20mm F1.7 Pancake lens -is- fairly noisy

[tflak]

Glad to help. Coming from basically an "everything in focus" video background and jumping into the DSLR world can be a bit of a mind-bender. Especially if you didn't have any previous experience with SLR photography. This forum has been invaluable to me. My constant misgiving in posting info is that I don't make the mistake of knowing just enough to be dangerous. But, in that case, you can always count on someone here to kindly set the record straight and provide a learning experience.

 

[JackBayer]

Glad to help. Coming from basically an "everything in focus" video background and jumping into the DSLR world can be a bit of a mind-bender. Especially if you didn't have any previous experience with SLR photography. This forum has been invaluable to me. My constant misgiving in posting info is that I don't make the mistake of knowing just enough to be dangerous. But, in that case, you can always count on someone here to kindly set the record straight and provide a learning experience.

yes, totally. Emphasis on "kindly".

Those articles explain also very well to me, why I can only use a tele lens if I want shallow depth of field on something farther away from me and my cam (or on smallish sensors sizes for that matter). I did it right all the time but basically never knew why

 

[Rayzrsharp]

Got mine today. This is a very nice lens. ISO 400 is all i need. I would AF lock to minimize hunting. Perfect combo for GH1. I don't think i'll ever take off this lens. Or need anymore cameras.

Agreed! Got one on saturday and I'm EXTREMELY pleased. I thought I loved my Nikon 50mm 1.8 until I got this 20mm 1.7. Its been on my camera ever since. So to all considering getting this lens... as stated earlier, you WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! And they're going for $379.00 at Samy's camera is los angeles (those of us who are local).

 

[ajamils]

Agreed! Got one on saturday and I'm EXTREMELY pleased. I thought I loved my Nikon 50mm 1.8 until I got this 20mm 1.7. Its been on my camera ever since. So to all considering getting this lens... as stated earlier, you WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED! And they're going for $379.00 at Samy's camera is los angeles (those of us who are local).

Thanks for the heads up. I ordered one online. I was looking for one since a long time but they are sold out everywhere.

As for the price, is there any ad or something that lists it for that price ? Online they are selling it for $399.

 

[Rayzrsharp]

Thanks for the heads up. I ordered one online. I was looking for one since a long time but they are sold out everywhere.

As for the price, is there any ad or something that lists it for that price ? Online they are selling it for $399.

I didn't see an ad. I stopped in completely not thinking about buying a lens. I was looking for a cheap fluid head for my homemade slider (thanks Zaza). I'm looking around and I asked what do you have that's wide for my camera ( I had it with me) he said I have a 20mm 1.7. I said the Pancake? Yup. - How much? 379.00. Really? 379?! Sale or something. Yup. Discounted right now. Of course he let me put it on my camera and I was immediately hooked. He also gave me a discount on a gorilla pod which btw is great for handheld stuff if you shape it like the Red rock Ultraport AND discount on a manfrotto fluid head. It was a great day.

 

[ajamils]

I didn't see an ad. I stopped in completely not thinking about buying a lens. I was looking for a cheap fluid head for my homemade slider (thanks Zaza). I'm looking around and I asked what do you have that's wide for my camera ( I had it with me) he said I have a 20mm 1.7. I said the Pancake? Yup. - How much? 379.00. Really? 379?! Sale or something. Yup. Discounted right now. Of course he let me put it on my camera and I was immediately hooked. He also gave me a discount on a gorilla pod which btw is great for handheld stuff if you shape it like the Red rock Ultraport AND discount on a manfrotto fluid head. It was a great day.

Thanks for the info. I emailed them. Lets see what happens. This damn thing better be as good as people say it is....specially since I'm putting my neck on the line and if Mrs. finds out that I just spent another $400 on my new "obsession" (as she calls it) ... I'll be in trouble :violent5:

Edit:
Not to mention, I still have to buy Cineform Neoscene.......that's another $100

 

[Camera Expert]

Speaking of noise, I recently had a dilemma, I’m currently producing a documentary and the GH1 is the main camera. Yesterday morning I had to choose between using the 10x lens so that I can get more reach in some areas and it has better auto focusing in the video and not to mention less noise or the 20mm lens which will give me much better low-light capabilities.

I ended up choosing the 20mm lens and I’m actually glad I did. I used the built in mic and you really don’t hear anything especially when someone is talking. The other good news is that although it was indoors, I didn’t have to turn on the lights and I was still able to get a very clear picture at 100 ISO and a shutter of 60. The only major issue is that the focusing struggled in a few scenes for a few seconds each but then again most of the time the focusing was very good especially when you consider that I had it to f1.7. Still, I would have wished the focus was 100% perfect throughout the whole thing.

I’ll admit that I was a bit tired when I shot that but I actually did a good job keeping the camera stable since I didn’t use a tripod or any type of stabilizer support. It must be all that practice using the Aiptek A-HD and A-HD+ camcorders which doesn't have a stabilizer.