.

Video has always been a Panasonic strength, and the image quality here is handsome: 4K at 30p — no 60p, sadly — plus high-speed Full HD at 100 fps, instant video clips and the 4K Live Crop function. The 4K mode's significant crop unfortunately sacrifices the wide-angle end of the zoom and heightens rolling-shutter sensitivity. Autofocus, so lively in stills, turns sluggish in video, though face detection helps track subjects, and stabilisation permitted steady handheld footage — important for the mainstream users this camera targets. Sound recording is good and a microphone socket is fitted; there is no headphone output, and no exposure zebras or focus peaking.

It is not perfect, and one always wants more. But at a very contained price the Lumix FZ1000 II offers a fine array of features, a genuinely performing lens and image quality squarely in the 1-inch class average. The Sony RX10 IV is better — at more than twice the price. And if the wide-angle position is not essential to you, the compact TZ200 delivers comparable image quality in a smaller body. Neither, unfortunately, is weather-sealed.