sgreszcz

1 hour ago, Geoff CB said:

If weight with high end lenses is a concern, I would try out Panasonic if your not interested in stills. If you are Fuji's upcoming camera looks pretty good.

I have been using both Olympus and Panasonic cameras for stills and have no idea why you would think that Panasonic is only valid for video.  The Panasonic raw files are quite robust and the JPEG processing with the GX80 is actually quite good, while maybe not yet matching Olympus/Fuji.

Look at this guy's blog http://www.grahamhoughton.com/tech-talk for the subject "Building a USB to 8.4v power supply to power your camera for longer periods out doors".  It refers to Panasonic, but I'm sure you can do much of the same for any camera that has a "dummy" battery on the market.  I've ordered the voltage/current converter and dummy battery and I'm going to use it with external USB battery packs for longer time-lapse video.

11 hours ago, wobba said:

Panasonic competes with Sony on video only.  For stills, Sony cameras are in a different league.  For me, this needs to be factored into the price since with Panasonic, I need to also commit funds to a stills outfit.

I'm just curious in which ways Panasonic cameras are severely deficient to Sony in stills photography?  In most ways except for ultra-shallow DoF or phase-detection C-AF for sports there is probably not a lot of difference?  Panasonic (and Olympus) have some excellent native lenses too.

8 minutes ago, johnnymossville said:

Heat isn't much of a Panasonic Problem,  they've always been great with heat dissipation.   I'm actually more concerned with Battery Life than Heat.   The GH4's battery life is so great I will be disappointed if the GH5 suffers in this regard. 

If the Gx80 is any indication, the battery life is much worse than it was on my Gx7 and LX100 (same battery type).  The IBIS is surely one of the causes, and any time I forget to shut it off for something like longer time lapses, it runs down so fast.  I am working on an external battery feed from USB battery bank.

7 hours ago, LippyLee said:

I got it from their wechat group, looks like i quoted a wrong figure. 740g wasn't the weight limit but the weight of the Crane M itself:

http://mp.weixin.qq.com/s?__biz=MzAwMzY4NDExMA==&mid=2652053565&idx=1&sn=5cd2b277ad8ee258692ca30b0530cc88&scene=0#wechat_redirect

Hopefully they price this well.

I bought the Crane last week and I'm satisfied with its performance along with a G7 + kit/cheapo fisheye and its ridiculously easy to use as Mattias has pointed out in the OP.

The crane-m looks to take between 125-650g payload.  That would be fine for the LX100 and probably the GX80 with Panasonic 12-32 or Olympus 9-18 lenses.

Looks like it might support camera control too - not sure what models.

Zhiyun Crane-M is the first to control the camera's stabilizer, only a single data line, you can achieve your camera, the focal length of the control interface. The stabilizer and real camera into one, saving every change scenarios need to adjust the time.

"Big Mac" long life

Zhiyun Crane-M uses 26550 type lithium batteries, can bring to the stabilizer 12 hours long battery life. Even if you are a madman shooting, the full power of the Crane-M also allows you to shoot on a full day.

2 hours ago, LippyLee said:

First post here. Looks like Zhiyun is coming up with a lighter version of their crane called the "Crane M". It will support cameras up to 740g in weight but the recommended weight range is 125g-650g. They have pictures showing it in use with an A5100, a gopro and an iphone.

I'm guessing this will interest those who use A6300/G7 with a lightweight prime or kit lens or perhaps RX100/LX100 users.

I'm curious to where you found information about the Crane M?  I'm debating getting the Crane for my Panasonic GX80, but maybe the smaller "Crane M" would be better for something like the LX100.

46 minutes ago, mercer said:

If that's what your needs are, then maybe you should pick up the Little Darling or Tascam equivalent, and then pick up a tiny stick microphone, or one of those Sony T-shaped stereo mics. 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/controller/home?O=&sku=225510&gclid=CMrrmuLB184CFZNZhgodNMMF5Q&is=REG&ap=y&m=Y&c3api=1876%2C92051677682%2C&Q=&A=details

Or in a pinch use your mobile phone and a plug-in X-Y mic (sony, zoom, rode) or something like the Rode smartLav+ and the Rode or Tascam apps.  I've used the Smartlav+ for the interview here (with the silicon rode invisilav to isolate the mic from noise).  Downside is that you lose the use of your phone.

13 hours ago, BucksterUK said:

I liked the look of the Sony ICD-SX2000  - but couldn't find much info on forums to how good the audio quality is - liked the form factor though

at £200 odd was too expensive just to take a punt on

I have the discontinued Sony icd-sx1000 which is pretty good and smaller/sturdier than my old h1. I read some old reviews that compare the quality to the much larger Sony dc-10. I am thinking of buying another if I can find on clear out discount (got mine for around £100).

Some people don't like the built in USB and battery and memory (can add micro-sd. I like that everything is contained and small and it comes with case and little flip stand. I've used the built in mics and lav input and both are good.

On 22 August 2016 at 7:24 AM, jase said:

Interesting conversation about the H1 because I was thinking for getting it as well. I am only interested in ambient sounds, no interviews or whatsoever - do you guys still think that mounting the H1 on the hotshoe is an acceptable compromise? I want to keep things small.

Jase, I can't really recommend that setup as the zoom h1 is really sensitive to handling and wind due to the sensitivity of its microphones and the lightweight plastic body. I even tried using a rycote mount and I have a good deadcat (read head) for. It too. I eventually replaced it with the (discontinued) Sony ICDSX1000 which is smaller and more solid and had a built in USB connector and memory so I like that for convenience.

That recorder will have the same challenges as any mounted on the camera (wind, handling, distance from camera). I usually use that recorder for lav input or using its built in stand and mics to record a concert, syncing with the gx80 scratch audio in post.

I also have a used shure lenshopper with built in recorder if I want better ambient recording.

i also got good results with the rode video micro with my old g7 which had an input (not so good with em5ii with noisier preamps).

I'm still looking forward to getting my instamics via indigogo to make dual audio a little easier.

16 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

OMG.  Thanks for this.  I don't know how this has flown under my radar!  

...oh...looks like this is why:

"I then saw that before they were even released they were discontinued in the US. I did quite a bit of research and it looks like Zaxcom sued Tascam for patent infringement and Tascam had to stop selling them in the US. Zaxcom has a similar device but it's over $1000."

If you are in the US look up the juiced link little DARling. Does the same thing as the tascam.

Im also really looking for the instamic on indigogo to finally ship for a small good quality mic/recorder I can plant on things (like my kids).

4 hours ago, kieranvyas said:

The update description is: Improved the stability of O.I.S.[Optical Image Stabilizer] in Motion Picture recording (When using DMC-GH3/GH4)

As it mentions the GH3 specifically I would hope that the jitter would be better. Hopefully someone can confirm.

Good luck!  I was so very frustrated about the jitter in such a great lens, but now it is gone on my GX80, I'm quite happy...

I have a feeling there will be jitter on gh3

3 hours ago, kieranvyas said:

I shoot video and I'm looking to buy the Panasonic 35-100mm f2.8 but the micro jitters issue puts me off. Can anyone confirm whether or not the problem is fixed after the 2 latest firmware updates?

If the issue still persists, could anyone tell me whether the problem can be tackled by using a stabiliser? Or would the lens still add jitter? For example, I use a shoulder rig and a steadicam, will the lens still add jitter when using such equipment?

I had the annoying jitter with up to date firmware on my Panasonic gx7 and g7. It is gone on my gx80 with dual-is. Search for my tests on YouTube (sgreszcz) for more details as I compare with the g7/lx100/gx80/em5ii

4 hours ago, Cinegain said:

Would be cool if they'd include trackmapping as well. I found the following rather interesting: http://petapixel.com/2016/08/11/sd-card-built-gyro-sensor-stabilize-shots/ ! Something like that must then come out crazy smooth! 

Olympus is actually quite innovative with functionality like live time, live composite, high-res mode.  I'm interested in what they will come up with.

If 43rumours are right they will have a fast read 4K sensor in the Em-1ii that should have little rolling shutter.  If they just improve their internal codec a bit to get closer to Panasonic...

 People complain about the Olympus menus but I like how you can tweak anything and there are enough function buttons for needed features. The one touch WB is also handy.

That being said, I've really enjoyed shooting with my gx80 this summer. The dual stabilisation (with even the 100-400 that I borrowed) is fantastic.

John Brawley published another film with blog post shooting with only the Olympus E-M5ii handheld, flat film profile, and external prores recorder.  Looks really nice!

https://johnbrawley.wordpress.com/2016/08/10/intrigue-how-far-will-you-go/

On 28 July 2016 at 0:46 PM, jase said:

Nope, I am using the filter on all lenses i have currently. Just love it.

Hi Jase, I enjoyed you Splash! festival film.  The look really gave a nice feel to it.

It seemed to be quite sunny in a lot of the shots.  Do you use any ND filtering with the Ultra Contrast or just bump up shutter speed to correspond for the larger apertures that you are using?  I guess you used a lot of 1080p/50fps for slow motion, so that probably helps with a higher shutter speed?

Reminds me of the festivals I attended when living in Köln/Bonn (Rock Werchter / Rock am See 2003) which had great lineups and atmosphere, and HOT weather.  It is harder to get to festivals these days with small kids, although went to Bestival in 2013 with a three-year-old and my 8-month pregnant wife...  I don't know most of the bands anymore! 

1 hour ago, no_connection said:

Did you try enable brute force in options? Was a while ago I used it but it might spew out more files to try. I have not found any better than Photorec tho.

*edit* changing extension to .mp4 don't work? (guessing no)

*edit2* Can't remember if it was this tool I used, have to look closer, http://vcg.isti.cnr.it/~ponchio/untrunc.php

but it could possibly fix truncated files that have been written over partially.

Hi there, thanks for your response.  

I've been doing some more digging and it looks as though I need to find a repair tool to rebuild the video/audio mux.  I have tried changing the .mov extension to .mp4 and that didn't work.  This program http://grauonline.de/cms2/?page_id=5 seems to try to rebuild the file based on using a working file from the same camera.  I just tried it a couple of minutes ago on one of the recovered .mov files and I got the audio, but black for video.  

I will try some more things, just for the experience if I need to recover something crucial some day.

Hi all,

I ran into a problem where I didn't correctly transfer all the files off my SD card before formatting/reusing it.  It is nothing critical, but I've been trying to recover the files using "photorec" on the Mac.  I recovered most of the .jpg and .rw2 files, but I'm having trouble with the video files.

Photorec has recovered a bunch of .mp4 and .mov files, however I cannot play them back with Quicktime, MPEGstreamclip, nor VLC.  I'm assuming that the .mov files are the actual video media as they are larger files, and the smaller .mp4 files are just the container or pointer to the video.

Any guidance or experiences with video file recovery or tools would be appreciated, thanks.

Stephen

Here is the edit from my first real video job.  Unfortunately I was only able to capture the preparations as the parade was cancelled due to lightning and torrential rain.  Horrible weather to work in.  Too bad, as all the kids and organisers put tonnes of time into preparations.  Handheld using two GX80 with the Panasonic 12-35/2.8 and 35-100/2.8 lenses (the LX100 for time-lapse).

Saw this on 43rumours.  Wedding film handheld with GX80/85, P12-35 and Voigtlander 17.5.

5 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Yes... kinda... Set it to MF and you'll notice a AF button on the screen that is touch sensitive- it will pull your focus. What I like about this implementation is that you'll probably not notice any noise or shake in the footage.

You can also set up AF-s to the rear AF-s button and use that when in manual mode. Set the manual zoom-in box to the smallest size and you can move that around with your thumb too. Press the rear AF-s button to focus.  

Not as accurate as the smaller AF-s focus box on the Olympus but works for me. Just wish that you could Punch-in zoom in for manual focus while recording.

On 6 July 2016 at 5:49 PM, Buckster said:

I was very doubtful ref my commitment to M4/3s after the G6 - useability great - but photo quality

But .. GX80 from initial tests seems much better photo wise vs my G6 - photo ouput seems very similar in IQ to my Nex 5n - and that is a VERY good thing - the sensor to me seems much much improved

I always liked the Olympus JPEG output much better than what I got out of my Panasonic cameras. Also the fact that Olympus gives you a (non intuitive) raw processor to get the same Olympus look from raw files is also great.

Panasonic Jpegs were not as good in my opinion and the raw files need work in Lightroom which by default makes them quite dull...

The gx80 JPEG processing is much better though. I like the look, although raw files are still is a bit dull in Lightroom.

31 minutes ago, Herb said:

This gimbal looks fantastic. The price is great. The motors are great. The app is great. It appears to have stronger motors than the Optimus which is double the cost.

The handle... For single handed operation it looks good. But, if I wanted dual handles... I guess I could rig something with a clamp. But what about at the end of jibs / cranes?

I like that it has the thread on the end of the handle so you could mount it on a monopod for crane-like shots. Also it seems simple to calibrate unlike my DS1 was.

Im still debating between this one and that inexpensive iPhone gimbal from another thread...

Another review with some nice shots here: https://fenchel-janisch.com/3-axis-gimbal-zhiyun-crane-camera-stabilizer-reviewed

Just found out that this camera + 12-32 lens was on sale at Currys last week for £499 - Panasonic £50 cash back - £100 for lens on eBay = £350 for the GX80 body.  Crazy.

Prices back up to £599 - £50 cash back, but that was almost as good a deal as the G7 on sale for £250 with cash back last November.

10 hours ago, fuzzynormal said:

Not really. It allows me to find focus of the actual shot, but because the evf image is so soft (and slightly distorted as well), my eye is always straining to comfortably focus on the image. 

This is is not an issue with my Olympus EM5II

I've never used a gh4, but found that the EVF on my gx7, g7, lx00 and now gx80 have been quite weak, even compared to my original em5 and much less clear than the Olympus VF4 or viewfinder in the em5ii.

This makes it especially hard to keep things in focus during recording with the gx80 since punch in magnification doesn't work.

What I find improves things is using the monochrome EVF mode (I have it set to a function button) and use a bright peaking colour like yellow. The only risk here is if you have your white balance set wrong, you won't notice it.

If I'm shooting a live event where I know I'm going to edit pieces anyway I just use AF lenses and cheat with the AF-s to make sure I'm ok with focus.

I really do like the gx80 colour and picture quality though, and the stabilisation takes away the need for a tripod especially with the dual-is.

Mr cheesycam has a good review and calibration/setup video with this and the moondog anamorphic lens in YouTube. 

On 28 June 2016 at 3:21 PM, Michael Ma said:

I own a Zhiyun Z1 Smooth C, which is a sub $200 gimbal that works well for my Galaxy Note 4/5 and stabilizes smartphones just as well as my Pilotfly H1+ stabilizes my cameras.  

Edit: Oh just a warning before you buy though.  I'm guessing it's not compatible with SimpleBCG which is powerful for fine tuning.  The Zhiyun software for the smartphone is very very basic.  Just does firmware upgrades and calibration.

Hi Michael, thanks for the tip on the smartphone gimbal.  I have been debating getting the DJI osmo, a gimbal for my LX100 or now a smartphone gimbal.  It seems to me to make more sense to use a smartphone gimbal for any moving shots as the price is really good and I already have the camera/phone.