For example, GoPro sent a Laowa 7.5-mm lens for me to test with. When HyperSmooth is on, that’s the equivalent of shooting with a 23-mm lens on a full-frame camera. With HyperSmooth off, it becomes a 20-mm lens. I bring this up mainly because if you want to go really wide on the ILS, you’ll need a very, very wide lens (fisheye lenses are probably your best bet).
Now for the downside to the ILS: There are no electrical contacts, which means lenses that rely on electronic focus or aperture control probably won’t work. For example, my all-time favorite MFT lens, Panasonic’s original 20-mm pancake, won’t work on the ILS because there’s no manual aperture ring.
Your best bet is to stick with fully manual lenses that have a mechanical aperture ring. There aren’t many, but there are enough with quality glass to cover a good range of focal lengths. GoPro’s Abe Kislevitz put together a nice collection of lenses that he has tested with the Mission 1 Pro ILS, along with his recommendations for various shooting scenarios. Be aware that the camera is sold body-only, and so far, we haven’t seen any bundles from GoPro or resellers that include a lens.
And yes, you have to manually focus. I could drop some jokes here about kids today not knowing how to do it, but the truth is, I shoot vintage manual-focus lenses all the time on my Sony A7R II. While I’ve shot sports and wildlife with these lenses and had a pretty high success rate, I struggled to focus on the ILS.
The problem with focusing on the ILS is the small screen. It’s hard to see, not just in bright daylight. It’s just really small. There is focus peaking, which uses color banding to indicate what’s in focus, but it can be hard to see exactly where it ends, and I’ve learned from my Sony not to fully rely on peaking.
You can zoom in to get very precise focus, which is what I do on the Sony, but again the small screen makes it hard to see. Worse, for filmmakers especially, you have to have the camera at eye level to focus it well, which limits your shooting ability (or you get to contort into all sorts of weird poses). I would love to see the next Mission 1 Pro ILS get a tilting screen; it’s not waterproof anyway, so it doesn’t seem like there would be a need to reengineer. GoPro no doubt would suggest using the app on my phone, as it does make it considerably easier to focus, but then you need a cage, and then a handle, and at that point most of the Mission 1 Pro ILS’ size advantage is gone; you might as well get a Panasonic GH7, which has an even larger sensor.
Ultimately, while focusing on the small screen is challenging, using a phone or other external monitor sidesteps that issue (and is what pro filmmakers do anyway), but the inability to control the lens iris electronically feels like a bigger limitation since it eliminates a significant number of lenses. It would be nice to see a future Mission 1 Pro ILS support at least electronic connectors for aperture and manual focusing on lenses that require it.
Shooting With the Mission 1 Pro ILS
Once you get past the hurdle of manual focusing, there’s a lot to love about the ILS footage. Testing it reminded me more than anything of the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera from several years ago. I can’t believe this tiny little thing can match the quality of those early Blackmagic cameras.