As I understand it, you can't do manual focus with the Olympus 12-50mm. I'm pretty sure I would miss that when shooting macro. Can you do manual focus with the Panasonic 14-42mm?
Video Gear and Technique / Archived topic
GH4 - Nauticam Macro Lens/Port Thoughts
Started by peterbkk ·
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GH4 - Nauticam Macro Lens/Port Thoughts
260 posts
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As I understand it, you can't do manual focus with the Olympus 12-50mm. I'm pretty sure I would miss that when shooting macro. Can you do manual focus with the Panasonic 14-42mm?
That's correct - not on the Nauticam 12-50mm port. (not sure if a mf option exists). I don't believe focus is an option on the 14-42 either.
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Uhm had not thought about this. There seem to be many limitations as the lenses are really designed for stills or for land video at mid range
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I checked and the 14-42 X PZ has manual focus.
I am not sure the ring can control both switches though?
http://www.dpreview.com/previews/panasonic_x_14-42_3p5-5p6/2
Only zoom. Uhm I wonder how difficult it would be with a close up lens? A bit of testing on lens with the housing would prove the point
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I wonder how difficult it would be with a close up lens? A bit of testing on lens with the housing would prove the point
I have bought the Panasonic 14-42 PZ and the Nauticam Macro 35 port and a +5 diopter wet lens is arriving mid-week. I'll test it in the pool then at a local macro dive site next Sunday. So, we will know by next weekend, if this lens / port / diopter works or not.
I am not too concerned about lack of manual focus as the NA-GH4 / GH4 has a good spot AFL capability. I can always do a spot AFL on the bit that I want in focus and make minor adjustments by moving the camera slightly.
A bigger concern (for now, anyway) is the GH4 monitor inside the housing - very hard to judge critical focus. I could get one of the Nauticam magnifying eyepieces but, by October, I expect to have the Atomos Shogun coupled with the GH4. The 7" monitor should enable better focusing.
Regards
Peter
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I have bought the Panasonic 14-42 PZ and the Nauticam Macro 35 port and a +5 diopter wet lens is arriving mid-week. I'll test it in the pool then at a local macro dive site next Sunday. So, we will know by next weekend, if this lens / port / diopter works or not.
I am not too concerned about lack of manual focus as the NA-GH4 / GH4 has a good spot AFL capability. I can always do a spot AFL on the bit that I want in focus and make minor adjustments by moving the camera slightly.
A bigger concern (for now, anyway) is the GH4 monitor inside the housing - very hard to judge critical focus. I could get one of the Nauticam magnifying eyepieces but, by October, I expect to have the Atomos Shogun coupled with the GH4. The 7" monitor should enable better focusing.
Regards
Peter
From my calculations on paper (might be wrong) with a single Inon UCL-165 +6.06 diopter you have a working distance between 6.5 and 4.2 inches.
So you are working with 2.3 inches between focusing infinity to minimum distance this is not little so if the autofocus works well this should be manageable
Can you activate peaking also on AFL instead of manual focus? If so you can move the camera back and forth and work with confidence
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Can you activate peaking also on AFL instead of manual focus? If so you can move the camera back and forth and work with confidence
It seems like the authors of the GH4 firmware excluded this combination.
Peaking only works when the focus switch is set to MF.
But, in MF, AFL will not activate.
I can set the camera focus switch to MF, press Fn1 (which I have set to "AutoFocus On") to do a preshot AF then move the camera back and forth to see how the peaking responds.
But I need to try it underwater to see how useful it'll be.
I think the the "pinpoint focus" combined with AFL might be a better option. The "pinpoint focus" feature uses one tiny spot in the centre of the frame for focus. Pinpoint focus can be triggered with the AFL control. A magnifying window pops up in the monitor so you can precisely position the pinpoint and see that part of the subject pop into focus. With the NA-GH4 housing, there's a nice big AFL/AEL lever located under the right thumb, making it very convenient.
Anyway, I'll experiment with all options this week and see what works best.
Going to Lembeh on the 27th so I need to get this macro thing nailed before then...
Regards
Peter
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That will be the ultimate test I guess however for specific shots you might even go 60mm and tripod. What diopter are you planning to use? I would not go as far as +10 to avoid focussing challenges
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It all depends on the subject matter and conditions but, I found the 12-35 not quite wide enough for underwater use. For larger subjects, you end up with a lot of water between the camera and the subject, with the resulting lack of contrast. Depends on visibility and suspended particles, but the nearer you get, the better the shot.
OTOH, I found the 7-14 to be excellent for general underwater WA shots. For larger subjects, you can get quite close without any strong distracting WA "look". It has great sharpness and useful DoF. It does not have OIS, but that's less relevant at wider angles. Zooming in to 14 (~28mm) works well for shy subjects. I used it to shoot batfish, turtles, divers, cat-sharks, stingrays and fan corals. I found the focal length range to be ideal. The 7-14 does very well in lens bench tests.
So, my current setup is a GH4 with Zen 170mm dome port and the 7-14 for underwater video and a GH4 with the 12-35mm lens for above-water video.
Now I am going to test the Pany 14-42 PZ OIS lens with a +5 diopter for underwater macro, with one of the heavier Gorillapods for stability. Fingers crossed. I'll post something when I've got it working, probably next week.
Regards
Peter
Looking forward to your results, Peter.
In the meantime however, this site suggests that the minimum focus distance of the 14-42 PZ OIS is variable throughout the zoom range. (0.2 m at 14mm to 0.5m at 42mm). If this is true, it makes it pretty crappy for macro without a diapoter as the maximum magnification at 42mm is only 0.10x. Even the 12-35 would be a better option (.25m at 35mm for .20x magnification). How much of a difference would a +5 or +10 diopeter make? Or the Nauticam SMC?
Other possible options I've looked at that give zoom versatility and still decent closeups:
1. the Olympus 12-40 (0.2m min focus distance at 40mm - 0.38x maginfication) but no stabilization on Panasonic bodies; Can be used with zen 170mm port.
2. the Olympus 12-50 (0.35m min focus distance at 50mm - 0.21 magnification, or 0.2m at 43mm in macro mode for 0.46x magnification) - again, no stabilization, but awesome image quality. Can be used in same port as Olympus 60mm;
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Looking forward to your results, Peter.
In the meantime however, this site suggests that the minimum focus distance of the 14-42 PZ OIS is variable throughout the zoom range. (0.2 m at 14mm to 0.5m at 42mm). If this is true, it makes it pretty crappy for macro without a diapoter as the maximum magnification at 42mm is only 0.10x. Even the 12-35 would be a better option (.25m at 35mm for .20x magnification). How much of a difference would a +5 or +10 diopeter make? Or the Nauticam SMC?
Other possible options I've looked at that give zoom versatility and still decent closeups:
1. the Olympus 12-40 (0.2m min focus distance at 40mm - 0.38x maginfication) but no stabilization on Panasonic bodies; Can be used with zen 170mm port.
2. the Olympus 12-50 (0.35m min focus distance at 50mm - 0.21 magnification, or 0.2m at 43mm in macro mode for 0.46x magnification) - again, no stabilization, but awesome image quality. Can be used in same port as Olympus 60mm;
The specifications (and Panasonic is pretty good at it) say at the tele end 0.3 meters.
In water with a flat port that will most likely become 0.4 meters however once you add a close up lens this will actually dictate working distance.
What it looks like is that you will need both a weak diopter say 3 to take you from 40 to 20 cm and a stronger diopter for closer 16.5 to 12 cm. Stacking the two should give you 1:1 or there about
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So here we go: Just spent 45 minutes blowing bubbles at the bottom of the pool.
In summary: I am happy!
I can do macro. Lembeh, here I come...Lens: Panasonic 14-42mm PZ
Port: Nauticam Macro Port 35
Nauticam Flip Diopter Holder
Inon UCL-100 Diopter (+10)
Here is an iPhone snap of the setup:
To test the setup, I borrowed a couple of "littlest pet shop" toys from my daughter. I weighted the toys with a fishing weight and stuck them down with blue tack. Here is the "model" with a ruler to give you an idea of size:
The camera performed very well while taking the shots. I mainly used the "pinpoint AF" method, but I tried others and they all seemed to work. Pinpoint enabled more aiming precision as it magnifies the area around the pinpoint. I used AFL if I wanted to move the camera to change the focal point away from the centre. The GH4 found focus every time, as long as I was within the right distance - not too far when using the diopter (approximately <0.15 meters) and not too close when just using the lens without the diopter (approximately >0.3 meters).
I imported the footage into FCPX. I made no edits or adjustments.
I have looked at the footage every which way and can not see any issues. I have displayed it in full screen mode. Looked at the corners. No problems that I can see.
To show you, I have taken 4 screen-shots of the FCPX viewer screen.
1. The two subjects taken without the diopter with the 14-45 set about 30mm - the subject is about 1 meter from the camera. The image is a bit soft as it was raining and the pool water was quite murky (about 5 to 8 meter viz).
2. The two subjects taken without the diopter with the 14-45 set quite wide - the subject is about 0.4 meters from the camera.
3. The upper fin of the gold fish showing the whole frame when using the Macro diopter and the 14-45mm set about mid-point.
4. The upper fin of the gold fish showing a 100% crop of the 4K frame when using the Macro diopter and the 14-45mm set about mid-point.
It seems to have handled every test that I tried.
I reckon that I am good to go.
Regards
Peter
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Wow amazing stuffSo here we go: Just spent 45 minutes blowing bubbles at the bottom of the pool.
In summary: I am happy!
I can do macro. Lembeh, here I come...Lens: Panasonic 14-42mm PZ
Port: Nauticam Macro Port 35
Nauticam Flip Diopter Holder
Inon UCL-100 Diopter (+10)
Here is an iPhone snap of the setup:
To test the setup, I borrowed a couple of "littlest pet shop" toys from my daughter. I weighted the toys with a fishing weight and stuck them down with blue tack. Here is the "model" with a ruler to give you an idea of size:
The camera performed very well while taking the shots. I mainly used the "pinpoint AF" method, but I tried others and they all seemed to work. Pinpoint enabled more aiming precision as it magnifies the area around the pinpoint. I used AFL if I wanted to move the camera to change the focal point away from the centre. The GH4 found focus every time, as long as I was within the right distance - not too far when using the diopter (approximately <0.15 meters) and not too close when just using the lens without the diopter (approximately >0.3 meters).
I imported the footage into FCPX. I made no edits or adjustments.
I have looked at the footage every which way and can not see any issues. I have displayed it in full screen mode. Looked at the corners. No problems that I can see.
To show you, I have taken 4 screen-shots of the FCPX viewer screen.
1. The two subjects taken without the diopter with the 14-45 set about 30mm - the subject is about 1 meter from the camera. The image is a bit soft as it was raining and the pool water was quite murky (about 5 to 8 meter viz).
2. The two subjects taken without the diopter with the 14-45 set quite wide - the subject is about 0.4 meters from the camera.
PZ Lens at closest focus copy.jpg3. The upper fin of the gold fish showing the whole frame when using the Macro diopter and the 14-45mm set about mid-point.
Macro Close-Up Full 4K frame.jpg4. The upper fin of the gold fish showing a 100% crop of the 4K frame when using the Macro diopter and the 14-45mm set about mid-point.
Macro Close-Up 100 percent crop.jpgIt seems to have handled every test that I tried.
I reckon that I am good to go.
Regards
Peter
Peter a little suggestion if you don't mind buy or take with you if you have it already the inon UCL-330 other wise you will have nothing to work in the 10 cm to 40 cm distance. I have all inon lenses and the quality of the UCL100 is terrific however working distance of 10cm is many times too close. I prefer to take UCL-330 and UCL-165 even if I have a bit of fringing as more flexible for video or if possible take all 3 lenses. Good luck!
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Peter a little suggestion if you don't mind buy or take with you if you have it already the inon UCL-330 other wise you will have nothing to work in the 10 cm to 40 cm distance. I have all inon lenses and the quality of the UCL100 is terrific however working distance of 10cm is many times too close. I prefer to take UCL-330 and UCL-165 even if I have a bit of fringing as more flexible for video or if possible take all 3 lenses. Good luck!
Still working on that one. David (ScubaCam) is making me a +5 achromatic that should fill the gap between the bare 14-45PZ and the +10 Inon.
Regards
Peter
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5 will cover the 20cm to 12 cm. there will still be nothing for 20-40cm which is the perfect distance for fish portraits. Of course that is not macro and maybe not relevant much in lembeh. Is the subsee 5 not achromatic??
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So the Panasonic 14-42mm PZ is the lens to go for GH4 and video shooter. That would allow decent WA and macro (using a +5 & +10 diopter). Did that sum up the rig setup to go with should one moving into GH4?
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28mm on flat port is 35mm not wide enough. With a wetmate 28mm still narrow fort tastes but acceptable for small fish or larger fish at distance. An ideal lens would be 12-50 with stabiliser!!
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does a 12mm vs 14mm at the wide end make that much difference? I suspect with my 0.4x Opteka it would be an acceptable solution, what's the best way to test FOV? like the Wetmate would restore a 24mm (35mm equivalence) focal length to 87 degree. I still don't know how to figure out the FOV of the Opteka.
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14 becomes 28 or 75 degrees FOV 12 becomes 24 or 84 degrees FOV
Instead of your opteka At that point you would put an Inon lens on the 14 but then we are back to the usual issues of chromatic aberration and somewhat blurred edges
Would you not use a compact directly if you have to blow away the resolution? The sharpness of the RX100 is actually a bit better than the 14-42
You can check the gallery of scipione for the Inon results, I think it looks very similar or worse than my RX100 wide angle images but same goes for the 9-18mm
The panasonic 7-14 is definitely sharper than all the other options we are discussing here
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So the Panasonic 14-42mm PZ is the lens to go for GH4 and video shooter. That would allow decent WA and macro (using a +5 & +10 diopter). Did that sum up the rig setup to go with should one moving into GH4?
Well, I wouldn't recommend ONLY getting the 14-42mm PZ - unless you only shoot macro. I think that, combined with a flip wet macro lens, the 14-42mm PZ is a good lens when the subject size will range from small fish (say a lion fish) to very small (e.g. shrimps and nudis). In other words, I expect it to be a good Lembeh set up.
For reef and wreck diving, I'm happy with the 7-14mm in a dome port. Great for anything except the really small stuff. Ideal for seascapes, divers, large and medium fish, etc. Let's you get close without losing parts of the subject. And it is a very sharp lens. It can focus quite close for WA CU shots (see the footage at 3:10 in http://www.peterwalker.com/tioman.html from a couple of weeks ago), albeit with a lot of background.
Regards
Peter
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Peter - or anyone that has the zoom gear for the 14-42PZ - can the zoom gear be adjusted to operate the focus switch instead of the zoom switch? If that is the case then the zoom can be accomplished via the menu dial (after assigning the zoom control to a function button).
