How well does the 14-45mm kit lens work on GH1 for video

D90GH1_eric

Active member
Hi,

I am not sure if there are enough people using the 14-45mm lens on the GH1 considering the fact we cannot get the 14-45mm on its own. However I do like its size, and its aperture is wider than the 14-140mm; thus I expect it to do slightly better than the 14-140 in low light. If I remember correctly, the 14-45 lens is not "optimized" for video. Is this true even after numerous firm ware update? Can you AF with the 14-45 while filming; is its motor noisy? How does its aperture perform during video. Thank you for your input.
 
I have a 14-45mm lens for my GH1 but have not tried this lens in movie mode since I also have the 14-140mm HD lens. I'm sure it will be great for pictures, but not as good as the 14-140mm for movies. The 14-140mm was design for movies.

Here is the link to Panasonic's lens compatibility chart...

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html

The relevant notes they make in regards to the 14-45mm lens are...

(*6)
AF tracking is slower than the counterparts in HD movie support Micro Four Thirds lens(LUMIX VARIO HD lens). Also operational noise in AF may be recorded while motion picture recording.
(*7)
For the Full HD motion picture recording( [FHD] in [AVCHD] ) in DMC-GH1, AF does not work, and it records in MF.
(*8)
Operational noise of the aperture in AE(Auto Exposure) control may be recorded while motion picture recording.


Hope you find this helpful. I'll also give the 14-45mm lens a try in movie mode and let you know how it works out.


Gary
 
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I just tried the 14-45mm lens. The lens does auto focus continously. I did hear a little noise from the zoom ring when zooming. I didn't hear any noise from the AF motor thou. I also tried using the GH1 in Aperture mode. It works for the 14-45mm lens. To change the Aperture you have to use the front dial. The dial makes a clicking noise which is picked up during recording. I'm not sure how to get around the clicking dial noise. Maybe somebody else has some advice on this issue.

Gary
 
Continuos autofocusing in full AVCHD 1080P right?


I just got my GH1 body. Tested the lens on the olympus 14-45model @ Frys and it atufocused continuosly also. Although I was in MJPEG mode. And the focus keeps shifting. Not to good. But looks nice when focused. Even in MJPEG SD... I did noticed slight vertical lines. Just like the first samples from this camera so many months ago. I remember people jumping on quality on that sample alone.
I need to go back and retest.
 
Autofocusing is very slow and noisy with this lens on the GH1, it's not a cinematic effect to say the least :)

Use manual focus though and you'll as near as see no difference between this and the kit lens between 14 and 45mm, in fact it's even a bit faster and a lot smaller.
 
I get the feeling panasonic is making the 14-140kit lens their only HD lens.
I wish they can get to a 12-45 f2.8HD IS one day.
But not over 1gran. OUCH.

This lens should be good for running around.
Does IS work in manual focus?
Thanks for your advice.
 
I had the GH1 set at FHD 1080i. I don't believe the GH1 can record in 1080P. I didn't have any problems with the Panasonic 14-45mm lens. AF didn't seem slow and it performed similar to the 14-140mm HD lens. I also didn't detect any AF noise on my playback. Maybe the firmware update helped on that issue.
 
I always thought 24p qualifies as 1080p.
Always learning something.

Anyways, this lens is within my price range.
I have version 1.2
Hope I'm lucky with this lens as GHenson!

Did you have the wind noise turned ON?
 
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Yes... I have wind noise turned on and it's set at Standard.

I think you're still very lucky. Tried this lens and didn't cotinuosly autofocus on HD mode. Had to convince the wolfe's attendant to let me try the g1 lens. She sure looked smart.
Did you download any special version?
 
Let me correct myself because I did say I had the GH1 set for FHD. The autofocus works in the SH or 720 HD 60P mode using AVCHD compression. Which some consider the better HD mode. Probably because the AF still works on the other Panny m4/3 lens. And also this mode is recording at 60 frames per second. Hope that clears things up. Sorry for the confusion I caused on this point.
 
HI commanderspike,

Have up updated your the firmware to the 1.2 update issued on the 25th Nov 09?.

If so, has it improve the 14-45mm lens in a significant way on the GH1?.

I'm planning to get the GH1 with this lens.

Thanks


Autofocusing is very slow and noisy with this lens on the GH1, it's not a cinematic effect to say the least :)

Use manual focus though and you'll as near as see no difference between this and the kit lens between 14 and 45mm, in fact it's even a bit faster and a lot smaller.
 
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