Natural
"PHOTO STYLE"
+1
CONTRAST
+5
SHARPNESS
-0
+1
-2+2
HIGHLIGHT SHADOW
OFF
iDYNAMIC
OFF
16-255
LUMINANCE LEVEL
Unsharp Mask*
ADOBE
POST-PRODUCTION
AMOUNT
RADIUS
THRESHOLD
Blur / Sharpen
DAVINCI RESOLVE
POST-PRODUCTION
LENS @FULL WIDE
LENS @MID-ZOOM
LENS @FULL TELE
REAL RATINGS
After testing each lens-sensor combo, I like to know if the rendering is going to look realistic SOOC (Straight Out of Camera) or if it will need a LUT (to match the shots to other lenses and cameras).
CONTRAST
B
IS THE CONTRAST "REAL"?
SHARPNESS
F
IS THE SHARPNESS "REAL"?
NOISE
F
IS THE NOISE "REAL"?
COLOR
D
IS THE COLOR "REAL"?
*Click here to learn more about "REAL" Ratings. These ratings are AFTER my custom settings are applied (most combos don't look real good with default settings).
NOTES:
I don't know what to say about this lens yet. On this M43 camera (the Panasonic G85) the focal length has enough reach to pretty much take care of any TELE shots you would ever want to get (with a few exceptions) but the combination of the low optical quality of this lens and the sort of lower pixel count of this sensor (16MP) produces an image that is probably not good enough for professional use. The obvious yet expensive alternative is the (native mount) Leica 100-400...but that's about $1000 US used, and this lens was $30 US.
So, for the price I'm not saying this isn't a good tool to have around (though it's much bigger than a 70-300 as far as portability goes). It does really make me appreciate how much better the similarly-priced 70-300 lenses (also from the 1990s) are than this 100-400. Many of the 70-300 lenses I've tested produce professional results (see the lens notes) and they're just much better optically (probably because of the shorter zoom range) and certainly easier to fit into a camera bag.
So, I probably will not recommend this inexpensive 100-400mm lens, unless you really need that extra telephoto reach. My custom, lens-sensor settings do improve the SOOC image (Straight Out Of Camera) but the final result is still not too good. Again, this really makes me go towards those 70-300 lenses I've tested, especially the ones with 1:2 MACRO.
My goal for these camera settings is to improve the "lens-sensor relationship" by adjusting the contrast, sharpness, noise reduction and color with the result that it produces an image that looks less "digital" and more "organic" (more like film, etc). The first step is to apply these settings while shooting (produces an image that looks pretty good straight out of camera) but keep in mind there may need to be slight color grading (or a LUT) applied to finalize each shot.
