Future fast lens available on the M43 system?

[Psynema]

Okay, I get it. It is a physical limitation. If people want to have a shallow depth of field, its going to be difficult on the gh2. I'm fine with that I guess. Heck, I would love to have a f2.8 APSC equivalent zoom in the GH2 mount. Sadly, that doesn't really exist. Kinda sucks because I have a 7d and my tamron 17-50mm f2.8 pretty much stays on my camera 75% of the time. Just like the canon, equivalent 17-55mm f2.8, its IMHO, the perfect walk around focal length range and f-stop. Yeah, the a f1.4 on a 5d2 is crazy shallow, but a f1.4 on a APSC is not too bad -- the f2.8 would be great.

Wow, coming from a image (dslr) backgroup , IMHO, it looks like there will always be issues with DOF on the M43 format. I'm not a DOF addict, but sometimes its nice to blur out the people in the background who are doing things they shouldn't (i.e., picking their nose, etc). Oh, well, looks like the GH2 will be a stop gap camera until the other manufacturers get their act together. Geeze, 2lbs for a Olympus 14-35/2.0 @ $2,300.. man... thats rough. In any case, maybe I'm just thinking of it all wrong. After all, at the end of the day, all camera's are "stop gap" until the next, whiz bang camera comes out. hahaha.. thanks for all the info though ;-) I'll just start to appreciate all the other benefits of the gh2 (sharpness, bit rate, etc.)..

I honestly have never cursed my GH2 for not having enough Bokeh - granted I'm not a huge bokeh freak as I like the whole subject to be in focus and not just their eyes and chin, but I personally LIKE the bokeh to at least give a hint at what the environment is and not just a gigantic gradiating blur.

The .95 lenses do that and are cheaper than the 1.2s on the other systems. You can also ADAPT ANY LENS ON A GH2. The sensor DOES NOT DETERMINE BOKEH. I REPEAT THE SENSOR DOES NOT DETERMINE BOKEH. Remember those tiny 1/3 sensors that were a tenth the size of your GH2's sensor? What happends when you got a redrock and put a DSLR lens on it? You got BOKEH.

What TRULY DETERMINES BOKEH is WHAT SENSOR SIZE THE LENS ITSELF was made for. A lens made for a full frame body DOES NOT LOSE BOKEH on a smaller sensor. Now the crop factor increases how far back you stand and standing farther away will give you a greater DOF, but a full frame lens focused wide open on a subject 5ft away will have the exact same bokeh on a Mark 2 vs. a GH2 vs. a 1/3 camcorder.

Likewise if you get that 12-35mm lens, just stand as close as you can to your subject and bokeh will come.

 

[Wokky]

APSC/full frame sensors [...] apsc/full frame manufactures [...] APSC/full frame camera [...] APSC/full frame camera [...] APSC/full frame sensors

Why do you keep grouping APS-C and full frame together? The difference between them is far larger than the difference between APS-C and Micro Four Thirds. By your rationale an f2.8 lens on your 7D is roughly equivalent to a pedestrian f4.4 full frame lens.

 

[j1clark@ucsd.edu]

Shallow DOF is cool until you realize how hard can be keep focused the subject.

One of the observations I've been making about the 'difference' of the 'cinematic' look, is how the actors 'play' in the frame, and set. Very often on non-pro films, one will see the actor bouncing around in the frame 'emoting', this also includes moving back and forth... when one looks at 'paid professional' actors, one finds them to be 'rather quiet'... and even their blinks are 'measured'... they may be yelling at the top of their lungs... but they are not gesticulating, fluttering their eyes, and making big cow faces... even in the "The Artist"(2011)... where emotion was being communicated solely by means of the visuals...

With a few exceptions... I definitely am not a fan of extreme shallow DoF... put that along with Extreme Close Ups... once, twice in a movie when it's really important... sure... 99% of the time... Close Up works... if one needs to get near the talent... and have a 'portrait' frame...


And even for an ECU... the ears are not fuzzed out to Holy Bokeh...

 

[flyingdirector]

"Shallow depth of field difficult on the GH2?" Hardly.
This little camera and the right lens are a beast in regards to DOF.
Eg: The Olympus 1.8, 45mm (90mm on m43) is the best lens for video and film I have ever shot with thus far on any dslr. Plus, it is small, light weight and of course FAST!
www.flyingdirector.com

 

[atarijedi]

There is the Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm F/2.

 

[TheDingo]

The following pictures show how things in the background can ruin a picture.

The sample photos you posted have very deep DOF, which looks like something shot with a pocket camera ( very small sensor ) or a consumer video camera. ( which typically also has a very small sensor )

The GH2 Micro 4/3 sensor is pretty much equivalent to the 3-Perf 35mm Motion Picture format, so you can achieve results that have pretty much the same DOF as most of the motion pictures shot over the past 50 years. If you can't make this work for you, then you might have bigger issues than simply DOF.

 

[Gerson]

Here's a shot from a feature I'm shooting in China (on a GH2)...

Those are beautiful shots. Can you tell us more about the feature? Is it narrative or documentary? Is there a trailer we can watch?