Buying Lenses Instead of GH3

R

ricland

Active member
I own a gh2 and got carried away with the GH3 hoopla until I saw comparisons where the gh3 was only slightly better than the gh2. Therefore, I'm going to take the money I've been saving for a GH3 and by other stuff.

My question: I plan to make a short feature. What lenses should I absolutely have? Currently I have the GH2 14-45 kit lens and the 45-200 telephoto. I also have a .45 Super Wide Angle.

Suggestions?
 
yeah, if i were doing feature work. i'd prefer vintage primes. cheaper and to many, more aesthetically pleasing.
 
Hmmm.... Can't find the samsung with 4/3 mount.

And since I'm doing a feature film, should I be shopping for 35mm or 85mm?
 
ricland said:
Hmmm.... Can't find the samsung with 4/3 mount.

And since I'm doing a feature film, should I be shopping for 35mm or 85mm?
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Depends also on your style, but most cinematographers use more wide angles. 35mm is also more useful in inside locations with few space.
 
IMHO, selecting lenses to shoot a feature film with will depend on your budget, and your crew.

To start, what kind of budget do you have allotted to lenses? $1K, $5K, $10K? Or would renting for this project be more beneficial to the budget of this film?

What about crew? Do you have budgeted for an operator, AC, DIT, or just a single person controlling the camera, pulling focus, doing all the work? And how quickly are you changing shots? Would a production zoom be a better choice than changing out prime lenses schedule wise?

Also when investig in lenses, it tends to make sense to purchase lenses which will be of use on future camera purchases.

Are you only ever going to own cameras with M4/3 mounts, or do you see another camera/lens mount in your future?
 
Glad you pointed that out. Most of my scenes take place indoors. So you're saying the 35mm would be better this?
 
wgzn said:
yeah, if i were doing feature work. i'd prefer vintage primes. cheaper and to many, more aesthetically pleasing.
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+1, yeah, the Panisonic glass is great for docu work, or even corporate,wedding stuff. But for narrative work, nothing like some canon fd glass. Though the newer rockinon glass is rather nice to.
 
I'm going to buck the popular opinion here... Of course depending on your budget, this may be of no use to you whatsoever.

The Olympus 14-35/f2 zoom is fast enough, attractive enough, operates well, and will be perfectly matched at all the focal lengths within its range. It's becoming affordable at $1000-1500 used.

Ditto all that for the Oly 35-100/2 if you need longer glass.
 
ricland said:
Hmmm.... Can't find the samsung with 4/3 mount
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I don't think it exists. Most people will opt for the Samyang lenses in Nikon F mount and then use an adapter to mount the Nikon F mount to their m4/3 camera.

The big advantage to the Nikon F mount is that it can be adapted to fit many different cameras. ( i.e. Canon / Nikon / Sony / RED / etc... )
 
35mm is also more useful in inside locations with few space.
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thats partially accurate. but on an m4/3 camera, a 35mm becomes closer to a 70mm and becomes more of a portrait lens.

Most of my scenes take place indoors. So you're saying the 35mm would be better this?
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absolutely not. specific focal length has nothing to do with indoor or out. it has to do with the shot at hand and how wide or tight it needs to be
 
Great choice. I have made exactly the same decision.

Old (but high quality/top of the range) FD or Nikon AI/AIS glass is your best bet. As technology has progressed I believe lenses have become too clinical.

I have the 20mm pancake and 14-42 kit lens but none of my other glass is panasonic.

I'm finding the wait for the m43 speed booster hellish. My nikkor 28/2.0 is fairly average on the 1.86x crop sensor; on full frame it is brilliant.
 
The adapter you need is Nikon to micro 4/3 (not 4/3, which is a different mount). Fotodiox, Rainbow Imaging, and multiple better-made, pricier such adapters exist
 
David W. Jones said:
Are you just shooting tight shots?
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No.

I'm looking to do the standard shots seen in a mainstream feature movie.

I have the 14-42mm kit lens, a Canon 75 -300 telephoto.

I opted for the Rokinon Cine 85mm T1.5 partly because at $350 it's $200 less than the Rokinon 35mm 1.4

Am I making a mistake?
 
ricland said:
Rokinon 85mm T1.5 Cine Lens for Nikon F
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Keep in mind that this will provide you will a fairly tight crop with shallow depth of field. ( it will be equivalent to a 170mm lens on a 35mm Full Frame camera )

A 35mm T1.5 Cine lens is also a telephoto for the micro 4/3 format, but not as tight a crop as the 85mm lens is. This is considered to be a traditional "portrait" lens. ( equivalent to a 70mm lens on a 35mm Full Frame camera )

To use these lenses with a GH2 camera you will need a Nikon F to Micro 4/3 adapter.

The FOTGA adapter is cheap but does the job.

Fotga Nikon AI lens to Micro4/3 M4/3 adapter


It looks like Metabones doesn't make their adapter any more, which cost about $90 but was much better made. ( the Metabones adapter was a clone of the Voightlander adapter )

Voigtlander Micro Four Thirds to Nikon F Lens Adapter
 
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