Constant Aperture Lenses 14mm, 20mm vs. Variable Aperature concerns.

C

ChipThome

Well-known member
Yesterday my GF2s arrived and was screwing around with one with each of the lenses I have accumulated. Those are the Panasonic 14mm, 20mm, 14-140 and a Zeiss Planar 50mm f1.8.

I set up a tripod in here where I am lit by 6 CFL bulbs which typically WB around the 2500K range. I set the GF2 to IA and ran through the lenses, switching each out with the body left on the tripod.

Of all the lenses, surprisingly the 14-140 rendered the colors and light closet to what I saw sitting here. Like the others it was wide open at 14mm and f4 (unless I'm assbackwards on the aperture).

Being really new at interchangeable lenses, I didn't give any thought to aperture until I noticed the Zeiss was ticked to f2.8 when I first began and then redid that shot ticked to f1.7 which brightened it up. At f2.8 it actually rendered colors closer again, to what I was seeing.

So are you using these and how are you matching the output to reality if you are experiencing what I see in this clip ??? Is there some way to dial back the 14 or 20 to "darken" it up a tad, so I don't run into overexposure ???

My goal is to be using manned and unmanned cams together in some shoots. What I see in this clip though just wouldn't fly for combining footage.

Thanks for your input.

 
yes there is, in manual mode you should be able to see both your aperture and shutter speed at the bottom of the screen. You can click the wheel by the shutter to switch between the two. Keep in mind that the more you stop your lens down the deeper the DoF and the more light you will need to get a good exposure.
 
OK, feel a bit like a goof now. :-( Thanks Aaron for your input, I'll try that out tonight and see how it goes.
 
The real solution to "darkenning up" a shot, is not shutter speed, as Grisnjam has already pointed out, but a combination of aperture adjustment and ND filters. You will know already that a wider aperture allows more light whilst shortening what's in focus. ND filters are Neutral Density filters, that allow you to set your aperture wider, for a shallower depth of field, if desired, without over-brightenning the scene. They merely "darken" the lens, allowing a wider aperture setting, if desired.

The excellent Singh Ray or cheaper Lightcraft vari-ND filters are a good place to start down that road.
 
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