FOCUS - experience with Lumix 12-35 F2.8 II ?

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Originally Posted by Steve Rosen

Aaron... As you must know, I totally agree. I have 18 prime lenses, including five Rokinons, the Nokton and a variety of good 70's era still lenses, Leica and Canon...

Wow, you habe quite the treasure chest... That is some serious glass. Awesome!

[Luke Miller]

The primary reason for picking the LS-300 was its ability to use the lenses I already own. I kept all my Nikon glass acquired during my SLR days, so I have a bunch of great primes. But my most used lenses are the Nikon 20-35 f2.8 and the 35-70 f2.8. They cover most of the focal lengths I need. I can go wider with the Panny 12-35 f2.8. And with a lens support (since they exceed the 800 gram limit on the LS-300 lens mount) I can use my much heavier modern Nikon zooms.

While I generally do OK manually focusing using the LS-300 LCD/viewfinder, I get much better results using the Zacuto EVF and its magnified loup. It has its own audio meters, image zoom, and focus peaking since these features are not passed over the HDMI connection from the camera. For exposure the EVF has false color and zebras, and I reverse position the LS-300 LCD so I can see he Histogram.

[Steve Rosen]

Luke, I also use a Z-Finder Pro with the LS300, mounted off the handle with rods that position it way forward for handholding... I also have a Gratical X, which is great in some ways, but I actually prefer the Z-Finder because the screen is huge in comparison, it has the audio meters, and you can flip up the loop. The only time I've ever used the finder or LCD on the camera is when the Z-Finder battery dies suddenly and I need to finish an interview before swapping... I got used to using zebras 20 years ago, so that's still how I judge exposure, using the Z-Finder's zebras, not the camera's...

Today I'm shooting a new mobile medical van for the homeless, and I've opted to use the LS300 with just the Nokton 17.5, with the VSM set at 95% (there's a slight corner vignette, but I can live with it)... As I said above shooting 1080, the Prime Zoom feature gives me a versatility, and the Nokton's f.95 aperture lets me shoot in the dark... Inside the van, which is like a large converted motorhome, 17.5mm is just wide enough and the VSM zoom allows me to get closer to faces.

[Steve Rosen]

As a side note about manual lenses. I recently watched the re-matered BluRay of MONTEREY POP, which, because I had a house in Monterey, I was slated to shoot crowd footage for in 1967, but was on an American Airlines commercial in Texas and couldn't get back in time...

That film (among many other documentaries from that era, DON'T LOOK BACK for instance) is a testament to the talent of good documentary cinematography. Heavy cameras, long manual zoom lenses (usually the 12-120 f.2.8 Angenieux)... No stabilization, no auto exposure, no auto focus. Beautiful to look at...

[Ken Plotin]

Steve,
Agreed! That remastered version of Monterey Pop is a great testament to the enduring quality of good 16mm and shooters of the day. ECO (25ASA tungsten 16 daylight with the 85) and EF with a blazing ASA of 125!

I'd always wanted to work with Pennebaker, Leacock and the Maysles brothers back then. In retrospect, the cameras they built in the early '60s and used at the festival (converted Auricon's and Mitchel's) were superceded by the Eclair NPR by that time... "only" 15+ lbs. with 400' mag, 12-120 and battery. It was introduced in 1963-64.
The great verite cinematographer I worked with, Erik Daarstad, bought the 3rd one in the U.S. back in '66: camera #77. I rented his package for my shoots.
It became the documentary camera of choice well into the'70s when the Eclair ACL ll, Arri SR and the Aaton came along. I can see why you like the JVC LS300...it looks to have the same "feel" as the ACL and Aaton. I finally sold my ACL ll package in 1996 after 20 years.

Anyway, thanks for the nostalgia :).
Ken

[Steve Rosen]

Ken, you just described the very camera I owned at the time, the Eclair NPR, with an Angenieux 12-120 and a 10mm in my pocket (the early camera had a two lens turret, but you couldn't use a wide prime with a long lens like the Angeniux because the front was in the frame)... I don't remember the camera #, but it was in the low hundreds

I've owned five ACLs and still have my 1982 S16 Aaton LTR7 and three S16 zooms in a closet in my office... Those French cameras were so much better than the Arris, but sadly Arri won out in the end...

I do like the LS300 because, as I have mine set up, it does handle like one of those venerable old cine cameras... Out of the box it's a handi-cam though, and there's nothing handy about a handi-cam...

I loved the ergonomic design of the early 2000s JVCs (I don't remember the model #s), unfortunately those cameras didn't hold up well against Sony, Panasonic and Canon...

I wish JVC would re-invent the LS300 with that earlier body style and 10 bit guts (I have a BM Micro and two Pockets, and if they can do 10 bit, why can't a much bigger camera like the JVC?)...

[William Hohauser]

A LS300 in a JVC HM850 body. That would work for me. Or some sort of shoulder brace with an adjustable counter-balance depending on the lens used.

[Steve Rosen]

1967, a revolutionary camera...

[Ken Plotin]

"A LS300 in a JVC HM850 body".

Interesting past blast:
Back in the early '90s, JVC had a really nice SVHS C shoulder mount camcorder, the X-1. I think it was the only "Pro" SVHS C rig out there.

JVC Pro Product Overview Page

I was about to do a show with Betacam SP for the home video company I had at the time. JVC lent me an X-1 camera package to test and I used it for the shoot. Quite a bit lighter than the Beta and picture quality was very good for a color under system, comparing favorably to Betacam's component recording in my situation, especially when editing to a Beta SP master.
When DV came along in 1996, I wished JVC had put it into the (by then discontinued) X-1 body. They could have sold a bunch to the wedding & event market.

Ahhh...progress.
Ken

[Steve Rosen]

This past week I've used the LS300 for two client shoots, one a mobile medical clinic for the homeless, and the other, a walk through of a new apartment building the same hospital is constructing for new hires...

In both cases I took only one lens, the Nokton 17.5.. As I said above, I set the VSM at 95% and was shooting 1080...

On a whim I decided to try Cine Gamma instead of J-Log, with the 709 matrix. I did some testing until I found a setting I could live with, and the results were quite good.

I'm posting this info in this thread because shooting a non-log gamma makes manual focusing a whole lot easier, especially with an EVF like the Z-Finder Pro...

[Aaron Jones Sr.]

Originally Posted by Cary Knoop

Of course I am not talking about continuous auto focus that just does not work well for video on any camera.

I disagree. I use continuous autofocus on the Samsung NX1 and it works awesome. Great for B-roll and gimbal work.