Selling my 5dii - A few Questions

[Jackson Miller]

Hi guys. I have a 5dii but not enough support gear and tools to make it into the kind of camera setup I want to use. So I was going to sell it for a 7d and slowly buy other stuff. Now I decided I should just get a GH1 based on recent developments and that way I can get a really nice setup with the leftover $. I also had $600 bucls worth of gear stolen from my last set so that doesn't help .

Anyways, I have some questions though and if you could answer them it'd be greatly appreciated.

1) How is the kit lens? Is the 14-140mm the one to get and is it worth getting? I am comming from the markii and the thought of a smaller sensor and being stuck with f4-5.8 is a real nightmare/concern for me. I want one zoom though and it would be nice to be able to use the AF. So in short, how useable is this lens? I hear some people say you can't use it indoors. This blows my mind. This camera is supposed to be good in lowlight. I know the lens is slow. But... yeah. How slow? ANybody have footage (including indoor) filmed with the kit lens?

2) I have an vixia HF10 camcorder as well which I am thinking I can sell because the GH-1 will cover me in the areas and times I need a more auto/user friendly camera. Am I correct in assuming this? I mean the main thing I guess is can I film myself to do video blogs etc and depend on the AF? Now this comes down to the lens speed again though. Is the GH1 at f4-5.8 going to have better lowlingt capabilities than the HF10? Like I said I need to do some video blogs. Will that work without turning the iso up? Am I thinking the kit lens is worse than it is? I guess I kinda need to see examples with iso information.

3) How do you all manage with the lcd? I love that it atriculates but before I got an external monitor for my 5d I missed so many focus points. And that lcd is razor sharp. Do many/most of you use loupe viewfinder things? I hate viewfinders but it looks like that is what I'll be doing now RIGHT after I bought a monitor.

4) Can anybody who has shot with both the 5d and the GH1 give me some comparisons as far as OPPERATION, not image quality or anything, just ease of use and especially focusing. I will mainly be using manual primes.

5) Anyone want my 5dii? :laugh: I'll put it up in the marketplace tomorrow along with some lenses etc.

 

[Exact]

Hi guys. I have a 5dii but not enough support gear and tools to make it into the kind of camera setup I want to use. So I was going to sell it for a 7d and slowly buy other stuff. Now I decided I should just get a GH1 based on recent developments and that way I can get a really nice setup with the leftover $. I also had $600 bucls worth of gear stolen from my last set so that doesn't help .

Anyways, I have some questions though and if you could answer them it'd be greatly appreciated.

Quite a lot of questions here - so lets go down them one at a time....

1) How is the kit lens? Is the 14-140mm the one to get and is it worth getting? I am comming from the markii and the thought of a smaller sensor and being stuck with f4-5.8 is a real nightmare/concern for me. I want one zoom though and it would be nice to be able to use the AF. So in short, how useable is this lens?

It's very useable in good light.

I hear some people say you can't use it indoors. This blows my mind. This camera is supposed to be good in lowlight. I know the lens is slow. But... yeah. How slow? ANybody have footage (including indoor) filmed with the kit lens?

I would not dream of using the kit lens in-doors @ ISO100 without some good in-door lighting. If your room is even semi-dark - forget it. However, ISO400 -ISO800 is not too bad, especially with the GH13 hacks. Where noise is a problem give it a kiss with the Neat Video plug-in - job done.

2) I have an vixia HF10 camcorder as well which I am thinking I can sell because the GH-1 will cover me in the areas and times I need a more auto/user friendly camera. Am I correct in assuming this?

I don't have access to an HF10, so I can't give you any real info on this. I did used to have a Canon HV20 and the GH1 is far better with a good lens. I'm not sure I would know how to compare them with the 14-140 kit lens without having them side by side. The HV20 would have turned the gain up automatically so you would be trying to figure out how to match settings in order to get a good comparison.

Manual focusing on the GH1 is far easier than any of the consumer camcorders I've used, and since it has full manual control AND AF and AE then in theory it should be better all round. However, if you are the kind of person that likes to hold a camcorder in one hand (using the hand strap) then the GH1 is going to feel really awkward.

I mean the main thing I guess is can I film myself to do video blogs etc and depend on the AF? Now this comes down to the lens speed again though.

The AF is pretty good on the GH1, but as with all cameras it requires some 'light' to work with. The less light you give it, the harder it is for it to do it's job.

Is the GH1 at f4-5.8 going to have better lowlingt capabilities than the HF10? Like I said I need to do some video blogs. Will that work without turning the iso up? Am I thinking the kit lens is worse than it is? I guess I kinda need to see examples with iso information.

At f4-5.8 you are always going to struggle in poor light, and you will need to turn the ISO up, just like I suspect the HF10 is turning the gain up?

3) How do you all manage with the lcd? I love that it atriculates but before I got an external monitor for my 5d I missed so many focus points. And that lcd is razor sharp. Do many/most of you use loupe viewfinder things? I hate viewfinders but it looks like that is what I'll be doing now RIGHT after I bought a monitor.

Manual focusing with the LCD is pretty good. I have not had any problems yet.

4) Can anybody who has shot with both the 5d and the GH1 give me some comparisons as far as OPPERATION, not image quality or anything, just ease of use and especially focusing. I will mainly be using manual primes.

It's a long time since I shot with the 5D2, but I can tell you they are 'different'. Once you get the GH1 in to manual mode things are very easy to operate. No diving in to menus etc, it can all be done with the buttons and dials. However, the size of the camera is also tiny compared to a 'normal' SLR, and it certainly doesn't fit my hands as nice as a 5D2 or a D3 etc.

If you are looking for low light capability then the kit lens is probably going to be a disappointment to you. Once you move away from the kit lens to something like Canon/Nikon/Oli/Leica lenses then you also lose the AF you seem to want so much. Personally I rarely use AF on video because if I am stationary I can focus it and if I am moving you can't always rely on the camera to maintain AF on your chosen subject instead of wandering off to some other background subject.

Most consumer camcorders get away with the AF system because their DOF is huge (tiny sensors). Once you start getting in to real cameras (as you shoudl know with the 5D2) the DOF becomes more noticeable, especially when it's wrong.

Also, don't forget that when taking the GH1 outside, you are going to have to play games (as you did with the 5D2) with shutter and aperture speeds if you don't also get a good ND filter (such as the SingRay vari NDs which I love).

 

[Jackson Miller]

Yep, I am quite used to shooting with manual focus and I also have a vari nd but I just want to make sure I have ONE lens that can auto focus and be used in a more... well auto way. I never shoot narrative with AF. Something to replace my hf10 which I use like twice a month. Your answers helped a lot though, thanks!

One more thing. Does the kit lens have hard stops on the focus ring or does it keep spinning like with the EF USM lenses? (I hate that). But then again I suppose I could live with it if it means faster AF for my one lens that will be able to AF.

 

[Chris Light]

no hard stops.....and be prepared to feel like you have to spin it many more times to rack your focus than other lenses...that's my biggest complaint. but as an AF lens, it's quiet, and very sharp in good light