An adventure into the Panasonic GX85/80 begins - and a look at the Leica Nocticron for Micro Four Thirds

[IronFilm]

17 minutes ago, sanveer said:

True. But they are making 6 month old models redundant. That is very curious. 

So? They're lower end models you're referring to, so of course they should be replaced by something better fairly quickly.
Additionally the GX series is aimed at photographers, thus naturally their video specs should be easy enough to beat with a soon to come out new model.

[ninetto]

8 hours ago, mercer said:

Interesting test. Hmm. Not sure what to say. I have used the camera with the 5-Axis Hybrid IBIS for almost a month and never encountered that tremor issue, but I have never used it with an ois lens, only vintage manual lenses and I have never propped my elbows on anything while using it. Am not saying either of those things were the cause, just explaining my circumstances with it. 

@mercer: check the specifics in the test/prev. discussion - the test was not so much for  5-axis IBIS which also has never caused me any problems but with the "E-STABILISATION", an extra setting in addition to the IBIS setting (see manual page 146). This in fact caused the strange jitter, that evaporates as the E-stabiliser kicks in again, as you can see from the test. It is this unpredictability, in addition to the cropping,  that is the reason I will be keeping the e-stabiliser OFF.

[ninetto]

p.s. The amount of cropping using the E-stabilisation can be seen in the difference of window-panes (in the test in my previous post): without E-stab it looks to me like more that 5 1/2 panes fit in the frame. With E-Stab "on" the camera crops in so that less than 4 1/2 panes are in the frame. Totally (un)scientically estimated at about a 15% crop. That makes your max wide-angle with the kit zoom a 14mm (= ca.28 mm) instead of 12mm (= ca. 24mm) for what it's worth, with the e-stabiliation ON.

[gethin]

6 hours ago, John Matthews said:

Yeah, this isn't the type of moiré that the human eye will see. I think many 1080p cameras would have this happen in this situation. Go with the 4k and downscale. Another question would be was this a Panasonic lens? The tend to be auto corrected for moiré... I think Panasonic makes a point of not having any sort of correction on non-Panasonic lenses.

I noticed moire on both non native and native lenses.  I still think its a great camera, just not for me: I need that 50p (or 60p preferably). I hope the gh5 will have 60p 4k. 

[mercer]

4 hours ago, ninetto said:

@mercer: check the specifics in the test/prev. discussion - the test was not so much for  5-axis IBIS which also has never caused me any problems but with the "E-STABILISATION", an extra setting in addition to the IBIS setting (see manual page 146). This in fact caused the strange jitter, that evaporates as the E-stabiliser kicks in again, as you can see from the test. It is this unpredictability, in addition to the cropping,  that is the reason I will be keeping the e-stabiliser OFF.

5-Axis Hybrid = IBIS + E-Stabilizer.

You only can get 5-Axis Hybrid by having the E-Stabilizer function turned on. The question I was asking is if the Normal IBIS is indeed 5-Axis. Most say it is, but the only literature that shows that are pictures describing Dual-Is. With manual, vintage lenses, I have found Normal IBIS to be not that great, so I wondered if the Normal IBIS was in fact 5-Axis. Most forum members have compelling arguments that it is, I am still not a hundred percent sure I agree, but I am no longer too concerned with it either because I have had no issues the 5-Axis Hybrid and  in a few instances the extra crop helps me with some of the lenses I am using. 

[mickachiste]

Hi guys, i ma still hesitating about bying this beauty... I will travel a lot and use it for surfin footages. I know the gh4 would be a better option... Anyway, can you guys tell me how many minutes the camera can film before turning down ? And do you have any idea on how to extend the battery life (i don't find any dummy battery and the usb charge seems to turn off the camera) ?

thanks a lot ?

[Thpriest]

I filmed over an hour of 4k without it turning off. I bought Duracell batteries at 10€ a battery. Work fine.

[John Matthews]

1 minute ago, Thpriest said:

I filmed over an hour of 4k without it turning off. I bought Duracell batteries at 10€ a battery. Work fine.

Duracell batteries? Not sure what you're talking about. Link?

[Thpriest]

http://www.duracelldirect.es/camara-digital/panasonic/oem-pno/dmw-blg10.html

The price has gone up. I was buying them for 11€ before. Bought a charger as well.

[mickachiste]

Ok. Thanks guys ! And how can i extend the battery life to get like 2hours of shooting ? Possible or not ?

[Thpriest]

Not sure but battery time will vary depending on how you are shooting. IBIS, 4k etc will use more power I'd imagine.

[John Matthews]

19 minutes ago, mickachiste said:

Ok. Thanks guys ! And how can i extend the battery life to get like 2hours of shooting ? Possible or not ?

Possible with a GX85 or "hacked" GX80 and a AC power adapter. However, I've shot photos all day on it. Never had the need for continuous 4k recording like that. Reports say something like 90 minutes of continuous recording (to be confirmed).

[Thpriest]

If you are in a Pal zone you can buy the camera from Hong Kong with no recording limit in 4k (mp4) and 1080 (avchd). Cost me 50€ more including shipping than buying the camera here in Spain.

[mickachiste]

14 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

Possible with a GX85 or "hacked" GX80 and a AC power adapter. However, I've shot photos all day on it. Never had the need for continuous 4k recording like that. Reports say something like 90 minutes of continuous recording (to be confirmed).

Ok, so the better option is to keep other batteries with me although I would appreciate the USB power to operate while filming... Maybe possible on a firmware !

You talk about a hacked gx80... how ???

[John Matthews]

4 minutes ago, mickachiste said:

Ok, so the better option is to keep other batteries with me although I would appreciate the USB power to operate while filming... Maybe possible on a firmware !

You talk about a hacked gx80... how ???

Sorry, you cannot operate the camera while charging with the USB... stupid, I know. The hack isn't really a hack, just put the device in service mode... search the EOSHD forums or go to Youtube for that hack. If you want continuous for 2 hours, AC is the ONLY option.

[mickachiste]

1 minute ago, John Matthews said:

Sorry, you cannot operate the camera while charging with the USB... stupid, I know. The hack isn't really a hack, just put the device in service mode... search the EOSHD forums or go to Youtube for that hack. If you want continuous for 2 hours, AC is the ONLY option.

Sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by AC power ?

 

[John Matthews]

8 minutes ago, mickachiste said:

Sorry for my ignorance, but what do you mean by AC power ?

Yes. You need the Panasonic adapter or a third party one. I bought the 3rd party one- works fine. Basically, you put a battery-shaped plug where the battery goes, but it has a cord coming out so you can plug it into an outlet. Bring a generator and you could theoretically go forever.

There might be a way to "squeak" out 2 hours if you don't use the IBIS or viewfinder, turn down the screen to a max, and use a manual focus lens. Again, try that before.

[mickachiste]

1 minute ago, John Matthews said:

Yes. You need the Panasonic adapter or a third party one. I bought the 3rd party one- works fine. Basically, you put a battery-shaped plug where the battery goes, but it has a cord coming out so you can plug it in.

There might be a way to "squeak" out 2 hours if you don't use the IBIS or viewfinder, turn down the screen to a max, and use a manual focus lens. Again, try that before.

Ok, sounds really good ! Where do you get yours ? As I am in France... like you !

[John Matthews]

I got mine from www.digit-photo.com simply because they were the first to have in France. You could buy it anywhere though. In France, I always have a preference for amazon.fr because of a crazy-good return policy if you're not happy. Returned GX7 after using for 2 weeks and taking over 1000 photos, but then the GX80 came out; so, sent it back. Bonne chance!

[mickachiste]

5 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

I got mine from www.digit-photo.com simply because they were the first to have in France. You could buy it anywhere though. In France, I always have a preference for amazon.fr because of a crazy-good return policy if you're not happy. Returned GX7 after using for 2 weeks and taking over 1000 photos, but then the GX80 came out; so, sent it back. Bonne chance!

Great, i will have a look ! And Where  can i get a battery shaped plug ?