Panasonic 14-140 II OIS jitters when shooting video

Thanks! Very interesting!

Vesku wrote:

What happens when those lenses are in the same tripod rig. Canon is very steady but Panasonic vibrates very ugly in TRIPOD!

Interesting. Panasonic was set to almost twice bigger focusing length as canon's, but this perhaps had no effect on the result.

I cannot see any jitters in my panas gx7 with 14-140 pois. I just put the camera on the table, set to 14mm, as you wrote in one of your posts in this thread, and left as it was while recording. No any slightest traces of any jitters. No jitters on other focal lenghts either.

Vesku, could you summ up how to set up a test stand  to see the jitters?

Vesku wrote:

ibiza123 wrote:

Vesku wrote:

What happens when those lenses are in the same tripod rig. Canon is very steady but Panasonic vibrates very ugly in TRIPOD

Power OIS works fine when the camera is rock steady

Vesku, could you summ up how to set up a test stand to see the jitters?

That Youtube example is not mine and it was not really OIS test. The result is still interesting. My 14-140 II has no jitter when it is absolutely steady like in table.

That tripod rig is vibrating a little in the wind and Panasonic OIS goes mad when it gets any little movement.

I made a few recordings of hand as well. No any jitters at all, only normal movements caused by hand's jerks.

It' s a pity that the author of the video had not made more comprehensive test. From scientific point of view he should make another recording with the cameras' positions changed: canon at the bottom, panas at the top. It is not a joke, nobody knows how the waves of vibrations distribute in the whole setup: the tripod with 2 cameras on. Certainly you can remember from school that there is such a phenomenon as standing waves? Perhaps the biggest vibrations were in the place where panas was located? A famous example of standing waves and resonance is the old video of Tahoma bridge collaps in 1940.

kitesurfer wrote:

Look at all the shots in here : https://vimeo.com/129635294

It doesn't get more obvious than that.   And these are not exotic shooting situations.   Thanks for posting these examples.

Panasonic has now FW update for this lens (for dual IS and GX8). I hope it will do something for video jitter too. I have no time to test it now but I will test it later.

http://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/index2.html

I eagerly installed it yesterday and ran some quick tests... Initially I thought there definately improvement but upon testing further I feel that if there is some, it is minor. I'll be shooting all day tomorrow so will have a larger sample to look at. Generally speaking I tested :

- wide handheld (4k)
- end of zoom handheld (4k)
- ex Tele conv end of zoom (1080p)

All shots trying to hold as still as possible (no panning ) as this is where you can see the jitters. I actually saw most improvement in the ex Tele conv test but to be fair this was testing on a GH4 body where the last time I shot like that was on a GX7 body, so that may have accounted for the difference.

Will report back after tomorrow.

I ran what I hoped were pretty careful before/after tests and sorry to say I didn't see any difference in static shots.

However, in panning shots with horizontal stabilization disabled on the lens (using the 2nd mode available in the GX7's stabilization menu item) the clips that appeared jittery before - as if horiz stabilization was not actually disabled - appeared smoother after the firmware update.   It's subtle, but playing them side by side it's not just my imagination.

My 14-140 v2, with gx7, does not exibit any jitters with firmware 1.0. But what if after successful update to 1.1 some jitters appear? will it be possible to come back to 1.0?

I haven't found firmware 1.0 at panasonic, so perhaps it would be a problem.

jlynchtx wrote:

Joe Foreman wrote:

Panasonic has now FW update for this lens (for dual IS and GX8). I hope it will do something for video jitter too. I have no time to test it now but I will test it later.

http://av.jpn.support.panasonic.com/support/global/cs/dsc/download/fts/index2.html

I eagerly installed it yesterday and ran some quick tests... Initially I thought there definately improvement but upon testing further I feel that if there is some, it is minor. I'll be shooting all day tomorrow so will have a larger sample to look at. Generally speaking I tested :

• wide handheld (4k)
• end of zoom handheld (4k)
• ex Tele conv end of zoom (1080p)

All shots trying to hold as still as possible (no panning ) as this is where you can see the jitters. I actually saw most improvement in the ex Tele conv test but to be fair this was testing on a GH4 body where the last time I shot like that was on a GX7 body, so that may have accounted for the difference.

Will report back after tomorrow.

Anything else to report? Jitter problem still there?

Well over the last week I've shot a lot of footage with the new firmware update and...

Essentially I'd say that there has been no significant improvement with the v1.1 firmware update. I'm hesitant to say this as sometimes I feel as though it's less pronounced than before (placebo?) but it's obvious when you see it and it does ruin some shots. It doesn't always present itself in the same way and depending on your shooting style you may not be troubled by it (which is a positive I guess).

If when shooting handheld you tend pan or tilt a lot, for example always following a subject like children or sports, then you probably wont notice the jitters much, and that's because from my experience the jitters only kick in when you're trying to shoot a static shot handheld. There are some ways to avoid/minimise it: (I posted this in another thread but its just as relevant here)

Workaround 1: Mercalli v4 does an amazing job, it will get rid of the nastiest CMOS jitters, wobble/jello you've ever seen, but be prepared for loooong processing & render times (if you use the more intensive fixing options). Plus it's an extra step in your workflow that can become tiresome & the software is not free.

Workaround 2: Premiere Pro's warp stabiliser is actually pretty good, and generally you don't have to use it too heavily to reduce the jitters. My preferred settings are:

Method: Subspace warp
Smoothness: 2-5% only
Advanced box: checked
Method: Enhanced Reduction 4-5%

This is surprisingly effective with minimal crop. I only use Mercalli v4 for extreme problems, or when I need rock solid stabilisation.

Workaround 3: Use a tripod, turn Power OIS off! (yeah I know..)

Final Thoughts: I still use and enjoy this lens for video and get very good performance out of it, but be aware that these issues do exist and if you are the type of person to notice it, it will annoy you and potentially devalue the lens for you.

I hope this information helps people looking to make a purchase or already with the lens and noticing this issue.

Cheers,

Joe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyBS2UT-6eo#t=114

Here's someone who tested a lens with each type of stabilization, at 140mm, and the MEGA OIS showed much more jitter than the POWER OIS did.

Vesku wrote:

Olympus IBIS vs Pana 14-140mm II:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f9jwfxpSUwk

micro-jittering shows clearly in 14-140mm.

Very interesting comparison.  The first part shows the point very clearly.  Even hardly paying attention to the scene the jitters are obvious

1) Can you describe your setup ?

2) Later in the video it looks like the entire GH4 camera was bouncing (and yet the focus seems to stay true).  Was anything different going on at the point?   It surprised me that the stabilization adjustments could ever be that "macro".

I'm not a huge video guy but I do like the 14-140 II for its versatility and plan to use it to take video of my fellow skiers - so the 10X zoom factor is nice for me static and skiers come down toward and past me

thanks

bradevans wrote:

2) Later in the video it looks like the entire GH4 camera was bouncing (and yet the focus seems to stay true).

Both cameras are bouncing - it's just that the Olympus is compensating for all that.
To tell the truth, I'm not sure I see the micro jitters from the Panasonic lens in this video that I've seen demo'd before, which were very regular at about 4-5HZ.