Peau lens comparison - 3.97mm vs 4.35mm

erikgraham · Feb 1, 2016

erikgraham said:
and i should mention the lens flare on the 3.97 is nicer. I'll post an example if I can find some decent bandwidth around here.

Here is an example of the cool lens flare on the 3.97. I'm not a big fan of the flares I get on the 4.35 and mostly edit them out.

SteveReno · Feb 1, 2016

I forgot to say, thanks to all who has helped us looking to upgrade our lens.
Lot's of advice, Compare Video's & Hacks..
I appreciate all of your time & efforts.

J R · Feb 1, 2016

erikgraham said:
Here is an example of the cool lens flare on the 3.97.

That was kind of cool!

Jerry

erikgraham · Feb 1, 2016

J R said:
That was kind of cool!

Jerry

Yeah. I think it's cool. I didn't notice it at the time. I was actually just testing a new Solo and happened to throw on the 3.97. The light was nice so I turned on the camera. I was kinda surprised when I stumbled across it while skimming thru footage later. Turns out it happened a bunch of times. Didn't have an ND or any kind of filter.

Acroduster · Feb 2, 2016

It's less "city boy" and more "southern boy." The land here is dead flat and the ponds for the inlaw's cattle look nothing like that. Not to mention that weird white grass you guys have...

ibrew · Feb 2, 2016

Edited to remove a link that I posted as it may detract revenue from a supporter of this site. I didn't think about it before posting, apologies to anyone who may have been concerned.

erikgraham · Feb 3, 2016

Just got an email that Peau is running a sale. Posted about it here:

Video: Stock vs. 4.35 vs. 3.97 mm Peau replacement lens

I recommend the 3.97. Reasons outlined at the end of the thread (page 3) that I just linked to.

Solo Keith · Feb 6, 2016

SteveReno said:
Hard for me to afford 1, let alone 2.
This is why it's so important to me to chose the right one first.

I need Clear, Crisp & great color going to the GP sensor.
I believe that GP's Len's achieve this, but at the cost of the dreaded fisheye! Although, Defishr, Premiere's preset for Gp's 4K fisheye, does a good job, the process to remove this, is very taxing lately on all my system resources.

If i can save the service change $130 "Old Lens removal, installing new Lens & Pink conners removal" I most likely would order 1 tomorrow & do the work my self.
I wonder how many others would buy a lens from Peau, if not for the $130 extra?

I purchased the 3.97 lens w/replacement from Peau last week & they knocked off $30 from the service charge. The total was $251 and that includes the shipping. I sent my GP to Peau on Monday & they shipped it back out to me yesterday. Can't wait to get GP back as its my only one & it's a little weird flying w/out

pyrate · Feb 6, 2016

My total package was same, they have the lens on sale, then offer a discount on the combined service of Lens Profile Removal, Focusing and Install for 100
Mine left Dallas Friday in route.
I have been a Peu Hold out, and had put my own 4.4 lens in.
For the most part I was very pleased with that lens. It remains to be seen if I will be happy with this choice, but worse case scenario is I can put my 4.4 back in and sell the 3.97.

DattaGroover · Feb 7, 2016

erikgraham said:
The 3.97 is 16 megapixel. But yeah, the GoPro itself is limited to 12. I find the 3.97 to be sharper than my 4.35. Both were focused by Peau - so unless they messed up, they should both be well focused.

As you may know, ALL other things being equal, the wider lens will always appear sharper.

erikgraham · Feb 7, 2016

DattaGroover said:
As you may know, ALL other things being equal, the wider lens will always appear sharper.

No I'm not aware of this. Can you expand on that?Maybe your just referring to the increased depth of field in a wider angle lens? If that's where your going I'd just note that the 3.97 and stock feel about the same and feel sharper at all distances (close and far) vs the 4.35. (Admittedly I haven't really confirmed this beyond spot checks on a various frames in a variety of footage).

Ggirf14 · Feb 7, 2016

I went for the 3.97 because of flare reduction and less zoom = less vibrartion visible.

DattaGroover · Feb 7, 2016

erikgraham said:
No I'm not aware of this. Can you expand on that?Maybe your just referring to the increased depth of field in a wider angle lens? If that's where your going I'd just note that the 3.97 and stock feel about the same and feel sharper at all distances (close and far) vs the 4.35. (Admittedly I haven't really confirmed this beyond spot checks on a various frames in a variety of footage).

Increased depth of field is one thing (which may or may not be a factor), and less vibration translating to picture degradation is another - which you may notice more on video than a frame-by-frame comparison. The greater the focal length, the more an equal amount of vibration will distort, or un-sharpen the image - or in the case of video, more shake or jello. For example, you have to hold a camera with a 250mm lens a lot steadier than a camera with a 50mm lens. OR, you have to use a faster shutter speed to get the same amount of clarity. I have a 5.4mm lens on my GoPro in my Solo, but I am ready to go to something wider specifically for the steadiness issue.

DattaGroover · Feb 7, 2016

erikgraham said:
No I'm not aware of this. Can you expand on that?Maybe your just referring to the increased depth of field in a wider angle lens? If that's where your going I'd just note that the 3.97 and stock feel about the same and feel sharper at all distances (close and far) vs the 4.35. (Admittedly I haven't really confirmed this beyond spot checks on a various frames in a variety of footage).

Where did you get your 3.97?

DattaGroover · Feb 7, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Where did you get your 3.97?

Never mind- just saw your other post that you got it from Peau. Thanks for the comparison.

RichWest · Feb 7, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Increased depth of field is one thing (which may or may not be a factor), and less vibration translating to picture degradation is another - which you may notice more on video than a frame-by-frame comparison. The greater the focal length, the more an equal amount of vibration will distort, or un-sharpen the image - or in the case of video, more shake or jello. For example, you have to hold a camera with a 250mm lens a lot steadier than a camera with a 50mm lens. OR, you have to use a faster shutter speed to get the same amount of clarity. I have a 5.4mm lens on my GoPro in my Solo, but I am ready to go to something wider specifically for the steadiness issue.

That's an interesting assessment, sounds logical.

DattaGroover · Feb 8, 2016

Solo Keith said:
I purchased the 3.97 lens w/replacement from Peau last week & they knocked off $30 from the service charge. The total was $251 and that includes the shipping. I sent my GP to Peau on Monday & they shipped it back out to me yesterday. Can't wait to get GP back as its my only one & it's a little weird flying w/out

I'm tempted to save up and get a 2nd GoPro for the 3.97. Besides on my solo, I use the GoPro with a 5.4mm lens on my Feiyu Tech (non-flying) gimbal, and it is awesome. After all, it's only money, right?

erikgraham · Feb 8, 2016

DattaGroover said:
Increased depth of field is one thing (which may or may not be a factor), and less vibration translating to picture degradation is another - which you may notice more on video than a frame-by-frame comparison. The greater the focal length, the more an equal amount of vibration will distort, or un-sharpen the image - or in the case of video, more shake or jello. For example, you have to hold a camera with a 250mm lens a lot steadier than a camera with a 50mm lens. OR, you have to use a faster shutter speed to get the same amount of clarity. I have a 5.4mm lens on my GoPro in my Solo, but I am ready to go to something wider specifically for the steadiness issue.

Ah, I see what your saying, but you threw me off when you said ALL other things being equal. We've discussed the increase in noticeable vibration due to zoom effect on these lenses. It's really just a matter of interpretation, but I took the all things equal quite literally. What you'll find is that the 3.97 and the stock lens are sharper than the 4.35, even if you take the influence of vibration out of the equation - making all other things truly equal. One of the first tests I did was to place all 3 GoPro's on a rock solid table facing out through a window, with a view to the horizon. Vibration was removed from the equation.

I can't speak to the 5.4 since I don't have it, but the stock lens and the 3.97mm are sharper than the 4.35, even in footage shot from a completely stable platform. The 3.97 may even be a smidge sharper than the stock lens, but your mileage may vary as the manufacturing tolerances in the production of cheap little lenses like these isn't that tight. The best indicator we have is the megapixel rating, which is higher on the 3.97, but that's just an indicator that doesn't really tell us the quality of the optics.

Along those lines, it important to note that I'm only comparing Peau lenses, which are presumably sourced from the same manufacturer.

DattaGroover · Feb 8, 2016

erikgraham said:
Ah, I see what your saying, but you threw me off when you said ALL other things being equal. We've discussed the increase in noticeable vibration due to zoom effect on these lenses. It's really just a matter of interpretation, but I took the all things equal quite literally. What you'll find is that the 3.97 and the stock lens are sharper than the 4.35, even if you take the influence of vibration out of the equation - making all other things truly equal. One of the first tests I did was to place all 3 GoPro's on a rock solid table facing out through a window, with a view to the horizon. Vibration was removed from the equation.

I can't speak to the 5.4 since I don't have it, but the stock lens and the 3.97mm are sharper than the 4.35, even in footage shot from a completely stable platform. The 3.97 may even be a smidge sharper than the stock lens, but your mileage may vary as the manufacturing tolerances in the production of cheap little lenses like these isn't that tight. The best indicator we have is the megapixel rating, which is higher on the 3.97, but that's just an indicator that doesn't really tell us the quality of the optics.

Along those lines, it important to note that I'm only comparing Peau lenses, which are presumably sourced from the same manufacturer.

Thanks, that tells me a lot. I think the MP 'rating' on my 5.4mm is only 10 MP, but it is mostly sharp enough - except for the vibration factor. My problem is I also use it with my hand-held gimbal, which I like a lot, so now I just have to decide whether to get a second GoPro for the 3.97 or just change the lens out and live with it.

pyrate · Feb 8, 2016

the 4.4 I had did not seem to have that much added vibration, I was surprised
Going to retire my 4.4 to my gopro 3 Black for scuba and hand held or tripod video

Going to be interesting to see how the 3.97 compared to that lens