Defleur

Fuzzy, could you give any feedback about working with the em10iii? What's the battery life like for video recording? Is the SD slot in the battery compartment really annoying? Any other thoughts/feelings/impressions?

Thanks for that! Because I was genuinely confused & thought you may have to use masking tape on the screen to guess what the camera would actually record lol

So when you go into 4k film mode on the Panasonic the screen will automatically adjust & only show you what you will record?

Ah, John, things are becoming a lot clearer for me, thank you! And you're singing my song, as I'm definitely a "buy the cheapest or buy the best (for you)" kind of guy. And at this stage I really think the cheapest is the best option for me since I'm just starting in 4K & it's what I'll feel happiest with after the purchase: otherwise I would just go the full hog & buy a BM4K or GH5 - which I think would just be overkill for me right now. It's another reason why I'm getting the VILTROX EF-M2 II booster instead of the Metabones: yes, I know the Metabones is superior in every way, but I'll feel happier spending £150 rather than £750 (& probably sleep better at night)... Oddly enough (for me) AF isn't important (at the moment): I film myself & the reason I am moving up to 4K is to give myself options for reframing & zooming & panning to give a bit of energy to the theatre production. I filmed a play in HD, applied some panning & subtle zooming but then had to render it in 720... I would absolutely love to get the Panasonic, for the reason I said: to start getting used to them ASAP as I can see myself staying with them. The g80 was recommended to me by someone else too (in another thread on this forum), but all their different models are really confusing. And what confuses me about the crop is how do you know what the camera is actually filming if you can't rely on the screen? Do you put masking tape on it around the borders? I did a lot of googling for weeks before writing, but reading reviews & comments can only get you so far. It's far better to hear from people here who have actually bought & used these things in the real world. Like I said, I wouldn't even be considering the Olympus were it not for this article, because on paper you would never guess there was anything special about it... I really appreciate all your help John!

I'm in Ireland (unfortunately) as this means I can't order a camera from Amazon UK, use it for a week to see if I like it, then send it back postage-free for a refund - which also means I'm dealing with UK/Europe prices. I'm using MPB to gauge second-hand prices: Olympus OM-D E-M10 III £269 Olympus OM-D E-M1 II £679 Olympus Pen E-PL9 £249 Panasonic Lumix DMC-G80 £359 I have Canon primes so I will only buy a camera body. The reason I'm even considering the OM-D E-M10 III is this forum! Andrew's written an absolutely glowing review of its 4K video capabilities - it's still on the front page of this website after 2 years! So for video, it's perfect for me, but but BUT its the little things about the camera which are holding me back - the SD slot in the battery compartment, only a tilt screen & especially the battery grip! The crop of the G80 just confuses me otherwise I would just buy one of those, as I could easily seeing myself staying with Panasonic for a long, long time (I'm coming from Canon.) Now that is something I had never considered before & that really helps! Would you have any recommendation for a dummy battery? Thanks!

Yeah, that is what I feared after looking for a while. I only want it for 4K video filming theatre productions. The E-M1 II is twice the price anywhere. But thanks for the quick reply, even though you bear bad news about the battery grip 😉

Thanks for that suggestion! To be honest, the Panasonic lineup of cameras just confused me - although I'm a bit better now! I know the GH range but they have so many cameras with so many different numbers that's it's a headache to sort through - & most of them have 4K! To give an example: after your comment I googled the g80 & the g85 - I just assumed they were different cameras! It took me a while to realise it was the same camera, just with a different name in different territories! After your suggestion I've been seriously looking into them as I would much prefer to begin with a Panasonic camera to get used to them because I can see myself staying with Panasonic for a long time & upgrading through their line-up. But again there are still things that confuse me - for example, this "crop." Again, forgive me for the stupid question, but does this mean that when you're filming 4K through the LCD screen you are not going to get everything the LCD screen shows you? Do you have to "guess" what you are actually filming - how do you do this? Do you put masking tape on the screen? (a genuine question) I had an external monitor for my Canon & absolutely hated it: I used it with an extremely long HDMI cable which was finnicky & would come lose & it wasn't showing me everything the camera actually recorded. Again, because I'm thinking a lot about workflow, the Olympus OM-D E-M10 Mark III was actually on sale last week NEW on Amazon for 400 euros but I didn't get it because there are 3 things preventing me: The screen: I want a flippable screen - it's really helped me shoot solo in tight angles. The SD card is in the battery slot: Filming solo, it's nice to set up the camera on a tripod, take some test footage, pop out the SD card at the side & have a look at it on my computer first, to check framing, &c. before starting the proper filming. This would be impossible with the Olympus as I would have to unscrew the camera from the tripod. Battery grip: I can't see any battery grip for this camera - although I think I found one weeks ago on the official Olympus store for about £250. But there are no generic models on Amazon - like there are for any other camera models. Now, I know that $K files are going to be massive beside HD video files - & this is where I'm paying more attention to the codec of the camera. Has anyone checked out this Cinestudy website for 4K video to download & edit yourself? Link: Edit Challenge They have 4K video there which is 1.6gb & 22 minutes long. That's a lot better than I thought it would be! Is that normal? Cos I can easily work with that. Thanks for all your help! I'm just wondering if I should start a new thread for ABSOLUTE BEGINNER 4K QUESTIONS as it might be of more benefit to beginners like myself & more people might come in with suggestions!

I am seriously considering buying one of these but I have been looking for a battery grip to go with it & can't find any at the moment. Has anyone bought a battery grip for this camera? Thanks!

I really appreciate all the replies; this is something I've been considering for a few months now but I've been too shy to ask any question on the forum! Kye, I absolutely understand what you're saying about asking myself if I really need 4K &, unfortunately, the answer is yes! - it's funny you went from a 700D to a GH5, I'm using a 650D at the moment! This is a clip from a project I am working on at the moment: Agamemnon I work alone - & want to be able to do so for the future so I don't have to rely on anyone (I've been let down by so many people!) - so in this clip I've just filmed myself three times (with the camera on a table) then edited it in post with some artificial zooming & panning. Because I'm filming in 1080, my project has to be rendered at 720, & 1080 doesn't give me a lot of room to maneouvre. I would like 4K to give me more options (as AC600CW says) for re-framing in post to render as 1080 for YouTube. In fact, 4K would be overkill & 2K would be fine for video editing. Everything would be rendered finally to 1080. Also, filming in 4K would allow me to get some nice screengrabs for PR - I've had this problem before where newspapers have asked me for high resolution photos & all I have are 1080 screengrabs. Luckily for me, the camera audio is irrelevant because I have the mic I need, & - as you can see from the clip - I'm wearing a mask! I have a few future projects in mind where everything will be voiceover. And yep, I'm fully aware of the headache editing 4K is going to be! In the next few weeks I'm going to download some 4K files & mess around with them - for better or worse, I've been using Sony Vegas for years, it's the software I feel most comfortable with, so the free daVinci resolve with Blackmagic isn't a factor for me. In fact, I downloaded the free version last week, tried some simple editing & it crashed first time, so that's the end of that! I'll probably Handbrake the original 4K files to 2K & then use proxies & see how that is to edit... I move around a lot (or I used to before the C-19) so I use mini PC's - at the moment I'm using an i7 8559U quad-core NUC (which has the microSD slot)- which probably won't be enough for 4K editing (I'll have to mess around for a while & see.) If it's not enough then I've got my eye on this: the Asus P50 mini PC with the 8-core/16-thread Ryzen 7 4800U (which has the normal SD slot.) - Asus P50 So, basically, I'm not upgrading to 4K for the image quality - cos yes, then a newer camera with 1080 would be fine - I need/want the flexibility in editing to pan & zoom so I can film myself. And absolutely, I know there is no "best" camera - I just meant that I need to make a decision so I feel comfortable afterwards. The Blackmagic 4K seems like the better "best" option for me since I don't do any photography & it's designed for film production. The "cheap" option for me is something like the Olympus, although I will definitely look into the G80/G85 option now!

Actually: (2nd hand) Olympus E-M10 III (£284) + new Viltrox (£154) = £438!

Thanks for the reply Kye, that's encouraging. At the moment I am planning to upgrade to a 4K camera (going from a Canon Rebel) but I need to be sure of the workflow before I make a decision. I have 3 good Canon-mount lenses (Samyang 35 T1.5, Canon 50 1.4, Samyang 85 T1.5) but all I know at the moment is that I am definitely NOT buying a Canon for 4K - so well done Canon! I'm caught between just buying the best or buying the cheapest, i.e. do I just bite the bullet & get a new BMCC4K + Metabones EF-M43 speedbooster (about £2,000), or get the (2nd hand) Olympus E-M10 III (based solely on what's been said about it on this forum, otherwise I never would have considered it! 2 years after Andrew's post about it, it's still a sticky on the EOS main page!) + VILTROX EF-M2 II (about £500.) - A Panasonic could be an option too, but they have so many 4K models at the moment they confuse me! Buy the best or buy the cheapest has always been my motto! What I do know is that whatever I choose will be M43, so it might be worth investing in the Metabones now as it's the best future-proof option, as I could use it on the Olympus to begin with then maybe a Panasonic or BlackMagic further down the road - but then Metabones has just released a new speedbooster solely for the BlackMagic so that's another consideration.... With the BMCC I'd just use an external SSD. A cheaper 4K camera wouldn't have this option, so it would be SD cards - & the transfer from card to computer was slow when it was just HD from the Canon Rebel, but now I'm going to 4K that's why I'm thinking more about microSD cards as my desktop has a microSD slot - it also has a thunderbolt but I use that for a 2nd screen. One question you can perhaps help me with Kye is: for your workflow, how do you get the files off your microSD card to an external SSD? Do you put them on the computer from your microSD, then connect an external SSD to your computer to transfer them? Or do you use a docking station? Like I said, before I make any decision, I want to be absolutely sure of the workflow for 4K! Thanks again for your reply!

My first post, & maybe a stupid question, so apologies beforehand! Is it possible to use a Micro SD card with an adapter in your camera for 4K recording? I only ask because my computer has a micro SD slot & it would be so handy (& faster) to take the microSD straight out of the camera & insert it into the computer without having yet another USB peripheral... I fully expect the answer to be "ABSOLUTELY NOT!" but thought I would ask anyway... thanks!