AF100 Lens Dilemma Lumix 14-140mm

D

dtzfilms

Well-known member
Nikon lens
Okay, I know Barry says the 14-140mm is the work horse but I'm concerned about wasting money duplicating what I have when my pennies could go toward that which I don't have at all. By this I mean the nikon 18-200mm especially if one of the 4/3 adapters will make the 18-200mm work. I don't care about the 14, I get that below:


What I currently have:
Nikon
50mm f1.8
85mm f1.4
70-200mm VR f2.8
18-200mm VR f3.5-5.6

What I'm planning to get RIGHT NOW:
Panasonic Lumix G 20mm, f1.7 - $350 - (fastest wide)
panasonic 7-14mm, f4 - $900 (widest)
Novoflex // Adaptimax? if Novoflex works the 18-200mm, I'll get that, if not, I'm painted into the adaptimax, but I'm not liquid enough to get both which I doubt I need.

What I'm planning to get LATER ON.
Noktor 50mm f0.98
Voightlander 25mm f0.98.

For now I'll be using the AF100 predominantly/exclusively for my personal shorts. I'll keep on using the HPX170 for weddings etc until I get proficient at the F100.

So my question is - should I get the !4-140mm? Coming from a screenwriting background, I'm not entire astute enough to make the determination. Yes I lose lens to body talk, but I need the insight of someone who really knows lens.

I'd really love both f0.98 lens, get the 25mm first which according to Barry is really a 30mm on the AF. The 50mm is a 60mm that I already have in the nikon 50mm/f1.8.
 
If you are not doing semi ENG, client work, and you have time to set shots, I see no reason for you to get the 14-140. I have to have it for shoots that require speed and do not allow time to change lenses. It looks good wide, looks pretty good pushed, but is a slow dark lens.
I have a wdie array of Nikon primes as well, and also the Voigtlander .95. I beileve it equals the focal length of a 50mm on the AF, not a 30, relative a full 35mm frame. It's a terrific, very bright lens.
 
dtzfilms said:
For now I'll be using the AF100 predominantly/exclusively for my personal shorts. I'll keep on using the HPX170 for weddings etc until I get proficient at the F100.
Click to expand...

I shot a wedding the other day on my AF100 and the reception was very dark. I found having fast lenses very useful and would have found f4-5.6 too slow. If you plan to shoot in dark churches and reception venues I would get something like Nikon or Sigma or Tokina f2.8 constant aperture or Olympus 14-35 f2. Since you will be using a Nikon adaptor for your Nikon lenses maybe have a look at nikon 17-55 f2.8 DX lens.
 
If you are not doing semi ENG, client work, and you have time to set shots, I see no reason for you to get the 14-140. I have to have it for shoots that require speed and do not allow time to change lenses. It looks good wide, looks pretty good pushed, but is a slow dark lens.
Click to expand...
Agreed. The 14-140 has some unique capabilities that you don't see on other lenses, such as the totally silent autofocus and iris adjustment; was working with an Olympus 14-35 and it was clicking like an old guy's dentures every time the camera focused or the iris changed. The 14-140 makes that silent. It's not a perfect lens, it's got its issues, but it does things other lenses don't do, and that's why I think it merits attention from folks wanting to do that type of work.

Okay, on your proposed list of lenses...
The 20mm 1.7 is a great lens, but it's not very wide. Do you have a Nikon adapter already? Try zooming your 18-200 in just a little bit from fully wide-open an dyou'll see about what the 20mm will look like. It's a very mild wide angle, but almost a "normal" field of view. The Voigtlander 25mm is a "normal" lens, and the 20mm is a "slightly wide" lens. If you want an actual wide-angle, the 14mm f/2.5 might be worth looking at, but it's noticeably slower.

The 7-14 is just fantastic.

I don't know much about the aperture-control Nikon adapters, I'll let others answer those.

The Noktor 50mm is an f/0.95, but you should read the reviews about its wide-open performance to see if you'd be happy with it. You already have a 50mm f/1.8 lens, so I don't know if you'd be best-served to duplicate that focal range unless you really, really need the speed.
The Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 is a wonderful lens, but the question is really -- what type of work do you do? Because at nearly a grand, it's going to soak up some budget and it's not really the kind of lens you'd want to use for weddings and stuff, as it's strictly and only 100% manual. It's better for structured narrative shooting.

With all of these decisions, my advice is to minimize spending until you know for sure that there's a gap in what you need. You don't have any faster wider glass, so your priorities do seem pretty solid on that.

As for a lens "becoming" another ... I don't subscribe to that idea, I prefer to think of the lens used on the camera it's being used on, as how it looks. A 25mm on the AF100 would "look" like a 30mm on a cinema camera, but it's not exactly the same, the DOF will still be 25mm. You'd have to open up the iris about a quarter stop to really make them equivalent. Also, it depends on what you're comparing to -- if you're comparing to an "APS-C" camera, then yeah, about 1.2x is about right. If you're comparing to a "full frame" camera, it's more like 2.0x.
 
Okay thanks. This helps a great deal. I had to google ENG. Ha! The AF100 for me was predominantly for my own narrative shorts and features so the suggestions do make sense. I'll keep on using the HPX170 for weddings until I can get the 25mm/f0.98 which would be good for night shots and Wedding receptions where the lights are dim. As for a lens becoming another, I merely meant the Field of view. It looks like I'm still mistaken despite reading the entire 50-page thread on lens and crop factor in 48 hours. What I deduced, from reading, was that the field of view with a 50mm on a 35mm Cinema-Film camera would be 1.2 on the AF100 = 60mm, that the full frame MK2 shooters are the ones who'd suffer the crop factor issue the most. But now I'm hearing it's 2.0? So really the 7-14mm, is actually a 14-28 field of view equivalent on the AF100? Not that it really matters that much. Narrative-wise, I'll go by what I see through my view-finder. I'll be shooting master shots, two shots, dirty singles and walk-and-talks. I guess I'll shoot with what I have till a need presents itself. But thank you, for now, no 14-140mm, I can put that $900 towards the Voightlander 25mm f0.98 and have a fast normal lens. So really that 25mm is actually going to be pushed out to 50mm field of view - that's pretty normal, yip, thanks a lot. My 50mm/f1.8 then becomes my portrait lens at 100mm FOV, my 70-200mm f2.8 becomes a useless 140-400mm FOV-wise. Narrative-wise, or otherwise, I cannot see where this lens might come into use on the AF100. So sell this? I hope I'm finally sounding sane?

Oh, the other thing I discovered, if the non-manual iris nikon lens are opened completely wide on the nikon body, then placed on the AF100, the novoflex works with the max aperture last set but it cannot open it up beyond what it was last opened up to electronically if not opened to max electronically. So my lens 70-200mm f2.8 would only open up to 2.8 if when it was last used on the nikon, it was at 2.8. Which to me means I don't really need the adaptimax, since the aperture will never get smaller than the electronically set 2.8, correct? Thanks a lot.
 
Last edited:
dtzfilms; Oh said:
There are a number of different brand adaptors that can control the aperture on Nikon G lenses.
Noveflex G adaptor, Adaptimax, Fotodiox G adaptor and you can still use non G lenses on them as well.
Click to expand...
 
Are you sure about that, CineStill? That didn't seem to match up with my experience with the Nikon G 17-55mm and the Novoflex (if I'm understanding you correctly); Did you turn the Novoflex dial all the way before attaching, as per the instructions?
 
Hi dtzfilm
if you have a Nikon 70-200 2.8 and the tele is covered
you should consider the olympus 14-54 2.8-3.5
i'ts the most usfull lens i'm using with my AF-101. its not fast as the 14-35
but much cheaper. a bit noisy while focusing, but the range is really OK.
I have the 14-140 also and when doing outdoor i'm using that mostly, but not indoors.
just not fast enough
 
Not directly related, but I've been looking for the original test of lenses done by Barry and I can only finda the Lumix's.
I remember reading his comments on several lenses including the Voigtlander and other non Lumix lenses. Where's that thread?

Cheers.
 
Steve R said:
Are you sure about that, CineStill? That didn't seem to match up with my experience with the Nikon G 17-55mm and the Novoflex (if I'm understanding you correctly); Did you turn the Novoflex dial all the way before attaching, as per the instructions?
Click to expand...

I have only had direct experience with the Fotodiox Nikon G to m4/3 . Their is a liittle flange sticking out the back of Nikon lenses that controls the aperture and the Fotodiox (and I assumed) other adaptors would mechanically control aperture by this means. Does the Noveflex have electronic connection?
 
Barry_Green said:
Depends on what kind of camera you're comparing it to.

7-14 on an AF100 = 8.5-17 on a 35mm movie camera or 14-28 on a "full frame" 35mm stills camera.
Click to expand...

This is my dilemma with the 7-14. I would pick it up for sure because it's crazy clean and wide because all my other lenses are Nikon FF primes and I need something wider (around 15mm) but the 7-14 may be too wide, especially for dolly shots.

I am looking at the Olympus 11-22 f2/8-3.5 to fill in there. I've asked before, but has anyone tried this lens? Does it click like the others? I wouldn't use auto focus in any case and would only ride the iris occasionally. The push button focus could be handy. How's the manual focus on it? Can it use a follow focus comfortably well? I have the Red rock V2. I think the throw is 1/2 turn from what I read.

I'd go with the Tokina 11-16 but then I have to use the Novoflex instead of the Kipon Nikon adapter I have now and why would I if the AF100 controls the Olympus 11-22 iris? I know folks do love that Tokina.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top