GH2 14-140 kit is so slow!

Phenixone

Phenixone

Well-known member
Hi,
I just wanted to see with you what your feelings were about the 14-140 kit lens. The aperture speed is really slow, do you know of any similar range for a lens that would open more?
How do you deal with this? Any alternative lens to offer?
I'm also thinking into going all prime, this might be the best solution...
 
the 14-140 is too slow (IMO) for anything other than outside daytime footage.

there is currently no affordable modern (with AF, IS, etc...) faster alternative. olympus makes one, but as i recall, its like $1500+
there are a number of companies promising faster m4/3 glass. but you probably wont see any of it until early next year...

for the time being, im using a rayqual adapter and a bunch of old nikon fast primes. image is great, but the complete lack of autofocus or any other such pleasantry is kind of sad sometimes...
 
I replaced the Lumix 14-140mm kit lens with the Pansonic Leica 14-50mm f2.8-3.5. This is the fastest OIS zoom available for 4/3rds cameras and it also supports auto-focus on the GH2 (but not on earlier models). While it's not a perfect lens by any means, I've found it to be the best solution for handheld shooting over a wide range of illumination.
 
lpowell said:
I replaced the Lumix 14-140mm kit lens with the Pansonic Leica 14-50mm f2.8-3.5. This is the fastest OIS zoom available for 4/3rds cameras and it also supports auto-focus on the GH2 (but not on earlier models). While it's not a perfect lens by any means, I've found it to be the best solution for handheld shooting over a wide range of illumination.
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That lens looks amazing... Never saw it prior. Is the auto focus noticeably faster than the 14-140mm?
 
Trouble is the wide range. 14-140. Its reallllllllly hard to build it sharp, small and fast. Its possible, the angeniuex 24-290 does it, wide range, fast @ a F2:8 and sharp as hell, but its 160,000, and weighs 40lbs.....
 
I think it's a great lens if you have enough light. You can mount one of the 2.8 SLR zoom lenses and get it as fast as 2.8 but then you have to choose between something like 16-35/24-70/70-200 as the most common zoom range. If you really need speed a prime like the Voigtländer 25/0.95 is very good. For a super-zoom lens you can resort to ENG lenses with extenders but on the cost of sharpness. So considering how little the 14-140 is I think it's a bargain and does work albeit not a lens for shooting in no-light conditions.
 
I've been toying with the idea of selling my 14-140 but it does come in handy for some shoots where I do have the ability to add lighting and or my location has it going on already. I picked up a tokina 2.8 zoom that really stays on the camera a lot more... I think Panasonic would make a killing if they came out with something even like a 14-70 2.5 or so... That would be a killer...
 
Thing about that Olympus is that it's not a constant. I pretty much want that with all of my glass from now on, the 14-140 not withstanding.
 
wgzn said:
the 14-140 is too slow (IMO) for anything other than outside daytime footage.

there is currently no affordable modern (with AF, IS, etc...) faster alternative. olympus makes one, but as i recall, its like $1500+
there are a number of companies promising faster m4/3 glass. but you probably wont see any of it until early next year...

for the time being, im using a rayqual adapter and a bunch of old nikon fast primes. image is great, but the complete lack of autofocus or any other such pleasantry is kind of sad sometimes...
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'll probably go with Nikon primes and the 20mm pancake
 
Hi

I am just on the verge of buying a gh2 for a documentary shot. My question is how good is the autofocus - continuous focus? Is it any good wide open? And what lens do you think the autofocus works best with? Does is work with all AF lenses or only with Panasonic lenses. My subjects wont be moving around a lot since its about a village full of 100 year olds, but if there are walking scenes and such.
Lenses that I have looked at are the 14-42 kit lens, the 20mm 1.7, the 25mm 1.4, the sigma 30mm 1.4 (the m4/3 mount version) and the pana 14mm 2.5. Which lens would you recommend? Which one would you consider really sharp? I will be mostly using Deep Dof, wide to medium shots to incooperate the landscape.

Thanks a lot
 
stiller said:
Hi

I am just on the verge of buying a gh2 for a documentary shot. My question is how good is the autofocus - continuous focus? Is it any good wide open? And what lens do you think the autofocus works best with? Does is work with all AF lenses or only with Panasonic lenses. My subjects wont be moving around a lot since its about a village full of 100 year olds, but if there are walking scenes and such.
Lenses that I have looked at are the 14-42 kit lens, the 20mm 1.7, the 25mm 1.4, the sigma 30mm 1.4 (the m4/3 mount version) and the pana 14mm 2.5. Which lens would you recommend? Which one would you consider really sharp? I will be mostly using Deep Dof, wide to medium shots to incooperate the landscape.

Thanks a lot
Click to expand...

Hi,
The simple answer of AF is: As soon as you need an adapter (Except the 4/3 to micro 4/3 from panasonic) to mount your lens you loose every bit of electronic (OIS, AF, Auto Iris...).
The only lens available for AF are all the micro 4/3 lens from Panasonic and other manufacturers, and 4/3 lens with the panasonic adapter.
 
Justyn said:
Thing about that Olympus is that it's not a constant. I pretty much want that with all of my glass from now on, the 14-140 not withstanding.
Click to expand...

Just think of the 14-50, 14-54 or 12-60 as constant of their maximum apertures. 2.8 to 3.5 isn't that much of a difference anyway.

I personally own the Olympus 14-54 and it has a crystal clear IQ at 2.8 and 3.5, I highly recommend it. And you still have AFS when using the Panny adapter.
 
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