The simplest option is probably an on-camera microphone such as the Rode Videomic shown adjacent. This is a very good microphone for picking up natural sound but with the ability to provide sound rejection to the side of the mic because of its "rifle" type design.

These "cardioid" or "super cardioid" designs of microphone are useful when trying to eliminate unwanted sounds in you video. The longer the "rejection" tube of the mic the more the frontal lobe of the sound pick up becomes narrower and the side rejection becomes stronger.

They don't, as some people suggest, act as a form of telephoto lens for audio. They do not amplify or bring the sound source any close they simply provide a pick up pattern which can be used to select the sound source or reject unwanted off axis noise sources.

The mounting of the microphone "on-camera" is not the best option for picking up the best sound. The idea that the cardioid pattern of pick up - especially from the narrow front lobe of a "rifle" type microphone and that it can be used to selectively reject off-axis noise is better utilised when the microphone is angled in such a way that the wanted sound source is in line with the front pick up lobe and that the unwanted noise is in the side rejected area.

In the image opposite such a rifle type microphone is positioned above (or it can be placed below) the sound source - in this case for an interview type scenario. The from of the microphone picks up the sound coming from the subject whilst the sides of the mic are being used to reject any local ambient noises.

Another common method of audio pick up is to use "studio" type condenser microphones.

These devices are normally powered externally by a 12-48v phantom power supply although some are able to be powered by the bias voltage often provided by the microphone input pre-amplifiers of the camera.

The FZ1000 provides such a small bias voltage. This can be used to power the condenser microphone but the quality is not as good as if you had used an external pre-amplifier utilising a 48v phantom power supply.

These microphones are best used very close to the speakers mouth, or instrument if they are being used to record a music session. By this nature the microphone is likely to be in a position that is "in-shot"

Used close up like this the mic input levels can be turned down thus improving on the signal to noise ratio and rejecting background noise. The sound quality can be very good and provide a very nice "golden" sound with rich bass.

These microphones usually need a "pop" filter to prevent the explosive sounds of the pronunciation of some words and syllables.

Another option for getting great audio quality into the FZ1000 is to use a wireless lavalier mic system. The one illustrated here is the Sennheiser EW100 system. This is a professional grade system designed to provide maximum signal to noise ratio with very little RF distortion. There is a "body pack" worn by the user and a receiver pack which then plugs into the mic input port of the camera. The range of these devices can be over 100 metres (300 feet) outdoors.

A cheaper solution, which again uses a FM wireless band to transmit the audio to the receiver, is this Samson airline system. The advantage of this system is its very small size and both units have rechargeable lithium batteries whereas the Sennheiser has 9v PP3 batteries to power both the transmitter and receiver.

There are wired lavalier systems which can have over 20 feet of cable.

These can have several advantages in areas of high electrical interference which may affect the wireless systems.

The disadvantage is the fact that as the user is "tethered" to the camera if you forget this fact it is possible to pull over the camera if you walk away without disconnecting the cable from the camera.

Keep the mic about 8inches below the chin to the user. Too high and the audio becomes muffled, too low and the sound level maybe too low and pick up far more background noise.

The Audiotronic mic, shown above, has a 1.5v battery to provide power for the electret mic element. The FZ1000 has enough bias voltage available at the mic input port to power a simple electret element such as the one shown opposite. The audio quality can be surprisingly good for such a basic implementation 

The pop up flash unit on the FZ1000 (FZ300/330) is fine for images up to a distance of about 3 metres (10 feet) when used indoors where there are some reflective materials to bounce back the light but it produces very unflattering images with hard sharp edged shadows behind the subject.

These can be softened slightly by using clip on diffusers which make the light source appear as a larger area rather than the point light source but the light provides no modelling resulting in quite unflattering images.

Its main advantage is that it can now be used as the wireless flash commander of external flash units and be either the fill in flash in this group or just act as the transmitter in the set up.

If you want the convenience of an on camera flash unit which will provide a higher flash output and can be used to bounce light from white walls or ceilings to provide softer lighting then there are several units that can be used.

Here the Meike MK320 is being used in the TTL mode.

TTL mode allows the camera to control the flash exposure just as it would with ambient lighting. It uses a pre-flash pulse to determine the amount of light being reflected back from the subject and then sets the power of the main flash burst accordingly.

If the result is under or over exposed then as with ambient lighting we can use flash exposure compensation to correct the exposure. 

On most guns you can apply this at the flash head or you can adjust the power with the flash exposure compensation menu within the camera itself.

The flash unit exposure compensation (FEV) used to adjust flash output power in the TTL mode

On the Nissan i40 the exposure compensation is very easy to set using the right hand dial on the unit. In either the TTL or flash slave mode.

When using the pop up flash as the commander flash for remote TTL or manual flashes it is necessary to set up the flash to provide this facility.

First access the flash menu and then the Wireless set up feature on page 2/3 and set this to ON.

Then set the wireless channel number. (Leave it to the default of 1 if you are not using multiple light set ups)

Then on page 3/3 set up the wireless mode.

In this Wireless set up function it is necessary to specify whether the pop up flash is used as part of the exposure or is just used to act as the main controller (where built in flash is set to OFF).

Next set whether the flash group (A,B or C) will be TTL controlled or manually set. Not only does the built-in wireless control allow you to trigger the flashes, but even adjust the flash units from the camera itself. For example you can put flash in one of four channels (1, 2, 3 or 4), and then each channel can have three groups (A, B and C).

A different channel would be to keep multiple photographers from firing each other's flashes, or for an individual photographer to have multiple setups in the same room. Then the A/B/C groups allow you to control the output of individual groups of lights within a channel/setup. For example, your main light(s) could be channel A, and your background light(s) channel B, so you could independently make one darker or brighter than the other — all from the camera itself. 

With each of the slave units it is necessary to set the group (and channel number on some systems) so that you can distinguish which flash is doing what.

For example you may have the main flash on Channel A and the fill Flash on Channel B. Making adjustments from the camera is then a simple matter of adjusting the output for that group letter.

In the illustration I have added +2EV to the output of the main flash which is on group A setting

If you don't have a compatible TTL wireless controlled flash gun then you may be able to use a gun which features optical slave triggering which supports the S1 and S2 triggering modes. S1 is when the main flash just has one pulse (such as when used manually) and S2 is used when the unit is to fire synchronously with the second burst of light from those units having the TTL pre-pulse system to measure the light reflected back.

Obviously the guns must be set up in the manual mode, the intensity of the light being adjusted individually at each of the slave path lights.

On the Nissan i40 the SD is is pre-flash suppression and SF the single flash mode.

The Yongnuo 603 II used as a wireless remote controller utilising the remote cable from the pixel controller.

Using the S1 optical slave function on each of these four diverse manufactured flash units (Nikon and Canon dedicated units) they are firing using the main flash of the on camera pop up unit in manual mode.

It is possible to create a multi-flash set up using the on camera pop up flash as the main trigger.

Providing all the units can "see" the trigger pulse you can create sophisticated lighting set ups using different powers on each of the flash units depending upon the lighting type that you are creating.

Using this method of using multiple low power setting outputs allow you to use the fastest flash pulse to freeze action shots. The 1/128 power might give you 1/8000 exposure where 1/1 power may only give you 1/500 second.

The menus of two of the flash units showing the unit set up as 1/128 power and in the S1 slave mode. S1 is used when there is no pre-pulse as with a manual fired pop up flash. It is the preferred way to fire multiple flash units.

Because each unit needs to "see" the flash radio triggering of the units using one on camera trigger and space units on the flash hot shoe is the most reliable option.

With its large 62mm lens thread trying to attach close up lenses like the Raynox series results in some heavy vignetting unless the lens is zoomed in to about 300mm EFL.

Whilst the results are perfectly acceptable it limits the scope for using those lenses.

Example image

Image Raynox 250 mounted on the FZ1000, zoom set to 300mm, working distance about 30cms.

As the front lens diameter of the FZ1000 is just a little over 50mm it is possible to use 52mm or 58mm lenses (using step down filter ring) rather than buying the more expensive 62mm type.

Lenses like the Canon 250D and 500D make ideal close up companions giving you the flexibility of image magnification with the 500D or working distance with the 250D.

It really depends upon what your intended subject is, flowers or insects for example.

Remember though it's nice to see high magnification close up views they always come at the expense of very shallow depth of field.

The REC Set up menu provides the options tp program all the parameters for the time lapse operation. You will find it on page 2 of the REC Set up menu screens.

Choose the Time Lapse Shot Option

Program the start time - it can be NOW or any time you dial into the control.

You can set the time to start recording.

Any time up to 23 hours 59 minutes ahead can be set.

Set up the shooting interval.

At 25 frames per second you need to calculate the number of frames needed to complete the anticipated run time of your video.

so 10 seconds of final video = 10 x 25 frames = 250 shots

• A recording interval ranging from 1 second to 99 minutes and 59 seconds can be set at 1 second interval.

• The number of pictures ranging from 1 to 9999 can be set.

The time lapse mode must be set on the top shooting mode dial

THE SEQUENCE BEGINS ONCE YOU PRESS THE SHUTTER BUTTON.

• The recording starts automatically.

• During recording standby, the power will turn off automatically if no operation is performed for a certain period. The Time Lapse Shot is continued even with the power turned off.

When the recording start time arrives, the power turns on automatically.

To turn on the power manually, press the shutter button halfway.

• If [Fn2] is pressed while this unit is turned on, a selection screen asking you to pause or end will be displayed. Operate in accordance with the screen. Also, if [Fn2] is pressed

during the pause, a selection screen asking you to resume or end will be displayed. 

the timer will complete and you will have indication that the sequence has finished.

With the option to create the final video from this sequence of still images you are presented with the option to create  the following clips 4k/25p, 1080/50p, 1080/25p, 720/25p and vga/25p based on PAL setting.

NTSC will be 4K/30p, 1080/60p, 1080/30p, 720/30p and VGA/30p

Next choose a frame rate 50/25/12.5/8.3/6.35/5/2.5 PAL

                                    60/30/15/10/7.5/6/3/1  NTSC