Panasonic G7 and Metabones Speed Booster XL hands-on - Super 35mm 4K for cheaper

[mercer]

@kidzrevil Here's a grab from the G7 with Voigtlander. 

 

I think I shot that natural with -2 contrast, -5 sharpness, -5 nr, -3 saturation. 

Graded with FilmConvert

[Michael Coffee]

On 3/3/2016 at 5:33 PM, DriftProductions said:

 

Cheers @boxtree ! Yeah settings for this vid were....

Natural Picture Profile

Noise Reduction -5

Sharpness -3

Contrast -3

Saturation 0

 

Given its only 8BIT I wanted to retain as much colour information as possible so didn't touch the saturation.

 

For colour grading just some light corrections in Speedgrade and added a sharpen mask in PP. That's it, pretty simple workflow and I like the picture it pumps out without needing to shoot flat.

I'd knock the sat down at least -1 as the panny's still seem to clip colours a bit.. great looking footage though! I liked it alot

[DriftProductions]

Cheers mate, yeah have noticed the clipping a little, not on all clips, it fairs pretty good for cheap cam. Stoked with the G7. 

[DriftProductions]

Here's another, using the same in-camera settings but different lenses this time.

NO COLOUR GRADING. My camera settings listed in the video description....

[DriftProductions]

Some footage using the Panasonic G7 on a Corporate video shoot, first crack at the 'white background look'. It's pretty hard achieving a consistent white background look and getting skin tones right in camera, not as easy as I first thought it would be. I had no background in lighting a studio set let alone shooting video so it's not perfect, but with all the great knowledge and feedback from everyone on this forum I've learnt so much and managed to pull it off, stoked!

Loving the Panasonic G7, at sub $500 it's still killer value!

Hope to see more samples of peoples work on this forum, looking forward to seeing some G7 footage from Panasonic Ambassador @andy lee from his feature films when released. 

[Hanriverprod]

On 6/26/2016 at 8:33 AM, DriftProductions said:

Here's another, using the same in-camera settings but different lenses this time.

NO COLOUR GRADING. My camera settings listed in the video description....

Couldn't find any info in the video description. Looks great for such a low priced camera. What lenses and settings did you use?

[DriftProductions]

@Hanriverprod Hey mate used the Rokinon/Samyang 35,50 & 85mm T1.5 prime lenses with Metabones Speedbooster XL 0.64x adaptor.

 

Natural Picture Profile

Noise Reduction -5

Sharpness -3

Contrast -3

Saturation 0

 

No colour grading or luts applied, picture straight out of camera. 

 

 

[Thpriest]

On 1 de marzo de 2016 at 11:55 AM, DriftProductions said:

Best thing I have ever done selling my Nikon D750 and prime lenses and getting the G7 with Metabones Speedbooster XL! 

Such a killer combo, thanks for the great review @Andrew Reid I'm new to videography this is my first video and stoked with the performance of this little cam

 

Very nice video. 

I have been experimenting with the GX85 for weddings. I usually use a canon C100 which is fantastic but heavy! My problem with the Panasonic is that it falls apart quickly after 1600 ( I have Panasonic 1.7 lenses) and it is sometimes hard to maintain exposure and colours from shot to shot.

I saw that you low light stuff looked pretty good with the G7 but did you use extra lighting in the dance and when they cut the cake?

[DriftProductions]

@Thpriest Hey mate I havent pushed the ISO past 1600, haven't needed to yet, I mostly shoot with the Metabones Speedbooster XL .64 and Sigma 18-35 f1.8 and that combo often keeps me at ISO 1600 or lower, 3200 rarely. Despite this, I occasionally have issues maintaining accurate exposure and colour with the G7 too, however I'm a pretty inexperienced videographer.

To light the dance floor and cake cutting I used a small Metz Mecalight 320 on a light stand, the G7 also falls apart if pushed past ISO 1600 in low light scenes like this. Definitely rather have a speedbooster and portable lighting solution than push this cam to ISO 3200. 

 

Cheers for the feedback mate ?

[Thpriest]

Is there any benefit of using the metabones XL over native fast lenses like the SLR magic and Voitlanders?

[Cinegain]

I use it for zoom and sharpness. It crops in on the middle which is the sharpest part of the image circle. Mostly with these bright primes at f/0.95 they're quite soft, especially in the corners, so you're more likely to use 'em at f/1.4-f/2 where they get noticeably better, unless it's a stylistic choice to go for the smooth dreamy look. Another thing is zooms. There are some great f/2.8 zooms out there that you can boost (making 'em more sensitive than the Panasonic and Olympus f/2.8 options (that can't be boosted)). And the f/1.8 Sigma is a delight of course! Super useful for the range and sensitivity. Metabones XL makes a lot of glass out there get around the Hollywood f/2 mark. It allows adaptation of all sorts of glass with all kind of price tags. Maybe like me you use a Nikon body for stills as well, which makes your lenses serve double duty. EF mount is a little nicer in terms of mounting flexibility (Nikon is prone to have some issues with certain mounts concerning infinity focus, which requires additional glass correction elements, of which the adapters degrade image quality pretty significantly I would say)... however, I have no native EF lenses and do not require the electronics which makes the EF SB XL the more expensive option. And it's nice to just mount a Nikon lens directly without additional adapters... so I went with the MB SP XL for Nikon and for EF have a Mitakon Lens Turbo II, which doesn't quite have the same reduction, but it's tremendous value nontheless.

[DriftProductions]

 

Panasonic G7 + Metabones Speedbooster XL + Sigma 18-35 f1.8 EF + Canon 50mm f1.8 STM + Rokinon 12mm f2 MFT + Zhiyun Crane + Aputure AL-M9 video light.

Natural Picture Profile, Noise Reduction -5, Sharpness -3, Contrast -3, Saturation 0, Highlight -1, Shadow +1.