Image Stabilization and lenses

S

shortnstout

Well-known member
I'm buying an AF100 and, like everyone, REALLY wish they had put image stabilization in the camera. I need fast zooms (but go prime to get really fast in addition). Am I right that there are currently no fast zoom options with image stabilization? The Zuikos don't have it. Would I be best off waiting for the adapter for my Canon lenses to come out in Feb?

Addition question: will the red focus assist of the AF100 (which I'm SUPER excited about) work if I put any lens on it (say my manual Zeiss lens)?
 
shortnstout said:
I'm buying an AF100 and, like everyone, REALLY wish they had put image stabilization in the camera. I need fast zooms (but go prime to get really fast in addition). Am I right that there are currently no fast zoom options with image stabilization? The Zuikos don't have it. Would I be best off waiting for the adapter for my Canon lenses to come out in Feb?

Addition question: will the red focus assist of the AF100 (which I'm SUPER excited about) work if I put any lens on it (say my manual Zeiss lens)?
Click to expand...


Focus assist works with all lenses.
 
I don't know what the OIS button is for on the camera... even with the 14-140 Lumix lens mounted and OIS switched on the lens, the OIS button on the camera issues the "invalid" warning when pressed...!? What am I missing?
 
I think I read somewhere that the camera button is disabled when it has an OIS lens. I haven't tried it with anything other than the 14-140 yet so I can't be sure about this. But I'm shooting hand held most of the time and the footage is fine.
 
the ois button on the camera is for panasonic ois enabled lenses that don't have an ois switch on the lens.
The fastest available zoom with ois is the 14=50 2.8-3.5.

I am hopeful that panasonic or perhaps sigma will see the need for an ois video zoom lens with a constant aperture.
perhaps i am a bit myopic, but i think the first lens that fits that criteria will sell a truck load.
until then i'm using my sigma 18-50 2.8 non stabilized.
 
tacotim, do you have experience with the Panasonic 14-50 2.8-3.5 on the af100? It seems pretty good for my needs and I'd love to hear your opinion. Does it click at all when changing the iris?
 
xenogears said:
This tests is with a g2 camera, but i´m sure the same result will be on the AF100
Click to expand...
The "Leicasonic" 14-50mm has completely sidelined my old auto-focus favorite, the Olympus 14-54mm zoom. As you can see in my zoom tests that xenogears linked above, the Leicasonic maintains a stable exposure while zooming and makes just the one audible click near the close end of its zoom range. In addition, I've found that at f5+, if I set focus at the close end, it will still hold a decent focus zoomed out to its wide end. This is a saving grace for me, since the Leicasonic breathes far too much to even attempt to pull focus on it while recording.

Unfortunately, it looks like Panasonic has punted on engineering auto-focus support for the Leicasonic on the AF100:

http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/af100/lens_compatibility.html

I'm seriously discouraged by the AF100's lack of compatibility with Panasonic's own premium Four Thirds lenses. Full remote control of both focus and iris on this lens, as well as the Olympus 14-35mm and 35-100mm f2.0 zooms would make the AF100 an unbeatable proposition. I'd really like to hear from Jan on whether this kind of firmware update is planned at some point for the AF100 or its successors?
 
Thanks lpowell this is great information and great tests! One more question from the newbie department: what do you mean it "breathes far too much to even attempt to pull focus on it while recording?" I'm not using auto focus and find it fine and actually fun to focus manually with the 14-140. Is it harder on the 14-50?
 
Pro cinema lenses are designed to maintain unchanging frame dimensions while focusing, allowing you to manually shift focus without altering your framing. Still photography lenses are said to "breathe" if their framing changes when you turn their focus rings. It's very noticeable on the 14-50mm, so much that I'd rule out refocusing during a non-zooming video take. However, it isn't really a problem in circumstances where zooming and refocusing are acceptable while recording.
 
shortnstout said:
I'm buying an AF100 and, like everyone, REALLY wish they had put image stabilization in the camera.
Click to expand...

Well not everyone wants or needs image stabilisation… I'm in the camp of don't need / want and wish that I could re-asign the button for something else.
 
Thanks again for the info, lpowell, you've been a great help.

Regarding the OIS. I narrowed my search for a faster lens than the 14-140 to the Olympus 12-60 and the "Leicasonic" 14-50. I like the better range on the 12-60 -- that extra "10" would help -- but I'm shooting mostly hand held, with no shoulder mount because I sometimes like the lower angle, and I like shooting from my eye level (just my style.)

So, what's your opinion everyone? Do you shoot hand held without OIS? How big is the difference? Could it be fixed in post?
 
lpowell said:
Here's a split-screen video of the Leicasonic's OIS in action. My experience is similar.

Click to expand...

Who would even take a shot like that... hand held? Thats why they invented head and legs.

I would also say that even hand held.... I could do far better than the Non-OIS version.
 
Eithcowich said:
So, what's your opinion everyone? Do you shoot hand held without OIS? How big is the difference? Could it be fixed in post?
Click to expand...

At the risk of being called complete jerk… It's called skill and trade craft. DP's have been doing unassisted steady handheld for eons; I've worked with DP's that could handhold ARRI 16's and make it look like steadycam. So perhaps you should focus some effort to improving your skills, instead of relying on the camera or the hope of fixing it in post? I also agree that the teacup shot would have worked better on sticks - and that I can get smoother results handheld than 'mega OIS'.
 
Eithcowich said:
tacotim, do you have experience with the Panasonic 14-50 2.8-3.5 on the af100? It seems pretty good for my needs and I'd love to hear your opinion. Does it click at all when changing the iris?
Click to expand...

My personal experience with this lens is that the breathing is just about the worst of any of the 4/3 mount lenses I have. It's really shocking, I can't really pull focus in shot with it. i thought it would be great for the stabaliser, but it's far outweighed for me by the shocking image shift when you play the focus dial.

I recently shot an entire TV comedy series using 7d's and 1D's and often used stabilised lenses to get shots I could never have gotten any other way. For certain kinds of handheld work and shooting styles, it greatly extends the lens reach. I find them hard to hand hold without gaining a higher frequency jitter on anything above 50mm, so a stabilizer really helped me to get useable shots up to 200mm.

So re the 14-50, I'd say it's a pretty poor perfumer if you ever want to rack the focus in-shot...

jb
 
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