Dedicated 3rd Party Lens Discussion (Examples Updated)

richnat · Mar 9, 2017

I should note that the camera still has pink eye. I'm considering getting the Peau pink corners fix via download.

Airpower · Mar 11, 2017

Gonna get the 3.37 from peau, wish that other user who bought one in september would chime in with some samples

either means its so good hes spending his time having fun and not talking to us or so bad its not worth reporting or his live moved on to other hobbies than comparing cheap chinese thumb sized lenses with random strangers on an internet forum

pyrate · Mar 12, 2017

peau 3.37 - YouTube

SPP · Mar 12, 2017

1st time I ever bought Peau 3.97mm late last year, it has crazy super soft corner on the right side when focus at sharpest. Return it to them and supposedly they are to return me a tested one, but I have to address it to a friend in USA and I will only get it like in 1 more month. They wont ship back 10,000+ miles away to my country...LOL. I hope it will be okey.

So I bought locally an old stock from the local 3DR distributor, a 4.4mm Back Bone lens, I bought 2.
Its very nice , at least for me

and sharp all around. Me have not fly me drone since Aug 2016, what a crappy droning life

If no problem, I will be able to fly me drone-s this 24-26th March at the island*.
*The only place I feel I wont harm anyone if Uncle Murphy Law decided to screw me

I really envy you guys with access to empty lands or car parks and whatnot to test/fly your drone-s and while not breaking the law or deemed as trespassing.

Here is the pinky area of this 4.4mm lens shooting my white wall with lights assist and wall tiles in my bathroom for how non fish-eye reference, but at 3 meters, so focus is not optimized for such close distance.

.

pyrate · Mar 12, 2017

that is the best way to test the pink, I like that new lens, but its not convincing enough for me to come off of the 3.97
So far that one is working just fine

SPP · Mar 12, 2017

Hi Pyrate,

I hope my Peau 3.97mm will be sharp focus and I may one day order that pinky removal via software from Peau.

I have 4 of Black4-s , however one has its CMOS not so flat installed and contributed to soft focus on the side.
Soft focus can also happen from CMOS not zero-ed properly.

The good thing about this 4.4mm is I can dive with it, the lens does not hit the housing's glass like a 3.97mm Peau did. However I do worry about pinky issue, as color correction underwater will need me to boost the red color and the pinky problem may become more obvious

. What I cant yet know is the amount of shake I will encounter when using this kinda zoomy lens underwater. There is no 3-axis gimbal for underwater...LOL.

I will try this 4.4mm on my Gopro Karma Gimbal and 1 old Zhiyun and see how a land use could be another prospect.

richnat · Mar 12, 2017

Compared below is my Hero 3+ with the stock lens (but infinity focused) and my Hero 4 Black with the 3.8mm lens.

H3+ stock:

H4B w/3.8mm

Not exactly sure why the color is so different, the settings on the two were the same, the lens being the only difference or perhaps the lens affects the color in some way. Perhaps the difference between the 3+ and 4 affects the color? Anyway, this gives you an idea of the comparison between FOV, etc. The 3.8mm shot has color more true to life but the stock lens shot makes the color more interesting.

I do think I need to get the pink corner fix from Peau for the 3.8mm camera.

I wish I had a rectilinear setting on the 3+B to see how that compares to a lens that actually has a rectilinear set up.

pyrate · Mar 12, 2017

I am a diver too, I just keep my 3 Black for diving with an SRP lens
it works for me

Airpower · Mar 12, 2017

Thanks for the link pyrate. The peau productions comparison video sinker the deal for me when it showed a nice little flare

I had two 3.97mm from peau. The focus on the first was fine except for fast panning the soft focus showed itself. I returned it for another and it has approximately twice as bad soft focus and peau would not give me back my original or give me another lense. It would be peace of mind to know they are briefly tested, it would be easily they should have ribcage gopros around where you can change lenses in seconds

I guess I'm different because I'm looking to start a company and need absolute perfection. For example video out of the 3.97mm is usually good if I crop the edges out but can't do photos or panoramas because when using the full sensor you can see that it's blurred all the way to the 16:9 frame. More on one side than the other.

Been through five lenses. Probably the most frustrating thing for me in this hobby yet since they all offer perfection and peau always has crazy prices. But I think the kid in me enjoys having six lenses for my GoPro haha

SPP · Mar 13, 2017

Airpower,
By design even top notch DSLR or mirrorless wide angle lens, edges are never as sharp as middle zone, that is given.
If you said that "The focus on the first was fine except for fast panning the soft focus showed itself" that fast panning is nothing to do with the lens, its just motion cant make sharp image and the side being not as good as the middle zone, it then become obvious. If we pan too fast with fast shutter speed, most display cant handle it and you see judder and very robotic movement. If the display has motion smoothing feature, you will see more blur. Blur is some way to create sensation of speed and some prefer blur than judder.

Sometimes when watching fast panning video, it also depends on what monitor we use and how its algorithm handle motion, this is what they call "motion resolution."
Its kinda complex to explain, but if you want to read, here is some good stuff :
LCD motion blur: Eye-tracking now dominant cause of motion blur (not pixel transition/GtG) - AVS Forum | Home Theater Discussions And Reviews

To test lens sharpness, it has to be stand still static shot. Remember F2.8 is also not the sharpest aperture opening, but we have no choice as we seek more light.
Once you do much fast movement, video codec and the display where you watch the video on, will matter, including the graphic card you use.

See page 9 - Motion Prediction, based on the video codec itself
https://pro.sony.com/bbsccms/assets/files/micro/nxcam/manuals/AVCHD_E_1127-rev3.pdf

Safe flying...

Airpower · Mar 13, 2017

SPP,
I am learning more every day, and that every lens usually isn't perfect. When I mentioned panning I'm not talking about motion blur from slow shutter speed, I'm talking about a visible distortion that can be seen when the edges are slightly out of focus. The shot will look normal but upon panning the soft focus on the edges shows itself as almost "bending" the image. I'll upload a sample if I still have them later, but it's not uncommon. I was watching the exorcists the other day and say a similar lens that displayed edge distortion when panning because of soft edge focus.
I hear what you're saying about monitors, I thought so too my dell laptop is crappy so I tried it on my tv GoPro wifi to my phone, it wasn't a monitor it was a characteristic of soft edge focus. I'll see if I can find you one of my samples I haven't already deleted out of a vain attempt to forget my misfortunes with finding the right lens

SPP · Mar 13, 2017

Hi Air,
Sure if you can show some raw sample file it will be good for learning for me

Thanks.

SPP · Mar 13, 2017

richnat said:
Not exactly sure why the color is so different, the settings on the two were the same, the lens being the only difference or perhaps the lens affects the color in some way.

A GoPro camera being auto white balance, when using the original wide angle lens, its center weighted averaging will be different in result with a 3.8mm lens at the same standing distance you did.

Here you are probably seeing the auto exposure giving the effect. In top photo the sky occupy the center weighted sensing area more than the 3.8mm lens. I done a test once to check how big an area it was a Black3 or 3+ was for its center weighted average sensing area, its approx 30% ish of total FOV.

Make 2 diagonal lines on your photos to see where is the middle. The standard lens I see get more bright sky than the 3.8mm which gets more of the house in the center, so your auto exposure when using standard wide angle lens may lean more towards reducing exposure to compensate more for the sun. It is different brightness setting you are seeing, aside from possible lens coating/quality difference.

Mark35mi · Apr 24, 2017

First day flight footage. Peaupro 87 3.37 Hero4 blk package from Peaupro.

Wooskie · Apr 24, 2017

Looks great for raw footage. What made you go with the 3.37 over the 3.97?

Mark35mi · Apr 24, 2017

Wooskie said:
Looks great for raw footage. What made you go with the 3.37 over the 3.97?

Thanks. I shoot landscape still photography with a full frame canon... and love wide angle work. This lens was relatively new, and wide, but close to the stock lens without the distortion and fisheye. The 3.97 supposedly had softer edges, and the specs on the 3.37 were really good. So away I went. I still may get a different lens for close work... and am still learning... but am happy with the 3.37

richnat · Jun 8, 2017

Just a bit of a follow up to my earllier 3.8mm lens install posts. I finally got around to doing the pink corners delete and I was shocked how much better photos look now. Previously I could sometimes tell the corners were slightly off, they looked simply darker to me more than really pink. But with the Peau profile the photos look sharper and clean and bright from corner to corner. Wish it hadn't been so expensive, but the Peau profile fix really does what it says it will. Very happy with the results.

I also am VERY pleased with the 3.8mm "cheap" lens. Sharp image corner to corner. Here's a video I shot fairly recently, but this was before the pink delete. I'll try to post some new photos later showing the pink delete results.

richnat · Jun 8, 2017

A few photos with the 3.8mm lens and the pink fix.

pyrate · Jun 8, 2017

I cant imagine using footage with the pink edges, looks good
Still not enough to move me off the 3.97.
But pretty nice non the less

richnat · Jun 8, 2017

In looking at the pictures in full size, I have to wonder if I could do more with the lens focus. I need to do it outdoors on a bright day next time. I wish I had a laptop with a good screen and an HDMI input. At the end of the day, I guess there is only so much detail you can squash onto that tiny GP imager.