GH2 Buying a GH2 and couple lenses, but which?

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PeterParkorr

Member
Hi,

I'm just about to buy a GH2 to start shooting DSLR video, mainly travel films, and I will be using a hack. I have been getting into photography the last couple of years tho so will be using the GH2 for video and stills, and it will be my sole camera. I plan to do a lot of timelapse stuff.

I cant find a body-only option in the Uk so I will be getting it with the kit 14-42mm. And I don't have a huge budget and want to get a few extras like an external mic and decent editing software ideally (+ memory).

I like the look of the 20mm pancake lens (cant stretch to the 25mm Leica) but also thinking of getting a Nikon 35mm f1.8.

Are they too similar as my first two lenses tho? The pana 14mm f2.5 also has my attention, and purely for stills I'd love something like the 45-200mm f4-5.6 ASPH Mega OIS to play with too, altho yet to find out what all those letters stand for.

Any thoughts would be really helpful, I have set myself a very short deadline to get it all ordered in as I'll be on the road from later next week. :huh:
 
I think the 45-200 would be a good companion to the 14-42 (OIS stands for optical image stabilization I believe). I suggest you pick up a few Canon FD lenses that can be picked up cheaply on Ebay (as well as a m43 adapter). I grabbed a Canon 50mm 1.8 ($30) and a Vivitar 28mm F2 ($75) from Ebay. They are a little soft open but I find the GH2 to be naturally a bit too sharp so it dampens it a bit. I would grab the 20mm 1.7 over the 35mm Nikon -- the 35mm is equal to a 70mm on the GH2 and it's a bit too telephoto IMHO.

Just my two cents...
 
scorsesefan said:
I think the 45-200 would be a good companion to the 14-42 (OIS stands for optical image stabilization I believe). I suggest you pick up a few Canon FD lenses that can be picked up cheaply on Ebay (as well as a m43 adapter). I grabbed a Canon 50mm 1.8 ($30) and a Vivitar 28mm F2 ($75) from Ebay. They are a little soft open but I find the GH2 to be naturally a bit too sharp so it dampens it a bit. I would grab the 20mm 1.7 over the 35mm Nikon -- the 35mm is equal to a 70mm on the GH2 and it's a bit too telephoto IMHO.

Just my two cents...
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Your two cents are very welcome, cheers. Thats a really good shout, getting some second hand without shelling out too much.

Any particular reason you said Canon lenses, or just cos there are lots of them around? I haven't worked out yet exactly which lens types I can get an adapter that gives me AF, just nice to have even tho I rarely use it, might be useful while learning video tho.
 
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I chose Canon because they're quality, cheap and readily available. It may be hard to find non-m43 lenses that will communicate with the GH2 (re auto-focus). Most adapted lenses will be MF. The 14-140 is a nice all-around lens, but you can grab (in the states) a gh2/14-42 for $799 at BH now and the 45-200 for about $300 -- the gh2/14-140 kits run around $1200 so when you do the math...
 
scorsesefan said:
I chose Canon because they're quality, cheap and readily available. It may be hard to find non-m43 lenses that will communicate with the GH2 (re auto-focus). Most adapted lenses will be MF. The 14-140 is a nice all-around lens, but you can grab (in the states) a gh2/14-42 for $799 at BH now and the 45-200 for about $300 -- the gh2/14-140 kits run around $1200 so when you do the math...
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Did u know that when you click Quote, it deletes any reply you've already started writing? I didn't. :/ Where is the auto-save that the site keeps flashing at me about?! That's Bum.

Over here the gh2+14-42 is £599/ ~$929, and with the 14-140mm it is £999/ ~$1549. But the 14-140mm is hard to find for less than $750, and there is even a scratched one on ebay for $600+. So if I get that one, I could sell it and buy the 14-45mm (reported better than the 14-42mm) and the 45-200mm in its place. I really like the sound of all those millimetres in one lens tho, so I think I will try it out, and have options later.

Our used FD mount lenses seem pricier than yours too, they are $60-100+ for the 28mm f2.8's. There is a Kiron Vivitar 28mm f2.5 which I've been trying to find info on, but it might be overpriced for an average lens.

I did already buy the 14mm f2.5 pancake, despite not owning the body yet. Mainly because Vitaly assures me I can shoot amazing video with it on his gh1 hack page. We'll see!!
:)
 
yeah, the 14-140 is a good "never leave your camera" lens. The 14mm 2.5 is supposed to be a good lens, but besides that one I wouldn't buy a fixed under f2. You really have to troll Ebay for the F2 Vivitar's -- BTW the only caveat on the Vivitar that I own is that it's very flare prone, so you need a lens hood at all times -- good luck!
 
b_k said:
I shot with the 14-140 for the first time out in the dirt. I was pretty surprised by the sharpness, even with a ND filter.

I posted a video here: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...or-GH2&p=1986155228&viewfull=1#post1986155228
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Yeah I spotted that thread a few days ago before I really got into lens hunting - it looks great to me, definitely good for starters as I would use it a lot for stills too. Looks like it was auto-focus you were using, being thrown a little with tracking the fast moving objects?

scorsesefan said:
yeah, the 14-140 is a good "never leave your camera" lens. The 14mm 2.5 is supposed to be a good lens, but besides that one I wouldn't buy a fixed under f2. You really have to troll Ebay for the F2 Vivitar's -- BTW the only caveat on the Vivitar that I own is that it's very flare prone, so you need a lens hood at all times -- good luck!
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Yep I understand the trolling, spent way too many hours looking at it today already. Why wouldnt you go with primes under f2? I did notice a lot of people filming with them needing to use ND filters, and also saw a few mentions of the Vivitars flaring. I will make sure I get a hood if I buy one. Thanks for your help man!
 
PeterParkorr said:
Yeah I spotted that thread a few days ago before I really got into lens hunting - it looks great to me, definitely good for starters as I would use it a lot for stills too. Looks like it was auto-focus you were using, being thrown a little with tracking the fast moving objects?
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Trying to zoom and manually focus without any kind of rig while tracking a moving object from various distance was too much for me. I just used the zoom and hoped for the best. This is where a parfocal zoom lens would be helpful. Too bad they $$$. The wide shot of the beach turned out better than I thought. The 14-35 X lens looks pretty good, again $$$. If autofocus is faster over the 14-140 and it's sharp wide open at 2.8, that lens might be worth it.
 
b_k said:
Trying to zoom and manually focus without any kind of rig while tracking a moving object from various distance was too much for me. I just used the zoom and hoped for the best. This is where a parfocal zoom lens would be helpful. Too bad they $$$. The wide shot of the beach turned out better than I thought. The 14-35 X lens looks pretty good, again $$$. If autofocus is faster over the 14-140 and it's sharp wide open at 2.8, that lens might be worth it.
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Absolutely, even without zoom, manual focus would be fairly hard on the bikes I'd think, I just wanted to be sure. It lost focus fairly frequently when you zoomed but didnt hunt for too long before finding the subject again. I don't plan on trying to focus on many high speed moving objects so not a problem in my case anyway! :)
 
Where on earth did I read about which 64gb sandisk card to buy?? I just need not to buy the exact wrong card, which I seem to remember was the Extreme pro...
 
"Why wouldnt you go with primes under f2?" Because you can pick up a fast older manual Canon or Nikon on the relative cheap. Chances are the zooms are going to be extremely expensive the faster they are (f3.5 and under). Also, I am a doc filmmaker and I can rarely control the lighting in most of the interiors I shoot, so I need something fast. Also you can create a nice shallow DOF look with the faster lenses.
 
I see! I thought you meant you wouldnt buy anything under f2, period. :)

I ended up with a Canon FD 50mm/1.4 and Vivitar 28mm/2.5 so hopefully they will do me. With the 14-140mm from the box and panasonic 14mm/2.5 pancake lens to compliment them. Cheers.
 
I just bought the 45/1.8 Olympus Zuiko and am very impressed! It's absolutely silent, quite fast, great bokeh, and should be great for both portraits as well as video. It's also not expensive! My only gripe is that it is only offered in silver.
 
gkanai said:
I just bought the 45/1.8 Olympus Zuiko and am very impressed! It's absolutely silent, quite fast, great bokeh, and should be great for both portraits as well as video. It's also not expensive! My only gripe is that it is only offered in silver.
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But you'll live with that, right? :) What sort of video will you shoot with it?

I've started receiving lenses and other bits (zoom h1) but just awaiting the camera itself!! The old lenses I've bought will all be silent too. Haha.
 
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