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

[7 Lakes]

On 1 January 2017 at 11:07 PM, jase said:

Yes, Ultra Contrast 2 Filter was used which I have put between the speedbooster and lens

Hi, do you think it is better to use Ultra Contrast filter on the lens while filming, than just lowering contrast in, let's say, DaVinci Resolve before grading? Why, what's your opinion and experience? Thank you.

[Mattias Burling]

Quick question for anyone that has this camera and the Panasonic 20mm or 14mm.

When manually focusing, does it show a distance scale with numbers?

And if so, if you set it to for example 3m and power off/on, does it snap back to that?

/M

[John Matthews]

1 minute ago, Mattias Burling said:

Quick question for anyone that has this camera and the Panasonic 20mm or 14mm.

When manually focusing, does it show a distance scale with numbers?

And if so, if you set it to for example 3m and power off/on, does it snap back to that?

/M

On the screen? I doubt it, but I don't have those lenses, just the 25mm and nothing is shown other than icons representing "near" and "far." A distance scale would be really cool though. For that, you need vintage.

[Mattias Burling]

23 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

On the screen? I doubt it, but I don't have those lenses, just the 25mm and nothing is shown other than icons representing "near" and "far." A distance scale would be really cool though. For that, you need vintage.

Or Olympus glass, 12mm, 17mm for example.

Well what a bummer. Was thinking of getting one again for stills now when they are insanely cheap. But without a scale I will stick to Fuji.

Its truly a shame. If they implemented it the gm1, gm5, gx80/85 or gx800 would all be killer street cameras instead of just decent.

[John Matthews]

2 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Or Olympus glass, 12mm, 17mm for example.

Well what a bummer. Was thinking of getting one again for stills now when they are insanely cheap. But without a scale I will stick to Fuji.

Its truly a shame. If they implemented it the gm1, gm5, gx80/85 or gx800 would all be killer street cameras instead of just decent.

The Olympus ones HAVE distance scales though.   I guess you should get those.

For some reason, I don't think there's a single Panasonic lens that has it. I guess Panasonic is simply pro auto-focus/peaking only lenses. Even the leica models don't have markings. If you're looking to shoot from the hip, just tilt the LCD. If you're looking to prefocus, don't and just hope for the best with auto focus- that's the message. ... or just get the Olympus models... they look pretty good too. Actually, why did you ask about the 17mm Olympus? You reviewed it on the PEN F, I believe.

[Mattias Burling]

3 minutes ago, John Matthews said:

The Olympus ones HAVE distance scales though.   I guess you should get those.

For some reason, I don't think there's a single Panasonic lens that has it. I guess Panasonic is simply pro auto-focus/peaking only lenses. Even the leica models don't have markings. If you're looking to shoot from the hip, just tilt the LCD. If you're looking to prefocus, don't and just hope for the best with auto focus- that's the message. ... or just get the Olympus models... they look pretty good too. Actually, why did you ask about the 17mm Olympus? You reviewed it on the PEN F, I believe.

I didn't ask about the 17mm, I was telling

No I dont want markers on the Panasonic lenses. I want it on the screen like Leica and Fuji does with their focus by wire pancakes. 

Would really make the cameras shine for many of us that use zone focusing. AF takes to long

[dantheman]

55 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Quick question for anyone that has this camera and the Panasonic 20mm or 14mm.

When manually focusing, does it show a distance scale with numbers?

And if so, if you set it to for example 3m and power off/on, does it snap back to that?

/M

My gx85 doesn't show any scale with numbers with any of my lenses, but if it would I don't know if it would be useful with fly by wire lenses as they are pretty unreliable when it comes to manual focusing.

[Mattias Burling]

13 minutes ago, dantheman said:

My gx85 doesn't show any scale with numbers with any of my lenses, but if it would I don't know if it would be useful with fly by wire lenses as they are pretty unreliable when it comes to manual focusing.

No Fuji, Olympus and Leica all have acurate fly by wire lenses. So its totally doable.

Loads of large sensor, premium compacts have it as well.... just not Panasonic. Which breaks deal for the lx100 as well.

[dantheman]

1 minute ago, Mattias Burling said:

 

I have several Olympus lenses but I find none of them as precise as a real mechanical focus lens.

[Mattias Burling]

19 hours ago, dantheman said:

I have several Olympus lenses but I find none of them as precise as a real mechanical focus lens.

Several? I guess you mean that you have all three (12, 17 and 60mm)?

What is te issue you have with their manual focus exactly?
Are you saying that even though you disengage the electronic motor using the clutch they still some how breath or drift?
I had the 17mm and never experienced this.
 

[jase]

20 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

Quick question for anyone that has this camera and the Panasonic 20mm or 14mm.

When manually focusing, does it show a distance scale with numbers?

And if so, if you set it to for example 3m and power off/on, does it snap back to that?

/M

I have the 20mm and it doesnt show the distance scale with numbers.

P.S.: long time no see, nice to have you back.

[dantheman]

32 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Several? I guess you mean that you have all three (12, 17 and 60mm)?

What is te issue you have with their manual focus exactly?
Are you saying that even though you disengage the electronic motor using the clutch they still some how breath or drift?
I had the 17mm and never experienced this.
 

I have the 12mm f2.0, the 75mm f1.8, the 40-150 f2.8 and the 9-18mm, Olympus makes more then 3 lenses you know.

The 12mm and the 40-150mm have that clutch to switch between manual and auto but being fly by wire it's not always easy to nail focus as much depends how fast you turn the ring, the 40-150mm for example is a pain to finetune focus. When you pull that clutch it still is fly by wire, not true mechanical.

[Mattias Burling]

2 hours ago, dantheman said:

I have the 12mm f2.0, the 75mm f1.8, the 40-150 f2.8 and the 9-18mm, Olympus makes more then 3 lenses you know.

Of course I know, but we are discussing lenses with a manual clutch only. All the other are irrelevant to the discussion.
I do apologize for not specifying that I only meant prime lenses.

So you only really have one of the lenses

Now, with the 12mm. Are you saying that the 12mm f2.0 when set in manual using the distance scale to for example 3m isn't focusing at 3m.
And that in fact it varies and seems to set at different distances from time to time?

As I said, Ive never experienced it with the 17mm. But if the 12mm has that issue it would mean that there only is one native street photography lens with AF in the entire m4/3 system.... that would be a real bummer to say the least

I guess the whole thing wouldn't bother me if it wasn't for the low cost of the gm1, gm5, lx100, etc.
If only they would have had that scale on the display like Fuji, Leica, Canon alls seem to be able to implement without hiccups.

Oh well, its clearly not happening so I won't take up more space in this thread and instead let it get back to what the camera actually can do.

Thanks for the replies!
/M

[dantheman]

3 hours ago, Mattias Burling said:

 we are discussing lenses with a manual clutch only. All the other are irrelevant to the discussion.
I do apologize for not specifying that I only meant prime lenses.

Maybe I overlooked but did not see you mentioning you wanted to know about lenses with a manual clutch only so I apologize for adding irrelevant info to the discussion, Regarding your first question; you said "When manually focusing, does it show a distance scale with numbers?" and the answer to that is no.  And your second question, the distance scale on my 12mm doesn't match the actual distance, if I for instance focus using peaking on a subject 80 cm away the distance scale on my lens gives me readings between 0,5 and 2m so like I said before it's unreliable, does this answer your question?

[Mattias Burling]

20 minutes ago, dantheman said:

The distance scale on my 12mm doesn't match the actual distance, if I for instance focus using peaking on a subject 80 cm away the distance scale on my lens gives me readings between 0,5 and 2m so like I said before it's unreliable, does this answer your question?

Ok that answers it for sure

What you are describing is a 12mm lens working exactly as it should and the marks seems to be spot on.
A 12mm on for example a GH4 at f8 set to 80cm has a depth of field of 0.49m to 2.18m.
So thanks for confirming that both the 12mm and 17mm works perfectly with the focus distance scales.

All needed now is a 25mm and the system is good to go for the streets

[dantheman]

I think you are misunderstanding, sometimes the scale says 2m and sometimes it reads 0,5m when I refocus to the same subject so it doesn't work as it should.

[jase]

Some more tests, this time without the Tiffen Ultra Contrast filter.

Std 0/-5/-5/-5

Std -5/-5/-5/-5

Both shots have just some small exposure adjustments so that highlights wont clip and shadows are not crushed.

I am torn between both. Colors are in general very accurate on both. When I compare what I see on my screen with what is next to me on the table, both match it pretty well. The first shot with contrast set to 0 is even better, for example when i compare the blue from the cup. However, when contrast is set to -5, there are more details in the shadow (see above the orange. I yet have to see how much different both have on skin.

[Inazuma]

@jase you may find more of a difference when shooting your head in a higher DR scene. For example, with you stood parallel to a window so that one side of your head is lit by the light coming through it. And the camera facing you straight on. 

[jase]

While running some tests I noticed, that somehow the aperture within the lens doesnt change anymore although the camera tells me on screen, that the aperture is changed. I tried different lenses, same result. Even did a complete factory reset, still no aperture change anymore...? Someone ever had such a problem? I checked the contacts within the lens mount, all pins are fine and clean.

[mercer]

40 minutes ago, jase said:

While running some tests I noticed, that somehow the aperture within the lens doesnt change anymore although the camera tells me on screen, that the aperture is changed. I tried different lenses, same result. Even did a complete factory reset, still no aperture change anymore...? Someone ever had such a problem? I checked the contacts within the lens mount, all pins are fine and clean.

Does the mount look bent?

Camera side.