Exposure stepping problem

L

Lastdirector

New member
I've had my AF 101E for about six months now and been highly delighted with it... all that is except for extremely bad exposure stepping when using the Lumix 14-140 lens on auto.

Even the slightest movement of the subject causes it to open or close rapidly in jumps of half a stop to full stop depending on the tonal range in the frame. It's so bad that I just can't use it on auto which is a major inconvenience in certain situations. I can't decide if it's the lens or the sensor and the effect is rather like using spot metering in a stills camera.

Just wondered if anyone else has experience this. My dealer says this is simply because that particular lens is designed for stills use (not much comfort). They have made Panasonic aware of the Problem but six weeks down the line we've not had a response. Given the 'soft' transition with the Auto Tracking White Balance it seems rather odd that Panasonic would overlook something as serious as this. Any suggestions or words of comfort would be much appreciated.

Kind regards to you all.

Paul H
 
Use the Auto to set an exposure then turn it off to take the shot.

Using the waveform for exposure is preferable.
 
Locking off the exposure

Locking off the exposure

Generally I do lock off the exposure as it's the only way to use this lens but sometimes with longer pieces outdoors that's not possible. For example, I recently needed to do a shot alongside a truck on the motorway. The light was inconsistent and to make matters worse the truck was dark blue. The result looked like the kind of thing you'd get by turning the aperture ring back and forth on an old SLR 'click' stop lens. The waveform monitor is great for getting a basic exposure but as to helping with consistency during shooting... well it's not really designed for that.

Thanks for taking the time to read and reply.

Kind regards

Paul
 
The topic is an old one its been covered before and yes its very annoying, even worse is the lag or time delay.
So if you were to zoom the lens, the lens ramps (as the focal length changes and the amount of light the lens passes changes) , the camera see this and attempts to compensate by altering the F stop

But as the auto exposure control lags maybe .5 sec, your zoom may have finished before lens F stop change evens takes place exaggerating the effect.
 
It's the lens - There just aren't any 'auto-iris' video lenses that really work (and certainly not at this price level), except maybe those on fixed lens cameras, and even then I would argue that they really don't work all that well either.

The AF100 really shines with a fully manual lens and someone who knows how to use the scopes and 'ride' the iris when in a situation where the light is changing. I regularly get to work with an AC that can pull iris, sometimes without me even knowing that it's happening (!!! He's got skill and every cameraman should be so lucky to work with him.).

You've got a stills lens that happens to sorta work on the AF - I'd turn off all the auto stuff and practice with a manual lens, you'll get better and never look back. OR if you want auto get a fixed lens video cam.

G.
 
Agree with the right lens and Iris control this camera really shines it low light performance is astounding dragging low noise detail from nothing
 
Auto iris is the devil...seriously. You need to get used to using the iris knob manually and that's it. I've ruined quit a bit of footage in my time with auto iris and now I never ever use it.
 
The waveform monitor is great for getting a basic exposure but as to helping with consistency during shooting... well it's not really designed for that.
Click to expand...

...and auto exposure is a big no no for achieveing what you want in motion picture work. No matter how fast or well it works..you will always see the fluctuation across time.

The waveform is designed to get the perfect exposure in fact and generally one sets and leaves the exposure based on WFM information.

Thing about motion work is that it can capture the change in light just as it captures motion. They are the part of the dynamics of film imagery.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top