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Return of the Leicina? (Panny GH-1)


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How'ja like to shoot high-def video with M lenses? Or the 25 Summilux? or a 7-14mm Panny lens? Or (with enough adapters) R lenses?

 

Panasonic premieres DMC-GH1 with HD video recording: Digital Photography Review

 

Or 1:1 "Rolleiflex" images at 3000 x 3000 pixels (that's a bigger file than one can get cropping an M8).

 

I think I'm in love (for anything where I don't desire the "real" M viewfinder)

 

For those who don't get my title: Back in the 1960s Leica sold an 8mm movie camera - the Leicina ("Leic(a)" + "cine(ma)")

 

Who knew convergence could come this fast or this simply for Leica lenses?

 

Rowzah!

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Guest stnami
But is shooting movies with a manual focus lens credible?
It's hard work and requires a tripod for the best results so it really negates the mobility of the system, it all ends up as one point shooting and some editing finesse is needed. All is feasible as long as one is open to results that may not match the intent
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Seems to work for the pros in Hollywood...their "autofocus" is a guy or gal who does the focusing...called a "focus-puller" in the credits.

 

A bit more detail here: Panasonic DMC-GH1 brief hands-on: Digital Photography Review

 

"Face recognition" - meaning not just that it recognizes a generic face, but can remember specific "familiar" faces, allowing you to lock focus (with an AF lens) on either half of, say, Brangelina - and follow him/her throughout the shot.

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Guest stnami

A dedicated video/movie system is still going to pull the better results, the light weight combined with the shape of the camera are not ideal for moving pictures but could make sense for stop gap stuff if you are taking stills

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Totally off the movie topic - for a moment - there's another interesting aspect (pun) to the GH1. It uses an oversized sensor, so that images made with aspect ratios other than the nominal 4/3rds 4:3 are not just cropped out of the 4:3 image (losing pixels and FOV in the process).

 

Similar to how the D-lux 3 handles 3:2 or 16:9. The effective focal length stays the same regardless of aspect ratio. A 4:3 image is 4000 pixels in the long dimension, but a 16:9 is 4300 pixels.

 

As someone who really likes 3:2 and 1:1 for stills, as well as 16:9 for video AND stills, (and has always found the native 4:3 format insipid) this is a big deal for me. It's the first camera that has made me seriously consider 4/3rds (along with that new compact 7-14mm!)

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Similar to how the D-lux 3 handles 3:2 or 16:9.

Andy--I know the D-Lux 4 does that, but I thought the D-Lux 3 still used the "chop off the ends" technique of the D-Lux 2?

 

You're correct, though: It's a major improvement over designs where one part or another of the image is removed, effectively reducing focal length (equivalence).

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Now repeat after me, "That's how they made movies for a hundred years."

And still do, AFAIK.

 

Maybe AF is sneaking into digital production; possibly even into film production, but I doubt it. I'd be delighted to receive clarification from someone in the industry.

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But is shooting movies with a manual focus lens credible?

 

Hi there Nick,

 

As stated in the posts above, the camera's that they use on film sets (Panavision/Arriflex) make use of manual focus (hence the focus puller). Focusing on these sets is really done by a guy who measures the distance from the actor/scene to the film plane with a tape measure during the scene setup. In photo terms this is what is known as scale focusing. Judging the results that we see on the big screen, these guys really know what they are doing... Light metering and color measurement are also done manually with the use of a light meter and color meter (these are hideously expensive). Remember also that most of the time, the film camera exposes the film at 1/60 sec shutter speed (the human eye needs to have a rate of not less than 48 frames per second to avoid flicker on the screen).

 

Andreas

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Howard, you're right. I got confused amongst the D-luxes and LXs. Anyway the CURRENT D-lux with "24-60" lens.

 

Regarding still-camera video vs. "real" video: convergence is on the way. Within a decade there will be very few video-only or still-photo-only cameras in the market, except at the extreme ends of the price range (and for film users). I expect whatever passes for a Leica M in 2019 may even have video capability.

 

I notice the GH1 not only has a built-in stereo microphone on top (like most competent video-only cameras, and very unlike the little cellphone-like mikes on the D90/5Dii) but also has a mike jack and an accesory shotgun mike to fit the accesory shoe. Vid-vid-vid-video-to-the-bone!

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But is shooting movies with a manual focus lens credible?

 

Why this obsession with autofocus? Its often innaccurate anyway, I shot loads of 16mm technical stuff with Arri, Bolex and Pathe, often using a tape measure for focussing, on PROPER lenses you get an accurate focussing scale, not like on my autofocus Nikon lenses.

 

I also managed to make money shooting motor racing on a Pentax with a preset diaphragm lens as well as manual focus, and plenty of other people did as well.

The last time I shot motor racing I turned off the autofocus, the grey tarmac and security fencing don't half get the poor thing confused!

 

Gerry

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... on PROPER lenses you get an accurate focussing scale, not like on my autofocus Nikon lenses.

...

Gerry

 

Hi Gerry,

 

I completely agree with you. Nowadays on the new stuff that comes out from Canon and Nikon (especially the consumer versions) you don't even get that little window anymore to show you at what distance the thing has focused to - let alone depth of field scales or an infrared mark. This makes it impossible to do scale focusing.

 

Andreas

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Does anyone here actually remember this symbol on the camera? I notice that even the M8 does not have this anymore. This used to be the Film Plane indicator. This was the mark that you used to measure the subject to film plane distance too with a tape measure for scale focusing.

 

Andreas

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Hi Gerry,

 

I completely agree with you. Nowadays on the new stuff that comes out from Canon and Nikon (especially the consumer versions) you don't even get that little window anymore to show you at what distance the thing has focused to - let alone depth of field scales or an infrared mark. This makes it impossible to do scale focusing.

 

Andreas

 

...... or to set the lens at the hyperfocal distance to get the depth of field that you need. All part of the joy of using my Ms rather than the N...ns. ;)

These things are electonic toys for photographic ignoramuses (is that spelt right?)

 

Gerry,

 

An old man from the days when an understanding of the process improved the results, to paraphrase another member of this illustrious group,

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Does anyone here actually remember this symbol on the camera? I notice that even the M8 does not have this anymore. This used to be the Film Plane indicator. This was the mark that you used to measure the subject to film plane distance too with a tape measure for scale focusing.
The G1 has it (although it is black on black, you have to add the white paint yourself if you want that). I have not seen the GH-1 but I would not think they abandoned it for the video version. Go ahead and take out your tape measure
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