JBraddock

I have a Kowa 8Z as well as a recently purchased Planar 50mm f1.7; however, I am in the same boat with you as I haven't received the adapter yet to try that combination. I'll keep you posted.

Yes, the rattling is from the IS element - though on my lens it is a very dull and hard to notice rattle.  When the camera is on and IS is enable there is no rattling. 
 

 

Oh, and a front lens scratch probably won't have any real world affect on image quality unless it is a very large and deep gouge.  It is mostly a cosmetic issue.  I might have tested the lens at multiple apertures and focal lengths (wide and stopped down especially) to assure myself of that - and then I might have complained and argued for a reduced price to keep the lens.

That's exactly what I thought actually. I talked to the seller and asked for a partial refund if everything is fine. However, the original adapter is too expensive in the UK so much so that even when you buy it on Amazon.com and get it shipped to the UK, it is still cheaper :). So I had to try it with a third party adapter, which failed on me. In the end, I didn't want to keep the lens any longer.

The rattling was quite there in my copy but again, I am not sure how it would be when OIS is enabled.

The seller (foto-mundus) is solid and an authorised panasonic seller, I believe. They did apologise for the mistake. They sell a bunch of these lenses with a 12 months warranty.

The reason that I had second thought about this lens is that most of the time that I need zoom lenses is in controlled environments. Shooting a panel discussion or an interview etc. In those cases, I think, I can get away with a lens that has a similar zoom range. I intend to try my friend's Canon 24-105mm on GX7 to see how it performs.

In regards to the build quality, may be I am still under the influence of the awesomeness of 50mm Contax Zeiss that I bought in mint condition at a relatively cheap price :) I can't wait to try it with RJ lens turbo that I've ordered.

Joke aside, the built quality is good but I just didn't like that rattling. Walking down the street with the rattling sound that I might hear, I know myself that it would bother me.

You know that I bought one and unfortunately, I had to send it back. I was going to write my experiences in the Lens topic.

The seller apparently didn't check the lens properly as there was a tiny scratch on the front lens. Before sending it back, I wanted to try on my GX7 and bought a generic adapter on Amazon. However, the adapter failed to create a contact with the lens so I couldn't test the lens. In terms of build quality though, I am not particularly impressed. Not sure if I had a bad copy but the lens rattles and it is annoying. The seller told me that it is the OIS but still, I didn't like it. Other than that, it feels really good.

The lens is relatively compact and not so heavy but makes GX7 front-heavy, which is expected. While zooming or focusing, the lens creates a noise that a mic can pick up.

Does the new FCPX version allow for custom project sizes?

Yes, it does.

eglobaldigitalstore.co.uk used to have similar prices and they would pay the import duties; however, they changed their policies and now you have to pay the import duties. I'd bought a Nikon 5200 and Benro tripod back then. 

I asked Panamoz whether the GH4 is the HK version which doesn't have the recording cap and they said they are sourcing worldwide and they cannot guarantee that. I think they just don't want to reveal their secret :)

And you don't pay import taxes in the UK? I wonder what happens if I buy this from iSpain.

 

 

2. How much is shipping?

 

For all orders, shipping is FREE. We use FedEx, TNT, DHL, and UPS Express services. They are extremely quick and secure.

 

** Note **

- Currently we ship to the UK, France, and Spain

- Sorry, we do not ship to Northern Ireland

 

 

3. Will I have to pay additional charges on delivery?

 

All our prices are final. There will be no additional charges.

From their website.

Congrats Andrew. Can we also get a separate topic in which we can seek advice on what to buy instead of having to create a new topic for every and sometime same questions? 

I have tested the NR setting a few times over the course of owning the camera. It seems that from -5 to +5, the difference is really quite small. At the positive end, the pictures becomes a touch softer. But the noise never really lessens. I supposed you would need to record at a higher bitrate to see a real difference, but sadly you can't attach a recorder.

 

And no I almost never sharpen the footage. That way the footage has high resolution, and yet stays kind of filmicly soft.

 

Excellent. How much did you pay for it? Please tell me how well it balances with the GX7 and show us some shots wide open :)

:) I've bought it from a panasonic shop (I guess) in Germany with a 12 months warranty for £312+shipping. The difficult part was to find the Panasonic adapter cheaper, which luckily I found one on Ebay. It is crazy expensive in the UK. I will post about it once I've got it.

Did any of you try to rig GX7 up with accessories? I need to find a cage that's compact and sturdy. Any ideas?

I used to use iResolution, but it makes edges of trees and grass too sharp. It's basically like the Clarity slider in Lightroom.

 

The other stuff.. I use iDynamic on High usually. It really brings out a lot of range.

Then +2 shadows, -2 highlights. This is useful when outdoors and you want some more detail in the sky and dark areas. However it can sometimes make skin look a little too flat.

And finally, I use Neutral picture style with -2,-5,-3,-5 (Contrast, Sharpness, Saturation, NR). 

 

 

 

And then graded with a Fuji 400 LUT and some tweaking with Colorista:

 

By the way, did you end up getting the Panasonic 14-50mm?

Nice colour. Now I see why I didn't like the skin tone I got when I played with those settings. For easy grading, I use Natural -2,0,0,-2 when I record panel discussions. That way, it is almost ready to go. Also, when I use 20mm f1.7 II, grading is much more difficult for me and most of the time I don't like the skin tones I get. It is either too flat or washed out. I remember when using an AIS 50mm, I didn't really need to do much. Again, I am new to this. We'll see.

When you use a profile like that, do you need to sharpen the footage in post and what does the noise reduction really do to video, especially in daylight?

Yes, I bought the Panasonic/Leica 14-50mm two days ago and it should be delivered this week :) Some say that its stabilisation is much better than 12-35mm. I'll keep you updated.

Your filming is a pleasure to watch. I really like the way you edit your videos.

My GX7 does not have 29 minutes recording limit and in the last two days, I used it to record an academic workshop (10am-6pm) and it worked brilliantly without any hiccups or overheating. 

On a side note, does any of you use iResolution, iDynamic or Curves on this camera? Not sure what's the best combination of settings, if any, as I find they degrade the image quality. I would love to hear your experiences.

Thank you for the feedback. I will pay attention to the points you've mentioned.

I didn't plan this video actually. I was just testing the camera and the new ND filter I bought. Then this came out :)

Thank you again.

Interesting.

 

VLC not working for me (2013 iMac 27")

 

What graphics does your mid 2012 MBP retina have?

 

What version of VLC?

VLC 2.1.4. The GPU is NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M and Intel HD Graphics 4000 but I assume that the VLC uses the discrete one. I've tried again, both VLC and MPlayerX play it fine.

VLC (latest version) couldn't play on my rMBP.  But Chrome played it fine.  Strange.

VLC plays it on my rMBP (Mid 2012). No drop frames.

Yes tested it. Nice lens on both GX7 and GH4. A worthy alternative to 12-35mm if you can find it cheaper (it usually is... by half!)

 

It is sharp and the OIS really works well for video... I use the Panasonic Four Thirds adapter.

 

The 14-50mm comes in two flavours... there's the Leica version which came with the Digilux and the Panasonic-Leica version which came with the L1. Just cosmetic differences I think but not tested the Leica version yet.

 

However consider the Speed Booster and an APS-C F2.8 zoom if you want a shallower DOF. The Tamron 17-50mm F2.8 for example is even cheaper.

Thank you for this. I am actually looking for an alternative to 12-35. The image stabilisation is the key here otherwise what you've said about SB and a zoom lens combo makes sense.

Thank you for the review Andrew. Just curious, do you happen to test Panasonic 14-50mm F2.8-3.5 OIS on GX7? Any comment on how it performs?

I would check Varavon 815FH. As far as I can see, it is the new version of the one you've chosen. There is a review here.

This is a faulty logic. I am not sure how they worded this case legally but there is always an intent of discouragement embedded in rulings like this. In some legal systems, there is a limit to amount that can be demanded as damage, that is to say, for example, the compensation that one demand should not make that person "rich". Still though, the legitimacy of such cases might be questioned.

The problem I see is that Vimeo assumes you guilty of copyright infringement unless you prove otherwise and I don't think this is the right approach to it. Lets not forget that Vimeo is being used mainly by professionals so lets have some faith in people. I highly doubt that these people would risk their career by being associated with copyright infringement. 

Secondly, the internet is a new platform for many rights, freedoms as well as responsibilities and any regulation should recognise this distinct nature of the internet in order to not alienate itself to masses. We can't take our every day legal logic and impose it to the internet. and I am saying this as a law graduate. The law needs to change. It needs to adapt.

This also applies to the services and the convenience is the key here. 

I know for example many people who used to pirate movies but now use Netflix or other services. But why? It is not that they grew a conscience out of the blue and now have a flawless moral compass. Because it is easier, hassle free and more importantly accessible. Perhaps similar patterns can be observed in App Store or iTunes.

Make it accessible and convenient.

 

I'm in the same boat. Looking for a affordable general purpose lens with OIS and AF for the GH4.

The New 12-35mm 2.8 is kinda expensive. Sigma 18-35mm + speed booster (focal reducer - cheap) is very tempting, but I think OIS is very useful for a general purpose lens, and AF for stills.

 

Also I'd really like to know how the 14-50mm 2.8-3.5 performs with an anamorphic lens.

The problem with the Sigma for me is the weight. It is 800g :) I want to travel as light as possible with my GX7 and a gorilla pod. Panasonic 14-45 seems like a good option but f5.6 makes me worry.

14-50mm 2.8-3.5 is around £300-350 on Ebay and with the adapter we are looking at ~£400. Not sure about its performance but this seems to be the cheapest option in the similar focal length and f-stop. Here is an extensive review of the lens. This is from the summary section:

Pros:

• solid and stylish casing,
• splendid image quality in the frame centre, independent of the
• aperture and the focal length values used,
• good image quality at the frame edge,
• low chromatic aberration at longer focal lengths,
• low distortion,
• negligible astigmatism,
• good work against bright light,
• efficient autofocus.

Cons:

• too high chromatic aberration at 14 mm and at 50 mm and maximum relative aperture.

Leica is renowned for the high quality of its optical products and we can confidently say that the Vario-Elmarit 14-50 mm f/2.8-3.5 Asph Mega O.I.S. doesn’t disgrace its producer. Quite the opposite in fact – for a zoom lens with a 3.6x multiplier it fares really well. There are no serious reservations about its resolution in the frame centre and the frame edge; most of optical aberrations are corrected very well or at least properly; what’s more, the lens features an effective autofocus and the stabilization which is more efficient than that of the camera’s sensor. 

So far I've only seen Andrew and Andy Portch over Newsshooter using this lens on m43.

Do you guys know any other lens other than Panasonic 14-50mm F2.8-3.5 OIS that Andrew mentioned in his latest article which has image stabilisation and is not as expensive as the native offerings.

Panasonic 12-35 f2.8 and Olympus 12-40 f2.8 look good but they are out of my budget. Still the problem is that four third to micro four third adapters are not very cheap. They are some generic adapters on Ebay but I am not sure how good they are. I don't really care about auto focus but I would like to have image stabilisation. Any suggestion?

New version of Mitakon for Nex is out.

35mm is what Andrew says in this guide. As I said, I haven't tested it yet.

My guess is that anamorphic shooting already gives a wider field of view and Helios 58 seems to be good match for many anamorphic lenses. I haven't used one though.

I think the limits of Kendy's gear has allowed him to really focus and hone his style. There's a definite consistency to all his work in terms of style.

 

It's only one style though, remember that there's a broad range of looks that would need different gear. A wide angle shot of a city would be moire hell on a 550D.

 

The Sigma 30mm F1.4 is interesting. I picked a battered old one up today for 189 euros. It is actually quite sharp but not too 'perfect'. Goes well with my Iscorama 54 as it is quite stocky but wide, like the Iscorama 54, and the focus ring has quite a short throw. On the Nikon D7100 it looks great. On the BMCC speed booster on my GX7 in 1.28x crop (full sensor, for stills and 1080p) it gives a nice fall off from the centre in terms of vignette while never quite going completely dark in the corners. Nice little character. I can see myself using it. My favourite look of the moment though is still 5D raw + 50mm F1.2L. Unbeatable :)

@Andrew, I see you mention GX7 quite often. As an owner of that camera, I would really love to see a mini shooting guide from you.