35-100mm Archives | CheesyCam

While Full Frame DSLR cameras have the advantage on the wide shot, these mirrorless cameras have advantages for distant shots due to it's crop factor. As an added bonus, the Ex Tele Conversion mode in these Panasonic cameras switch to using pixels in the center of the sensor creating a further cropped view (I believe an additional 2.6x crop). Since it's still using a 1:1 pixel readout, there is no loss in resolution for full 1080p video.

GH4 tele mode sample review demo video 4K

This is extremely handy as you can easily more than double the focal length of any lens. With this mode, my Lumix 12-35mm F/2.8 (24-70mm equivalent) quickly turns into something like a 31mm-90mm F/2.8 [60-180mm 35mm equivalent], and all without losing a stop.

lumix 12-35mm gh4 vario ois
Lumix 12-35mm F/2.8 OIS Lens

Having so many options in a single camera is new to me, so i'm still learning the best ways to use the GH4. Knowing that I can crop in on a 4K video file is a great option, but is it better than using the EX Tele Mode at 1080p? I shot this very short clip to test this out, let me know what you think.

Certainly cropping from 4K still retains plenty of details. To the average viewer, they may not pick up on such subtle differences, but judging from my eyes I think the Ext Tele Mode in 1080p is better. If i'm considering my final output to be 1080p, I can use this mode with the 35-100mm F/2.8 (70-200mm equivalent) essentially giving me something around a 90-260mm F/2.8. Remember that if you compare this to 35mm equiv it's like shooting with a 180-520mm F/2.8 on a Canon 5D (but for a lot less money).

35-100mm lumix lens
Lumix 35-100mm F/2.8 OIS Lens

Keeping in mind that you double the focal distance on an M43 lens to get that 35mm equivalent, I decided to grab some samples from my new Lumix 100-300mm OIS which is 35mm equivalent to a 200-600mm. With Ex Tele Mode this lens should be around 260mm-780mm which should be like working with a view similar to a 520mm-780mm - again without reducing the amount of light like a teleconverter extension would on a Canon 5D.

Here's another short clip testing out cropping from 4K as opposed to using EX Tele Mode in 1080p with my Lumix 100-300mm OIS lens.

panasonic lumix vario 100-300 ois
Lumix 100-300mm F/4.0-5.6 OIS Lens

Here's a few other GH4 clips from my trip to the Academy of Science in San Francisco yesterday. Nothing special, just me learning.

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I know this very particular Pocket Cinema Camera I have in my hands may have some weird internal noise, but when using an external mic it actually sounds pretty darn good. Yesterday I had a few hours to play with the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera, but I decided to try something different.

I had a Rode VideoMic Pro connected to the Pocket Cinema Camera and BOTH Audio & VIDEO were captured from the HDMI output directly to the Atomos Ninja 2. I did not use an SDXC card in the camera. I also only wanted to use Micro Four Thirds lenses instead of adapting larger Canon/Nikon lenses.

BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera
(somewhere in this mess is a Pocket Cinema Camera)

First problem, I have no spare batteries for this camera. Any current Pocket Cinema Camera owner will tell you how poor a single battery is. You'll be lucky to get 20 minutes of run time out of it. So I DIY'd my own battery cable to connect to my Tekkeon Battery Pack as an external power source. I was able to run all day and my Tekkeon didn't even take a hit. So that's why I needed rails to mount my battery.

I didn't have enough SD card storage, so I decided to bring out the Atomos. With a 240GB Solid State Drive, I could capture hours of footage. Plus I was curious how capturing from the HDMI would turn out.

Rode VideoMic Pro Atomos Ninja Atomos Ninja HDMI Recorder 10 bit 422 BlackMagic Pocket cinema
It looks ugly I know. Believe me, I never want to use this camera in this configuration, but I am waiting for extra gear to use this camera.

Now that I had all of this extra weight, I added a Top Handle with an LCD Mount. The rig was heavy enough that I needed to bring out a heavier duty tripod. In the future, I simply plan on just stocking up on a dozen batteries so that I don't have to mount a power source to the camera. If I can get enough SDHC / SDXC media cards, then I can get rid of the Atomos Ninja.

Without all the extra junk, I can get rid of the rails, carry a smaller Tripod, and finally make it a truly pocketable Cinema Camera. Moral of this story - get a lot of batteries and SD cards if you want to stay pocketable.

Pocket Cinema Camera Pocket Cinema Camera BlackMagic Design Atomos Ninja Rode Videomic
Shooting Parrots with Panasonic 45-150mm

So here's some footage I shot yesterday while making plenty of mistakes. Focusing was difficult on the LCD Screen especially in bright daylight. I tried to rely on the built in Focus Peaking feature (green lines) but I can tell many of the shots were out of focus.

The on screen Zebra lines helped let me know what was blown out, but there was no indicator if the shadows were being clipped. At times I would use the false color feature on the Atomos to help judge, but even that screen in daylight was difficult to use. An LCD View Finder or external EVF will definitely help when working with this camera.

Panasonic 7-14mm Rokinon 8mm Fisheye
I couldn't use my ND Filters on these Lenses. Panasonic 7-14mm & Rokinon 7.5mm Fisheye

I carried two very wide lenses a Panasonic 7-14mm & Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye. These lenses are sharper at a wider aperture, but because these don't come with a threaded mount, I could not use an ND Filter. I tried stopping down the aperture to F/22 but in the end the footage was very soft. I guess to use these lenses, you'll need to carry around a Matte Box.

Micro Four Third Lenses for Pocket Cinema Camera

The Audio in this video was from a Rode VideoMic Pro (no preamp) directly into the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera (set to 0). The audio was sent over the HDMI and recorded into the Atomos Ninja 2. I thought it sounded pretty darn good for no preamp. If you see closeup footage in the video that's typically from the Panasonic 35-100mm F/2.8, or Panasonic 45-150mm. The wider shots are on the Panasonic 7-14mm and Rokinon 8mm Fisheye. I definitely need more practice working with this camera.

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