GH3 Interview lens

dustylense said:
Well.. When I'm outside or even indoors with a lit up room, I'm using lots of ND to get to 2.8. You can always pack some 1.2 glass for shooting at night.
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Yes. My "A" cam lens for interviews is a legacy 50mm f1.4, unless its a dark rainy/snowy day I need ND to get to F2. Unless you are shooting in an absolute closet (most congressional offices in D.C. would qualify here) f2.8 is luxurious.
 
With modern camera sensors that are so clean and sensitive how on earth can a 2.8 lens be considered slow? Does anyone use lights when they shoot? If you just going for available with a 1.4 wide open most of your shots will be out of focus or your shots will have focus hunting in them. Just saying.
 
Erik Naso said:
With modern camera sensors that are so clean and sensitive how on earth can a 2.8 lens be considered slow? Does anyone use lights when they shoot? If you just going for available with a 1.4 wide open most of your shots will be out of focus or your shots will have focus hunting in them. Just saying.
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Indeed. If the OP is looking for an interview lens, interviews should always have some kind of lighting. Unless you are doing a man-on-the-street sort of documentary interview, there is no excuse for your subject to appear under existing lighting. Especially not indoors with with drab overheads. I use a 50/1.4 for interviews also, but I stop it down to F/4 usually. It gets really nice and sharp then too. The Lumux 2.8 glass seems to be pretty sharp even open, so you should be good either way.

TheDingo said:
The thing to keep in mind is: Which zoom range is easier to duplicate with older SLR lenses ?

I would say the 12-35mm zoom range is very difficult to duplicate using old Nikon AI-S or Canon FD lenses, so this is the zoom lens you buy first.

For the 35-100mm zoom range, you can get buy with older Nikon or Canon lenses with an adapter until you can afford to buy the Lumix 35-100 zoom.
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Its a good point, but there's another consideration here: OIS. I have a vintage Nikkor 150mm that is great for stage shots, however the slightest floor shaking and the image wobbles all over the place. The Lumix 2.8 zooms have pretty impressive OIS and it comes in handy at that focal length. From 12-35mm, you don't really need OIS so much.
 
Erik Naso said:
With modern camera sensors that are so clean and sensitive how on earth can a 2.8 lens be considered slow? Does anyone use lights when they shoot? If you just going for available with a 1.4 wide open most of your shots will be out of focus or your shots will have focus hunting in them. Just saying.
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Precisely. All these "I need 1.2 speed lenses". Why, so you can't hod focus. Light your shot, then throw a long lens at the subject if you need shallow DOF.
 
Takumar 1.4 50mm, generally at F4.

I've no need for autofocus - it's an interview - they aren't going anywhere.
 
I guess 2.8 just seemed barely too slow to me - I think I end up around 2.2 most often trying to keep the ISO down as much without blasting the subject with light.
 
Not the case with m43. I've shot a ton of interviews at ~50mm, f2, and haven't had anybody lean into softness yet.

That said, I've shot just as many at 2.8-4, so 2.8 is plenty fast enough for the purpose.
 
I record a weekly lecture series for a guy in town here- he gets very animated with his hands and leans/nods quite often (standing at a podium). One time I shot him in a small area (he was on location in an office or something) and we didn't have room for lights. At 50mm @ 2.8, he would regularly nod out of focus in my experience. It was subtle, and I only noticed when zooming in 400% to check on a color matching grade. But it was there.

I never shot that open ever again for this.
 
I'd recommend the 35-100mm also. I just finished up a doc and used the lens all the time for tight head shots. Great lens.
 
I've experienced innumerous interviewees rocking back & forth. Simple for off-angle B-Cam to keep crispy, but easily buzzed by A-Cam.
 
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Well the lens question first. Not having tried either panny lumix lens, I'd pick the 35-100. Least facial distortion on UCU shots at either end of the range. Though I do like a little forced perspective when appropriate (14-35).
Then, as others have said, focus on the tip of the nose and stop down enough to hold the eyes and hands some.
The key is to stage enough distance between the subject and background to keep the back somewhat burry, even when stopped down two to three stops. That's about the limit with mtf before you get deep focus.
Post some clips if and when you've got footage.
 
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