BTM_Pix

Unfortunately I don't have a similarly fast 24mm to test against the Samyang 24mm f1.4 But as way of an interesting comparison I do have a reasonably fast 25mm lens. So in the next episode of "Fun With Focal Lengths" we will be doing this...

I'd have to say that for someone surrounded by sharks then in terms of worries you've certainly got bigger fish to fry. Or avoid at all costs in this case ! Lovely footage.

Didn't know you'd been to my in-laws place.

Oh man...that sucks ! The small Panasonic 14mm and 20mm pancakes are pretty good little lenses. For versatility, particularly as it has OIS, the yacht club special is cheap, cheerful and definitely worth having in your pocket. Although judging by the size of your pocket in the picture above you could probably fit a large tele-zoom in it.

Having looked at the spec, it seems likely to be based around this Sony display. Based on AR/VR glasses that also use this display, I'm suspecting it will be between $800-1000? https://www.framos.com/en/ecx335b-20618

He looks like he's struggling to work out where to plug that unicorn tail in.

The spec sheet is the same as the 360 ONE X so yes that will be 18mp total. 360 ONE X also shoots LOG but I only briefly experimented with it as I wanted something I could share fast out of the camera on holiday so didn't fancy the extra steps in colour correcting it. Should be lots of examples on YouTube of LOG footage for you to have a look at though. The ONE X had a spare battery in the kit as a nod I guess to acknowledging battery life isn't great but I'm not sure if this one does? What I find is that because its capturing everything then I don't need to use a phone as a preview monitor so that improves battery life but also I just had a small usb power bank in my bag to keep it topped anyway. What I would say after using it up a mountain is that if you do extended takes you won't need to pack a hand warmer!

Damn, I was hoping you were going to say it was awful so I could save some money

Its to commemorate the spot from where Oskar Barnack took the very first picture with a Leica camera. And this is it I'm a lightweight drinker so I'd have taken a shot of booze every time I took a shot of the booze I'd have been on my back before we got to the third lens.

I think it has a fraction more contrast but really only a fraction and its nothing that couldn't be adjusted for. I have the 8mm (not a fan but purely for ultra wides of stadiums so a necessary evil), the 14mm and, yes, the 24mm f1.4 Is that a challenge ? I think I should take the post down while we sell our Contax Zeiss collections on eBay ! I haven't got the 135mm but I've seen a few cheap enough that might change that...

I've noticed the BBC have started to use the OneX for self filmed walk and talk reports on things like Newsnight. The use of the tiny planet mode from time to time gives the game away (!) but in the main its actually very effective. You can tell its not been shot on something more elaborate but how many generations are we from it not being the case, one maybe two ? The stabilisation it can do is actually very impressive. This new one is about 10% more expensive and looks to be more aimed at trying to carve out something new for phone users but, like RED, unless everyone has the screen (or adapter) in this case then your target audience is limited if or until it catches on.

I am really knocked out by how good the X is as a fun travel camera but I'm looking at this new one thinking "mmm....but that looks even more fun" Its how they get you isn't it ?

Speaking of which.... I did tests at f1.4 and at f5.6 The top row is the Samyang 85mm at f1.4 and f5.6 and the bottom row is the Contax Zeiss 85mm at f1.4 and f5.6 I deliberately underexposed slightly as I would do normally with the SL but have added no corrections hence the slightly darker image. First up, the chart stuff. The Contax Zeiss has a glow at f1.4 but its a tiny focus error on my part being a blind buffoon. I could have stopped at this point as its pretty obvious that the difference between them is marginal but I like to give value for money so I did a bit more of a contextual test. It might not seem an obvious test (it looks more like a cry for help with all that booze) but its quite informative to illustrate the out of focus rendering, handling of colour and tonality, detail etc etc. Same lineup, so the top row is the Samyang 85mm at f1.4 and f5.6 and the bottom row is the Contax Zeiss 85mm at f1.4 and f5.6 and focus is set on the Cointreau bottle. Just to add a bit more context to what you are getting separation wise for your f1.4 dollar, I brought a couple of slower manual lenses of a similar focal length to do the same test with with both being shot at their maximum aperture. The top row is the Contax Zeiss 28-85mm at 85mm f3.4 and f5.6 and the bottom row is the Leica 90mm Summicron M at f2 and f5.6 CONCLUSION ? My own view is its not really worth pixel peeping between the Samyang 85mm f1.4 and Contax Zeiss 85mm f1.4 when they are as close as this. The Samyang though.....bargain.

It does need a modification but its perfectly easy to do. Here is a full tutorial on how to do it for this specific lens (but can be applied to other similarly tricky EF-S lenses) although this is a far higher precision route to doing it than I did. I took the "hacking" part of the title of this tutorial a little bit more literally !

Just giving it its own thread as the discussion is tucked away in the Cinematic Colour thread. Announced today, very interesting concept of a twin lens 360 camera that folds out to use the twin lenses to shoot 180 degree 3D. You can see the 3D with the supplied small goggles but the neat part is the lenticular adapter that lets you watch it glasses free on the phone screen.

Back to vanilla glass with a couple of stills from the Pocket 4K with cheapish second hand utilitarian EF lenses that have IS. Colour is the Canon 10-18mm f4.5/5.6 and the B&W from the Tamron 16-300mm (yes 300mm) F/3.5-6.3. Both of them benefit light gathering and sharpness wise from being put on a speed booster as they are here.

You should do "Procrastination - The Movie" You've already wrote most of the script.

The Leica is there as that's what I'll be shooting it on but yeah, I shot it on the Quattro just to tease you a bit ! Hint for L mount alliance sceptics about adapting lenses will note that I'll be putting a Nikon F and a Contax C/Y lens on with cheap adapters without any issues... I got a bit too tied up in other stuff yesterday (not least the latest episode of the Brexit omnishambles !) but I'll do some this afternoon. I don't want to pre-empt the results but, yeah, my early messing about points in the direction of the differences not being outrageous. Considering the Samyangs change hands on eBay for a quarter of the price of the Contax Zeiss then that might be good news for you. As you can then put the savings towards a Leica.

Yeah, I think this is where they are approaching it from but in a VR goggles free viewer. They certainly seem excited in this video and the lack of movement of the phone suggests its for over capture for crop approach rather than being something the viewer is going to pan around themselves.

I'm only basing this on my experience with the Insta360OneX so it remains to be seen if it the same when the full product details for this one are released but the fisheyes are just a means to an end with their stuff to get enough coverage for post produced flat videos. I'm not saying that they don't expect anyone to be producing videos with headset viewing in mind but I definitely think they appreciate that the real strength of these cameras is in using their software to take all that coverage and use it to produce really well stabilised re-framed flat content. If that is the same approach with this for the 180 3D (ie 180 degree over capture but with the intention of producing final content with say 60 degrees of coverage) then the additional software corrections may make it more natural. It still won't be as good as a dedicated camera with a more appropriate lens (and the flat videos I've made from my Insta360OneX are still a tiny bit too gopro wide to be honest) but it will be interesting to see what its like. Their teaser video for it has people ooohing and aahhhing looking at its content on a phone so they may also have a viewing app that does a trick as well. Ironically though, it is very reminiscent of the teaser that RED did for the Hydrogen and comes only a few hours after RED quietly dropped the proposed add on modules for that and appear to be having a bit of a re-think...

So.... Insta360 have announced this today, the 360 EVO https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora/video/news/just-announced-insta360-evo-ultra-compact-folding-360-vr-3d-camera It is a 360 twin lens camera but the big trick is that it folds out so you can also use the lenses to do 180 degree 3D.

The Sigma SD Quattro and its kit lens, the 30mm f1.4 I'm not up to speed with the different versions in terms of whether they have changed anything over the years but this is the original F mount version.

I was also doing some Pocket4K stuff so the bar mount was for the controller for my 3C app.

You can get lower cost compatible ones on eBay such as this one. Can't vouch for the quality so whether its a false economy I wouldn't be able to tell you https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/3-5mm-Stereo-Screw-Lock-TO-standard-3-5mm-stereo-Cable-For-Sennheiser/231200664351?hash=item35d4a22b1f:g:D7QAAOxylpNTRS21