GH2 I need a good zoom lens

J

Jordan Cadby

Active member
Hello All

What a fantastic time to be a GH2 owner, hacks are adding to the capacity of the camera on a daily basis, Panasonic are releasing a 25p update.... (apparently) and all the while the camera still out performs most!

anyways the purpose of this message it to see what zoom lenses people are using with there GH2/1s. I personally have a few lenses, but the only zoom lens i own is the standard one that came with the camera, which to be honest I don't really like.

I'm looking for something that's a canon fit with a manual aperture adjustment ring... what do you all use?


Also, has anyone been following the Zacuto Shoot Off?
When watching it, i often wonder how the AF100 compares with other camera and then how the GH2 compares with the AF100... I was always under the impression that were very similar? any thoughts?

Cheers

JC
 
It's all about the $$$ when it comes to general questions like these...
If you're talking about "good" in terms of price x functionality x speed then my personal favorite is the Tokina AT-X Pro I 28-70 f2.6-2.8 (mine's Nikon mount), based on the Angenieux design (apparently). Got it for less than US$200 used (though it's going for at least twice that on feeBay). Canon's 24-70 is good too but way more expensive - though you might consider its older cousin 28-70 L. Another good thing about the Tokina is that it does not extend nor rotate making it convenient for matte box usage.
But if you're going to be using the GH2 you shouldn't limit yourself to full frame lenses. I have a modified Fujinon 7.5-105mm f1.4 for news work and a Pentax 8-48mm f1.0 for night operations (both used in ETC mode).
 
I have the Olympus 14-54mm 2.8-3.5, nice lens and works good with the GH2 (electronic adapter)

Ulisses
 
ulisses said:
I have the Olympus 14-54mm 2.8-3.5, nice lens and works good with the GH2 (electronic adapter)

Ulisses
Click to expand...

Just be careful with that one, very nice optically, but near impossible to pull focus on accurately due to the servo focusing mechanism.
 
I've had a GH2 for a while, and recently got an AF100... While some things are similar, far more are different, in both operation and results. The GH2 is a super-capable consumer hybrid still camera, and the AF100 is a pro video camera that just happens to have interchangeable lenses. IQ-wise, I have to give the edge to the AF100 simply due to the degree of customizability.
 
@ ed_lee83



Interesting, i Like the sound of the tonika, I have a wide angle lens of theirs, its really nice. I personally feel that I don't wanna buy M43 lenses (or non full frame) , I like the possibility of throwing any thing I buy on my canon. Which is why i normally go for canon fit lenses however... I MUST research Fujinon 7.5-105mm though, it sounds very interesting. Cheers for the advice.

@McBob

Hey Man, very interesting, I would have expected the AF100 to be a better camera, given its form factor etc. However I'm interested to see if its susceptible to a few of the GH2 downfalls, banding, jello etc. Anyways its quite impressive how the af100 performs, although on close inspection of the footage, it seems to comparatively fall down, when you look at the shots as just that "shots" and for get the test it looks pretty good. Definitely keeping up with cameras that are presumably much more expensive.

How do you thing it will perform (visually) against a hacked GH2?
 
Cheap and very sharp super zoom: Kobori (Vivitar Serial 77) 28-200.
Inexpensive, super lightweight and very sharp: Olympus 40-150 (paid $145 new)
Very sharp, very good color, super sharp wide-angle: Panasonic 14-45
The Tokina mentioned above by ed_lee83 is a super lens.
 
ed_lee83 said:
It's all about the $$$ when it comes to general questions like these...
If you're talking about "good" in terms of price x functionality x speed then my personal favorite is the Tokina AT-X Pro I 28-70 f2.6-2.8 (mine's Nikon mount), based on the Angenieux design (apparently). Got it for less than US$200 used (though it's going for at least twice that on feeBay). Canon's 24-70 is good too but way more expensive - though you might consider its older cousin 28-70 L. Another good thing about the Tokina is that it does not extend nor rotate making it convenient for matte box usage.
But if you're going to be using the GH2 you shouldn't limit yourself to full frame lenses. I have a modified Fujinon 7.5-105mm f1.4 for news work and a Pentax 8-48mm f1.0 for night operations (both used in ETC mode).
Click to expand...

Do you know of anywhere that sells the tonika, cant seem to track it down?
 
The Tokina 28-70/2.6-2.8 is a very old lens - over 20 years old, I have one in Canon EOS mount. The current one is a 28-70/2.8 and lighter but it's a somewhat different design. One thing I like about the older one, is that it's not a true internal zooming design, but very close. The length does not change much when zooming.
 
nyvz said:
Just be careful with that one, very nice optically, but near impossible to pull focus on accurately due to the servo focusing mechanism.
Click to expand...

What would be an alternative with true manual focus in that zoom range then? A Tokina 17-50 through an adapter? Any other option I'm missing?
 
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