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GH4 4K and Lumix 12-35 at 12mm puts my talent on a diet
  • RKMRKM

    I shot a few wide shots with my female talent walking from left to right along a stream at 12mm. While she is not the thinnest person the lens distortion seems to render an image with less attractive measurements. The image doesn't seem like a representative presentation of her body.

    Maybe it had to do with my way of shooting. I used a horizontal leveled tripod at eye level and just did a horizontal pan. Maybe it's better to put the tripod lower because I framed her on the lower end of the image and therefor pointed the camera slightly upwards. Anyway 12mm on GH4 4K represents only like 28mm and I wonder if a 28mm on a full frame camera is also that sensitive to small angle changes. I know the lumix 12-35 rely strongly on lens correction and maybe it's not that great. I saw in a review that the slr magic 12mm 1.6 has far less optical distortion. Does that mean the SLR magic is a better lens for people in the frame?

    Can someone confirm this or give me some tips to get better shots in the future? Especially wedding videographers could face this same problem.

  • 6 Replies sorted by
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Use http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/3283/12-35mm-f2.8-panasonic-lens-topic/p1

    By idea Panasonic corrects any distortions of native lenses.

    Thing you can talk about can be just changed perspective (that happens if you are shooting near using 12mm).

  • 4CardsMan4CardsMan

    If you can back up and use a longer focal length, the talent will look a lot better. Wide lenses naturally make people look fatter, even if the lens has very little native distortion. If you put the tripod lower and shoot up, it will look worse.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    Wide lenses naturally make people look fatter, even if the lens has very little native distortion.

    Wide lenses do not do anything, your position does.

  • eatstoomuchjameatstoomuchjam

    Your position and the angle at which you're shooting a subject as well as their position relative to the camera.

  • RKMRKM

    @Vitaliy_Kiselev By idea Panasonic corrects any distortions of native lenses.

    Is the correction at 12mm that good that it behaves comparable to a 28mm on a full frame or a 18mm on aps-c? And does 20mm on the 12-35 with 2.5 cropfactor behave the same as a 50mm normal lens in terms of optical distortion?

    [edit] Oh found an answer to my question: http://www.photozone.de/olympus--four-thirds-lens-tests/464-pana_20_17?start=1

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @RKM

    Use http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/3283/12-35mm-f2.8-panasonic-lens-topic/p1

    AGAIN!

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