GH2 with Lumix 100-300mm lens, shooting the moon

[Barry_Green]

Yesterday was kind of like a very, very, very minorly early Christmas, as I got both the Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 lens (see the "one candle" test in the AF100 section) but also the Lumix 100-300mm lens. I initially wasn't going to bother with the long lens, but seeing how much use we got out of "The Howitzer" (the Nikon 50-300mm) on "A Verse Before Dying", I wanted something similar, and seeing as the Lumix version offers OIS, and I think OIS is just simply mandatory in long lenses especially in a handheld camera like the GH2... well, I picked up the 100-300.

So what better way to test it out, than by shooting the moon?

So here's the Lumix 100-300, at 300mm, on the GH2, using Extended TeleConversion mode in 720p mode, to get the most magnified shot possible. If my math is right, this is like using a 2,340 mm lens on a 35mm stills camera. I found that it's almost an absolutely perfect match for the size of the moon; it pretty much perfectly filled the frame with only a pixel or two to spare, top to bottom.

Now will someone please, please stop me from buying more glass?

[paulhouston]

Nice shots!
We encourage you to buy more glass, so we get to enjoy more high quality shots!

[Matt Gottshalk]

That looks sweet and is a perfect cousin to "Da Howitzah"!

[timbook2]

Amazing Barry, looks very good! Is this really handheld? Unbelievable ! I just got my GH2 mainly for the new Extended TeleConversion mode, so I can use my c-mounts more... am still reading the manual ...

which glass would you still want to buy? And why ?

[Barry_Green]

No, definitely not handheld, that was tripod-mounted.

What glass am I still jonesing for? The Lumix 3D, just for grins, because of the cover-up-the-contacts trick to make it work in video mode. I ordered one, but it's been on backorder.

Other than that, I don't know. Got a pretty good selection here, with zooms from 7mm up to 300mm, with the Voigtlander and the 20mm pancake for super-bright/super-shallow conditions. What else would somebody want? Maybe the "toy" lens for some funky shots?

[J Bellari]

I liked Barry's bird's eating supper video on Vimeo- the Planets music really highlighted the majesty and horror of nature doing it's thing...
Reminded me of the scene from Conan the Barbarian...

Thanks for the warning as apparently some bird's have a preference for eyes ...

[cici]

Thanks so much Barry for this shot!

I was waiting for a "GH2-ETC-Moon"-shot and I asked GH2-users to shoot the moon for me with ETC...

because: in my opinion, that's the kind of shoots that REALLY allows people all around the globe (earth ;) ) to compare focal length capabilities of GH2 (+cropmode). 1. The moon has the same size for all of us 2. anyone who sees this shot knows your distance to the object (that's not the case for e.g. wildlife shots etc.) 3. the details on the moon let us even discuss the optics of a specific lens.

2 things missing though:

1. do you have this shot as a HD-version? (plus, I could imagine some alternative video that shows the maximum: artificial sharpening and increased detail contrast for a super-sharp moon...)

2. the same kind of "global-interpretable"-shot, but with super-macro... And if I say "super-macro", I'm talking about the MAXIMUM macro.

It consists of the total of this group: a) macro-lens + b) connector-ring + c) backwards 50mm lens + d) crop-mode

You simply screw the 50mm backwards ONTO the macro-lens (with the connector-ring) and attach the MACROLENS to the GH2 (so: 50mm stays backwards all in front) and that gives you already a macro WAAAAY beyond normal macro:

http://img101.imageshack.us/img101/3...l121700000.jpg

This is an framegrab of a detail from a 10-Euro bill I took with a GH1 and 105mm macro + 50mm backwards.

Could you (or anybody) PLEASE do me the favor and shoot the same spot of a 10-Euro (or 1 USD) bill with the lens constellation of above PLUS in maximum crop-mode?

You shot the moon, Barry (but you didn't shoot the deputy! ;) ) and I thank you for this ulta-comparable focal-length+crop-mode - shot!

I shot the detail of a 10-Euro bill (sorry - semi-globally comparable) and hope to see some similar shots with GH2 to see the one of the CLOSEST macro EVER in HDTV.

If my calculations match, then the eye of a housefly should FILL THE SCREEN, using a GH2 in crop-mode + macro-lens + 50mm backwards...

Sorry for OT-request, but the moon-shot does the same: give us all around the world an ultra-comparable shot!

[memphishills]

If you want some more powerful ETC showoff, heres a video I shot a little while back:

It was shot using a 150-500 and 2x Teleconverter, then put into ETC mode.

[cici]

@ memphishills

Thanks a lot for this link! - Now THAT'S a huge moon (the one in the middle of the video) .... and I have some Nikon 2x teleconverter laying around, so I'm gonna try this one too one day I have some GH2 in my hands...

Still:
Did you - did ANYBODY - already do a "molecular-super-macro" shot, by using my above-mentioned method of a macrolens+ring+50mm+ETC ?

This macro method is explained here: LINK but be aware: they call the joint a "step-down-ring" and I think this is confusing, because the ordinary step-down-ring has 2 diameters to joint e.g. filters to lenses with different diameters... but we need to attach TWO lenses on each side of the ring, so the ring must have an "outgoing" screw (male) on each side and not one male + one female (one outside, one inside) like for lager/smaller filters on a lens.

That's where I expect a screen-filling EYE of a home-fly... With the GH1 I could well see the skin cells attached to a screen-filling eyelash, but the GH2 with its crop for macro should just show me about the DNA of that eyelash... well .... almost

[dustylense]

Thats not a movie! THat's a telescope!