Kinda Stuck Lens Wise -- Need some advice

MattRobertson

MattRobertson

Well-known member
Hey all,

Struggling with some upcoming descisions so I wanted to run some stuff by you guys since i value the info here, been a long time DVX user, but only been using the GH2 for a little bit now.

Things have really been taking off video wise for me, and i've got a large sum of money from google adsense stuff from youtube and now I finally have the money to buy premium lenses, but just want to plan out where i'm going lens wise.

I love the gh2 and I feel like i'm pretty comitted to it. It is the first DSLR that has made me actually say "WOW" out loud. Imo the canon's cant touch it.

Right now I have:

14-42mm Panny
25mm Panny Leica 1.4
35mm Nikon AIS f2
50mm Nikon AIS f1.8

Here is what I need:

I need some premium lenses that I can reliable trust the IQ with. I really don't like the panny 14-42 because of the speed, and just overall look of it, however the stabilized image is nice. I'll probably hold on to it just in case.

The Panny Leica is a very nice lens, and real fast, however It mixes terribly with vintage glass, and has that Panny sharpness that is somewhat remarkable, yet at the same time is undesirable. It is a very sharp lens, definitly the sharpest I have. However I don't really like the character it produces. I am very tempted to sell it and buy the Voigtlander 25mm because I really like its look. It looks to be very well built as well and that is attractive too.

I have alot of music video shoots coming up, as well as some TV commercial shoots and other random gigs, and I want to get a solid lens set.

If I got the voigt 25, then I could also get the voigt 17mm and either keep the nikon 50 or get a zeiss 50 (heard great things about it, love the zeiss look), and maybe a zeiss 85. Once the hyperprime 12mm comes out I could snag that too and cover the wide end. Thoughts on that set? I'm guessing those would all mix pretty well.

Also would like to get a zoom or two. Might have to wait on the new panny 12-35 even though I don't necessarily like the panny look, but it would be great to have with the constant ap. as well as IS (i'm assuming right?).

Heard great things about the olympus 35-100 also, but thats almost too much than i'd want to spend on a lens, but the coverage it would provide is great.

I know I can rent some lenses from borrowlenses or lensrentals.com, so throw out suggestions of ones I should either rent or buy. I know topics like this have been posted often, and I do read up on all of them, so don't simply tell me to search the forum as I have done so.

Sorry for the rambling, just want to see some suggestions if this set would mix well together, and if there are any options that would work better. Thanks
 
I too had the panny 25 and it didn't mix well, too sharp. Now I use Noktor 12mm 1.6, Nokton 25mm 0.95, Canon FD 50mm 1.4, Sigma 85mm 1.4. All mix great. I'll get the Nokton 17.5mm 0.95 when it drops.
 
dvxhutch said:
I too had the panny 25 and it didn't mix well, too sharp. Now I use Noktor 12mm 1.6, Nokton 25mm 0.95, Canon FD 50mm 1.4, Sigma 85mm 1.4. All mix great. I'll get the Nokton 17.5mm 0.95 when it drops.
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Excellent! I've seen enough footage from most of those lenses that I can pretty confidently know they will match, but just wanted some confirmation from a shooter on here. I wish that panny had better character.. Its a damn nice lens, just doesn't mix at all. Far too sharp
 
I went with the ZF's over here and love them, have a 35mm f/2, 50mm f/1.4 and the 100 f/2 on the way. That with a 12mm oly and you are good to go.
 
Well I think the burning question is, how much money you got??
Otherwise, it really is important to have a matchable set of lenses.
Too many videos I see that mix different brands and zooms with primes. And although the image is nice, I can just immediately catch the differences in sharpness, bokeh, tone and contrast - no matter how they grade it. Nothing wrong with it! But it's something I'm quite stern about. But just interesting to see how the HDSLR revolution and the advent of lens adapters now enables shooters access to all sorts of glass. And especially good for GH2 shooters (also with Ex Tele Conv) since we can utilise almost every type and format of lens.
 
Minolta MD series and Yashica ML series are both absolutely fine from the legacy lenses. Yashica ML lenses are like Contax Zeiss with a different name. Two zoom lenses I can recommend, Minolta MD 35-70 f3.5 Macro and Tokina AT-X 35-70 f2.8. Both constant aperture. If you want the best of the best vintage lenses, consider also Leica classic lenses.
 
ed_lee makes a very good point, if you can... try and stick with similar brands. You'll get consistent results and won't have to bother trying to mix and match. Depending on what your budget is... you mentioned the possibility of getting the VL25mm, so for that amount you could potentially invest in 2 solid primes + a decent vintage. If I had that amount I would invest immediately in:

Sigma 20mm 1.8 >> SWEET wide lens with no noticeable / significant distortion and a really nice cinematic look; be hesitant going below 20mm, as most of them including the 12mm Noktor, have noticeable distortion / soft edges. This one, remains sharp end to end and is definitely my favorite wide.

Sigma 30mm 1.4 >> You cannot go wrong here... if you take one recommendation, do yourself a favor and get this lens. I don't know what it is... but it's special. Remains sharp wide open @ 1.4; its focus ring is the best one I've encountered so far, perfect "throw" length for making on the spot adjustments; I pretty much couldn't live without this lens. Here's the last thing I shot with it - https://vimeo.com/35999739

50mm Vintages - At 50mm, it's pretty much a candy store and everything is on sale. There are SO many choices and they're almost all cheap. Honestly just about anyone on this forum could recommend a fantastic 50mm for $100 or under. For me, I haven't even scratched the surface of all the available choices, but I'm loving the Nikkor 50mm 1.4D; It has a manual / clicking aperture, super smooth focus ring and produces a very cinematic image.

Overall, for that kind of money you could be getting some serious lenses; not that the VL 25mm isn't worth every single penny... because it VERY much is. But I think you'll be pretty happy with a strong "base" to work with, where you have something more than just 25mm at your disposal.
 
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That was excellent filmic video. Camera motion was perfect too. Any chance you might be able to post something similar from the 20 mm f1.8? How about cropping it to 2.35:1? This footage already had the nice bokeh that could make me re-think about going anamorphic.
 
Aki_Hartikainen said:
That was excellent filmic video. Camera motion was perfect too. Any chance you might be able to post something similar from the 20 mm f1.8? How about cropping it to 2.35:1? This footage already had the nice bokeh that could make me re-think about going anamorphic.
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I just got my 20mm 1.8 and I'm desperate to use it, for now I'll be shooting a little low light / iso / distortion test indoors since I don't have a vari nd to do anything fun outside. I'll post it in a couple hours, then I'll make a "real" test (outdoors / people) once I get my vari nd in.
 
Sounds good. I just noticed you also had video from a Soviet classic Jupiter 50 mm. Looked very fine. I just went through some archive footage and found myself admiring some Helios 44-2 (58 mm, f2) footage. I was, like, the sharpness and colors are just perfect for filmic video. Then I realized I was watching the standard definition version made for DVD.

There is the Soviet classic Mir 24 (35 mm, f2) in M42 and Nikon mounts. I think it would be worthvile to get to test that at full aperture.
 
ed_lee83 said:
Well I think the burning question is, how much money you got??
Otherwise, it really is important to have a matchable set of lenses.
Too many videos I see that mix different brands and zooms with primes. And although the image is nice, I can just immediately catch the differences in sharpness, bokeh, tone and contrast - no matter how they grade it. Nothing wrong with it! But it's something I'm quite stern about. But just interesting to see how the HDSLR revolution and the advent of lens adapters now enables shooters access to all sorts of glass. And especially good for GH2 shooters (also with Ex Tele Conv) since we can utilise almost every type and format of lens.
Click to expand...
For now I would like to spend a max of 4-5k in lenses and rent the rest untill I get more revenue. I could spend more, but wanna wisely put a good amount of the money towards school too
 
the sigma 30 mm video is beautiful stuff...can you tell me what kind adapter you use for this lens on the GH2?
 
MattRobertson said:
For now I would like to spend a max of 4-5k in lenses and rent the rest untill I get more revenue. I could spend more, but wanna wisely put a good amount of the money towards school too
Click to expand...
You mentioned you like to Zeiss look and of course i'll vouch for that as I have ZF set. I have never owned native Lumix lenses. For me i considered Zeiss primes to be a solid investment for any video format (taking my budget into consideration) as I also use NEX and full frame formats - but mainly m4/3 for now. I mainly use Zeiss for photography, fashion and corporate stuff but they really are solid and can handle any situation. From that it's really just a matter of taste.
I did try out many other options before I assembled my Zeiss kit. I had this immense need to try out all sorts of lenses when the HDSLR trend began. But really, if you don't want to worry about distortion, breathing, flaring, build quality and sharpness, the Zeisses gave me a peace of mind when on the job. It's like f*cking Zen.
Having said that I also have other kits for other situations and tastes.
Ah I wish I were in your shoes again!
 
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