I would say that for the moment nothing can come close to a hacked GH2 on Z15g gimbal. In the range up to 4000€ camera.

You can fly 5D but there is no steady gimbal like Zenmuse on the market yet for that camera size. And you still need post stabilization and then you loose some image quality. And If you compare the size of a copter which you need for 5D or GH2 and some flight times, there is a big difference

If you would like to fly with DOF you need a good auto focus.(or another big heli with remote follow focus)
So here GH2 can win again.

Originally Posted by miza

I would say that for the moment nothing can come close to a hacked GH2 on Z15g gimbal. In the range up to 4000€ camera.

You can fly 5D but there is no steady gimbal like Zenmuse on the market yet for that camera size. And you still need post stabilization and then you loose some image quality. And If you compare the size of a copter which you need for 5D or GH2 and some flight times, there is a big difference

If you would like to fly with DOF you need a good auto focus.(or another big heli with remote follow focus)
So here GH2 can win again.

yeah that hacked gh2 is nice

After updating to latest version (05-09-2012 - Today) my zenmuse get's crazy spinning all around! anybody else got that?

Back to previous version - no problem anymore.

Originally Posted by semich

Back to previous version - no problem anymore.

hmm just wanted to try it. I guess i will wait !

Originally Posted by jab

That is just equipment snobbery with no facts to back it up with. For aerial video there is no reason to expect better performance from a 5D. In fact I suspect it might well turn out to be the other way around.

First let's look at the sensors. 5D has a 35mm and NEX-5 has a 23mm (comparable to Nikon DX). 35mm is great for shallow depth footage, but this is pretty much useless when shooting from a distance up in the air.

Then let's look at the signal processing and video compression. 5D has sub-par signal processing when scaling down the sensor data for video, resulting in aliasing and moire. There is also problems with rolling shutter since the sensors was primarily meant for taking photos. Lack of processing power also limit the video to 30fps. Basically the video feature in the 5D mark II was a last minute hack, resulting in limited functionality. The mark III also has the same limitations but now it is done strategical to prevent out-competing their own professional video cameras. The one really good thing about the new 5D mark III, is that it now supports high-bitrate AVC-Intra compression. Making it ideal for storing shots with lot's of movement in them. But sadly again the 30fps limitation makes the usage somewhat limited.
Nex on the other hand is built with video in mind. Image scaling and processing for video is better. Same goes for rolling shutter. And there is enough power to do 60fps 1080p h.264 compression. But sadly there is no Intra frame compression support. Only 28mbit AVC. But if/when there is a high bit-rate firmware hack made available for this camera, the results should be truly outstanding.

Lenses is where the 5D wins hands down. So far there are a limited option of lenses for the NEX and the 16mm pancake (on paper perfect for aerial video) is a bit soft. Hopefully there will be better optics for the NEX in the near future.

But the better 5D lens quality comes with a price, and that is weight. Weight is the number one enemy when doing multicopter video. Less weight means longer flight times and more stable video (easier for the gimbal to compensate having to move less mass).

So while the 5D is a better stills photo camera, up in the air everything points to the NEX being the better video camera.

Nice... Now you need to throw a GH2 in the mix here and compare all three

Originally Posted by Sid3ways

I run the 6S 8000 30C lipos from HK and get about 16 minutes of flight time with the Z15 & 5N

Just one battery for 16min?

Originally Posted by miza

I would say that for the moment nothing can come close to a hacked GH2 on Z15g gimbal. In the range up to 4000€ camera.

You can fly 5D but there is no steady gimbal like Zenmuse on the market yet for that camera size. And you still need post stabilization and then you loose some image quality. And If you compare the size of a copter which you need for 5D or GH2 and some flight times, there is a big difference

If you would like to fly with DOF you need a good auto focus.(or another big heli with remote follow focus)
So here GH2 can win again.

I just put Flow Motion v2 on my GH2, and I have done a few flights with it and the Z15. Just playing with the settings now to get it right. My videos are 50Mbps and are sharp. This is really without doing anything, a few more tests and I will post some videos.

Originally Posted by BorisSA

hmm just wanted to try it. I guess i will wait !

Me too

Originally Posted by shdwkeeper

Me too

just did it, on the GH2 Version also wild spinning after the update. Need three tries until the update finally worked was already afraid i bricked it or something !

Had to go back to 1.1 assistant and downgrade it !

Boris

Originally Posted by miza

I would say that for the moment nothing can come close to a hacked GH2 on Z15g gimbal. In the range up to 4000€ camera.

You can fly 5D but there is no steady gimbal like Zenmuse on the market yet for that camera size. And you still need post stabilization and then you loose some image quality. And If you compare the size of a copter which you need for 5D or GH2 and some flight times, there is a big difference

If you would like to fly with DOF you need a good auto focus.(or another big heli with remote follow focus)
So here GH2 can win again.

Well, as was said before, there's no point in having short DoF for AP and you'll be using short focal lengths anyway so the sensor size differences between the GH2, NEX, and Canon 5D aren't really relevant.

The 5D is really quite specialised as a video tool, having a sensor twice the size of a 35mm movie frame, allowing strong differential focus effects with longer focal length lenses but causing less pleasing effects when wide angle lenses are used, when quite a lot of the frame is apt to be less than critically sharp. The NEX's APSC and the Red sensors are very close to 35mm movie frame size and the GH2's is only a bit smaller.

Of course, anything being used for broadcast will have its quality knocked right down by the broadcast process and, at least in Australia, Blu-Ray has not gained universal acceptance so ones work is apt to be distributed and viewed on SD DVD.

Switching lens on G2 anyone tried this yet, it comes from the factory balanced to the 14mm but I was hoping at some point ot try the 20mm, anyone done it yet?

thanks
fb

Originally Posted by flyingbiscuit1

Switching lens on G2 anyone tried this yet, it comes from the factory balanced to the 14mm but I was hoping at some point ot try the 20mm, anyone done it yet?

thanks
fb

Nope its supported by the firmware but no clue what has to be different on the hardware side of things. Maybe just loosing those four screws that hold the plate for the main camera screw on the cradle, to rebalance nick.

Boris

Is it possible to connect a different HDMI source (camera) to the HDMI plug, and get a video signal out from the GCU? Just for transferring the picture....

Originally Posted by flyingbiscuit1

Switching lens on G2 anyone tried this yet, it comes from the factory balanced to the 14mm but I was hoping at some point ot try the 20mm, anyone done it yet?

thanks
fb

I have both lenses and it worked fine for me, I even have a UV filter on both. But I'm also new with this Z15 as well.