Anyone buy GH1 and ebay the 14-140 kit lens?

Mister Big

Mister Big

Well-known member
I see the kit lens gets about $750 or more on Ebay, which effectively brings the GH1 body price down to about $450. I've been eyeballing either a GH1 or a T21. But I really don't want the GH1's kit lens. I'd much rather have the 20mm 1.7, an adapter for my drawers full of AI Nikon lenses, and the Panasonic 14mm pancake when it comes out.

The idea is to use the GH1 or Canon as a b-camera to supplement an HVX or EX1 for the occasional shallow DOF shot.

I'm curious if anyone has tried this strategy, or planned to try this strategy then decided to keep the kit lens after playing around with it a bit. Yeah, I know the kit lens's range is useful and all that, but it's slow and big. I want compact and fast.

Thanks.
 
I have not done this. I keep the kit lens attached to the camera, but when I look at the video I've shot -- it's all done with my 24mm prime and my 50mm prime.

I've been clamoring for a Canon S90 -- just a tiny stills camera to take everywhere -- but honestly $750+change and I could get the GF1 with the 20mm pancake. Hrm....
 
Saw a gh1 body go for $560...damn, it's plummetting :happy:

I'd get the GH1 brand new if I were getting a kit lens, $750 and $900 is too much just for the lens considering the whole package is $1100 new now.

I got the body on ebay and the 20mm 1.7 and a 50mm 1.4 manual. I wish I had a kit lens or zoom of some sort.
 
i got the gh1 body. i wouldn't want to use a the kit lens for anything other than taking pictures and i don't use the gh1 for pictures. f4.5 is way too slow. hell, buy the kit lens and sell it and get a few primes. dunno how reliable it is for video, but i guess the auto focus comes in handy.
 
Car3o said:
i got the gh1 body. i wouldn't want to use a the kit lens for anything other than taking pictures and i don't use the gh1 for pictures. f4.5 is way too slow. hell, buy the kit lens and sell it and get a few primes. dunno how reliable it is for video, but i guess the auto focus comes in handy.
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Two of my favorite GH1 shots in here were done with the kit lens, they occur pretty early on.

Anyway, what are you guys getting for a wide angle to replace the kit lens at 14mm? I really like the way it looks at that focal length...much less distortion than most lenses out there that get that wide.

I also like that if focuses pretty damn close, a couple of feet or so even at 140mm. Even the most expensive (we're talking $5,000) fast telephoto primes don't typically focus closer than 5 or 6 feet. Even stopped down the ability to be so close to your subject can allow you to get extremely shallow DOF. The rack focus shot in my video from the rocks to the train tracks (which I will admit is a somewhat sloppy rack because the focus ring of the kit lens can be a pain going from 2 feet to infinity) was achieved at somewhere around f/8 I believe....speed is not everything: a lens that long focused that close is going to have shallow DOF at many apertures. Yes, the lens isn't that useful in low-light...but show me a 10x zoom that is. Basically it's an incredibly versatile lens for daylight shooting, and can really speed things up, and I wouldn't ever want to be caught without it. If you're using it inside on a film set it makes a great wide angle if you can light bright enough for it...and if us college students can do it, you can do it :D
 
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Two of my favorite GH1 shots in here were done with the kit lens, they occur pretty early on.

Anyway, what are you guys getting for a wide angle to replace the kit lens at 14mm? I really like the way it looks at that focal length...much less distortion than most lenses out there that get that wide.

I also like that if focuses pretty damn close, a couple of feet or so even at 140mm. Even the most expensive (we're talking $5,000) fast telephoto primes don't typically focus closer than 5 or 6 feet. Even stopped down the ability to be so close to your subject can allow you to get extremely shallow DOF. The rack focus shot in my video from the rocks to the train tracks (which I will admit is a somewhat sloppy rack because the focus ring of the kit lens can be a pain going from 2 feet to infinity) was achieved at somewhere around f/8 I believe....speed is not everything: a lens that long focused that close is going to have shallow DOF at many apertures. Yes, the lens isn't that useful in low-light...but show me a 10x zoom that is. Basically it's an incredibly versatile lens for daylight shooting, and can really speed things up, and I wouldn't ever want to be caught without it. If you're using it inside on a film set it makes a great wide angle if you can light bright enough for it...and if us college students can do it, you can do it :D[/quote]


I too love the kit lens, I want to shoot everything with it but with some interiors its impossible so I use the FDs or other Canon lenses to do that. In my betrayalfest entry I used every lens in the bag. A 28mm,50mm,28-70mm and the kit lens. All were useful. Pulling focus can be tough on dark interiors(no monitor) but it can be done. I love the GH1, hate the codec but love all the lenses you can put on it. If I can get another one cheap I'd probably buy it as well although the 550D is tempting I'm not sure what benefits it offers over the GH1.
 
it's 4.5...just too slow. can get a nice 14mm 2.8 for the price of that kit lens. everybody has different uses for different lens'. myself, didn't see the need for such a slow lens and don't use auto focus for anything.
 
Mister Big said:
I see the kit lens gets about $750 or more on Ebay, which effectively brings the GH1 body price down to about $450. I've been eyeballing either a GH1 or a T21. But I really don't want the GH1's kit lens.
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Well, buy the kit and sell the lens. As you noted, that would bring the GH1 cost to $350 less than the T2i body. With the money saved you could buy the Panny 20mm (not sure if that's the one you were referring to) for only 50 bucks more.
 
^ +1

I can't believe people are even comparing the GH1 and T2i, as the GH1 body can be had way cheaper than the T2i.

If I sold my kit lens for $750, my GH1 body would be $300. T2iLOLZZZZZZZ
 
The kit lens is excellent, made specially for video on the GH1. Prime lens double the focal length and jello the shots. Oh and the trying to find focus footage looks awful. Get the next kit lens gen down to at least f/2.8 and it will be perfect.
 
John Caballero said:
The kit lens is excellent, made specially for video on the GH1. Prime lens double the focal length and jello the shots. Oh and the trying to find focus footage looks awful. Get the next kit lens gen down to at least f/2.8 and it will be perfect.
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The focal length on the kit is doubled as well...its FOV at 14mm is a 28mm full frame 35mm equivelant.
 
Sold the kit lens and got the 14-45 lens. I still get the 14mm angle, plus it's F3.5 instead of F4.
 
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