Panasonic FZ-200 (1 Viewer)

[Swissboy]

No, video differences comes in in a different way, using pal vs other standards etc. As far as I recall, common video is at 24 or 25 frames per second, so a difference that is negligible. Interlaced vs non-interlaced may be a bigger difference. It will probably still be worth your time looking through the video menu to make sure you know what video encoding you have available and test a couple of them out.

Niels

I'm only comparing MP4. AVCHD would be faster but no longer allows me to do much with it. And I don't have TV, so it's all PC monitor viewing anyway. Also, I'm not doing long videos, so the 4GB limitation is no problem.

Quoting from Dpreview for the FZ200: If you want to avoid the AVCHD codec entirely - which you might, since it's difficult to edit and share - then you can also use MPEG-4. You can record video at 1920 x 1080, 1280 x 720, and 640 x 480, all at 30 frames/second. The downside of the easy to edit and share MPEG-4 format is that recording ends when the file size hits 4GB, which takes about 24 minutes at the 1080p setting.

Compared with this info, my FZ200 has a rate of only 25 frames/second.

 

[njlarsen]

Robert,
if you go to the same page of the DPreview review, there is an option called quality. Have you tried the different options there?

And secondly: on my GH2, there is one "quick movie" button, but another way to start a video is to turn the wheel on top and hit the regular shutter button. The results of using these two different ways to start a video should differ according to what I have read (I am a photos-first person so always use the quick button).

Niels

 

[njlarsen]

Compared with this info, my FZ200 has a rate of only 25 frames/second.

I think when I was young that TV had a framerate of either 18 or 20.

Niels

 

[Swissboy]

I think when I was young that TV had a framerate of either 18 or 20.

Niels

Well, even with the 50Hz technology I never warmed up to the ever so slight flickering of TV pictures. From my computer monitor I know it takes about 70Hz for me to feel comfortable with viewing. Today's 100 or more Hz technology has opened the option to eventually get TV as well. But no urge at this point as I would have to give up or reduce some other activity.

 

[Swissboy]

Robert,
if you go to the same page of the DPreview review, there is an option called quality. Have you tried the different options there?

And secondly: on my GH2, there is one "quick movie" button, but another way to start a video is to turn the wheel on top and hit the regular shutter button. The results of using these two different ways to start a video should differ according to what I have read (I am a photos-first person so always use the quick button).

Niels

I need to check that quality option, though I think I had studied it in the past on a previous model.

As for the release buttons, I always use the regular shutter release button. That allows me to use the zoom function without having to switch. That switch from the quick button to the zoom has regularly resulted in camera shakes in my early attempts. So I gave up that option. And fumbling with the zoom at the side of the lens barrel has resulted in similar extra shakes. This might all work if one uses a tripod, which I normally don't.