Remote focus/iris controllers with the Panasonic 14-140 lens

Although I don't yet have the camera, I have a 150 and the varizoom controller. The remote is a big deal
to me since I often have the camera shoulder-mounted and it's awkard fishing around for the controls.

From what I read here under the REMOTE column Panasonic themselves say it should work with the af100. It's their lens,
it's their camera, the varizoom controller is made to work with panasonic- no excuses.

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

While I am a fan of respect and politeness, I think we in creative arts take way too much nonsense from people we either pay for product or
pay for instruction. They're not teaching us or giving us hardware out of the goodness of their hearts, we're paying them.
I think a lot of these companies( the vaporware birger mount for one, panasonic gh2 non-availabilty 4 months after release) are so niched that they're the only game in town
and they seem to think they're doing us a favor by eventually getting around to fixing(or not) what should
have worked out of the gate.

The only reason to buy the 14-140 is the compatiblity with the camera. I want one lens that has all that stuff,
I'll get others for image quality and all the rest.

So fix the LENS. For goodness sake, don't tell me to buy another controller or to work with the half-functionality or
claim I'm doing something wrong.
 
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chauncythedog said:
Although I don't yet have the camera, I have a 150 and the varizoom controller...
......

So fix the LENS. For goodness sake, don't tell me to buy another controller or to work with the half-functionality or
claim I'm doing something wrong.
Click to expand...

The fact that a 3rd party product does not work with the Panasonic lens/camera combination is not Panasonic's problem. My tests indicate that if the remote-control provides a signal within the normal Panasonic remote adjustment range, it works.

The fact that the focus changes with a change in focal length is in the domain of Panasonic. While not necessarily a defect, it is certainly something that should be considered as a feature improvement.
 
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I'd still love to know if the Manfrotto 521PFI allows infinity throughout the full 14-140 range of the Lumix lens before I rush out and buy another remote controller.
Having a smooth thumb wheel on your tripod's pan bar means that they are just a much better way of focusing for one man operation than either using the lens barrel or even a manual follow focus on a set of rails.
 
Philip Johnston, who runs the web sites HDWarrior.co.uk and 101Crew.co.uk phoned to say that he'd noticed that the BeBob FOXI has two adjustment pots on the underside. The are a couple of multiturn pots visible and the one nearest the 'focus' switch can be tweaked to fine adjust for the infinity problem. He managed to achieve the required infinity with his Lumix at 140mm.
Alas I have only got mine to go up to 15metres (from 9 metres) ....so haven't made the infinity I need.
However it shows that perhaps by adding a series resistor I might make it.

Perhaps Bebob should make a new version that works with all the m4/3 lenses fitted to the AF100 or in my case re-adjust existing units to do that.
 
Does using one of these controllers allow you to smoothly open and close the iris without the discernible visual detents at each 1/3 stop that the built-in iris wheel has?
 
Arrgghh... am I the only one who wants this? The lenses are capable of it, why isn't the camera? So there's no way to change aperture while shooting without ruining the clip, correct?
 
Peter (editman):

Do please check the Manfrotto with the Lumix 14-140 to see if it gets to infinity when at the 140mm setting...that's what i'm after.

David Taylor
 
timbook2 said:
very interesting thread. Looks like the implementation of the remote control asks for a new FW at least. Lets hope Jan can push this to the responsible department.
Click to expand...

Again, this is not a Panasonic problem. This is a 3rd party problem.
 
Arrgghh... am I the only one who wants this?
Click to expand...

No, you aren't - I cancelled my order for the 14-35 for just this reason - I am now considering canceling the 14-140 as well - In fact, considering banding issues, noise, probably soon-to-be outmoded codec, and the apparent non-availability of usable zooms I am seriously considering canceling my AF100 order too.

My three year old HPX500 with it's much maligned DVCPRO HD codec is looking real good to me right now.
 
Mac,

The AF-100 is superb, don't know why you're getting these feelings that it's a let down as it's just such a delight to use and gives really wonderful results! Much better to operate than any DSLR.
My concerns about the remote controllers is because I would like to have my focus and iris controls on my pan-bar and would then happily relegate my old follow-focus to being a smoother zoom control.
Older camcorders like your HPX500 won't give you the quality or narrow DOF pictures that the AF100 will and the freedom from the dreaded aliasing has made my Canon 5D2 go back to being a still camera.
I may borrow the Canon L lenses though when the Birger mount is available...I'll wait for that.

David T
 
HD Warrior website has details on how to tweek Bebob controller to work properly with focus at all distance settings.
 
Bruce,

Yes, see my earlier post regarding the fact that Philip Johnston (HDWarrior) spotted that a couple of little adjustment pots were hidden underneath the FOXI. Unfortunately my unit 'bottom's out' after increasing the telephoto ends focus to 15 metres but hopefully others will get better results. I tried adding resistors to the main focus pot but they just changed the close focus so it looks to me like I'm stuck looking for something else for this lens.

I'm hoping someone will still be able to tell me how the Manfrotto 521PFI does with the 14-140. Editman says it's smooth ..but does it give me infinity?

DT
 
Older camcorders like your HPX500 won't give you the quality or narrow DOF pictures
Click to expand...

DOF is a small issue in my opinion, in fact I am already tired of unmotivated follow focus shots posted everywhere (and boring slo-mo). I was excited about the AF100 because of usability of my superb Leica lenses, of which I have a nice collection. However, because I make documentaries I also need a functional zoom lens. In fact, I already bought the Cineroid EVF.

When I handhold a camera like the HVX200, I always mount the Foxi on the grip so I have immediate focus and iris control (on the 500, I use a conventional FF with a permanent scale). I had assumed that the 14-140 would work, apparently it won't... I am exploring the possibility of other lenses - like the Olympus 12-60 - but smooth focus control is essential to the way I work.

Also, I'm not, and do not know, an electronics guy, short of soldering a mic connector I am not going to be modifying anything... I need something that works off the shelf.
 
Mac said:
No, you aren't - I cancelled my order for the 14-35 for just this reason - I am now considering canceling the 14-140 as well - In fact, considering banding issues, noise, probably soon-to-be outmoded codec, and the apparent non-availability of usable zooms I am seriously considering canceling my AF100 order too.

My three year old HPX500 with it's much maligned DVCPRO HD codec is looking real good to me right now.
Click to expand...

It's not a lens issue, the 14-140 will stop down in 1/3 stop increments too (or were you talking about the noise of the aperture on the 14-35?), it's a camera issue. These lenses are capable of opening and closing in a smooth way without stopping at each 1/3 stop detent- put any of them on a still camera in movie mode and aperture priority and you will see that they can do just that. For some reason Panasonic seems to have implemented the iris control on the AF-100 in such a way that adjusting the aperture results in noticable jumps regardless of how you do it. This seems to me completely non-sensical in a camera that is dedicated solely to motion pictures. For what possible reason would I want the iris control to work this way?
 
For what possible reason would I want the iris control to work this way?
Click to expand...

Exactly.. this is what is driving me nuts, especially when people say (see above) that my perfectly working HPX500 is an "old camera". It was introduced THREE years ago.. The car I drive every day is a 1930 Model A Ford, admittedly hot-rodded, but still.

It seems that the Emperor (who, by the way, is wearing no clothes) is trying to sell me a bill-of-goods.
 
I'd also like to know if the Manfrotto 521PFI works with the 14-140 lens (all the way to infinity). Has anyone else had the chance to test this yet?
 
The 521PFI works with the Olympus lenses to infinity when in standard mode so it should work the same for the 14-140. I'll try to test if this is true for the custom mode. I think it will work but have to test to confirm.
 
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