GH2 Best Video Lens

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Daniel007

Member
Hey guys,

i've just bought a GH2 body and need some good information about which lens I should buy now.

What I wanna do is filming short movies. I like that kind of "kino look". That's why I prefer lenses which support that. So I don't need lenses made for documentations or things like that.
For example: Panasonic 14-140mm isn't a big deal for me, I think. It's just bad indoor and doesn't support depth of field.

What would you recommend me?

Thanks guys!

Daniel
 
Daniel007 said:
Hey guys,

i've just bought a GH2 body and need some good information about which lens I should buy now.

What I wanna do is filming short movies. I like that kind of "kino look". That's why I prefer lenses which support that. So I don't need lenses made for documentations or things like that.
For example: Panasonic 14-140mm isn't a big deal for me, I think. It's just bad indoor and doesn't support depth of field.

What would you recommend me?

Thanks guys!

Daniel
Click to expand...

The 20mm pancake is a great lens for indoors.
 
Grisnjam said:
The 20mm pancake is a great lens for indoors.
Click to expand...

Thank you! But it's great for outside, too, isn't it?

One of my friends recommended to buy a Nokton 25mm. It's very expensive but probably better than pancake 20mm.

But can I do everything with a 25 or 20mm lens? What about an alternative?
 
I just finished shooting my first short film. I filmed almost all of it on my 20m f1.7, and the shots that were on different lenses could've been done on the 20mm as well. I'd recommend the 20mm pancake and a Canon FD 50mm f1.7 (which I got for $30) for film work.

Übrigens hatte ich auch die Frage, ob Ihre Muttersprache Deutsche wäre?
 
Thanks for your answer.

Ja, ich wohne in Deutschland und spreche fließend Deutsch. ;) Hat man meinen deutschen Akzent gehört?

But let's get back to English which is better here so that everyone can understand and help.

So far I think I'll buy 20mm PanCake lens and 14-45mm for wide angle. You also recommend a Canon 50mm f1.7. Can you say something about it?

Where can I watch your short film? :)
 
I have the 20MM Pancake and love it. I had the 25MM on order but got tired of waiting and the price increases.
I have the 14-140 but only use it outdoors every once in awhile.
I just purchased the 7-14 LUMIX and love it. Very sharp and have used it all week
on an interior photo shoot.

I also have a Nikon 50 1.4 which is great for interviews.
 
Thanks a lot for your post!

Yes, I'm quite sure the 20mm PanCake is a very good lens for those who don't want to spend so much money but want to get great quality.

I've heard of the 7-14mm before. Unfortunately it is too expensive, too. ;)

But a Nikon 50mm 1.4 looks nice. Would you also recommend it for short films?
 
Daniel007 said:
Hat man meinen deutschen Akzent gehört? You also recommend a Canon 50mm f1.7. Can you say something about it?

Where can I watch your short film? :)
Click to expand...

A 50mm focal length (on a micro 4/3 sensor) is a good focal length for close-ups in film applications, and the f1.7 speed gives you great DOF control. I used it for some rack focus and some close-up shots.

I should have said I just finished shooting the film, I'm not done with the editing yet. When it's done I might post it here, if not, keep an eye on my Vimeo account (vimeo.com/chriscolton). I'm a little nervous about posting it to dvxuser because I'm afraid people will just point out flaws, rather than suggest improvements.

Und da ich Deutsch studiere, habe ich kleine Einzelheiten deiner Englischen Grammatik erkannt :) Aber dein Englisch ist sehr gut.
 
Daniel007 said:
Thanks a lot for your post!

Yes, I'm quite sure the 20mm PanCake is a very good lens for those who don't want to spend so much money but want to get great quality.

I've heard of the 7-14mm before. Unfortunately it is too expensive, too. ;)

But a Nikon 50mm 1.4 looks nice. Would you also recommend it for short films?
Click to expand...

The 50MM would work great for medium to close head shots.

The 20MM would be more of a mutli-purpose lens.
 
Thank you all so much for taking an interest in helping me. ;)

Chris, I will keep checking out your Vimeo channel up. Just be confident! I promise I'll give you improvements.
Danke für dein Kompliment. Meine Englischlehrerin sagt immer, im Englischen gebe es tausende Ausnahmen, auf die man achten müsse. ;) Viel Erfolg dir weiterhin!

You're right, 50mm is perfect for medium to close head shots. But Nikon 50mm 1.4 or Canon FD 50mm 1.4?

I usually do not want to work with artificial light. That's another reason which argues against 14-140mm.
 
Outdoors the 14-140mm is as good as the 20mm,all the extensive tests i have done show me this,the 20mm has its place but for me solely having a 20mm fixed lens in outdoor daylight compared to the 14-140mm is no contest,
other lenses oly 9-18/pana 14mm/pana 45-200mm
 
No problem helping you - I've learned a lot from people on this forum, too.

If you want to shoot in available light the 20mm is irreplaceable. Artificial light will definitely give you a better end result if you do it right, though. However, if you absolutely don't want to do artificial, at least buy a reflector. Mine was under $50 and even in bright sunlight it can do wonders to use a reflector. I use it to modify available light all the time.

Canon vs. Nikon - both are good glass, I've heard good things about both, but I only own Canon so I can't speak from experience.

Und die ganze Englische Sprache ist eine Ausnahme, ich freue mich, dass ich es als Muttersprache gelernt habe, sonst könnte ich es nie lernen!
 
Yes, the 20mm is good for outside, too. You'll need an ND filter. I have the Fader ND mark ii. There's a tiny bit of vignetting against a blue sky. I have it in 52 mm w/ a drop down ring. I'll post a video here in a bit that I used it outside on.

I, too have have considereed the Nokton, but I think I can do most of the same with the 20mm, besides it's way too soft unless you stop it up.

CColton-- do you mean the FD 50mm 1.8?
 
Ah, should have refreshed the page before posting!

HVXguy-- I've been wanting to get a Nikon 50mm. Which exact lens are you speaking of? Could you give a link so that I'm sure? And do you have any footage or screenshots from using it with the GH2? I'd really like to see how it performs for interviews. I used my Canon FD 50mm 1.8 on some interviews recently and shouldn't have stopped it down to 1.8. It was a bit dreamy. Still usable at the resolution it will be used, but it had me worried for a moment.
 
I use a linear polarizer on top of a circular polarizer to make a much less expensive ND filter. The drawback is a slight color shift, so you'll have to set white balance again once you set exposure, but it's much less expensive than a fader ND.

Yes I meant a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 (SC). Not that .1 stops makes any difference.
 
BrandonT said:
Ah, should have refreshed the page before posting!

HVXguy-- I've been wanting to get a Nikon 50mm. Which exact lens are you speaking of? Could you give a link so that I'm sure? And do you have any footage or screenshots from using it with the GH2? I'd really like to see how it performs for interviews. I used my Canon FD 50mm 1.8 on some interviews recently and shouldn't have stopped it down to 1.8. It was a bit dreamy. Still usable at the resolution it will be used, but it had me worried for a moment.
Click to expand...

All the non-Panasonic lenses I've used are slightly softer wide open. Canon and Tokina to a certain extent, definitely Minolta. Don't use Minolta glass, it's too soft.
 
CColton said:
I use a linear polarizer on top of a circular polarizer to make a much less expensive ND filter. The drawback is a slight color shift, so you'll have to set white balance again once you set exposure, but it's much less expensive than a fader ND.

Yes I meant a Canon FD 50mm 1.8 (SC). Not that .1 stops makes any difference.
Click to expand...

Yeah, that's a good idea. Hopefully just the one fader ND will be good for me. If I need another one due to filter thread sizes, I'm going to get a pretty large one and use step down rings.

Right, of course, I was just making sure we were talking about the same FD lens. How do I tell if it's the SC version or not?

CColton said:
All the non-Panasonic lenses I've used are slightly softer wide open. Canon and Tokina to a certain extent, definitely Minolta. Don't use Minolta glass, it's too soft.
Click to expand...

Cool, how about Nikon's glass?
 
BrandonT said:
Yeah, that's a good idea. Hopefully just the one fader ND will be good for me. If I need another one due to filter thread sizes, I'm going to get a pretty large one and use step down rings.

Right, of course, I was just making sure we were talking about the same FD lens. How do I tell if it's the SC version or not?

Cool, how about Nikon's glass?
Click to expand...

I use the polarizers as fader ND's, and they're 62mm so that I can use them (with stepping rings) on the 14-140, my Canon 50mm, and the 20mm without vignetting.

Mine says SC on the front. It's a multilayer coating Canon uses.

I've never used Nikon glass, sorry, but I've heard good things.

I produced this video in February entirely with the Panasonic 20mm (except the graphics, obviously). All the interviews were shot with artificial light, except for the guy at 17s and 1m03s, which was available light. http://vimeo.com/20343716
 
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