GH4 Dump Nikon Gear for Panasonic

M

MurtlandPhoto

Active member
I was a photographer first and a videographer second. More and more though my focus and passion has been in video. I began my photography journey using Nikon equipment and continue to do so to this day. I began using Panasonics for video early on; right as the GH1 was hacked and continue to use the GH3, GX7, and GH4.

Long story short... I have a ton of equipment and want to downsize. I just feel that it is silly to have a completely separate stills kit when these hybrid Panasonics can deliver phenomenal results.

My Main Nikon Gear:
D600
D3
24-70 f/2.8
70-200 f/2.8
11-16 f/2.8
18-35 f/1.8
50mm f/1.8

The transition I'm thinking of making is this: Sell the D600, D3, 24-70, and 70-200 to pick up the 12-35, and 35-100 plus maybe a good prime.

The two potential downsides of leaving full frame are depth of field and light sensitivity but are there others?

Has anyone made a similar transition?

Thanks in advance!
 
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Great thing for video is that some of those Nikon lenses with speed bosters will be very usefull.

I do agree with grabbing the two native zooms from panasonic. That 18-35 is an amazing lens on the GH4.
 
You might want to try shooting with your Nikon lenses on a GH4 body using a Metabones SpeedBooster before selling everything off, as many Nikon lenses are fantastic when shooting video with the GH4 when used with a SpeedBooster.
 
Thank you both for your input! I do like to use the 18-35, 11-16, and 50mm with a {knockoff} speedbooster on my Panasonics. The 24-70 and 70-200 are just too large for me to put on the Panasonics. The 18-35 is large as well but when used with the speedbooster, it becomes a one-of-a-kind grand slam of a lens haha.

I guess in a perfect world I would purchase the 12-35 and 35-100 before deciding to sell off my Nikon gear but unfortunately that isn't possible at this time. Perhaps I should find someone local and see if they'll let me borrow/rent.
 
Hey! I did the exact same thing as you, except I started from a D300 instead, so for me, the GH3 was actually an upgrade in some ways. I went ahhead and sold everything and bought the three Panasonic zooms.

I've not missed the shallow depth of field that much, since DX isn't that much better than 4/3s. The one thing I do miss is a competent long telephoto lens, with equivalent FoV at 300mm or greater. I've never felt that strong a need for ISOs beyond 3200, so I'm still fine with what the GH3 can do.

Also I still shoot a bit of sport for fun in the spare time. The duty for that has passed to a Nikon V2, but it's no D300 still. You have a D3, and its fantastic AF is going to be something you'll find lacking with the Micro Four Thirds cameras.
 
I have a D600 and D3 I use for stills. I very much doubt the panny will give the great performance (both in use AF ect. and also files) that those cams give.

Over time Ive ended with two bags - stills and motion, the latter is mainly MF glass.

My only crossover lens is the 70-200

S
 
morgan_moore said:
I have a D600 and D3 I use for stills. I very much doubt the panny will give the great performance (both in use AF ect. and also files) that those cams give.

Over time Ive ended with two bags - stills and motion, the latter is mainly MF glass.

My only crossover lens is the 70-200

S
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That's what I feared. I think I will hold on to my Nikon kit for a bit longer and try to invest in the dedicated m43 lenses by other means.
 
I currently have the same setup as you.
D600 and tons of lenes
Hacked GH2 and only the kit and the 12mm pancake.
Generally I use the 12mm for my steadycam work, and I use the Nikon lenses when I throw the GH2 on my shoulder rig.
The Nikon glass gives all my footage an organic look, and really makes my videos pop.
I also just got the Fotodiox speed booster and its amazing, solid connection and performs as well as it's $400 cousin.

Have you heard of the Nikon Hack? I applied it to mine and it'll increase the bitrate of the nikon considerably, which will improve the video detail and color considerably.
http://simeonpilgrim.com/nikon-patch/nikon-patch.html

Dai

DSC_3713.jpg
 
I'm guessing for photography & lens functions. That is my dilemma. I really want to buy myself the Sigma 18-35 but not being able to use it for stills or any adapted lenses IS makes me lean toward the native zooms 12-35 & 35-100.

For video the Sigma is the perfect choice. its like 3 primes but as an all round useable lens for I might get more use out of the Pana 12-35.
 
David W. Jones said:
Why do you feel the need to invest in native M4/3 glass when your Nikon glass will work just fine on the GH4?
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I do use the majority of my Nikon lenses with my Panasonic's but I don't like using the Nikon 24-70 and 70-200 with them. They are much too large and lack the ability to use AF and stabilization. I should really stress that I don't like using these huge FF lenses on my small Panasonic's for much of my work; it is just too unbalanced and clunky.

I shoot a wide range of things for photography and video. For run n' gun stuff, I would like to be able to have the FF equivalent of 24-200mm f/2.8 covered in m43 with ability of AF and OS. For my narrative stuff, I already use the 18-35, 11-16, 50, and an old 70-210 f/4.
 
David W. Jones said:
Why do you feel the need to invest in native M4/3 glass when your Nikon glass will work just fine on the GH4?
Click to expand...

I agree. I used to own all Canon glass, but I switched after jumping over to the GH4. Now I'm 100% Nikon. I consulted with some DP friends when choosing my new glass for the GH4. I knew that I probably would not be sticking with M4/3 forever, so I needed something I could adapt to a range of cameras. About all of my buddies said Nikon was the right choice. Nikon seems to be the most adaptable today, and is used often on the shoots I'm a part of. My favorite combo is the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8 + Metabones Speed Booster + GH4. It's sharper than a lot of the primes in the range it covers.
 
RatLabProductions said:
I'm guessing for photography & lens functions. That is my dilemma. I really want to buy myself the Sigma 18-35 but not being able to use it for stills or any adapted lenses IS makes me lean toward the native zooms 12-35 & 35-100.

For video the Sigma is the perfect choice. its like 3 primes but as an all round useable lens for I might get more use out of the Pana 12-35.
Click to expand...

We are exactly on the same page. I love the Sigma. It is definitely my most used lens for narrative work. It is a large lens (and I hate large lenses on my m43 bodies) but with no other zoom like it with a f/1.8 aperture, I have no alternatives.
 
RatLabProductions said:
I'm guessing for photography & lens functions. That is my dilemma. I really want to buy myself the Sigma 18-35 but not being able to use it for stills or any adapted lenses IS makes me lean toward the native zooms 12-35 & 35-100.

For video the Sigma is the perfect choice. its like 3 primes but as an all round useable lens for I might get more use out of the Pana 12-35.
Click to expand...

I'd also add that with peaking, you can get nail focus pretty easily. I work in a communications department, and we dropped Canon to go to Nikon Glass + GH4.

Our issue was, we do more photography than we do video. We push out a monthly magazine that requires sharp, high quality pictures. We went ahead and purchased the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8, Speed Booster, and GH4 to see if we could pull it off. It's work amazingly well. Haven't missed focus a single time we needed to take a picture. It's faster once you get used to it. We've been able to pull off event photography just as well as when we had AF on our Canon.
 
Daniel Brown said:
I'd also add that with peaking, you can get nail focus pretty easily. I work in a communications department, and we dropped Canon to go to Nikon Glass + GH4.

Our issue was, we do more photography than we do video. We push out a monthly magazine that requires sharp, high quality pictures. We went ahead and purchased the Sigma 18-35 f/1.8, Speed Booster, and GH4 to see if we could pull it off. It's work amazingly well. Haven't missed focus a single time we needed to take a picture. It's faster once you get used to it. We've been able to pull off event photography just as well as when we had AF on our Canon.
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I've used peaking for video and photos with the Sigma. It works well certainly, but I don't want to revert back to using MF for the bulk of my photography. Along with color film and digital sensors, autofocus is probably one of the best advancements in camera technology history and I prefer to use it 99% of the time over MF. Even in video I prefer to lock focus with AF first if possible then switch to MF to start recording.

Again, I already do use the majority of my Nikon lenses with my Panasonic's either with a speedbooster or dumb adapter. I just prefer not to use the Nikon 24-70 and 70-200 on m43 because:
1) The lenses are far too large making rigging and overall handling awkward,
2) They lack the AF and OS that I would like to have the option of using.
 
Seems youve answered your own question, get a little zoom for the panny, hang on to the nikkors...

Also in the bigger (investment) picture Nikon might even release a half decent filming DSLR one day.. Im not holding out much hope!

Nikkors also work well with other vid cams, FS700, C100 etc..

S
 
morgan_moore said:
Seems youve answered your own question, get a little zoom for the panny, hang on to the nikkors...

Also in the bigger (investment) picture Nikon might even release a half decent filming DSLR one day.. Im not holding out much hope!

Nikkors also work well with other vid cams, FS700, C100 etc..

S
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Haha it seems I have! Regardless, I've enjoyed this discussion. You raise a great point that maybe, just maybe someday Nikon will get it right video wise. And you raise another good point regarding the larger, traditional cameras - I don't think I'll be using m43 cameras forever and it will be good to have some nice Nikkors for when that day comes.
 
I have a Nikon D300S I use for stills with a variety of Nikon lenses. While I love my GH4 for video, IMHO, it is nowhere near what the Nikons are for stills. I've shot some stills sessions with the GH4 and it is okay but I like the size, lenses, focus, Nikon CLS system much better than the GH4 for stills. It's a drag being invested in two systems but that is where I am at. I was there with the Canon 5D MKIII and Canon and Nikon lenses for video and still preferred the Nikon for stills. My old D300S is my workhorse, we like each other in a way that doesn't work with the GH4 for stills. YMMV but M43 is not quite there for stills photography for my needs.
 
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