GH1 16mm on GH1

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edruga

Member
Since the GH1 uses a micro 4/3rds sensor, that means the length of lenses are basically doubled right? 20mm = 40mm?

I've shot on film before and my favourite lens lengths were 25mm and 16mm. How would I be able to get that 16mm width on the GH1? All the 8mm seem to be fisheye, I don't want that effect.

Appreciate any help.
 
The focal lengths don't change, they stay always the same. Depending on the sensor size (film plane), the field of view changes. What type of film did you shoot before? 16mm, 35mm movie film, or 35mm still film?
 
cordvision said:
The focal lengths don't change, they stay always the same. Depending on the sensor size (film plane), the field of view changes. What type of film did you shoot before? 16mm, 35mm movie film, or 35mm still film?
Click to expand...

Ah... as you can see I am new to the (H)DSLR world. To answer your question, I have shot on 16mm film before.
 
To get the same FOV on a GH2 as you get with a 16mm lens on a 16mm camera, you need ca. a 24mm lens. To get the FOV of a 25mm lens on a 16mm camera, you need ca. a 37mm lens.

To understand how everything works, imagine it like this: A lens with a specific focal length projects the scene in front of the lens out the back of the lens. Let's say it projects it onto a screen. The lens projects a scene consisting of a house with a car parked in front of it.
You now have sensors with different sizes. Lets say, you have a sensor of the same size as the projected image on the screen. This means the recorded picture will consist of the house and the car in front of it.
Let's now say you have a sensor that is only about 1/4 of the first sensor. Obviously it won't cover the whole scene that the lens projects onto the screen. It will only cover for example the car, therefore only records the car.
Let's say you have an even smaller sensor that will only cover/record the license plate of the car projected onto the screen.

As you see, the sensor size is a deciding factor for how wide angle or how "telephoto" your recorded picture looks. In this example the focal length of the lens didn't change, but we went from a wide angle recording to a telephoto recording.

Generally speaking: For any given focal length: The larger the sensor area, the more wider the FOV. The small the sensor, the narrower (more telephoto) the FOV becomes.

A 16mm film frame is smaller than a micro 4/3 sensor. Therefore, the picture shot with a 16mm lens has a greater FOV (more wide angle) on the GH2 than on the 16mm camera. To compensate, you would have to use a longer lens like a 24mm lens on the GH2.

Hope me explanation makes sense... feel free to ask questions....
 
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I have another question, I didn't want to start another thread.

I am looking at adapters for Nikon lenses to fit on my GH1. The main lens I will be using is the Tonika 11 - 16mm 2.8.

I was originally looking at the Novoflex MFT/NIK, about $300.
Now I am looking at the Fotodiox, which is about $40-50. One of the reviews for this adapter said that it has a 2x crop factor. Is this true for pretty much all adapters? I tried to do my own research, but wasn't getting any good answers. So if I were to use this adapter, the Tonika lens would be 22 - 32mm on top of the micro 4/3s sensor crop?

Appreciate any more help guys. Thank you.
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The adapter will not cause any additional crop factor. The reviewer was probably describing the already existing 2x crop factor of the MFT sensor. So your 11 to 16mm with the adapter will have the same FOV as a 22-32mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera.

Short answer: the adapter doesn't change the FOV of the lens.
 
edruga said:
.... the Tonika lens would be 22 - 32mm on top of the micro 4/3s sensor crop?
[/LEFT]
Click to expand...

Focal lengths never change, ever! The Tokina 11-16 will always be 11-16mm no matter on what camera you use it. What changes is the FOV but not the focal length... It's important to use the right terms because there is enough confusion around this issue already...
 
dvbrother said:
The adapter will not cause any additional crop factor. The reviewer was probably describing the already existing 2x crop factor of the MFT sensor. So your 11 to 16mm with the adapter will have the same FOV as a 22-32mm lens on a full frame 35mm camera.

Short answer: the adapter doesn't change the FOV of the lens.
Click to expand...

Great. Thanks!

cordvision said:
Focal lengths never change, ever! The Tokina 11-16 will always be 11-16mm no matter on what camera you use it. What changes is the FOV but not the focal length... It's important to use the right terms because there is enough confusion around this issue already...
Click to expand...

I'll try my best cordvision, haha. I've been taking in a lot of information lately.
 
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