Has anyone out there got their hands on one yet? Mine's on back-order, "early March" per the retailer. Well it is early March but the retailer still has no more information than that.

Ron

No but look forward to hearing your thoughts on the lens. Especially since you are coming from a Nikkor 80-400mm. I love my Nikkor 80-400 lens. It just feels much nicer to use than my Panasonic 100-300 lens. The focus ring especially is something i dislike about the 100-300 lens. It's just squishy & not very responsive.
Please post back here when you get the lens & have had a chance to put it through its paces.
Thanks,
Bryce

B&H appears to be saying mid-March and Amazon is saying end of March with a pretty confident ship date. Not much in the way of good sample images released yet.

Retailer says "no news" which a bit of a bugger but nowt one can do about it. Off to Espana in April. Bird vidding trip. Handy to have that lens with me.

Here's a YouTube vid Bryce with my new Sigma 150-600 "Sports" and TC1401. Attached to the GH4 via a Metabones "Smart" adapter. Follow focus a bit iffy but that's me.

A far superior combo than my older 80-400 Nikkor with/without a 1.4X T.C. apart from weight and bulk. Though I wish (and told them) that Sigma would make all of their lenses in MFT mount.

Ron

https://youtu.be/xXAWTl2MMM4

That was great. Little guy was hard to follow wasn't he?

Nice vid Ron,
Ah the joys of following such a tightly framed subject at such narrow fields of view!!! You did very well!!

That Sigma lens sure is built like a tank. Almost as heavy too! I guess if the weather sealing is what you're after, then you have to go for that version over the contemporary version. Albeit at the expense of the massive weight gain.
I have to say, while an M4/3 mount would be great, i actually like the fact that with my Tamron 150-600, or Nikkor 80-400 i can use a couple of different adaptors. One being the Metabones speedbooster, giving me that extra stop of light if need be. Of course i reduce the crop of the lens with this, so that can be either a good or bad thing! Or i use my adaptor with a built in variable ND filter. This adaptor is the one i use the most, as i can not only control my aperture, but keep it where i want it, without having to change shutter speed. It is a little fiddly, but having that control is really awesome. In fact, along with no XLR's, no built in ND filters is the only thing i miss about using the GH4 over a dedicated video camera.
Regards,
Bryce

Houbara Bustard not that small, about the size of a Brent/Brant Goose but with much longer legs.

Can't half shift though.

I'm using Varavon Follow Focus Slings for both zoom and focus on my Sigma. Cheap and cheerful but okay, particularly as I do most of my video from inside a car with the tripod set up over the passenger seat, focussing via a SWIT monitor. (Too many wires which why I'm interested in an iPad or even better Macbook Air as a wireless monitor/controller, see post below)

In retrospect I should've got the "Contemporary" instead of "Sport" Sigma given my preference for video from car.

Ron

Well that's interesting! The only Bustards i've ever seen were about the size you describe, but watching the video, they appear to be way smaller. ??
I just looked up the Varavon focus sling. Very similar to the one Panasonic sells. Do you find it helps with focusing much? I guess you have to move your hand further to get the same adjustment as you would with your fingers on the ring itself?? I miss using a follow focus for the precision it gives, just trying to think of a way to make something work that doesn't need mounting on rails but will still operate like a traditional follow focus. I have some ideas, just need the time to put something together.
Regards,
Bryce

That Sigma looked good. Thanks for sharing.

Bryce, what adapter are you using that has a builtin ND? Thanks-

Hi Mark,
This is the adaptor i'm using. Have to say, it's the adaptor i use all the time unless the light is really low & i need to get the extra stop i get with the speedbooster.
FotodioX Vizelex ND Throttle Adapter for Nikon NDTHRTL-NIKG-MFT
Regards,
Bryce

The Sling(s) works okay for me, not as precise as my follow focus used on XLH1 and EX3 but then no need for rails and all that messing about if e.g. one wants to remove the TC from the lens.
As I'm usually sat in car I have to stretch to get to the lens rings and the Slings mean all I have to do is use a finger or two to rotate. Problem, and the FF was similar, is that unpredictability of birds movements means very easy to focus "past" the bird and pulling focus back can similarly be overdone.

I should have mentioned that my Metabones Canon EF to MFT "Smart" adapter provides lens "automation" i.e. aperture control via the GH4, image stabilisation and auto-focus which I've not tried yet.

Looking forward to the Lumix as complementary to the Sigma(with TC) and a lot less weight.

Here's another YouTube vid. with the Sigma/TC/Metabones/Varavon combination. This time 1080p "Variable Frame Rate"
https://youtu.be/7eEGesQxVNs

He was certainly being cooperative. Looks great!

In retrospect I should've got the "Contemporary" instead of "Sport" Sigma given my preference for video from car.


Hello Ronald,
Nice jobs; congrats!
I don't understand why you seem to regret the "Contemporary" Sigma 150-600mm instead of "the Sports" one. It is lighter, okay, but since you shoot from the car you don't really care? "Sports" version is supposed to best the best one isn't?

My understanding , via reading blogs and the like since I purchased the lens, is that the Sport and the Contemporary are optically identical, differences being in build and weather sealing.

Given I do most videoing from inside a vehicle, and hardly ever outside in the rain, I might have saved some money as well as having a lighter back-pack when going through airport check-in or when out and about.
It doesn't bother me though, c'est la vie.

Still no sign of the 100-400.

Ron

Thank you Ronald. It's true that the price difference between the Sports and Contemporary may not be really justified.
For the moment I use the Tamron 150-600 with the Smart Adapter (it was released before the Sigmas), that's fine but not excellent.
The Panasonic 100-400 should be sharper on the GH4. In France, it is announced for April 11th.

Mine's due for delivery today. I will report further as presumably will loads of others. I will avoid moon photos though, I promise.


Ron

Nice little video that Ron. Where was it filmed. I'm just up the road from you at Little Hoole,
Peter

Bustard on Fuerteventura, Owl near Spurn. Not local but plenty is.

Ron

This is the adaptor i'm using. Have to say, it's the adaptor i use all the time

Bryce - I am really surprised with the image quality of your footage, having in mind that you use adaptor with a built in variable ND filter. As far as I know - variable ND are useful up to about 100mm focal length. Above it - like 200 or 300mm - the sharpness is badly affected, if not destroyed at all... Didn't you encounter such a problems?

Hi Waldi,
I haven't noticed any issues at all with this adaptor. Maybe because it goes in between the lens & the sensor? Only problem is that there is always a loss of light due to having the ND filter there. If i need more light, i simply change out the adaptor for the Metabones speedbooster.
I have recently made a little bracket to hold an XLR pre-amp along with a home made loupe type thing that fits over the LCD screen. This also connects to a bracket on the tripod foot of the lens & braces the camera when i have the long lens on. Now my GH4 feels like a real camera!! I will have to post a photo of this setup in case anyone is interested.

Hi Ron,
Did you get your hands on the 100-400mm lens yet? I watched a review on the Panasonic GX85 the other day, & among other lens', they were using it with the 100-400. They didn't have too much good to say about it though. Seems it suffers from mechanical issues just like the 100-300 so often does.
Regards,
Bryce

Well not overly impressed, with a major caveat, that my main targets with this lens, butterflies and dragonflies are few and far between so far this summer so not a lot of opportunity to use it.

I think image quality is okay but I don't like the ergonomics of the lens. (I also own the Olympus 40-150 which similar price, and which I can't help but compare.) A substantial lens extension when zooming out so quite slow, not good for moving subjects and also quite stiff.(I'm talking video of course). The Olympus is internal zoom so v quick and easy.

Manual focus is similarly rather slow from near to far, with a large diameter focussing ring. Olympus much easier quicker and smoother.

Looking at the two lenses side by side the Olympus, okay a constant max F 2.8 so quite fat, looks professional, a heavier lens. The Olympus also has a dedicated 1.4X TC which very handy.
The Olympus also much better "close focus" so can cancel out the effect of the longer focal length of the Pannie.

Autofocus, which I occasionally use, "AFS", is okay with the Olympus but sometimes seems to hunt with the Pannie.

Pannie nice and small so handy for carting about and works well off my light tripod. Image stabilisation very good though I don't do a lot of handheld. I find i.s. sometimes useful on a breezy day when using a tripod. No stabilisation with the Olympus on a GH4 of course, hopefully yes on a GH5.

The Pannie really needs a 1.4X T.C., the Olympus one doesn't fit (a new and unfortunate trend with TCs?),
as 400mm not a lot e.g. for videoing birds, even with a 2.3X 4K crop.

If asked to choose between the two lenses my choice would be the Olympus but then I also have a Sigma 150-600 which, with a 1.4X T.C. in place is my bird video "standard lens".

Ron

Now getting used to the 100-400 and its idiosyncrasies. My main target with this lens, as mentioned above, is insects: butterflies and dragonflies.

The small size and relatively light weight of the lens and GH4 enables me to use a lightweight tripod and head, so I'm more mobile.

Not using a focussing monitor however means problems in locating the target, particularly when say a small butterfly, close up, perched in a mass of vegetation. Fold out screen pretty ordinary and I have to contend with an effective minimum focal length in 4K of 230mm.

I'm "congenitally stuck" if that the phrase, with manual focus but I might have to use auto from time to time just to speed things up with subjects that won't keep still.

Anyway, here's a few clips from last week, cobbled together as always via Mpeg Streamclip:

https://youtu.be/JvhwD7bxne8

Looks nice and sharp.

Another short YouTube vid here, with muzack. With a GH4 and the 100-400. Straight off the SD card via MPEG Streamclip. Light weight of the cam/lens/tripod/head meant an easy carry into a cramped location (there for over an hour).

The long zoom extension still a bit of a nuisance but focussing at long range, frequently at infinity not too bad.
GH4 focus peaking almost an essential.

Okayish on my 4K monitor. Was using I.S. due to stiff breeze (see the sea state) which makes panning a bit iffy.

Ron
https://youtu.be/PxzGyicnZbI

I meant to add that I was talking to a Panasonic rep at the British Birdfair on Saturday. He (a Brit) agreed that the Yanks were far more likely than the Brits to shoot video with a GH4.

He also said that the commonest complaint about the 100-400 was the focus extension and he agreed that it needed a 1.4X T.C. (I think he meant Panasonic agreed. I hope so).

No comment about a GH5 which the official line.

Ron