Panasonic FZ28 Stuck UV Lens Filter

Had this Panasonic FZ28 camera for a while but don't use it much. I prefer to use the TZ1. Good Bridge camera though overall. When I bought it [second hand] the UV lens filter that was attached is completely stuck. I've never been able to get it off. I have seen a few videos where it shows that if its really really stuck like mine, it literally needs to be cut off. Beings as mine is a UV filter I didn't think it was worth forcibly removing it and risk damaging the lens. I quite like the UV filter, even though it is one of those really cheap ones. It says KOOD UV 46mm on it. But it seems to do its job well, and actually works as a protector for the lens. So I think I'll just leave it in place. But it has been annoying trying to get it off. The thread feels like it is finished, so it doesn't connect.

Vivid Purple Flowers Summer

Some purple flowers shot in vivid mode on the Panasonic Lumix TZ1. Unedited. Well, it's summer here in the UK, but it has been quite dull in general so far. I'm not one for really hot weather so I don't really mind if this years summer stays quite dull. I heard that the UK Government are doing some chemtrail stuff to try and block out the sun, so maybe that has something to do with it. Seems silly though, as that will lead to dimming of the sun, which in turn will lead to an altering of the pan evaporation rates. This then causes droughts, less rain and warmer conditions. In a country like the UK that is wet and windy most of the time anyway! They obviously have a bigger agenda at play here.

I'm not sure what type of flowers these are. Maybe you do?

Maybe they're trying to prove that "climate change" exists and is getting worse. Yawn. Take a look at the history of the weather and climates over the centuries and you will quickly discover that temperatures have been up and down throughout the ages, and its a completely normal occurrence. But the people pushing climate change don't want you to be aware of that.

This climate change fearmongering fraud seems like its more about complete control, making everyone feel guilty about their carbon footprint, dictating what they can eat, own, where / how they can travel, how they can live etc. And being able to tax everyone silly for it. That's where it looks like the "climate change" agenda is heading. It' so in our face that its becoming hard to ignore. Anyway, enough about that. I'm the 5 megapixel TZ1 camera guy.

Been messing around with my old Panasonic TZ1 a bit lately. I do also have a Panasonic FZ28 Bridge camera but don't use it much for taking pictures. I only really use it for recording video footage. It's a good camera but I prefer the TZ1.

The FZ28 is too big to take out much. I can never be bothered with putting it in its carry bag and having to haul it around. I prefer something smaller. I don't have the smartphone all-in-one option so have to carry a phone and a camera separately, which can be annoying sometimes. But yeah, I feel like I want to use the TZ1 quite a lot lately. The urge comes and goes. I love black and white photography, but in summer there's just so much colour around, flowers, greenery, insects etc, that it just has to be colour for me at the moment. Vivid colour. Catch you soon.

I Still Own The Panasonic TZ1

It's been a while since I wrote a post on this blog. So a quick update. I still own and use my Panasonic TZ1. It has seen less use over the past few years though due to me just not really taking that many pictures anymore. I've kind of lost interest in it. I think part of the reason is how now, pictures have become so common with everyone owning smartphones, that they have lost some of their lustre. We, or I have become kind of desensitized to it all. Any picture, even really good ones, is just now another picture. No one bats an eyelid anymore. And, I also hate doing what everyone else is doing. And picture / video taking is so in-trend at the moment. Everyone with their Smartphones... I still don't own one and doubt I ever will.

Stray Cat sits with me for piccy

Another reason is Google. I know there is more to the Internet than Google, but they have totally disowned blogs and don't show them any love at all anymore. Blogs have been buried. They don't get shown in the search results almost never. And if you do happen to write a blog post, your lucky if it ever gets indexed at all. It's terrible. No one ever sees your blog anymore or reads your content / views your pictures. So the incentive to keep updating a blog just isn't really there anymore. Why bother?

I will still update this blog sporadically here and there though. Because sometimes the interest comes back around to grab the Panasonic TZ1 and take some pictures. I do still love this camera and wouldn't sell it. This model has seen a rise in price over the last year for some reason. My camera could do with a new battery though. It's in bad shape. So I might buy one soon, if my interest in taking some pictures lasts long enough that is. If not I'll make do with the knackered one for a while. It still works but doesn't last that long.

Panasonic Lumix TZ1GK Which Country

Where is the Panasonic Lumix TZ1GK made. In which country. My version of TZ1 is an Asian model. At the bottom it reads: TZ1GK and has what looks to be Chinese writing. I'm fairly sure that the TZ1GK is Chinese. Or was, at the very least, made for the Asian market. 

It makes sense for me because I bought my TZ1 from an Asian guy on eBay UK. He was in the UK and must have bought it back from somewhere in Asia. The charger is also Asian [model: DE-A26B] and does say "Made in China" underneath. A quote from the Panasonic website [link]: "Panasonic’s cameras are designed in Japan, and many are manufactured by Panasonic in their factories in China."

So yeah, I can say with some certainty that the TZ1GK is more than likely the Chinese model. It's certainly not the Japanese model because I found one of those for sale on eBay, and the seller was thoughtful enough to take a picture of the bottom, and it actually said "Japan" at the bottom and had Japanese writing next to it. Which certainly was not the same writing that's underneath mine [pictured in this post].

Manual PDF

Here is the PDF manual for the Panasonic Lumix DMC TZ1. It's quite widely available online, but I thought I'd share the archive.org link, as there it is more or less permanently available for view / read or direct download in PDF form [124 pages]. It's crazy because I've been messing around with the camera itself for years, but still, from reading the manual I have found settings and functions that I was unaware of. Read it by clicking the image below, or you can go direct to the PDF format [read and download available] right here.

Faded Pic Posterized

Messing about in GIMP. A picture took from a far zoom, that's faded bad with the TZ1 gets posterized. It ended up looking so high contrast. It reminds me of the results I've seen from some of the huawei smartphones shooting in very high contrast black and white. Overall, not bad for a terribly faded / washed out picture. This cats eyes are crazy. Like something out of the film They Live [1988]. "I've got one that can see" hehe. Pictures don't do the eyes justice. He's got a proper little Jamie Bailey face. Check out the transformation with gimp.

Gimp is one of the best free softwares for image editing. It's one of my favourites anyway. If you've never used it or heard about it, make sure to give it a try. And take a look at some other posts on this blog.

PS4 Motherboard

Here is a picture I took of a PS4 motherboard completely removed from the casing. It's well known that Play Station 4's can suffer from overheating issues and start to sound really loud. The internal fans run at full speed as soon as a game is loaded. This problem is usually fixed by getting rid of all the dust inside the console and then applying a new coating of thermal paste to the top of the processor. So, clean out all the dust build up, take the old paste off the processor, and then apply the new thermal paste.

The bare bones of the playstation 4 with new thermal paste added to the processor, ready to put back together.

This was done to the PS4 in the image and it did fix the problem. The console is now very quiet, even when running heavy, processor hungry games like Call of Duty [COD]. Anyway, the picture was just so you can see what the motherboard looks like. There are lots of guides online in video and writing form if you are a PS4 owner and want to do this yourself. It's not that hard to do. Just make sure to keep everything like all the screws and what goes where organised when taking it apart.