22May Canon 5d mark III body $2599
I’ve been happily shooting on a pair Canon 5d mark III’s since the camera was released and despite the improvements in image quality other cameras might offer I still find it an enjoyable experience. If you bought the 5d mark III when I did you would have paid around $3200, but the price for a new 5d mark III body often fluctuates. Right now you can pick up a 5d mark III body for $2599 with free shipping on ebay from an American seller. Normally these deals come from overseas sellers and this is the first time I’ve seen this sort of pricing from someone in the States. As with all of these sales it’s hard to say how long it’ll last, so if you want one you might want to jump on it
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22May DSLR Smartphone Hot Shoe Mount – First impressions
I know a number of you are using the DSLR Controller app and the TP-Link wireless hack I posted awhile back to control and monitor your camera. The problem is that there aren’t a lot of cheap simple ways to mount the TP-link or your phone (unless you count velcro). I try to keep an eye out for new mounting options as they show up and found the DSLR Smartphone Hot Shoe Mount adapter (above) for a little less than $15.
The Smartphone Hot Shoe Mount comes with a 1/4 20 shoe adapter with a ball head and spring loaded clamp. Unfortunately the adapter clamp doesn’t quite open up enough to hold a Nexus 7 tablet in place but it is large enough to hold a 5 inch Smartphone for those HTC and Samsung users.
If you want to use the adapter on a rig or friction arm, the shoe adapter on the bottom of the unit has female threads making it easy to adapt. That combined with the ball head gives you a lot of adjustment flexibility.
While most of the Smartphone Hot Shoe Mount is made out of plastic it does seem to be reasonably solid. The clamp feels nice and sturdy and the adjustment thumb nut on the ball head snugs up nice and tight. This isn’t something you’ll want to take into extreme conditions but for $14.95 it feels reasonably solid.
The rubberized grip and spring tension on the adapter clamp give it a solid hold on my rather heavy Droid 4. If I have some time tonight maybe I’ll give this a shake test with one of my old broken android phones and see how good of a grip it really has. Even if it doesn’t stand up the Smartphone Hot Shoe Mount still seems like a reasonably decent option for the price.
17May Panasonic 25mm f1.4 lens, a pretty affordable prime.
Even though I picked up the coveted Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 lens I still like to have auto focus when possible. With that in mind I just grabbed the child size Panasonic 25mm f1.4 lens. The Voigtlander will still be my shallow depth of field monster for the Panasonic GH4 but at a price of around $450 used the 25mm f1.4 is a reasonably affordable option.
Even though the AF system makes the Panasonic 25mm f1.4 a little fatter than the Voigtlander it’s still incredibly lightweight for a f1.4 lens. Many people told me the Panasonic GH4 body would be tiny compared to my Canon 6d or 5d mark III. While the body is a bit smaller than my 6d it hasn’t been a major difference for me. The real weight and size reduction is in the M4/3 lens format.
Setting the Panasonic 25mm f1.4 lens next to the Voigtlander 25mm f0.95 lens and the Canon 50mm f1.2, it really becomes apparent how much weight you shed in the amount of glass used. The Canon 50mm f1.2 looks like fat albert standing next to the rest of these lenses. You can basically pack 3 Panasonic primes in the weight envelope of a 50mm f1.2 and that’s probably the best selling point of an M4/3 system for me.
Now that I have most of my normal focal lengths covered with the Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 and these two 25mm lenses (50 equivalents) I think I might start looking for something in the wider range. I’ve seen the Panasonic 7-14mm f4 but I’ve heard there might be an Olympus 7-14mm f2.8 on the horizon. Do any of you M4/3 users have the scoop on a release date for the Olympus?
16May Radeon R9 290x used prices down to $300
If you haven’t already, you might want to check out my rendering tests with the R9 290x. While the 290x doesn’t support CUDA, openCL has come along way in terms of rendering performance in Adobe CC and the used prices make it a very attractive option. Right now the used prices for the R9 290x are down in the low $300 range. While most of these cards were probably used for virtual currency mining, they’re still perfectly suited for rendering work in Adobe CC and even some 4k gaming (depending on the game).
At around $300 an R9 290x starts to look pretty attractive compared to a $500 GTX 780. If i’m lucky I might have a chance to do some testing with a GTX Titan in the next few weeks to see how well R9 290x stacks up. It’ll be very interesting to see how well a $1000 GPU competes against a budget unit in terms of rendering speed in Adobe CC. My guess is the Titan will win the race, but real question is, by how much?
16May Sony A7s $2498 official pricing announced.
At 12:00 A.M. this morning Sony officially announced pricing and a release date for the new A7s. When I first heard about this camera I was very disappointed at the lack of internal 4k recording, but after getting my hands on it at NAB it completely changed my mind.
While I’m disappointed that Sony chose not to add an internal 4k recording option to the A7s, the amazing low light performance of the new 12mp sensor really seems to make up for it. I’ve been shooting 4k with the Panasonic GH4 for the past few weeks and while the internal 4k recording is nice and image quality and resolution is good, I don’t see myself using it exclusively any time in the near future.
What it boils down to for me is extreme low light, a full frame look, and shallow depth of field versus internal 4k recording, flip out screen, and a lower price. While 4k recording is a nice feature to have, extreme low light performance is a much more useful feature for me and I’ve grown to love the look of full frame. I have no plans to invest in a $2,000 external 4k recorder so for me the Sony A7s will probably take the place of one of my 5d mark III bodies and my hated Canon c100.
I’m interested to hearing what you guys think. Is Panasonic GH4’s 4k recording and price more important to you than extreme low light at 1080p and a full frame sensor? Do you really need 4k in your DSLR or is it just the next “must have” feature?
As of right now I have 2 Panasonic GH4 bodies and a hand full of M4/3 lenses. I like the GH4 enough that i’ll be keeping one of them around, but I don’t think I’ll be investing enough into M4/3 lenses to make 2 bodies useful. The GH4 I have yet to unbox will probably be ebayed to pay for the Sony A7s preorder. To me it almost feels like these cameras will end up being complementary. When you want extreme low light in a full frame format, you’ll go for the Sony A7s and when you want 4k you’ll reach for the Panasonic GH4.
I guess it’s time to start selling some gear.
15May Samsung U28D590D 28 inch 4k monitor at $599 again
Quick heads up, the Samsung 28 inch 4k monitor is back down to $599 on amazon right now. If you want one you might want to move fast as the price seems to be bouncing all over the place.
15May HMNSound $79 Lavalier mic – First impressions
I just got this sub $100 Lav microphone in from HMN Sound. Base price is $79 and you can get these with pretty much any wireless system adapter you like. In this cause I went for the Sennheiser twist lock adapter (extra $20) since most of my wireless units are Sennheiser G2 or G3 units.
There isn’t a huge price difference between the HMN Sound lav and the Sennheiser ME-2 lav I normally use. Going with the HMN Sound saves you about $30, but the HMN lav offers a lot more options in terms of adapters and audio performance. In this case I have the shelved version, which according to HMN “provides a smooth 6 dB “shelved up” curve between 2 kHz and 15 kHz to compensate for lost facial reflections when the mic is used on the exterior of the body, as in the typical lapel or tie-clip position”.
Unlike the Sennheiser ME-2 lav, the HMN Sound lav is compatible with normal 48v and 24v XLR phantom power as well as lower voltages. So if you are looking for a lav to plug directly into an XLR jack, you can get the HMN Sound lav with an XLR adapter ready to go.
I’m still catching up from travel, but hopefully I’ll have some audio tests up of the HMN Sound lav in the next week or so and a full review to follow. I’m interested to compare this little hand made lav to my Sennheiser ME-2 lav microphones and see how it stacks up.
14May Panasonic GH4 weather seal testing
If you’ve been wondering why I’ve been missing from the internet for the past week and half or so, it’s because I was in France and Iceland. I made the decision to travel with only the Panasonic GH4 for the trip so I could shoot some 4k test footage and get a better feel for the camera. I’ll be posting more on that once I get a chance to dig through my footage and take a look at how well the Panasonic GH4 performed. I would have had something posted sooner, but I ended up getting stuck in Iceland a little longer than expected due to the pilot strike. A few extra days in Reykjavik wasn’t horrible, but i’m glad to be home.
While the weather in both countries ended up being pretty decent, I wanted to put the GH4 through the same sort of torcher I would expect my Canon 6d or 5d mark III to go through on a normal trip. Since I didn’t end up running into any rain I figured a waterfall was the next best thing to a rain test and you can’t throw a stick without hitting a waterfall in Iceland.
While I don’t recommend soaking down your Panasonic GH4 while walking behind a waterfall, I went ahead and risked my GH4 and Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 in a 10 minute rain test. Both the Gh4 and Olympus are supposed to be “weather sealed” and while that’s a pretty ambiguous term it should at least mean that the camera and lens can handle a bit of water.
As you can see the GH4 and Olympus 12-40mm f2.8 collected a very reasonable amount of moisture. It took 3 or 4 minutes to dry everything off, but the camera, lens, and flip out screen all held up through the downpour. The camera functioned without an issue while I was behind the waterfall and I’m pretty impressed with the performance.
I don’t know if the Panasonic GH4 would hold up to as much abuse as the Canon 6d or 5d mark III would take if it met with a 5 foot drop test but the weather sealing does seem to be very good. Honestly I was expecting to call my insurance company after this little run. I didn’t think the flip out screen and controls were sealed well enough for the GH4 to handle this kind of thing, but I was pleasantly surprised.
I had a lot of time to play around with the GH4 while I was out of the country. A full review should be coming in the next week or two depending on how much time I have. I’ll keep you posted.
02May Panasonic GH4 finally showed up
The fast shipping ebay seller ended up getting the GH4 body to me faster than B&H and as of this morning (writing this at 4 a.m.) prices have started to drift up to around $2000 if you want a GH4 before the end of next month. My B&H order did finally ship so maybe that’ll show up by Saturday if i’m lucky.
Having the Panasonic GH4 in my hands this week works out well. It means I’ll be able to take it with me to France and Iceland next week, so I should have some pretty decent 4k review footage for you guys when I make it back to the states on the 12th.
Taking a look at the Accessories list on the box, I was surprised to find the Panasonic DMW-YAGH missing from the list. I wonder why that’s not listed, maybe panasonic doesn’t expect it to be a big seller. I was however, happy to see support for the Panasonic GH3’s battery grip. I prefer the extended battery life that a battery grip offers and use them on most of my cameras.
It looks like pretty much all of the accessories are compatible with both the GH3 and GH4 bodies which makes the GH4 an attractive upgrade path for GH3 owners. Having a battery grip, battery, or lens adapter that works with multiple cameras always makes traveling easier.
I’m new to the m4/3 format so I haven’t spent a lot of time with previous versions of Panasonic’s cameras. It was somewhat surprising to me that the Panasonic GH4 body felt so good in my hand the first time I picked it up. Sure it’s tiny compared to my 5d mark III and 6d bodies, but it still feels nice and substantial. Honestly I was expecting it to be more plasticy for the price.
The Panasonic GH4 really does a good job of including buttons for almost everything function. On top of that, Panasonic gives you the option to program a number of buttons for your most commonly used features. The one thing I will miss though is the LCD display on the right hand side of the camera. Canon uses this to display all of the most commonly used settings which is a very handy feature to have photography. Still, I see myself using the Panasonic GH4 more as a video camera and only occasionally as a stills camera so the missing LCD probably isn’t the end of the world.
The flip out screen on the Panasonic GH4 for me, is one of those feature I thought I’d never really need. After all I have a number of very good field monitors that I use regularly basis. However, once I got used to using it I fell in love. I’d almost forgotten how nice it is to use a flip out screen for handheld shots and how handy it can be to flip the screen around if you’re shooting someone talking into the camera to give them an idea of framing. The flipout screen will probably end up being one of the biggest changes for me in terms of they way I work.
One other thing, I was pretty close on my memory card estimates. A blank 32GB Sandisk Extreme Pro card gives me an approximate record time in camera of 48 minutes and I estimated around 40 minutes so it’s pretty close. Also the Extreme Pro cards I’ve been using don’t seem to have any trouble with 4k recording at a 100mbps data rate.
I’ll keep playing around with the Panasonic GH4 over the weekend and try and get a few more things posted before I leave the country. Once the battery is charged back up i’m going to sit down and go through the menus and settings on this thing. It usually takes me a few hours to get a new camera setup to my liking and I’d like to test out a few of the included picture styles.
02May Samsung 4k monitor U28D590D – First Impressions
The Samsung U28D590D 28 inch 4k monitor just showed up from Amazon. I picked this up over easter while it was on sale for $599 but shipping was delayed several times on my order before it finally made it to Fedex. Sometimes Amazon Prime shipping just doesn’t live up to its super fast delivery promise.
Inside the box you have an HDMI cable, displayport cable, power adapter, and the 4k panel as well as a manual and a disk I have yet to explore. There were a lot of complaints about the stand on the Samsung 4k monitor being wobbly and it’s pretty easy to see why. That little upside down T shaped bracket and two small screws are all that supports this 28 inch monitor.
Still the Samsung 4k monitor is extremely lightweight, especially when compared to the equally wobbly 2560×1440 Catleap monitor I’ve been using for the past few years. It’s also about an inch thinner than the Catleap making it a pretty delicate little flower.
Ports on the Samsung 4k monitor aren’t in the most convenient location. In place of a versa mount we are left with 5 ports that come directly out of the back of monitor. So if you are trying to place this monitor up against a wall or in a tight location the cable placement could be a problem.
A few of you reported receiving the Samsung 4k monitor with Korean text on screen and a foreign power plug. Mine showed up with english selected on screen and a standard United States power cable, so I guess it depends on who and where you order it from.
I just got the monitor plugged in and set up a few hours ago so I haven’t had a chance to color calibrate it or anything like that. However my first impressions of the 4k monitor are mostly positive so far. Out of the box, the color settings seemed to be set to low contrast and colors were a little washed out, but I’ll have to wait and see what it looks like once I’ve run a color calibration on it. Build quality is on the cheap end but useable for the price.
The Panasonic GH4 showed up at the same time as the Samsung 4k monitor so I’ll be dividing my time between both of them over the next few days. Should be fun.
