I just bought AF100 and need suggestions on lens

If you are shooting dance performances, chances are the lighting is relatively low, and so you might consider buying the Olympus 35-100 f2.0. You still have to deal with manual zoom, but the extra stop of light over f2.8 may be the difference between acceptable and unacceptable performance under challenging conditions. I have this lens, which works great on my AF100, but I'm switching to another camera system that cannot use this lens. PM me if you are interested in buying it. Thanks!
 
Another cheap alternative if you don't need lens stabilization, is the Olympus 14-54mm MKII, with this baby i get almost 90% of my shots, just forget about Auto focus, stabilization and zooming while on recording, but the image is very good. Also if you need more reach you can get the Olympus 50-200mm, you can buy both lenses at $1000.
 
I love the Voigtlanders for MFT. The Cinema Rokinons are also a really sweet deal. I can't also wait for the metabones to MFT adapters. That will turn speed up the lenses a stop and make them 30 percent wider. This will make some of the Sigmas and other lenses just too darn good to pass up. The new Sigma would be like a 15-30 and a 1.4 constant… Incredible zoom for 800 bucks plus the adapter.
 
I've owned an AF for about 2 years, using it in doc, corporate/industrial, some broadcast, some event... my most-used zoom lenses:

- Leica D 14-50/2.8-3.5 - nice image, aperture ring (even if it's not "real"), smooth zoom & focus, OIS works. Auto nothing, focus-by-wire, not truly parfocal would be its downsides.
- Sigma 50-150/2.8 non-OS (Nikon mount, with and without SpeedBooster) - Just small enough to work without lens support; good image, constant aperture, non-extending, parfocal, smooth zoom & focus, a real treat to use
- Lumix 14-140 - focus by wire, varifocal, hitchy zooming... but it does auto stuff, has a decent image, is small and has a huge range. It's a minivan when you need one.

I have the 12-35, but don't like it's small size on the AF, its limited zoom range, lack of aperture ring, and focus foibles when zooming (t lives on my GH2, though). Own the Tokina 11-16 (SpeedBoosted) and used to own the Lumix 7-14, both are good but ultrawide only have occasional use.

Also use plenty of primes, but you asked about zooms. I worked solely with the 14-140 for quite a while, it's a good flexible first lens. My second "uncertain interview" lens was a vintage Vivitar Series 1 28-90/2.8-3.5. Very nice "variable prime."

None of them yield exactly what you're looking for, of course. With Fujinon and Sony finally figuring out that some of us might actually want wide-ratio power zooms for large sensor cameras, hopefully Panny will get the hint and debut something smaller, decent, communicative, and affordable.
 
First, congratulations on buying a very good camera. I think you will be quite pleased with the images, they should definitely be a step up from what your Sony PJ30V was giving you. Based on the use you describe, I think you probably won't have much use for the 12-35 Lumix. The 14-140 is a great lens because of it's range from wide angle to telephoto, it's also fairly reasonably priced, particularly if you find a used one. It's Achilles heel however is that it's very slow. F6.0 at full telephoto, which unless you are shooting under very bright conditions will just not be good enough. If you use it, you'll find that you will be consistently using the higher gain settings which will degrade the quality of your image. So it's definitely a trade off.
I've got a 35-100 and it's my go to lens for anything at 30 to 50 feet. Beyond that it's not really that great for close ups of speakers or performers.
 
Simply Cinema said:
I'm not sure what the final verdict was on 2/3" ENG lenses and the AF100, but maybe the OP should look into it? I saw some footage that looked perfectly acceptable for most "zoom style" recordings. I think there's a threads about it buried somewhere.

There's a guy in Chicago who also has an eBay store that sells these old ENG lenses (Canon, Fujinon, etc). and he also sells the adapters needed to make them work on M4/3 cameras. Then he sells the little battery kit you need to make the built in Servo work, and VOILA you have an ENG style camera. I always wanted to buy one, but haven't gotten the chance yet.
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Would you please provide some link to where I can find this ENG style lens. This looks more promising to take care of my requirements.
 
I bought a LUMIX lens (power zoom) 45 to 145 and when I tried this lens on my AF100 I noticed there is a lot of narrow field of depth but I am looking for the whole frame to be in focus. Is there a way to achieve this with the AF100 camera. Or Did I get a wrong camera ? I know lot of people are after this narrow field of depth but for what I shoot I need the whole frame to be in focus.

Please can you let me know if I got the wrong lens or wrong camera.

Finally I want to buy one lens that is : 14 to 140 latest model. Would I be able to focus the whole frame using that lens. I am wondering if there are any settings in camera that make it happen.

Thanks
 
Simply Cinema said:
I'm not sure what the final verdict was on 2/3" ENG lenses and the AF100, but maybe the OP should look into it? I saw some footage that looked perfectly acceptable for most "zoom style" recordings. I think there's a threads about it buried somewhere.

There's a guy in Chicago who also has an eBay store that sells these old ENG lenses (Canon, Fujinon, etc). and he also sells the adapters needed to make them work on M4/3 cameras. Then he sells the little battery kit you need to make the built in Servo work, and VOILA you have an ENG style camera. I always wanted to buy one, but haven't gotten the chance yet.
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Thanks for this wonderful tip. I got the lens from probably the same guy in Chicago on eBay. My camera looks like this now. Have to put it to some test to see how the video comes out. photo 4.jpgphoto 5.jpg
 

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I just pulled the trigger on one of the 2/3" Fujinon Broadcast lenses as well. It's amazing how cheap they're going for. Only thing that sucks is that it costs twice as much to mount them to the camera and power them as it does to buy them.
 
Rod Pike said:
That looks like some serious pimping! Are you using rails? that rig hangs out a long way and is a significant lever on the mount possibly. Look forward to some trials reports.
Cheers!
Rod
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To be honest I am not really happy with the results I am getting with this SD lens. I see the colors pretty flat. May be it is because SD lens. I had used Lumix 14-140 lens and the colors were brilliant.
 
skmami said:
To be honest I am not really happy with the results I am getting with this SD lens. I see the colors pretty flat. May be it is because SD lens. I had used Lumix 14-140 lens and the colors were brilliant.
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Any chance you can post a comparison?

My lens is supposed to arrive some time today, unfortunately the B4 to M43 adapter won't arrive til later in the week. I will definitely post some comparisons when I get the lens.
 
I corrected the second link above. I had two copies of the same link.

....and speaking of pimping an AF-100, here's pimping gone wrong. A 2/3" lens, 18-1000, f2.8 (when using 2x extender), parfocal, constant aperture to 500mm. Weighs a mere 40 lbs. I've posted this before, but I just think its funny and worth showing once in a while.

AF-100Canon18-1000mm_zpsa4399654.jpg
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Holy cow!

I'm guessing that's one of the "box" broadcast lenses without the box?

Also, thanks for the second video link. It seems that in both videos, when zoomed in, there is a very clear area in the center of the image but then it's as if there is a very slight vignette blur applied to the rest of the image.
 
Yes, the Fuji I have is soft on the edges. It is also quite 'yellow' compared to the 14-140. Mine cost $85. I've seen samples from others that look much better.

Yes, it is a broadcast box lens without the box. I stripped all the electronics off of it. It had it's own auto-focus that works independent of the camera. To do that, it has sensors that cost a full stop due to a half mirror that is needed. But the half-mirror can be rotated out of the way just like the 2x extender. The cables you see are for the focus and zoom.
 
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All my stuff came in this past week. Hooked it up last night and this is what my setup looks like.

WPYp21a.jpg


There is definitely a "yellow" to the lens. Nothing a white balance shouldn't fix. And the edges are definitely soft but it is really hard to notice when wide. I bought a cheap 12v battery and the Y-connector so I can use the VTR button to control the start/stop as well as use the servo zoom. Really love the servo zoom.

I also snagged the AF100 from work, threw the Lumix 35-100 on it and did a lens test...unfortunately my dumb@$$ didn't match the camera settings. I guess I was just a little too excited to play with my new lens. But looking at some of the footage, the Lumix is ridiculously sharper than the Fujinon. I don't think the settings were too far off on the camera to make up the difference in sharpness.

If I have time this weekend I will do a test shoot around my neighborhood. Either way, I have a shoot next week where I am going to use the lens.
 
Looks good. Ya gotta like the power zoom and 14x zoom range. It looks like you have a nice run n gun set up.Do you have a way to monitor in the shoulder mount position?
 
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