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Nikon 50 1.8 D

Natural

[NEW]

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Nikon 70-300 4-5.6 D ED

[TESTING...]

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Nikon 70-210 4 Series E

While these settings may be a good starting point if I add a LUT, they are not good SOOC (not enough CONTRAST, SHARPNESS, COLOR). I used to shoot this way a lot (because it's pretty easy to color grade) but now that I'm shooting for SOOC, these settings aren't good enough anymore (though they do help to avoid overexposure, etc.)

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Promaster 70-300 4-5.6

[Needs a LUT to finalize, if I add this Highlight Shadow compensation. The highlights were a little bit too bright without the B+W F-PRO UV filter, so I'm trying to compensate with Shadow Highlight, to -1-0. This test used the settings from the Panasonic G85 + BOOST (Viltrox NF-M43x) and all I had to change was to add 1 positive point to the CONTRAST (because the Viltrox focal reducer lowers the contrast a bit).

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Promaster 70-300 4-5.6

Natural

[NEW]

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Tokina 11-16 2.8 ii

This test has been a real struggle, because this lens isn't that sharp when used with this sensor (Panasonic G7). The reason is that it's from the time period when the Panasonic sensors still had anti-aliasing filters over them, and that makes them less sharp than those without them. One of the problems it causes is that I usually turn the SHARPNESS down, both to reduce the contrast to help smooth the transition from shadows to highlights, and to remove the look of digital aliasing (the pixels seen in angled lines). I also turn UP the NOISE REDUCTION to reduce the sharpness more yet doing this with this lens-sensor combination doesn't create a super sharp image. So, in the end what I had to do is to err on the side of having less sharpness VIA in-camera settings, and then recommending settings for sharpening in Davinci Resolve (in post-production).

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Minolta AF 50 1.7

Tests shot. Needs LUT

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Minolta AF 50 1.7 ii

Tests shot. Needs LUT

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Tamron 75-300 4-5.6 LD

Test done, and the tones are good, color is a little inaccurate...

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Panasonic 45-150 4-5.6

These settings do not work SOOC, and it will need a LUT to finalize the image. The CONTRAST and SHARPNESS are looking pretty realistic (with these custom settings) but a LUT is needed to add a bit of the COLOR (saturation) back to the image. I think this (using these settings) is a much better starting point than the default (-0-0-0-0) settings as the CONTRAST was so intense it was not easy to get a realistic image, and the COLOR was too saturated and not very accurate. These custom settings should make it much easier to capture a more realistic image (and it should be really easy to color grade in post).