DevonChris

Actually this is wrong! A 42.5mm f/1.2 lens on MFT has the same depth of field as a 42.5mm f/2.4 on FF as well as a narrower field of view as you mentioned. So if you want the depth of field that a FF f/1.2 lens gives you on MFT, you will need a f0.6 lens

I think you and I must be talking about different things. You seem to be saying that a crop sensor only takes a small part of a scene (ie taking a pair of scissors to it) whereas in actual fact it records the whole scene but with a narrower field of view, which is then subject to the physics that creates a deeper depth of field that I mentioned above.

Hi Mattias Whereas you are correct that a cropped sensor does not affect exposure, you are wrong about it not affecting depth of field. I think you know that a small sensor video camera (ie a typical ENG camera) cannot achieve narrow DoF, whereas a FF DSLR can achieve narrow DoF. So if I set up a MFT and put on it a 50mm manual lens (no sb) and measure the light with a light meter to be 5.6 at ISO 200 at 1/50, I set the lens and camera up with those settings and achieve perfect exposusre. I then take that lens off and put it on a FF DSLR next to the MFT camera, leave the lens settings the same and set up the DSLR with those ISO and SS settings, I will also acieve perfect exposure. This is because f stop is a ratio between aperture and focal length, so sensor size does not influence exposure, as you stated. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F-number However, as the MFT sensor is smaller than the FF DSLR, it has a greater DoF for the same focal length when compared to a FF camera. So when you look through the view finder of the FF DSLR using exactly the same lens and settings as we used on the MFT, you will see a narrower DoF. This is explained here : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depth_of_field This quote from the article summarises it. So this is why lenses designed for MFT are smaller than an equivalent lens for FF. Sensor size compensates for absolute focal length ie a Panny 12-35 is equivalent in FoV to a Nikon 24-70 FF lens, but at the cost of shallow DoF. Unfortunately this means that however good the Nocticron is, it can only achieve the minimum depth of field of a FF equivalent lens set at f/2.4 so it is very unlikely that the subject seperation will be as good as the Noctilux.

Yep. I can't see myself moving to the a7 series as I'm happy with MFT and Nikon bodies.

I'm struggling with the decision to stay with my AiS set (and maybe add the 50 1.2), build up a Contax set or go all out for Leica R's. I foolishly sold my 35 and 90mm Summicrons about five years ago, and I'm missing them. Contax glass does rock. I shot this still for a gig last week using a 50mm 1.7 AEJ on a GX8 (using an adaptor, not speedbooster). The lens is amazingly sharp and has great colours as kidzrevil said.

Ah Ok. Thanks for your feedback. Doesn't sound great from your experience. Wish I could find one to try out.

Hi Nikkor. Is it the Nikon 50 1.2 that you were talking about? Cheers

There's not much discussion about the Nikon 50mm f/1.2 AiS lens which seems to be awesome, as the 9 blade aperture creates fantastic bokeh and you get almost the low light capabilities of the Voigt 0.95, and maybe even betters it with a speed booster. I am seriously thinking about this Nikon, but I've held back so far because on MFT with a speedbooster it is still a bit long at 75mm FF equivalent. You can get them new in the UK for around £340 so it is a lot cheaper than the Voigt 0.95's. Another advantage of the Nikon is that it is portable to other systems whereas the Voigts are limited to the MFT platform. Any thoughts?

Jase, I've watched your Splash 2014 video five or six times and I love the way that you convey the atmosphere of the festival. If the GM1 and Voigt gave you the flexibilty and simplicity to tell the story so well, then I reckon that you've done the right thing in buying the Voigt again

Contax 50mm 1.7 MMJ on a GX8 using a standard CY to MFT adaptor. Shot at F1.7

I have the Nikkor 28 AIS and use it with a Metabones on a GX8. It rocks. I also used it extensively on a Nikon 810 (for stills and video) and it worked well with that too so it is fine in high resolution systems. I have a Contax 50 1.7 MMJ which is nice but I notice that I don't get as much focus peaking on the GX8 as I do with the 28mm AIS, so it isn't as sharp. Still has nice rendering though.

Check out the snipping tool in Windows 10. Pretty neat as it works better than the Mac screenshot functionality

It's easy selling great lenses, but you have to watch out that you don't regret it later on. I had 35mm and 90mm Leica R Summicrons from my film photog days that I sold for way more than I paid for them. Boy do I regret selling those lenses now!

Unfortunately the Windows stand alone version is not compatible with 4K screens

Yep. I use my GX8 for both video and photos and am getting very good results with the well stabilised 1080 video, even if it is only 4 axis. Buying a GX80 as well might be a great option for dedicated video, but the audio syncing and lack of tilting screen is a pain.

But it doesn't have a tilting screen which is excellent on the GX8 I wonder if the 5 axis IBIS implementation in the GX85 is software implemented and can therefore be firmware upgradeable for the GX8.

Panasonic GX8. The stabilisation is good with Panny lenses, particularly in 1080. The audio is very good and the continuous autofocus and face detection is excellent. This camera continues to surprise me with its versatilty and excellent image quality.

Just noticed that Dell Outlet UK has 10% discounts for XPS 13 and XPS 15 laptops now. The offer lasts until 2nd March.

Yep. I bought ours from the Dell outlet during their recent Valentines sale when they offered 10% off their outlet prices. Our XPS15 cost £917 including three years next day warranty and I think thats a bargain for its quality. It was amazing to watch how fast the refurbs were selling during that sale. You had to be really quick to snap one up. I wouldn't be surprised if there is an Easter sale at the outlet too.

I thought I'd give an update on the conundrum. I coaxed my Macbook Air back into life and will keep it for a while. Apple must be close to releasing updated Macbooks soon so it is worth waiting a few months to see what they release. They are falling badly behind in the specs race so their new specs must be good to be competitive. I did buy my wife a Dell XPS i5/8GB with1080 screen though and wow it is good. As gsenroc said, the screen is really good and very sharp. We're not using it for editing videos, but photos look really great on it. It is very fast and the improved wifi makes a real difference. Dell support has been great too, so it has been an excellent purchase so far. I think the version with a UHD monitor will be fantastic so I am very tempted.....

I'm 50/50 video/photography which is why colour fidelity is important. Thanks for your comment.

Awesome information, Don. Many thanks. I normally calibrate my monitors with Xrite, however I wasn't sure about the high white balance mentioned in the reviews.

I like FCPX so I will miss it. I also use Premiere on my desktop PC, so its not a problem to chose one over the other, although I don't like the Adobe subscription model. I came across some YT video reviews about the XPS, which say that the screens have over saturated colours and white balance issues. Hmmm, this is not an easy decision!

Apple have got to catch up in the specs war, as they are being outgunned at the moment, it seems. A MBP with a Skylake cpu and a dedicated GPU would be fantastic, but chances are it will also be expensive and I'm not sure I can wait a couple of months as I use a laptop a lot.

Thanks, Michael. I had wondered about changing the SSD on the MB Air. Luckily I had it hooked up with Time Machine so at least the data is ok. Good point about using it for on set data transfers if I can get it running again. Hmmm those Iris Pro graphics seem to be a showstopper. I'm not going to spend £2 k plus on a MBP with dedicated graphics. Maybe it's time to say goodbye to Macs. Thank for all the help so far.