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Kiron 28-85 2.8-3.8

While I'm still testing this lens-sensor combo, it looks pretty nice so far. Not only does it have a really nice vintage look, but it's also pretty accurate in terms of COLOR and CONTRAST.

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Kiron 28-85 2.8-3.8

UPDATE: I'm happy with the how my final Highlight Shadow compensation worked, but the notes below about lack of realism still apply. If your goals for a lens-sensor combination include either realism or accuracy, this combination isn't good. If you're going for a vintage look however, this might be worth a try. I do add the word "might" though, as what I'm struggling with is the overall CONTRAST of the lens (it's good, it's a bit too much FOR THIS SENSOR, resulting in too wide of a dynamic range being covered; more than this sensor can handle). I'm still experimenting with Highlight Shadow compensation to see if I can remedy this, but so far doing this undercuts certain other positive traits of the lens in the process (it tones down the pretty red and blue fringing/chromatic aberrations).

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Kiron 28-85 2.8-3.8

[NOTE: The settings with the +BOOST (Viltrox NF-M43x) added are a LOT different (you might expect it to be predictable, but every optical situation is different) and needs custom settings.] This is a really amazing vintage lens! It is very vulnerable to lens flare (so if you want to control it, use lens shade, etc.) but it matches this sensor pretty well and it needed very few changes. The adjustments were important though, as it really helped adding a little CONTRAST, SHARPNESS and NOISE REDUCTION (each of them for controlling the micro-contrast and reducing the digital look of the image, etc.) While the final result is not perfectly "REAL" (especially the inaccurate color) I think it looks very "cinematic" and that a lot of people (who like the "film look") will really, REALLY like the image this lens-sensor combo creates.

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Tamron 17-50 2.8 VC

So far, I really like the type of lens flare this lens produces. I'm noticing chromatic aberration (red and blue fringing) at the WIDE end (17mm or so) but it's pretty clean around 50mm in this respect. It's also sharper (too sharp) at the wide end, and less sharp (but just about right with these settings) at the long (50mm) end. I would say this lens looks similar to the older Sigma (EX series) zoom lenses (in regard to the red & blue fringing) at the WIDE end, but a lot cleaner and more "REAL" looking at the long end.

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Panasonic 25 1.7

(v3) I revisited this UNFILTERED test after testing the settings with both the Tiffen BPM14 and BPM18 diffusion filters (spoiler alert: I like the results better on those two). So, I am realizing that without diffusion, this lens-sensor combination is always going to struggle with overexposed highlights, in high-contrast situations (bright, sunny days). With that in mind, I do think the settings are better than they were before (in v1, v2) but now I will certainly use one of those Tiffen filters (see the CUSTOM SETTINGS for each one of those). (v2) This test is revised (from the original which didn't use Highlight Shadow compensation) and while it's a lot BETTER, I still don't really like this lens, because the color (and contrast) fall apart in non-standard, high contrast light. (When I say I "don't like" it, I'm comparing it to the other lenses I've tested, many of which are vintage lenses.) I think this could benefit from a diffusion filter, because it lacks "micro contrast"...but I will need to test it in the future.

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Panasonic 12-60 3.5-5.6

The final settings here work pretty good, but this lens-sensor combination still has some issues...These include maybe the strangest Highlight Shadow settings I've ever used...and it still has too much contrast. When I started this test, I was surprised, as I had heard so many people say good things about this lens, but when compared with a lot of the vintage lenses I've been testing, this thing isn't very good...so let me explain. When I started this test (at -0-0-0-0 using the Natural profile) what immediately jumped out at me were the outlines on the edges of objects, which I'm pretty sure is due to over-sharpening...yet at the same time, the image was soft and needed sharpening! This is a problem, because to remove the outlines on the edges of things, you have to REDUCE the SHARPENING...but doing that will mean the image needs even MORE sharpening during post production, so I may have to see how far I can take the sharpening in post production (using Davinci Resolve).

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Panasonic 12-60 3.5-5.6

The final settings here work pretty good, but this lens-sensor combination still has some issues...These include maybe the strangest Highlight Shadow settings I've ever used...and it still has too much contrast. When I started this test, I was surprised, as I had heard so many people say good things about this lens, but when compared with a lot of the vintage lenses I've been testing, this thing isn't very good...so let me explain. When I started this test (at -0-0-0-0 using the Natural profile) what immediately jumped out at me were the outlines on the edges of objects, which I'm pretty sure is due to over-sharpening...yet at the same time, the image was soft and needed sharpening! This is a problem, because to remove the outlines on the edges of things, you have to REDUCE the SHARPENING...but doing that will mean the image needs even MORE sharpening during post production, so I may have to see how far I can take the sharpening in post production (using Davinci Resolve).

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Tokina 12-24 4

(NOTE: Color should be reduced -1 if not uploading to YouTube...as I'm learning YouTube sucks the color, out of images. I'm planning on making LUTs that compensate for this, but this will work in the interim). Overall, I am liking the Tokina 11-16 2.8 a lot more, but this one is workable OUTDOORS if needed. INDOORS, you really need an F/2.8 + BOOST (speed booster) for it to gather enough light FOR THIS CAMERA.

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Panasonic 14-42 ii

This latest test was in the NATURAL profile (first test was in CINELIKE D). I'm trying to get away from using CINELIKE D (when it's possible) because the colors don't look too "REAL". Also, I decided to use Highlight Shadow compensation instead of reducing the CONTRAST excessively, for a better image. This sensor produces a lot of noise and so I added a lot of NOISE REDUCTION as I usually do (for this sensor) but could not max it out because I needed to leave a little bit of definition in it's image.

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Nikon 18-70

I think it may need a LUT, because I need to turn the color down to remove some fringing, but it's going to make the image have too much color overall. I'm going to need to experiment with this, but if you use the current SETTINGS and are making your own LUT, you might be okay (but if you're going for SOOC, these SETTINGS may not work without a LUT). Also, I had to push up the NOISE REDUCTION quite a bit, because this sensor produces a lot of noise, but the CONTRAST looks pretty good (and realistic) as a result of this, as NR tends to reduce not only the SHARPNESS but CONTRAST as well (which this lens needed).