Dedicated 3rd Party Lens Discussion (Examples Updated)

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 24, 2016

That is gorgeous. All the really scenic places around here are national parks state parks that prohibit model aircraft.

franknitty69 · Mar 24, 2016

pete said:
short flight with 3.80mm from yesterday. lens flare at 1:30

1080p60

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stunning. the 3.8mm i think is just as good as 3.97 and handles lens flare like a champ.

SteveReno · Mar 24, 2016

pete said:
short flight with 3.80mm from yesterday. lens flare at 1:30

1080p60

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Looks good Pete.Might get me one
What kind of post did you do to it? Any lens correction? I Don't see any pink?

Thanks

erikgraham · Mar 24, 2016

pete said:
short flight with 3.80mm from yesterday. lens flare at 1:30

1080p60

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Damn. Just when I settled on the 3.97.

pyrate · Mar 24, 2016

That video was fantastic

pete · Mar 25, 2016

SteveReno said:
Looks good Pete.Might get me one
What kind of post did you do to it? Any lens correction? I Don't see any pink?

Thanks

I applied the Protune to Rec.709 LUT from Ground Control, it's free LUT (I think Pyrate mentioned it in another post) :
FREE LUTS!

I didn't do anything fancy with colour grading, just applying that LUT, if anything I left it too dark I think, I should've adjusted exposure.

No corrections for lens distortion, this is as it is, you can only see little bit of curve when the horizon is right at the top of the frame (at 2:00), but it's so minimal that I think it even looks natural, the Earth is round after all.

SteveReno · Mar 28, 2016

pete said:
I applied the Protune to Rec.709 LUT from Ground Control, it's free LUT (I think Pyrate mentioned it in another post) :
FREE LUTS!

I didn't do anything fancy with colour grading, just applying that LUT, if anything I left it too dark I think, I should've adjusted exposure.

No corrections for lens distortion, this is as it is, you can only see little bit of curve when the horizon is right at the top of the frame (at 2:00), but it's so minimal that I think it even looks natural, the Earth is round after all.

I agree on the slight curvature, but for me it's a BIG improvement over stock!
Got mines coming soon.

Dmitry · Mar 29, 2016

Who has "Falcon LUTs for DJI Inspire and Phantom 3" please share

jibcamera · Mar 29, 2016

Has anyone experimented with a Gitup Git2 camera? the spec/hardware/ price seem pretty interesting vs Hero4black... thanks if anyone knows

perkele · Mar 29, 2016

jibcamera said:
Has anyone experimented with a Gitup Git2 camera? the spec/hardware/ price seem pretty interesting vs Hero4black... thanks if anyone knows

Nope, but I'm pretty close to push the buy button for one. Anti shake, raw and can use Gopros accessories sounds nice. 4 cameras to the price of a Gopro to the price of one Gopro does not hurt either.

perkele · Mar 30, 2016

perkele said:
Yep, at least I got convinced by this thread and Petes pictures. I have bought a 3.8mm (123038MPF-B) lense from www.megapixellenses.com. I believe it will be a perfect replacement to the original fisheye. I will try to figure out a way to take some before and after pictures when it arrives. If it arrives

The lens arrived to my door today. Now I just need a free time slot..

pete · Mar 30, 2016

if you have any other after market lens (5.4mm, 4.35mm, 3.97mm,...) it would be nice if you could post comparison pictures.

also note on this 3.80mm lens the IR-cut filter is done differently to any other after market lenses I've ever seen. this one is more like "blueish" colour, rather than the typical "red" IR-cut filter and it seems to be part of the lens rather than the red ones that are typically glued/attached to the bottom lens.

I questioned this with the manufacturer, they explained that both red and blue IR-cut filters that they use are 650nm, almost same spec but the blue filter is more expensive and of better quality, apparently the blue filter will result in better colour quality in your photos (or the way I interpret that answer is that their blue IR-cut filter will pass colour data information to the sensor in more optimal way than their red IR-cut filter).

as with any filters (not just IR-cut filters), different quality of filters will perform differently, bad quality filter can affect quality of colour information passed to the sensor and can affect other things, like lens flare.
I don't necessarily think that blue IR-cut filter is better than red IR-cut filter, just saying that some filters may be better than others.

when we get these after market lenses, we cannot control what IR-cut filter they put on it, they can be doing one thing this month and 6 months later they may change supplier of their IR-cut filters and then we may get different quality of performance for the same lens.

good benchmark is GoPro stock lens, if you take photo with that lens and then you take photo of same scenery with same light conditions with a different lens, you want to get similar results in terms of colour information.
if your new lens is giving you washed out photos in same camera and with same settings than you know your new lens is less than optimal.

just speaking for myself, when I replaced stock lens with 3.80mm, I was getting nearly identical colour info, when compared to my other after market lenses from same manufacturer where red IR-cut filter was used, the photos are washed out and there is certainly less data recorded because even image file size is different, somewhere between 0.5 to 1Mb difference (per photo) taken with same camera, same settings, same scenery and same/similar light conditions. sort of similar effect when you take same photo in colour and in B/W, the file size will be different, even though it's a same photo.

SteveReno · Mar 30, 2016

pete said:
if you have any other after market lens (5.4mm, 4.35mm, 3.97mm,...) it would be nice if you could post comparison pictures.

also note on this 3.80mm lens the IR-cut filter is done differently to any other after market lenses I've ever seen. this one is more like "blueish" colour, rather than the typical "red" IR-cut filter and it seems to be part of the lens rather than the red ones that are typically glued/attached to the bottom lens.

I questioned this with the manufacturer, they explained that both red and blue IR-cut filters that they use are 650nm, almost same spec but the blue filter is more expensive and of better quality, apparently the blue filter will result in better colour quality in your photos (or the way I interpret that answer is that their blue IR-cut filter will pass colour data information to the sensor in more optimal way than their red IR-cut filter).

as with any filters (not just IR-cut filters), different quality of filters will perform differently, bad quality filter can affect quality of colour information passed to the sensor and can affect other things, like lens flare.
I don't necessarily think that blue IR-cut filter is better than red IR-cut filter, just saying that some filters may be better than others.

when we get these after market lenses, we cannot control what IR-cut filter they put on it, they can be doing one thing this month and 6 months later they may change supplier of their IR-cut filters and then we may get different quality of performance for the same lens.

good benchmark is GoPro stock lens, if you take photo with that lens and then you take photo of same scenery with same light conditions with a different lens, you want to get similar results in terms of colour information.
if your new lens is giving you washed out photos in same camera and with same settings than you know your new lens is less than optimal.

just speaking for myself, when I replaced stock lens with 3.80mm, I was getting nearly identical colour info, when compared to my other after market lenses from same manufacturer where red IR-cut filter was used, the photos are washed out and there is certainly less data recorded because even image file size is different, somewhere between 0.5 to 1Mb difference (per photo) taken with same camera, same settings, same scenery and same/similar light conditions. sort of similar effect when you take same photo in colour and in B/W, the file size will be different, even though it's a same photo.

My 3.80mm should be here tomorrow, any tips or tricks to installing this lens or getting a good focus set?
Thx

Jubalr · Mar 30, 2016

SteveReno said:
My 3.80mm should be here tomorrow, any tips or tricks to installing this lens or getting a good focus set?
Thx

I just screwed the lens in while I had and HDMI connection to my computer monitor. Pointed it out the window to my barn and got the best focus. On mine, it was almost at the point of bottoming out in the GP. Which is good I guess.

Pedals2Paddles · Mar 30, 2016

What prevents the lenses from turning on it's own from vibration? Do you use any kind of threadlock or glue?

Soloing · Mar 30, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
What prevents the lenses from turning on it's own from vibration? Do you use any kind of threadlock or glue?

From my understanding most people use "plumber" tape. You know, the white Teflon tape...

Soloing · Mar 30, 2016

A bit off-topic...

I can't help it, but when I look at this thread, I have to get "mad" at GoPro. How stupid do you have to be, to not realize, what your product is used for and then make a few adjustments?! Seriously, did it fly over their heads that there are probably millions of people out there, using the GoPro for Aerial Photography, and as such, Fisheye and what not is not desired?! The Phantom 1 alone must have been sold hundreds of thousand of times... It would have been SOOOOOO simply to make a few changes to the GoPro case and allow for different lenses to be mounted. But no, what do they do instead?! Come out with a smaller version for the same amount of money?! (At the time the Session was $399!).

Rant over.

Jubalr · Mar 30, 2016

Pedals2Paddles said:
What prevents the lenses from turning on it's own from vibration? Do you use any kind of threadlock or glue?

I used 1 wrap of Teflon tape. And can still be adjusted manually easy enough, but not vibrate loose on its own.

pete · Mar 30, 2016

SteveReno said:
My 3.80mm should be here tomorrow, any tips or tricks to installing this lens or getting a good focus set?
Thx

Jubalr said:
I just screwed the lens in while I had and HDMI connection to my computer monitor. Pointed it out the window to my barn and got the best focus. On mine, it was almost at the point of bottoming out in the GP. Which is good I guess.

I did exactly what @Jubalr says, I pointed the GoPro through opened sliding door at a shed that was 70 half-meter steps (roughly 35m) away from me.
with help from @franknitty69 and @pyrate I calculated that correct hyperfocal distance should be 33.5m (110ft) :
Dedicated 3rd Party Lens Discussion (Examples Updated)

I don't believe it matters much if you are slightly out. When I focused the shed at 35m, then even objects at half that distance were still perfectly in focus.

As far as installation on GP4, there is a video on Youtube from Peau :

My GP3+ installation was easier, but on GP4 there is some complicated step with some ribbon cable that some users are having troubles with (you can read that from the comments on that video).

I have since then removed my 3.80mm from the GP3+ and put it in GP4 that I got from Peau with the 3.97mm, this was easy because they didn't glue it back in, so I could just simply unscrew it and screw-in the new lens.

Needless to say that currently my best lens + my best camera are hanging on a tree along with Solo below a 40m cliff, I'm going to get it tomorrow I think, it finally stopped raining.