bluefonia

Yes, I use speed boosters (on Panasonic GH4) and I was aware of the focus issues these can cause at infinity, so I made the test without speedbooster. Anyways, - as you can see from the post above - there is nothing wrong with the lens, it simply comes down to the way it is constructed.

Wow, fast reply I have to say ;-). Well okay, - nice to know nothing is wrong with my copy. I have never zoomed with this lens while filming. I just got curious when I did some testing up against some Zeiss zooms to night. Normally I use the focus zoom on my cameras monitor to check critical focus, but for some reason to night I just used the lens zoom for that and found out it didn't worked the way I thought it would. Thanks

I just discovered that my copy of the Sigma 18-35mm F1.8 ART does not keep focus when zooming. Slowly zooming out from 35 to 18mm the lens gradually looses focus. The same happens the other way around, - focus at 18mm gets lost at 35mm. I can't remember the last time I have zoomed during recording, but anyways - I suppose a lens in this price range should not suffer from such an issue. Has anybody else had the same problem? As I guess this not supposed to be so, how/where do I get the problem fixed?

The Zeiss Vari Sonar 28-70 arrived to day, Took it outside the house this afternoon for a short test-shooting. It seems to be every bit as awesome as the 80-200mm, so the two lenses seem - probably no surprise here - to be a perfect match. Now I just hope the footage from the two Zeiss and my Sigma 18-35 will intercut well, - that's the next test. I already have a complete set of Yashica primes. I'm sure they are not quite on par with the Zeiss primes, but for my needs I think I'm covered for a long time, as I also have seedboosters for both C/Y- and Canon mount. (My Sigma is Canon-mount)

This lens is fantastic. First impressions are in fact - despite the difference in focal length - that I like the results better than my Sigma 18-35 Art. The Zeiss is tac sharp in a very filmic way and the contrast and colors are awesome. So now I have gone for more Zeiss, as I just bought a Vari Sonar 28-70mm T* F3.5-4.5. Should arrive within a week, - I´m excited.

Well, Andy. - now you made me spend more money on glass :-). I already have a C/Y > MFT speedbooster to go with my Yashica ML collection and bought the Zeiss in C/Y mount on eBay 5 minutes ago. Excited to see the results from this lens, especially on the 150-200mm range. ...and sorry. I just realized I didn't posted this in the right forum. I thought I had written in Lens-forum.

Does anybody here have any experience with this zoo lens? Edit: hm, zoo lens, - zoom lens.

Sure, it is never nice to be troubled by other peoples problems in your own calm and pleasant life ...

The next 3 days SmallHD gives you a free Sidefinder when you purchase a %01 or 502. Are the two products worth it? http://store.smallhd.com/sidefinders?utm_source=Email?utm_source=Email&utm_medium=Netsuite&utm_campaign=Sale Reminder10_2015

He he, yes, that´s exactly where my my little story about the Apple T-Book fits in

I would do the same. But both you and I, - and most other posters in this thread , - are not the average client. We think as "filmmakers", while only a few clients will think like a "filmmaker". If they did, they might as well produce their films themselves and not hire you or me :-). Don't make the mistake and think your clients necessarily "think" and reason like you do.

Very interesting topic. I have no experience with cameras in this aspect, but have a personal experience with another piece of equipment. Quite a while back I made my living as a director and had my own small production business, where I produced mostly commercials and corporate image stof. I didn't invested in any kind of production gear at all. I rented the gear we needed for each project, as these often needed quite different setups, - 35mm or S16mm or video, different amount/quality of light and sound, maybe/maybe not dolly/crane and so on. I also hired all the people needed from job to job. Quite a few of my customers were advertising agencies. At a time I had tried a few times to get projects from one specific - a big one - agency. Had a few meetings with them and got a few smaller projects, but the day I showed up to meeting with a brand new Mac T-Book, all the doors opened up to the bigger projects. I got one of the first T-Books in my country and it was extremely expensive. This really impressed the good people at the agency. The T-Book sent the message that I was very trendy, (an important aspect in the advertising/commercials world), and was a succesfull director/business owner (otherwise I would not have the financial strength to buy this thing). The truth was I took a chance with my last savings. To me the moral of this is, that you probably won't get better business by showing up with a new/better camera. These can still be rented and this might easily be cheeper in the long run than buying "the latest camera on the block" too often. In my experience it is more valuable to "know" the way your clients acts and thinks. By that I don't mean you should crawl on your knees. Of course you need to stay the person you are.

Hm, - I don't think there is much difference between being a filmmaker, a painter, a write, a musician or whatever the art form you are dealing with. They all have some kind of technical problems - agreed filmmaking is more financial demanding on gear than most writing, but being a musician, painter or sculptor can be quite financial demanding too. At the end of the day most art forms have financial issues to deal with, - especially if you try to make a living form these things. Another very interesting question might be: What defines an artist? The word seems to me to be quite diluted (is this the right word? - english is not my native language) as more and more people call themselves artists.

Any experiences on battery life on a 501/502?

There is a third - or it might be a fourth - option for FCPX. It is called Photon Pro, $29 on Apple App Store. I don't do much noise reduction, but this plugin works pretty well for the few things I use it for. The noise reduction experts may be the judges to how it compares the Neat. Here is a demo and comparison with Neat (auto profile, which is comparable to Photon Pro) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HsFaeH1OeXs

​You have got mail :-)

@JazzBox Yes, the Aputure VS2 replicates the GH4 LCD in every way, - peaking, zebra, zoom, all the menus etc.. So you can use all the GH4 features you are used to. If you don't really need a monitor right now I suggest you wait and save the money for the 501. As I said in the previous post the Aputure is ok, - bigger of course but not as good as the GH4 LCD, - and sure it is nowhere near the 501. The VS1 display has less resolution and contrast than the VS2 - lesser viewing angle too, - and as the VS2 does not deliver too impressive picture quality personally I would think twice about the VS1.

@AaronChicago No, I don't have a cage, but it seems to be a pretty useful piece of gear and has actually been on my radar for some time too. How do you like the Honu, - pros and cons?

Problem solved. Got a new cable to day and now the Aputure/GH4 combo works. Very easy setup, - connected the two, switched both on and bingo. Thanks to everyone for your comments and inputs. About the quality of the Aputere: Well, for the money it is okay. The screen has too much contrast - maybe wrong contrast is the right word - to my liking. The dark areas are too dark and the bright areas too bright. I've tried different settings for brightness and contrast, but can´t get what I would like. Also I would not trust the Aputure for colors - not terrible colors but not trustworthy. The GH4 LCD has far better balance between dark and light areas and better colors. For framing and most focus work though I guess the Aputure is okay. I have put an Anti Glare Film on top of the glossy screen, this and a DIY-modification on the sunshade made it quite useful for outdoor use. Anyways, in 4-5 months time I think I´ll get the SmallHD 501 Sidefinder, - if feedback from real world users is good.

I have seen that cable, but was afraid that the angled micro plug would stand in the way of the door to the HDMI/AV outs on The GH4. What is your experience?

​ ​The new cable should be here any day now, so excited to see if does the trick. ​The GH4 works flawless when connected to a TV via HDMI, so the camera HDMI port seems to be okay-

Thanks...

​Just to be 500% sure, - I does not work in C4K 24hz but works in 4K 24hz ?

As a last resort I have ordered a second HDMI cable, as some says - including Aputure - that HDMi cables can be pretty faulty. If a new cable does not fix the problem, the VS2 is going back, - and a BM Videoassist or a SmallHD 501 might be moving in instead. (Sometimes you get what you pay for :-)). I have read the GH4 can be a bit tricky when it comes to monitor connections, - can someone elaborate on that?

To my knowledge you have no image stabilization in the Oly lenses. On Panasonic cameras you need native lenses to get that.