ibd

The first unboxing and quick test videos are coming in now:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qc_QQiU5sNA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XElQR9kjHzw&feature=youtu.be

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J38FW40hW8&feature=youtu.be

No real reviews yet though. Optics look at least OK, from what is visible from these shaky 4k videos.

From this post on Facebook (closed group, must enter group first), it seems there's quite some interest in this adapter. I hope some reviews will be available soon, telling us about the optical quality. As for compatibility, I have found some taobao seller that claims several models should be supported (including G7 and GX* cameras), however we will see if that's true. 

@Timotheus do you happen to know if Sharpest Light Ltd. is just a distributor / seller of these adapters, or if they work more closely together with Viltrox? We should make sure the FW update requests reach the right people! :D 

So, Viltrox has just released a smart adapter + focal reducer (x0.71, 1 stop light gained) for Canon EF to m4/3 mount:
https://www.43rumors.com/just-announced-viltrox-ef-m2-electronic-adapter-f-booster-0-71x-canon-ef-mft-m43/

I am considering buying one of them as the metabones is too expensive for me.
However their official compatibility list doesn't include any modern Panasonic cameras other than the GH4 and GH5.

Does anyone have experience with Viltrox adapters working or not working on Panasonic GX8, GX80/GX85?
From what I've seen, Viltrox has since a while released other adapters, such as a smart adapter (no focal reducer) for EF, a focal reducer for Nikon F, and others. Anyone has tried one of these?

On 6/10/2017 at 5:17 PM, Georgios said:

@ibd

Interesting!

So you managed to have unlimited recording to your European gx80 switching it to Australian region?(without 4k-30p)

... To finally come back to this: Nope, it is not possible to get unlimited recording on the European GX85. You can select a region when resetting the camera, however all of the regions only offer 4k @ 25 fps, limited to 29m 59s recording time. Thus, it is better to stay in "no region" mode to at least keep the 30 fps.

On 6/8/2017 at 4:44 PM, tonysss said:

at initial setting, offers only E (Europe) region :-(    it is GX80 Europe version, switch to Australian region is not possible :-(

From what I have seen, the region can be switched only when turning OFF the 4k30p hack. This is when the user is presented with a menu that let's them choose one of four options. I have a European GX80, at least that was the case for me. Did you mean that you can't switch the region at all, or that you can't switch to the Australian one?

13 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

 

I've had a bit more of a dig about this because I was pretty sure that I remembered that the viewfinder app was upscaling to fill the phone screen. 

I had remembered correctly as it turns out the live stream resolution is only 640 x 480 so that would immediately rule it out.

Lol, well that settles that. Thank you for checking!

6 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

I think someone has done a live viewfinder app for smartphones based on it but to be perfectly honest as a recording proposition I think it poses far more questions than it answers.

Considering how much you'd need to invest in the hardware to do it and creating the software to control it and the storage situation if you wanted it to be in a portable format (i.e. a smartphone) then, as with the higher bitrate HD quest, the Atomos Ninja Star at less than £200 is a far better proposition for me to eek extra value out of these cameras.

"It poses more questions than it answers" -- That's a great way to put it. Overall I agree. On the hardware side of things, though, I think the investments would be minimal. All modern laptops bring fast WiFi, extremely fast processing, and fast storage. It then comes down to software to solve the problem. I think a proof-of-concept could be done in python in a matter of days or weeks. What remains unclear to me is whether or not the resulting stream is of good enough quality (fps and "bitrate") to be worthy of recording at all. A dedicated piece of hardware is far more elegant, of course, but also pricier. And I think one purpose of these hacks is always to save money by putting in slightly more effort on the user's side.

16 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

The ISO trick works in video mode as well so you can have up to 50000 if you fancy it.

Higher shutter speeds than 4000 can be formed and sent to it and it will respond correctly to them if its in electronic mode but it won't go beyond 16000.

The flash sync speed is not something I've looked at. Is it an explicitly set value in any Lumix camera ?

Tele mode is something I've looked at brielfy but it didn't work as I expected it might but don't rule it out as I need it for my gadget so I'll be looking at it again.

Battery saving mode isnt something I've looked at as I don't think it's changeable from the app and is a camera only selection?

 

 

 

////// EDIT /////

For those wanting extended ISO

New updated HTML file with Cineline D, V, Hue controls and switchable extended ISOs of 6400/12800/25600/50000

 

DEPLOY CINELIKE D V HUE EXTENDED ISO.html

Thank you very much for your fast response. My (European) GX80 is in service right now, but I'll test your modifications ASAP.

I realize now that this will mostly push settings not meant for the camera to the camera, and it might or might not react to these settings. Not sure if battery saving mode of the G80 is a changeable setting over the html interface, but probably it won't work with the GX80. Max flash sync speed is not a setting, but rather a specification of the camera, so I guess it definitely can't be changed (unlike video bitrate, for which there might be a possible hack because of it also being a setting).

Have you already tried grabbing frames from the video stream that it also sends to these remote control apps? For example, you could create an "external recorder" for this. This would also, for example, allow higher ISO in video mode because you're really just grabbing the "raw jpgs" and creating a video out of it. Not sure how the bandwidth would hold up, you would need a good router and stable wifi connection, and even then the theoretical limit is around 300 Mbps, with the practical limit being much lower usually.

Signed up for this forum just to say thank you and to check out these files! Thanks!!

One thing I'm wondering: Because I'm mostly a stills shooter, are there any hackable settings that would perhaps be useful in a stills shooting context? I noticed the max ISO setting hack -- does it work universally (photos & videos)? AFAIK the ISO only goes to 6400 in video under normal usage. Any other things that would be changeable, such as...

1. min/max shutter speeds,
2. flash sync speed,
3. more AF settings,
4. crop mode for adapted lenses,
5. maybe even G80's battery saving mode??

Cheers!

- ibd