Major Discovery for 14-140 Users

B

bhdfield

Well-known member
After several paying gigs with this new camera, and experiencing the utter frustration of trying to use the 14-140 in environments not really hard-core eng, but simply uncontrolled conditions, with client present - like shooting workers moving about a kitchen, and children in a small room, I was ready to declare the AF pretty much useless for shoots approaching ENG in character.
But I happened to take delivery of a Varizoom Stealth remote camera control designed for HVX/DVX. About $150. Thyis little device is the best money you will ever spend on that camera lens combo. Now focus is easily, instantly, smoothly, accuratley controled with its large focus wheel, complete with a disc for making witness marks. Also the iris knob seems to work with that iris in a less wratcheted way, maybe because it permits finer control. And of course remote start/stop, and the ability to send focus or iris back into auto. The only thing it won't do of course is zoom, becuae there's no motor for it in the lens. But that focus wheel combined with the red peaking let's the brilliance of the red peaking shine through, because you can see the focus effected minutely as you turn the focus knob, without having to awkwardly reach up to push a zoom button to see the pixels. I have it attached right where my thumb would be on the right handle of my Gini rig, and all of a sudden I have something pretty darn close to an eng camera. I used big eng news lenses for 12 years and I think this controler and the 14-140 work together at least as well for manual focus, if not better.
 
Glad it's working better for you, bhdfield! That's good news and I bet many of our members will appreciate it.

A remote focus unit can give you repeatable focus, which you'll never get from the Lumix lenses by themselves. I've been using the FoXi and it definitely helps (although it's not perfect, it's really pretty decent). The remote focus port allows for near-absolute positioning.

If anyone wanted a follow-focus type of device to use with one of these Lumix lenses, I think you'd be infinitely better off with the FoXi or VariZoom or any of those type of devices, rather than trying to stick a ring on the lens to try to use some sort of mechanical follow focus.
 
Is there a setting to enable the remote function? I have the VZ-PFI and couldn't get it to do anything with the 14-140.
 
Does anyone have the pinouts for the port(s) used by these external controls? I would like to build my own start/stop button for mounting on top of the handle.
 
bhdfield said:
After several paying gigs with this new camera, and experiencing the utter frustration of trying to use the 14-140 in environments not really hard-core eng, but simply uncontrolled conditions, with client present - like shooting workers moving about a kitchen, and children in a small room, I was ready to declare the AF pretty much useless for shoots approaching ENG in character.
But I happened to take delivery of a Varizoom Stealth remote camera control designed for HVX/DVX. About $150. Thyis little device is the best money you will ever spend on that camera lens combo. Now focus is easily, instantly, smoothly, accuratley controled with its large focus wheel, complete with a disc for making witness marks. Also the iris knob seems to work with that iris in a less wratcheted way, maybe because it permits finer control. And of course remote start/stop, and the ability to send focus or iris back into auto. The only thing it won't do of course is zoom, becuae there's no motor for it in the lens. But that focus wheel combined with the red peaking let's the brilliance of the red peaking shine through, because you can see the focus effected minutely as you turn the focus knob, without having to awkwardly reach up to push a zoom button to see the pixels. I have it attached right where my thumb would be on the right handle of my Gini rig, and all of a sudden I have something pretty darn close to an eng camera. I used big eng news lenses for 12 years and I think this controler and the 14-140 work together at least as well for manual focus, if not better.
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I wonder if there would be a away to attach this thing to a steadicam handle (glidecam 4000 pro ) This would be really really really nice for some steadicam work.
 
jesus, just checked the site. The lens is nearly 2/3rds the price of the GH1!!!!!
 
I have both the Foxi and the Zoe from bebob, one on each handle of my dvrig. Couldnt work without them. I am really glad panny kept the standard for the AF100 in case I get it. The varizoom does it all in one for less money. Highly recommended!
 
For those interested, the model discussed in the top post is the Varizoom VZ-Stealth-PZFI. Now if only a firmware update would allow ISO control on that rear wheel. Very badly needed, especially when working with prime lenses trying to maintain constant aperture and DOF.
 
I purchased the PZFI, it's great. I had my AF100 on a Cammate on Friday with my HDX900, the shoot pulled me to another location. So I handed over the 100 to crane operator and told him to keep focus around 30 feet.
He called me later and said he had this VariZoom remote that worked perfectly! He had used this for a couple of HVX200 shoots.
That little controller saved my day.
BTW, on the 17mm Olympus pancake lens, the iris is a little noisy, no problem if outside.
 
Eithcowich said:
How does the VZ-Stealth-PZFI make things so much smoother? I mean, why exactly? (Sorry for the neophyte question..)
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In the focus control, it permits very fine, precise, and rapid changes. This is due to the size of that focus wheel on the unit, and how rapidly you can fly from various focus points by just using your thumb against the knurled edge of the wheel. The reaction of the lens is nearly instant, as are the changes in red peeking as you move the wheel. By contrast, the large focus ring on the lens itself feels vague and clumsy, and I find lets you quickly fly past focus points because you have to get it going fast to get from one point to the next. Aside from that, it forces your hand and arm off one of the grips, while you're trying to steady the rig with your other. The knob for the iris on the unit is similarly precise and quick, and it seems the the stepped changes between stops look less...stepped for some reason.
 
Thanks, Billygoat. So you can also confirm that this works well with the af-100/14-140? ransom earlier in the thread said it didn't do anything for him.
 
So there is no delay between turning the Verizoom focus controller and the focus on the lens changing? As far as I was aware there was a pretty heavy delay, but you make it seem otherwise.
 
Just got the 14-140 out and the Varizoom Stealth. Imperceptible focusing lag, and slight iris lag... sort of; if anything, I would call it damping/smoothing, not really lag; if you open/close the iris slowly, the lag is also imperceptible.
 
BONUS: my VariZoom Rock also works with my 7-14, and the notoriously follow-focus-unfriendly 20/1.7

ANTI-BONUS: the remote prevents the iris from opening up that last little bit: my 1.7 only opens to 1.9, and the other two only open to 4.2. It's an electronics issue that will supposedly be solved when a AF100-specific controller is introduced.
 
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PaPa said:
I wonder if there would be a away to attach this thing to a steadicam handle (glidecam 4000 pro ) This would be really really really nice for some steadicam work.
Click to expand...

you can use a wired remote with a steadicam allthough it can be a bit restrictive, from the top stage just loop it loosely around and attach it to the handle
 
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