psoetio

Agreed that super fast lenses can mostly make up for the full frame advantage in terms of low light performance and shallow dof, although still leaving m43 lagging behind in dynamic range. However the two reasons I'm looking very seriously at switching to the Sony A7iii from the Panasonics are video autofocus and cost. Autofocus especially. It's simply not reliable for video on the Panasonics, and you get that jittery background even when it does work, and af is not available on the super fast lenses and is totally unacceptable when using speed boosters. It's a serious issue when shooting events like wedding receptions. Cost, because while ff lenses are expensive you don't have to get the most expensive, super-fast ones, and, with clear image zoom and aps-c mode you can get away with having fewer lenses..

I saw an impressive video with a non-stabilized lens, the Leica 15mm. Over on Vitaly's site.

Thanks for the information. Have you tried a 17-50mm f2.8 zoom wide open? I am especially interested in using one of those with the speed booster if it is sharp at f2.8, since that way I'd have one very fast lens (f1.6 approx.) that I could use for almost all situations. Then I could add some f1.4 primes for very low light or very shallow depth of field.

Hi geppoitaly! I'm very interested in using the bmpcc speed booster on a GH4. The only thing holding me back is, I don't know much the performance suffers at f stops wider than f1.4. People like aldolega earlier in this thread talk in general terms about how this speed booster is designed for a thinner filter stack than what the GH4 has and so performs "poorly" at these wide apertures, but so far I haven't found anyone on any of the forums who discusses this wide aperture issue in detail or provides test footage. Just how much does the performance suffer? Is it an obvious difference? Perhaps it is only really noticeable when looking at big enlargements, but not video footage at normal viewing distances? Getting rid of the extra 4K crop while also getting s35 depth of field AND gaining a full 1 2/3 stops of light is very appealing indeed to me, but not if I get an obviously much softer video image at the big apertures I would want to be using a lot. So please geppoitaly, or anyone else reading this thread, if you have used this speed booster at f2 or f1.4, how much of a difference did you notice? Did it bother you enough that you wouldn't recommend using fast lenses wide open for video? Above all, does anyone have some comparison footage shot at big vs small apertures? It's killing me not being able to get this information!

Holy ###, the nx1 may have just jumped up a couple of places with the new firmware. For a run and gunner like me, that easy toggling between manual focus and auto while filming is a big deal. Use auto to quickly adjust focus handheld without jiggling the camera, then toggle to manual to avoid hunting. And ISO adjustment while filming, and AF tracking adjustments, and... Hmmm, just how much is DR improved with the new CineD profile? And just how much does the image deteriorate above 1600? Just how bad is the rolling shutter? And, will this thing fit on the new Nebula 4000 stabilizer? Time to take another look at this guy.

While the low-light capability of the A7s is very, very appealing to me, I think I'd rank the GH4 sans speed booster just slightly above the A7s sans Shogun because what 4k brings to the table for me outweighs the crop and ISO downsides. And WITH BMPCC speed booster, GH4 is for me way ahead of the A7s even with Shogun. Remember that with the almost two full stops of light gathering gain you'd rarely have to go above 1600 ISO, thus avoiding the loss of detail and color you get at 3200 and above, and, the crop is s35, which is arguably more cinematic than FF, since most movies have s35 DOF rather than full frame. For me s35 is the sweet spot and FF DOF is often TOO shallow. But to each his own..

Since your ranking of the A7s partly has to do with it being paired with the Shogun, would it drop below the GH4 without it? Also, if you are including accessories, I'd definitely rank the GH4 with both BMPCC and regular speed boosters higher than the A7s with Shogun. The BMPCC booster both gets rid of the extra 4K crop and gives you a full 1 2/3 stops more light, thus almost entirely eliminating the small-sensor disadvantages of the GH4. With the Canon EF version, your 17-50mm f 2.8 stabilized zoom becomes a FF equiv. 24-70mm f 1.6! With stabilization retained! At just over 3K US dollars for body, boosters and lens, almost 2K less than the A7s/Shogun/zoom combo and a lot easier to use, this is EASILY the best bang for the buck IMO. (The regular booster would be for 1080p and stills, since the BMPCC version requires electronic shutter to avoid damaging the camera, and there is vignetting with aps-c lenses.) Without considering price, then yes, the Canon is best...

Last thing I'll say about this: Yes, with the various exposure and focus assistants like zebras and peaking, one can become quite proficient at doing manual adjustments on the fly. However, especially with a tiny camera like this one, the more you adjust dials during a shot the more you risk camera shake when handheld. The aperture dial is not clickless which makes it even harder to stay steady. Why not have make use of some automatic functions so you can focus on composition and moving the camera fluidly? So long as you can quickly revert back to manual of course, or at least lock the settings when being on automatic becomes a liablility, such as when things slow down and focus hunting is a problem, or the background lighting is changing making unnecessary exposure changes a problem. That's why this camera would be substantially better as an event camera if it had ae and af lock with a gentle button press, and even better if you could turn it on and off DURING a shot with a gentle button press, and if with that lock in place, you could adjust focus and exposure manually if needed. Okay, whatever anybody replies, I'm done.

C'mon fuzzynormal, you didn't answer my point about speed. By your logic I should use a bmpcc as my A cam at fast moving events, since having to carefully set up each shot and change batteries every five minutes doesn't matter.. I'm quite sure that in the hundred years people used only manual exposure there were plenty of great shots ruined or missed. People also got along for decades without sound, or color, or stabilization and made superb films, but that doesn't mean those aren't useful things to have. Just as ae lock is indeed useful. Oh well, it's still a great camera, and, yes, having to use manual exposure more often will be good training. I agree that a downside of all the helpful "the camera does it for you" functions is that it can make you lazier..

A big disappointment I found out about on a gig is, no ae lock in video mode! And no, I don't need to be told I can just do everything in manual mode! For events you often want to be fast, and with ae lock you get most of the benefits of fully manual mode (for example, exposure stays constant even if you shift your framing during a shot to show more of a bright window in the background), but without wasting precious seconds fiddling with dials. I missed several shots on this gig, first by exposure changing during a shot before I realized ae lock was disabled, and later by not being able to set exposure quickly enough. Bummer! Ae lock is such a valuable tool at events; you can also use it and still vary the exposure during a shot if the light changes without having to be locked down on a tripod, by using the compensation dial. So with this ae lock thing, plus the thing about the tripod hole forcing you to remove your quick-release plate to change batteries or cards, this camera is going to be less useful for weddings than I thought at first.

Well, I use them because I do weddings where you have to be fast, and often don't know what's going to happen next.. I'd just like to be able to switch back to manual more easily.

gj91, I didn't have a problem with my 43mm filter jamming. Threads are on the inside after all! So far I tend to agree that you might as well use 4K photo mode all the time for video even when not intending to extract pictures, keeping in mind the bias it has towards high shutter speeds when in auto modes. For normal video shooting if it's a run-and-gun situation where I don't want to use manual exposure, I prefer auto shutter speed over auto aperture even though that means the shutter speed varies somewhat, because as long as that shutter speed is in the ballpark of 1/60th from what I set the aperture at before starting the shot, the motion blur looks natural enough to me, but with the aperture varying to adjust exposure I see flicker. (Another reason why not having auto ISO with manual shutter and aperture sucks!) I leave the ISO on auto as well, since the bias is towards low ISOs. But with 4K photo mode since the bias is towards high shutter speeds, better to use manual ISO. You also have to remember to keep the aspect ratio at 16:9, since it doesn't go to that automatically as it does in standard 4K mode. Still it seems to be worth it so you can use the big shutter button and have somewhat faster AF. I sure wish they had found a way to put the tripod hole farther away from the battery compartment. Have to remove the quick-release tripod mount every time I change the battery or card! Also, would be very nice to be able to switch from auto to manual focus with a button instead of using the ring, which is just about impossible to move during a handheld shot without jiggling the camera unacceptably. That means if I'm not on a tripod I have to stay on AF even after my subject has stopped moving, risking focus hunting, and even on a tripod it takes a delicate touch to not move the camera a bit. (This is also an issue to a lesser degree with the GH3 and 4.) It's a serious drawback for what is otherwise a great stealth and run-and-gun camera. Why make locking and unlocking focus during a shot so hard?

Great writeup Andrew! I just got my LX100 and I'm having fun testing it. But I must say, it definitely does NOT have auto ISO with manual ss and manual aperture in video mode. You can set the ISO to auto, but I can confirm that as soon as you hit record it switches to a fixed ISO. Too bad.. On the other hand, you can change ISO during a shot. A big plus for stills shooters that I haven't seen mentioned is that flash sync goes all the way up to at least 1000th/sec. shutter speed, at least for the external flash I tried. The GX7 only goes up to a 250th I think. Of course an external flash looks ridiculously huge on this camera. The little supplied external flash is obviously an afterthought; it doesn't even tilt up. One workaround for the lack of touchscreen focusing is to have the "direct focus area" on; that way you can pretty easily move the focus area around with the dial during a shot, if on a tripod. Use function buttons to change ISO and WB. I've heard that in general the continuous focusing in video mode is better than with the GH4, but don't have a GH4 to compare. Andrew, have you noticed an improvement? Also, the focusing is supposed to be faster in 4K photo mode as opposed to regular 4K. My testing on that so far is inconclusive. But if it is indeed faster I don't see why you'd ever want to use regular 4K, since with the photo mode you also get to use the bigger, better-placed "stills" shutter button. On big concern I had was with focus hunting I saw on some sample videos. I'm going to be doing some thorough testing of that, since the camera not being able to calm down and stop hunting during a shot is a serious drawback for the run-and-gun and wedding work I do. With my initial testing it seems that the size of the focus area is important, with either too large or too small of an area causing more hunting. Looks like the pinpoint focusing mode hunts too much to be useful for video. Andrew, how much of an issue has focus hunting been for you? I will report back when I've been able to do more thorough testing.

I've heard very different reports about the slog2. Some say it adds large amounts of noise in the shadows, so much so as to be not worth using. What is your take on that, Andrew? You didn't see a lot of noise with slog2 at high ISOs? Maybe those who report this aren't grading/exposing properly? I am very interested in the high DR possibilities of this camera through the use of slog2, but not if it means I give up the low-light advantage by bringing noise back in..

What I especially wanted to hear about was the feature that allows you to focus on the touchscreen while looking through the evf. If it works well, seems like you could get away with autofocus in most event situations. Andrew, did you use this feature a lot? Anyone else? Also, is it easier to switch back and forth from mf to af during a shot? With the gh2 I'm always worried I'll push the shutter button too hard and and end the shot...