LippyLee

How about the RX100 M1 or the G7X M1?

Either can be gotten below $200 used. Both have usable autofocus and usable 30/60fps 1080p

The G7X has a 3 stop ND filter and a touchscreen and it will achieve the same level of background blurriness as an APS-C kit lens while having 100mm FF equivalent focal length.

They are both pocketable and cheap enough to not worry about losing them/theft

Both don't have mic ports though

13 hours ago, ntblowz said:

wonder if G85/GX85 support it?

If it uses USB PTP, the focus pulling dial won't be supported on the G85 or GX85.

The follow focus will probably be no different from their current implementation of the zoom control which uses USB PTP instead of wifi. This won't be a relevant feature for the majority of Panasonic users as only the GH4/5 and GX8 support control over PTP.

On another note, besides releasing a new gimbal every few weeks, Zhiyun could easily release an SDK for their bluetooth gimbal controls, this could probably lead to more creative control for end users (like damped movement simulating a fluid head) and perhaps other uses Zhiyun themselves haven't thought of.

6 hours ago, Amazeballs said:

Is it possible to put a v-log on g85 in perspective?

I could add a v-log setting in the picture profile list, but only GH4 users with un-updated firmware would be able to get v-log for free. Sorry about that  

7 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

What, nobody expressing their exitement verbally? Anbody tried this yet without getting their phones burned? Sorry, LippyLee, no offense meant.

Sorry, guys, for not testin it myself with a friend´s phone, but waiting for your braveness:)

 

@BTM_Pix, you should set up a donation box for your efforts and achievement. And so should LippyLee.

None taken

If any brave soul would like to try it, it's definitely no snow cone:

I've spent a day converting the existing GX80 Cinelike-D hack html file into an Android APK. There's an added color temperature function.

This app should yield some usability advantages as it allows on the fly changes to the various picture profile settings and contains all settings on a single page. It also saves your last selected settings.

Notes on installation:

-Allow installation of apps from unknown sources

Instructions for use:

1. Connect to your camera's wifi network

2. Start the app

3. Click handshake (ignore any update warnings)

4. Click recmode

5. Change settings before or while filming

Other notes:

1. The app may erase existing settings saved in your various picture profiles

2. Camera IP selection is not yet implemented, apologies to those who do not connect to their cameras directly

3. Tested on a G7

Download link: https://github.com/lippyt/lumixlib/raw/master/lumix.apk

@robbino Thanks!

44 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

What I think might be interesting is if you deliberately drive it to the boundary of where there are cracks between the positions, so between 101 and 120 for example on the 14-42 there is a nice bit of space to work in.

If you drive it to 120 and then give it one more tele_slow command and see if it goes to 119 or does it go directly down to its next boundary point of 101.

Similarly if you drive it deliberately into the cracks with a tele_fast or tele_slow will it sit at that point or round itself up or down.

For stills I can see an issue with falling into the cracks depending on your interval but I think in terms of motion for a fader that a user wants to go from position A at the top of the throw to position B at the bottom under manual control then there might be more latitude to get away with it. 

I think that the lenses themselves optically might be a bigger hurdle to a really nice pull (especially with the breathing and the unknown sneaky correctional stuff that often foes on under the hood with these cameras) than the process.

Well, that'll be my excuse anyway

I actually use the property of equality between tele-normal and wide-normal to determine the current focusing distance. I have not tried to deliberately switch between normal and fast modes, though I believe that their focus steps do not share a common denominator so we can definitely get between the cracks that way. Another way is for a user to turn the focusing ring so this generates a non squared-off value, for example he could reach 101,102,103....119,120 depending on luck. Requesting a tele or wide normal after that point will mean that all focus steps will not be similar to their squared-off values.

Certainly, I guess that panasonic gave lesser focus steps at the wide end because its much easier to focus/ the DOF would more than cover up for it. And even the coarse steps in some lenses would be more than sufficient for the focus pulling portion of your camera controller.

As for focus breathing on lenses, the 25mm panasonic lens has a ridiculous 20% scale from near to infinity (non scientific test, a guesstimation when playing with premiere footage).

1 hour ago, BTM_Pix said:

Thanks

To be honest, the accuracy of the lens control and what you can do with it is always going to be varying degrees of fudge without the command to directly return it to one of the 0-1024 positions.

I presume by profiling for focus steps you're referring to how many actual focus positions there are hiding within the 0-1024 range?

With some of the lenses it feels like there are only about 6!

I don't have a big range of native MFT lenses (and all of them are the cheap ones!) but I was wondering if requesting a dump from them using http://192.168.54.1/cam.cgi?mode=getinfo&type=lens might offer up an automated answer to what you're after.

...

If we are driving the focus ourselves using a stick or fader then we have constant feedback of which of the 0-1024 values it is currently at so this can make the profiling unnecessary as we always know this is a 'legal' value because the user has chosen it based on the image being in focus therefore it must be an actual focus point the lens is capable of. And if we now that then, of course, we should be able to make it return to it.

The transition between two such points is something that, again, if we are in charge of the whole process - i.e. the user has focused using our focus controller and will be doing a physical pull from A to B with our controller (particularly a fader with fixed end points) - then we can scale it to at least make it a consistent experience. By consistent I mean, the rate at which they move the fader from one end to the other is controlling the rate of transition irrespective of how many or few actual focus points the lens is capable of resolving. Don't get me wrong, it will always be a fudge of sorts but if we are up against the limitations of the lens in terms of how coarse the transition is then it would be like that anyway if they did it manually. 

The proof is in the testing I suppose to see how smooth or not it is with each lens (and I'm not ignoring some inherent glitchiness caused by the way we're communicating with the camera either) and then the challenge is to try and mitigate it and smooth it out with different scaling techniques.

Meticulous is too little to describe the detail in which you explored this. I feel silly that I did not look at the get-info page for lenses yet.

Yes, by focus steps I am trying to describe the amount of focus positions there are within the 0-1024 range after "squaring-off" the focal distance against closest focusing distance or farthest focusing distance.

For example in the 14-42mm kit lens the focus steps at 14mm (wide-normal) are separated by 11-15 focus bits and at 42mm the focus steps are separated by 6 focus bits. In the 25mm f1.7 the focus steps are separated by 3-4 bits. I realize that focus bits are just virtual figures and probably do have a direct correspondence with true focal distance.

Quote

14-42mm focus steps at 14mm (wide-normal):

[0, 24, 43, 62, 82, 101, 120, 137, 153, 168, 183, 199, 214, 230, 245, 260, 276, 291, 307, 322, 338, 353, 368, 384, 399, 415, 430, 445, 461, 476, 492, 507, 523, 538, 553, 569, 584, 600, 615, 630, 646, 661, 677, 692, 707, 723, 738, 754, 769, 785, 800, 815, 831, 846, 862, 877, 892, 908, 923, 939, 954, 970, 985, 1000, 1016, 1024]

14-42mm focus steps at 42mm (wide-normal):

0, 17, 32, 46, 60, 75, 89, 103, 118, 130, 136, 142, 149, 155, 162, 168, 175, 181, 187, 194, 200, 207, 213, 220, 226, 233, 239, 245, 252, 258, 265, 271, 278, 284, 291, 297, 303, 310, 316, 323, 329, 336, 342, 348, 355, 361....]

While trying to design a focus ramping time lapse script, I realized that I wanted the true number of focus steps between two points so that I could decide how often to shift focus a step back or forth (or whether to shift focus for more than a step per shot).

I agree that we cannot reach the precise focusing step/bit using the four functions due to the limitations of the wifi requests and that degree of correspondence between a move on a physical control and the rate of transition is important.  

(I am going back to try out more scripts, because I have lots more to learn about this wifi system and posting anything else here would be talking out of my ass!)

I want to share a short script I wrote in python that does focus ramping time lapses for Panasonic cameras. I believe this is doable in magic lantern for Canon users but I've yet to see an implementation for Panasonic. Here is a short technical preview:

Here is the python script I used to make this focus rack timelapse:

https://github.com/lippyt/lumixlib/blob/master/focuslapse.py

I'm sure that there are much more creative uses especially for shots with the majority of objects in the near-medium range.

Hi BTM_Pix, love your work with the focus controller!

Would you be doing lens profiling/setup for lenses for this focus racking system? I've done some minor research into how many possible focus steps there are per lens and I found that it varies between lenses and even among different focal lengths on the same zoom lens.

I would believe this will affect the duration of a focus pull depending on how the focus racking code is done.

If you've already considered this, perhaps we could request fellow forumers to share their lens focus step data so that there is a more complete picture as to how focus step varies.

Here is the python file that I wrote for finding lens data: https://github.com/lippyt/lumixlib/blob/master/lensdata.py

Just now, hijodeibn said:

If you are coming from a different field of study i think it is a great idea to take a post-grade, yes, you can learn everything working on the field, but certainly since you already have another degree, you will learn very quickly from school training, just don`t get crazy and took a huge debt for this post-grade, look for something affordable to you and the most important get feedback from people who already completed the post-grade you are interested in. Good luck!

Thanks! Cost is certainly a big factor :D

26 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

This debate gets brought up every once in a while. Now, I haven't been, but the general concensus I believe always was: film school isn't useless, though, it's not really about the material that's being taught. It's working on things together and connecting with people that you might stay in contact with for years after graduating. For that it's quite useful. A degree on your resume does look cool, but it's not the thing that sells your skillset and level of talent. A list of productions you've worked on and a filmreel will do that for you. Think it's more about being good at networking and selling yourself, than what some paper says... so... you can start learning things you might already know... or work on getting actual field experience. One is not better than the other, you got to walk your own path, if that includes film school, that's cool, if it doesn't, that's cool too.

Thanks for stating these points. They definitely helps me in organizing my thoughts regarding this issue.

11 minutes ago, mercer said:

I would even add that it may depend on the school you attend. In the US, you will, generally, make better connections from NYU, Columbia, Northwestern, USC, UCLA, etc... than you may get from a state school in the Midwest.

Point taken, I understand the importance of industry links/network of the university. As I am living in South East Asia, the likely destination for me would be Australia.

Sadly, the next biggest potential film market (China) doesn't have a film school that readily admits foreigners, otherwise, I had that in mind as a way of entering the Chinese film industry.

I am quite curious of the opinion of this forum on taking a degree in film.

I understand that many would say its a waste of time and with the wealth of information available online, there is little reason to study film in an institute of higher education. Although individual talent does matter most, I wonder if there are any film school graduates here who can at least provide a positive argument on why going to film school is good or whether you found it a waste of time. Does it help in your employability or ability to see things in the big picture etc?

I'm asking this as I am planning to do a postgrad degree in Film/Media Production and I come from a different field of study.

(hoping this thread sits well, I realize this is a forum mainly for gear!)

No mention of Image Stabilization for both their lenses and body or flat profile on their website and Dpreview's hands-on, could even be possible that it does not have a manual movie mode.

Hopefully Xiaomi sticks to updating this camera for the long run so we may see custom picture profiles or any missing features. Will be interesting to get body-only as this is the cheapest m43 mount 4k camera.

4k bitrate remains the same, not sure if bumping up to 4:2:2 will result in a perceivable difference in detail

Sadly no mention of weather sealing in their press release:

http://www.43rumors.com/ft5-full-gx85-lx10-fz2500-press-text-leaked/

Any sort of political message aside - beautiful piece with matching narration. 

Looks great. Has improvements that people really want.

-IBIS

-Weather proof

-No OLPF

-Improved shutter (from 43 rumors comments)

Hope this is priced not much more than the G7 and indicates Panasonic's desire to weather proof more of their camera lines like Pentax.

On 9/8/2016 at 5:20 AM, Beqa said:

Hi there, 

I`m waiting for my Crane and thinking of getting monopod too.  I just saw this video, it`s kind of amateur but the idea of using monopod to place gimbal on top for getting big jib/crane like shots looks interesting. 

https://youtu.be/tlhNrbGQfas?t=32s

What do you think?  I`m still trying to find monopod which is strong enough to have crane and camera both on top.

I tried this with a G7 and Crane, if extended beyond half a meter of length, the moment of force on the controlling end of the monopod-gimbal combo becomes too high to control with precision. It lacks the smoothness of a jib due to a lack of a counterbalance. Still, I hope that you try it, because its mighty fun and YMMV (check out the video below). It is an excellent idea to use with smartphone/gopro gimbals but difficult to get right with a heavier gimbal and camera combo.

Video of a guy using a DS1 + monopod as a jib:

https://youtu.be/20znTvRnaJU

Won't be too disappointed if we see moire and aliasing in the 1080p as with the 80D, sensor is likely to be the same and the Digic 7 which is also used in the G7XII has not resulted in an improvement in video quality.

I still find this a great improvement by Canon of its mirrorless line and a step in the right direction.

Much better marketing than newer entrants for sure - they know the selfie, self-documenting run and gun crowd love gimbals. Timelapse was surely a feature that most other gimbal manufacturers could have provided without much extra effort.

Zhiyun, also has face tracking on their smooth II, but I have no idea why they just don't include a timelapse function.

2 hours ago, sgreszcz said:

....

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

.....

 

The original crane supports camera focus/shutter control too, though I have yet to try it. They mention the GH4 somewhere on their website as one of the supported camera control models.

Basically Zhiyun will do what DSLR dashboard/GPhoto 2 library has done and support any cameras that have tethered control over USB, so likelihood of Nikon 5xxx/7xxx/FF series, most canon EOS DSLRs and Panasonic GH4/GX8 support. I don't remember seeing any reports of the GX85 having tethered USB control and the G7 definitely has no tethered control. A small consideration if you are looking forward to this feature.

11 hours ago, sgreszcz said:

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.

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.

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.