Thank for all the input guys! I already have a Rokinon 85mm 1.4, Rokinin 35mm 1.4, Canon 50mm 1.2, Nikon 50mm 1.4, Tamron 17-50 f2.8 (Canon EOS mount), Rokinon 8mm 3.5 amongst others. Was looking at the 35-100 2.8 in addition and could really help with autofocus of shots walking down aisle ...
GH3 Best AF lens for low light wedding receptions
- Thread starter awomias
- Start date
If you have budget for only one lens now, the 35-100f2.8 is probably your best choice, and you will NEED one in the future anyway. After you settle down and have budget for any lens or two, don't over look the Nokton 17.5 and 25f0.95. I really enjoy using my Nokton lenses and as they are so wide, critical focusing may not be a problem, depending on your type of shooting.
For autofocus the only lens I trust on Panasonic is the Olympus 12mm f2.0 lens. I use it on steadicam and it is normally rock solid in maintaining focus. With other lenses, especially the more telephoto ones, the autofocus will probably struggle and will start to focus breathe and hunt and it wont' look nice when you try to use the footage later on. The more telephoto you go the more shallow depth of field you will get and the more likely the autofocus will struggle maintaining focus. So it is probably better to manual focus when using telephoto lenses to avoid the ugly focus hunting and focus breating with autofocus. And the Olympus 12mm f2.0 is good in low light is a quality lens. Great for steadicam work.
Also, I have found f2.8 is not that great for low light situation shooting. Wish Panasonic made the 12-35mm and 35-100m lenses f2.0:embarasse. I am considering the Sony A99 over the GH3 partly for this reason. Can't make a decision between these two cameras!
Also, I have found f2.8 is not that great for low light situation shooting. Wish Panasonic made the 12-35mm and 35-100m lenses f2.0:embarasse. I am considering the Sony A99 over the GH3 partly for this reason. Can't make a decision between these two cameras!
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FrameFarmMedia
Veteran
Does Sony have any sub 2.8 zooms?
Nope, but it is a full frame camera. Thats why I wish the Panasonic lenses were f2.0 to make up for the smaller sensor size and better low light performance.
FrameFarmMedia
Veteran
Olympus has 14-35 & 35-100 F2 zooms. No (or really slow) AF though if that is important. I don't think it was physically possible for panasonic to make an f2.0 zoom that small. Just look at the size of the Olympus ones.
I couldn't imagine having to pull focus on moving people with a full frame at 2.8. I personally find it too damn shallow especially when your not shooting pre-rehearsed marks. Thats probably just me though.
Yeah, those Olympus lenses are for the 4/3 cameras I believe and autofocus for photography wouldn't be that great.
But another solution I was just thinking of was using the 2.8 Panasonic lenses and applying some noise removing plugins in post if needed. Neat Video or Magic Bullet denoiser.
Here is a wedding I help shoot. Three cameras were used. Canon 60d, Panasonic GH2 with Olympus 12mm f2.0 lens, and Canon 5D Mark 3. Most of the slider shots I believe were with 5D Mark 3. The steadicam moving shots were all with the Panasonic GH2 and Olympus 12mm f2.0 lens. At the end of the video you can compare the Panasonic GH2 in low light to the 5D mark 3. The moving shot with the girls coming in with the fans was GH2 and Olympus lens. It kind of fell apart in the low light I think.
dustylense
Veteran
Why spend $2,200 for a lens that does not work very well other than optically in the Oly 14-35? And it's only a stop faster. It's large to boot.
I have the 12-35 and 35-100 for Lumix G's and they are brilliant lenses. Work perfectly on the gh3. The AF tracker is awesome!!!! You can even get really good rack focus out of them on the Gh3.
Take a look at this video at the 1:30 mark. That is for sure the 35-100 with track focus on:
If you want a fast lens, look at the 20 1.7, or the Oly 12mm and panny/leica 25mm.
I have the 12-35 and 35-100 for Lumix G's and they are brilliant lenses. Work perfectly on the gh3. The AF tracker is awesome!!!! You can even get really good rack focus out of them on the Gh3.
Take a look at this video at the 1:30 mark. That is for sure the 35-100 with track focus on:
If you want a fast lens, look at the 20 1.7, or the Oly 12mm and panny/leica 25mm.
d1rockwild
Well-known member
I tested the AF of this lens with a GH2 and good light as a bridal party was coming down. It wasn't fast enough. People walking nearly directly towards camera is tough for a long-ish lens. Perhaps the touchscreen tracking would yield better results, but with controlling zoom/frame and handling the pan of the tripod head, having an extra hand to touch the screen may be a challenge and not something I'm interested in. I'm more comfortable manual focusing than leaving it up to the AF.
FrameFarmMedia
Veteran
I can't speak to it myself but these lenses on the GH3 are supposed to have much faster AF with less hunting including tracking of an object. Maybe Dusty could speak to those details.
dustylense
Veteran
The AF is useable sort of like you see on a decent 1/3 chip camera. It's just there and works well. I updated my 12-35 and 35-100 to the 1.1 firmware and I even saw improvement. But as will all AF systems it can hiccup. WIth the lumix G 2.8's though I'm quite impressed.
It's also the touch screen which is sensitive and smart like an Iphone that makes the AF useable for locked off or slow pan rack focusing. You can move the AF point to anywhere on the screen and resize the point as well. Or you have face detect. In the video I linked earlier I think you can get a good idea of it's performance.
So far I'm impressed with the cameras functions and layouts. It feels like a mini 5dMK3 but with even more performance.
Let's just say that if you EVER find yourself using AF systems in video, the Gh3 with the 13-35 and the 35-100 makes good sense to have. That's a pretty incredible focal range on a large sensor cam with lenses that that have the ability to AF.
It's also the touch screen which is sensitive and smart like an Iphone that makes the AF useable for locked off or slow pan rack focusing. You can move the AF point to anywhere on the screen and resize the point as well. Or you have face detect. In the video I linked earlier I think you can get a good idea of it's performance.
So far I'm impressed with the cameras functions and layouts. It feels like a mini 5dMK3 but with even more performance.
Let's just say that if you EVER find yourself using AF systems in video, the Gh3 with the 13-35 and the 35-100 makes good sense to have. That's a pretty incredible focal range on a large sensor cam with lenses that that have the ability to AF.
d1rockwild
Well-known member
@dusty, appreciate your incite and videos, but to be fair, the question of people walking directly towards camera with AF on the GH3 hasn't been answered. I suppose locking off the camera would help make touch focusing super easy, perhaps I should re-consider though as I love to make micro adjustments to the frame, for better and worse. As you said, AF can hiccup and catch someone in the audience rather than the bride covered by the veil. and take a second to re-align itself.
tired
Well-known member
+1 I've been shooting weddings for.. well a few years now and AF is a receipe for disaster - when you need it most it will go hunting. I've got a great selection of FD primes that are great for low light, you just have to get used to using them
Ianscreations
Well-known member
There is a firmware update? How do we know when they are available?
akivisuals
Well-known member
This is some good information. I was wondering about what lens would be good on a Glidecam. I was using my 60D and a 17-40L but with the GH3 I wondered which lens might make for a good combo. So do you always have the GH and Oly on autofocus instead of zone focusing with a larger aperture? It doesn't hunt at all?
I recently bought a GH3 with the 12-35 and a Voightlander 25mm and was vacillating between the Olympus 35-100 f/2 and the Panasonic 35-100 f/2.8. In addition, I'm planning on switching to a Sony a99 for my stills work and perhaps for video as well. I'm well invested in Canon gear (5D3, 5D2, 60D and a whole host of L lenses) but will probably start switching over next year. What factors are leading you to move to the a99 for video use?
dustylense
Veteran
Watch this video where the shooter used the 35-100 on AF full-time. He even states how good it is:
Yeah, I always use GH2 with Olympus 12mm for any kind of steadicam work or crane work because the autofocus is mostly stable. Once in a while it loses focus but so far it has been mostly reliable.
The reason I am thinking of the Sony A99 over the GH3 is the full frame and f2.8 zoom lenses. On paper it should be better in low light than GH3. I have found f2.8 on micro four third sensor is not adequate for low light shooting. I want good low light zoom lenses because I don't want to keep sticking my GH2 with Olympus 12mm f2.0 wide angle lens in peoples faces when I want a closeup, lol. And I don't want to keep changing prime lenses as there is no time to do so some times. I am thinking I can manage a lot of coverage options with Sony A99 with 24-70 f2.8 Zeiss lens. However, it is much more expensive then GH3 and also from the footage I have been watching online it doesn't seem to be better then the GH3 in video when there is sufficient light. But the Sony A99 will probably be a better stills camera then GH3. But GH3 looks like it is a better video camera when there is sufficient light.
akivisuals
Well-known member
The GH3 footage by Joe Simon looks amazing. Although it's pretty much all in sufficient light. The a99 on the other hand has many areas of blown out highlights that i've seen in other Sony camera videos. The highlights clip pretty harshly. That look is what I want to avoid as much as possible without having to go to the point of getting a BMCC or RED. I like the sharpness of the GH3 and still see some relatively shallow DOF in some scenes. Love the fact that it can autofocus decently well in video mode. While I really want to love the a99 for video, I'm thinking that I'd be using it mostly for stills work. Right now, my 5D3 and 5D2 do well for stills, but I find that I'm not getting as accurate exposures as I do with even my Sony NEX-7. I like being able to see what I'm going to get in a final image without having to chimp afterwards.
Anyways, that Olympus 12mm f/2 definitely sounds like a lens worth getting to pair with my Nokton 25mm and the 12-35 Panasonic. I'm considering that 35-100 Panasonic as well but wonder if f/2.8 will do it for low light conditions plus the fact that there isn't as shallow DOF with the M4/3 sensor.
Anyways, that Olympus 12mm f/2 definitely sounds like a lens worth getting to pair with my Nokton 25mm and the 12-35 Panasonic. I'm considering that 35-100 Panasonic as well but wonder if f/2.8 will do it for low light conditions plus the fact that there isn't as shallow DOF with the M4/3 sensor.