Browsing Category Canon J8x6B 6-48mm f/1.7

Tests and films with the Canon J8x6B 6-48mm 1:1.7 B4 mount lens

GH2 and Canon B4 Lens in Philadelphia Thunder Snow

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I think I’m getting a sense of what it’s like to live in Minnesota. Which is to say we have had a hell of a lot snow this winter and I’m tired of it!!

It seems this year it has snowed at least once a week for the whole month of January. Philadelphia is well known for being paralyzed for any bit of snow. Schools shut down. City services grind to a halt. Except hospitals and institutions of higher learning like universities where I work, they never close down. A couple weeks ago, Philly was hit with a thunder snow storm. I never heard such a thing before but you actually see lightening and hear thunder as the snow pelts down like mad. In approximately less than four hours over a foot of snow came down on Philadelphia. The city was pretty much shutdown. I on the other hand was still working until just after midnight. We do a number of late night video conference courses with California and I was helping to man the evening shift. By the time the professor and I walked outside the building we were shocked to see about 12 inches of snow that had blanketed the entire university. Snow plows were struggling some just spinning out of control. Cabs were stuck in the middle of Market Street with no place to go. The professor had offered me a lift to my house but as I saw the stuck cars and unplowed streets I didn’t think it was a wise idea. Then he pointed to his vehicle it was a huge Land Rover. Nice!

As we plowed our way through the snow it was truly an amazing sight to see. In just a matter of hours the little blizzard had made the rough edged urban Philly landscape a scene out of Edward Scissorhands. Since it was now well past midnight there was no one to be seen in my neighborhood. It really was a beautiful scene and made me realize that snow is beautiful. I decided it would be a great opportunity to do a quick snow test. This time I took my trusty indiSYSTEM indiRAILSpro MP which has a monopod which allowed me to plant my rig in the fresh snow giving me a steadier shot. The MP is my tried and true street rig and this time it really surprised me at how even with the large Canon B4 lens and all the snow how I was able to get some very steady handheld shots.

This test was also an opportunity to push the Panasonic GH2′s codec shooting with heavy snow fall and to see how well the camera would do at night with only the lights of the neighboring houses and street lamps. And then if that wasn’t enough I also used the Canon J8x6B 6-48mm f/1.7 B4 lens with the GH2 in Extended Tele Conversion (ETC) Mode. Clearly, this test pushed the limits. Using ISO 1600 in ETC mode with the Canon B4 lens was nice where the cars and trees were well lit. However, in street scenes with no direct lighting there was a lot of macroblocking which is clearly seen in the vimeo clip. Obviously, there was heavy snow fall so the codec was in the worst possible shooting condition. Upside of things is that even with my GH13 I would not be able to shoot this test because ISO 1600 is horrible and would have made everything extremely noisy and unusable with the low lighting conditions. With the GH2 I was surprised to be able use ISO 1600 especially in the wider shots with the snow fall the GH2 did a pretty good job. The macroblocking is still there but with some good lighting it’s not as heavily pronounced. Bottom line is if you had no choice and had to shoot in these conditions I think you could still make it work.

One interesting finding is that the B4 lens in ETC mode is very difficult to focus with. The image is not as crisp as when you place the B4 lens in the 2x extender mode with no ETC engaged. Even if it wasn’t storming it was extremely hard to focus with the B4 lens in ETC mode. After doing some further testing with the GH2 and the CanonJ8x6B 6-48mm f/1.7 B4 lens I find that I actually prefer to use the B4 lens with the 2x extender engaged because I get a better field of view and I can tell immediately when my subject is in focus. Even if I lose a stop I can pump up the iso and the image still holds up faiirly nicely. That’s something I’m finding out with zoom lenses in generaly when using the GH2′s ETC mode it’s very difficult to lock in sharp focus.

For what it’s worth here is the tail end of the Philadelphia thunder snow. It’s scored with one of my favorite interpretations of Johann Sebastian Bach‘s Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring from George Winston‘s Album Winter.

After the Thunder Snow

a gary san angel film test

Camera:

Panasonic GH2

Extended Tele Conversion (ETC) Mode

Lenses:

Canon J8x6B 6-48mm B4 lens

Rig:

indiSYSTEM indiRAILSpro MP

Music:

Joy

George Winston

December

“Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring”

composed by Johann Sebastian Bach

Location:

University City, Philadelphia

Canon B4 lenses on GH1

Bum Ki Cho a filmmaker and DVXUser member introduced folks to his B4 to Canon FD adapter that he helped get made from a manufacturer in Korea. I was fortunate enough to be able to purchase a couple mounts from him before he left to Korea and recently did some testing with it. With this new B4 mount you can attach it to any Canon FD to m4/3 adapter and have yet another way to make the m4/3 system shine. Bum Ki Cho’s setup is with a Canon SD YJ18x9B4 ITS IF PX12 B4 lens and the B4 adapter.

The B4 to Canon FD adapter mount is well machined and thinner than expected. When I place it on my Canon FD mount it adds only an additional 13.5mm to the front of the FD mount. So it’s not that big of an add-on to the FD mount which is great. When you attach the B4 lens to both pieces it really feels like one complete piece. Strong and sturdy.

When I got the mount in the mail it was about 6pm so there was very little time for me to shoot. I jumped on the trolley and headed for Chinatown. Today’s test was with the beautiful Canon J8x6B 6-48mm 1:1.7 B4 lens that I purchased from a DVXUser member in Alaska. This is not a cheap lens but I took a gamble and I have to say it’s worth it. This is so far one of the best wide angle zoom lenses that I’ve put on the GH1. You must use the Canon 2x doubler in order to get a full image, engaging the setting on the widest angle would make the lens 12mm making its 35mm equivalent FOV of 24mm. My first words were “WOW!” I have a lot of legacy lenses and it was such a surprise to see a lens still hold its sharpness with the doubler. Overall, there seemed to be very nice sharpness from the center to the edge of the frame with very little vignetting.

One caveat is that I was shooting with no ND filters so I was stopped down to about f/5.6 so I’d still like to check over all sharpness wide open on a future test. As you go up to the higher focal range, it does soften up and darken slightly depending on lighting conditions. Shots are still very usable despite the slight softness there.

Overall, this is one of the best zoom lenses I’ve put on the GH1. It’s fast and sharp and perfect for run and gun situations. With other legacy zooms you must use the digital zoom on the camera which degrades the image. Using the 2x doubler allows you to shoot full resolution. Because this lens is pretty sharp it still holds even with the 2x engaged on the lens. There needs to be more tests done obviously wide open and with NDs as well as to test the mount to see how well one can achieve infinity focus.

Since many of us already have FD mounts for our GH1 this B4 to FD addition was a good price point to jump on the wagon and I hope that Bum Ki’s manufacturer in Korea can make more of these available. In the mean time, I hope that more folks can shoot with B4 lenses. This is so great to bring ENG lenses to the GH1. Many thanks to Bum Ki Cho for making this possible.

Here is a quick test shoot in one of my favorite spots in Philadelphia the beautiful Chinatown Arch.

Canon J8x6B 6-48mm 1:1.7 B4 lens shot with a GH13 in 1080/24P no native 24p on the hack. No grading. No tripod just the indisystem indiRAILS MP.

Unfortunately, I had no ND filters to really test sharpness at wide open. Most was shot at f/5.6.

Music is from Grammy Award winner Daniel Ho with his song Pule Nahenahe (Soft Prayer) from his album Pōlani.

Canon B4 lenses on GH1

Here is some footage shot in University City and Center City Philadelphia with the main goal of doing a general test to check edge to edge sharpness, vigenetting on the wides, and contrast for both tight and wide shots.

You will notice that on the opening footage of Calvary Church you can still pick out the sharpness of the right street sign (maybe not in the H.264 file but in the Prores transcoded file it is clear.) The 48th street sign is a little less sharp on the wide shot. Overall, pretty impressed with the overall edge to edge sharpness for using the 2x doubler on this lens.

Also, on all the wides you’ll see the matte box on the right edge of the frame when removed the picture is clear from edge to edge. It was a little unusual that I did not see it on the left side and only the right side.

One not so great thing is that the lens flares are right dead center and you’ll see that in the opening shot.

In the Center City footage the Reading Terminal sign is nice and sharp and even the outside shots under the over hang where I was wide open was fairly sharp on the neon signs wide open. When you are at the farthest end of the zoom there’s softness there and the image does darken but not as much as I’d expect it to be.

The shot with the little boy near the trolley and public art space was wide open. There is very little contrast and you sort of enter into a slightly “dreamy” look at times wide open. Again, No ND filters so your seeing footage straight from the lens.