GH4 with 14-42mm lens or LX100?

Yeah, need to wait for more review. Sadly EOSHD is very slow in updating their site, and I don't think they take point and shoot seriously. They haven't even review the FZ1000 in detail yet.

Does not look bad to me

I am in the market to replace my G12 and newly aquired G1X MKII with something better for underwater use.
During my work as dive guide and/or instructor i need a small rig to catch surprises and pix of clients and my G12/Patima rig as great for that.

There are a lot of videos in Youtube and Flickr made with the LX100 and they are simply breathtaking.
The GH4 is one of the best cameras for video work in this moment and it seems that the LX100 is very, very near.
As far as i as reading and interpreting real time tests, the LX100 is far superior to the rest of the pack like G1X MMKII, RX100 III or the new G7X.

minimum 3 cm focus distance, superfast autofocus, fast Leica lens and a small, light size should make a perfect UW compact.

The only backdraw for underwater use is the external strobe as it will make the housing bigger than necessary,
but i could trigger my Z-240 electrically even if that is not really what i like to do.
Now all depends hat the mayor housing manufacturers will do and if/how they will implemet the extrernal strobe.
Chris

The only problem I see is the lens zoom implementation it's only 3x however the lens is far back at wide end may not work with wet lenses

The only problem I see is the lens zoom implementation it's only 3x however the lens is far back at wide end may not work with wet lenses

A solution with a dedicated wide angle port as Patima G11/12 housing have would fix that.

This short 67mm treaded port will allow to mount wet lenses but avoid to zoom as the lens would hit the glass.

I am wondering why only Patima realized this great solution for a common problem with compacts.

But anyway, is there a recent compact not having this problem?

Chris

Yes the sony RX100 is perfect for wet lenses and the mark II 24/25p video is excellent. The new mark III has also an output for an external recorder. However when I compared it to the older version it was not that great at all you can see the clip on my YouTube channel. Also the canon S series and olympus xz keep working fine with wet lenses. Blocking the zoom means no close up with a 24-75mm lens

The big issue with the LX100 would be the long barrel zoom extension, which mean wide angle is going to be a challenge. To these days, I have't seen any good wet lens solution for high end point and shoot in a wreck dive situation. Inon wide angle lens plus dome is a costly solution and is getting outdated. It should be time for major companies to create new set of wide angle wet lens, like Dyron, FIX, Inon etc, but sadly they're not active at all in creating Wide Angle wet lens.

You are right two potential issues there vignetting as well as increased fringing due to the distance lens to port. However a solution like the wetmate should still be possible to give you the 26mm fov not great but enough for reef shots

Blocking the zoom means no close up with a 24-75mm lens

Can you explain that?

I never felt the need to zoom in under water, in case i wan't a close up i crop the picture afterwards.

If the WA-port is long enough that the lens can extend and focus (if she extends while focusing) without hitting the glass a wet-lens can be very near.

This is the way PATIMA solved this problem on their G11/G12 housing.

Chris

When you want to take macro shots you work at long focal lengths around 100mm and to get closer you use a diopter so that you can fill the frame. Taking close up shots at wide end is not something you do. When you take portraits on land 85mm is considered the standards these days this reduces the angle of view and ensures you don't end up with busy backgrounds. Underwater things are different but not that different considering SLR users work with 90-105 macro lenses the only issue is the amount of water in between. So reduced field of view and closest distance work better for portrait and macro

I am in the market to replace my G12 and newly aquired G1X MKII with something better for underwater use.

During my work as dive guide and/or instructor i need a small rig to catch surprises and pix of clients and my G12/Patima rig as great for that.

As i wrote, i need a small rig and no fiddeling around with diopters and additional lenses as i need a small, sturdy housing i can

tuck under my arm so that it is out of the way if not needed.

The G11/12 was almost perfect for that reason and initially i had a UWL100 with me for wide angle shots and clients,

so i may should get a G15 or G16 as those do the trick except the videos are not so great.

When i find time to go photographing seriously i take my D800 rig and have fun with the 105mm for macro work and

the Sigma 15mm for WA and CFWA.

Chris

I would consider a gopro as the video is far better than canon G series

I would consider a gopro as the video is far better than canon G series

It looks like the concern revealed by Cameralab is valid:

The Image Stabilization is questionable, look like it has lineskipping/scaling that make the 4K video not as clean. Go GH4 for me it is!

I have one and I found its stabilizer better than the OIS in 14-45 with GH4. Default contrast and sharpness are too high but you can tune them down in color profile. In general I like images from it more than from GH4.

The 14-45 you refer to is a "MEGA" OIS. I will be using the 14-42mm, which has "Power" OIS. Power is better than Mega. The OIS in the LX100 is Power OIS but only applicable to photo, not sure what kind of OIS is used when switch to video.

When you say images, are you refering to video image or still image?

Yes, the OIS in my 14-45 is Mega OIS and Power OIS should be better. I read some testing results in personal-view and most of them said LX100 has better stabilizer than 12-35, so I am not sure who's right and who's wrong.

Sorry I was talking about video image.

Yes, the OIS in my 14-45 is Mega OIS and Power OIS should be better. I read some testing results in personal-view and most of them said LX100 has better stabilizer than 12-35, so I am not sure who's right and who's wrong.

Sorry I was talking about video image.

IMHO, you shouldn't be using OIS for underwater video - and therefore OIS should not be a major consideration in selecting underwater cameras or lenses.

OIS is designed to compensate for hand-shake - it's programmed for a particular type and range of motion. Underwater, the housing is dampened by the water around it, removing the kind of hand-shake affect that OIS is designed to resolve. Movement that is likely to spoil video underwater is caused by water currents, small and/or larger, and a hand-shake OIS algorithm is not going to deal with that effectively.

Even shooting "above water" video on a boat, the OIS is going to get confused by the wave action impacting the boat.

In fact, if you are going to be doing any panning or trucking movements, it's probably better to switch OIS off so that it doesn't cause jitter. Better to work on developing good UW shooting technique for WA and get a tripod for CU shots.

Maybe one day a housing manufacturing will develop an internal gimbal with gyro-stabilisers to dampen underwater movements. But, until that day, technique will serve you better than OIS...

Regards

Peter

I do agree that we shouldn't rely 100% on OIS, but I think it would help a bit for new comers and in certain situation.

I think modern OIS do have video shooter in mind like walking and panning, not just handshake cause by hand when pressing the shutter button. This is an example:

I can think of situation where swimming toward a subject while panning and that could use OIS. I think the OIS is giving close to a glide cam kind of result and not expecting gimbals kind of result. I have the Sanyo camcorder and it's software base IS, I can tell the difference between software vs optic IS. So OIS do have some effect. The best way to test is to turn off OIS, shoot video, then turn on the OIS, and shoot the same scene.

Just placed my order for the NA-GH4 housing, guess I will play around with it soon!

Just placed my order for the NA-GH4 housing, guess I will play around with it soon!

You will not regret it.

Now you need to start planning for the Shogun and a housing. Then you'll get even better results from the GH4.

Regards

Peter