Landscape Photography lenses

J

Jeremy_Sawatzky

Well-known member
Right so i hate to do this (make another one of these threads) but i am so horribly uninformed regarding lens makes, models, mounts, and prices that i have had a very hard time even narrowing down my search for new lenses.

I shoot video with the Gh2 with the kit 14-140mm lens. Nice lens but can hardly use it indoors or outside come evening. That has been my biggest gripe with the lens. But I shouldnt gripe about it, if it was f2.0 it would cost 3 times as much. - it is the only lens i own.

So now with the Red Scarlet completely out of my price range (Finally i can decide) I would like to start adding lenses to my current collection of 1 lens. :tongue:

My budget is anywhere from 1000 - 1500. I am not just looking for 1 lens - if i can get 3 - 4 lenses to start me off. Reading every thread on the front page i find ALOT of lenses being used with the gh2 can be found for 300 or less used online. If these provide a sharp detailed image at an f-stop of 3.0 or less, Im happy.

I have no need for electronic lenses. - manual focus and or zoom is just fine.

My first question has to do with lens mounts. - How do i know if a certain lens will just plug and play on the gh2? - Quite obviously yes the panny m4/3 lenses are just plug and play. But what about those voigtlander or olympus or nikon or canon. The answer is simple, adapters. BUT - i see some guys with collections with a different brand of lens for every focal length, did they buy an adapter for every lens??? what about crop factors on the different lenses?

My second question is where to find these lenses? I can try to find stuff on ebay but there is such a broad selections i havent a clue what i want or need.

I understand basic lens terminology, f stop, focal length, zoom or prime. I dont really understand why i would ever want a "soft" lens.

So fellas I would like some input on where to begin. I can give you my goals for what i want to be able to do and go from there.

I shoot landscape. Simple as that - climb the mountain, shoot, go back down. - I first off need an extremely wide lens that doesnt distort like a fisheye. I dont know if this is possible but something along the lines of 10mm. - a faster lens is more preferably but while keeping price in check.

the second type of lens i want is a powerful telephoto lens - As far as i understand a 300mm with ETC mode on would provide some pretty tight shots. - what would you guys use? - eh?> http://www.vistek.ca/store/CameraLe...0300mm-f4056-asph-mega-ois-micro-43-lens.aspx - its quite a slow lens, thats my gripe with it. An older used lens to use instead???

lastly im looking for a couple fast 25-75mm lenses eh?> http://www.vistek.ca/store/CameraLenses/257916/panasonic-leica-25mm-f14-asph-micro-43-lens.aspx - pretty darn expensive

What brands are going to bring me the most bang for my buck - i am definitely more a quality over quantity type of person so if a single lens takes up more than half my budget then so be it. But within reason. I assume that with these different lenses, ND filters are going to be a must because on top of a snow covered mountain in the afternoon can burn your eyes its so bright. - do i need different sized filters? is there more than one filter i need to know about???

Think Planet Earth - also think, "this guy really doesn't know what he needs il help him out" :Drogar-Happy(DBG):
 
if you think thats pretty darn expensive =)

landscape - well you dont need a fast lens for landscape, defeats the purpose of getting everything in focus. can try the olympus 9-18mm f4 or a sigma f2.8. they are both cheaper than the pana 7-14mm f4 although the pana is alot smaller. i have the pana myself and think its great, but i know its low light limits so i shoot within its means. there is the olympus 12mm f2 also.

tele - i have the 100-300 and i recon its pretty good. it may not be the fastest lens or sharpest at 300 but in built image stabiliser helps a heap with these long focal lengths hand held especially for video. its compact and lighter too compared to most cheaper older manual lenses of similar focal length.

focus by wire on the newer lenses vs good old manual focus is something to cosider. I prefer the old school myself for video but learning to appreciate autofocus on the newer lenses for fast paced stills.

weight is something else to consider if you are climbing mountains. i travelled europe for a month with my 20mm, 7-14mm, zeiss 50mm, and 100-300mm and that was bearable. it was usually the 20, 7-14 and 100-300 that i had on me most the time and i came to really appreciate their size and weight.

Nd filters, buy for your biggest lens and step it down with step rings, it means you have to take it on and off though. you can buy a variable ND filter, there is a new one on the market thats better than the Fader ND but its priced that way too.

adapters - you make sure there is an adapter before you buy =) and yes comon sense says you buy according for each different lens mount.

crop factor is based on if the lens was made for full frame sensor or other.

im sure others can recommend more affordable and capable lenses for you.
 
friggin brilliant awesome reply. Thanks so much theres a ton of wicked info in there!

you are most definitly right about weight on the lenses, i didnt care to add that in my op because i already made enough requests. My pack with gear enough to last 3 days in -1 - 18 weather weighs a little over 45-50 lbs before camera gear. So yes weight is most definitly a concern.

I tend to shoot slow planned shots, so manual focus lenses are just fine for me. Ive never really done the run and gun

i didnt know that a faster lens affects focus how is this???
 
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If you were happy with the field of view at the wide end of the 14-140mm, but just wanted something with a little wider aperture, you could also consider the Panasonic 14mm f/2.5. Image quality probably isn't quite as good as the Olympus 12mm f/2.0, but it's less than half the price, less than half the size and less than half the weight.

There are a lot of legacy manual focus lenses that can be adapted to the GH2, with the Canon FD and Nikon Ai/Ai-s lines probably being the most popular and widely available. There's quite a few good options in terms of older manual focus prime lenses between say 35mm and 135mm. Both the Canon FD 50mm 1.4 and Nikon Ai-s 50mm 1.4 are good and relatively inexpensive used ($150 or less). For either you'd need the corresponding adapter (Canon FD mount to m4/3 or Nikon F mount to m4/3) which cost from $20 and up (there are a bunch of different manufacturers making adapters these days).

At the wider end, the wide aperture legacy lenses tend to be pretty expensive and not that wide on the GH2 because of the 2x crop of the 4/3 sensor. And at the longer telephoto end, the legacy lenses tend to be pretty large and heavy compared to the native m4/3 lenses. Anyway, that's my take.

KEH.com has a pretty good selection of legacy lenses in one place, but you'll generally find better deals on eBay. The marketplace section of the Micro 4/3 forum is another place to look for used lenses (both legacy and native). And of course they often show up in the DVXuser marketplace as well :)
 
thanks a bunch :cheesy: another good selection of lenses to choose from

I think What il have to end up doing is pick a couple around the 150$ mark and try them out. its so hard to pick lenses without really having much experience with em.
 
Jeremy_Sawatzky said:
My first question has to do with lens mounts. - How do i know if a certain lens will just plug and play on the gh2? - Quite obviously yes the panny m4/3 lenses are just plug and play. But what about those voigtlander or olympus or nikon or canon. The answer is simple, adapters. BUT - i see some guys with collections with a different brand of lens for every focal length, did they buy an adapter for every lens??? what about crop factors on the different lenses?

the second type of lens i want is a powerful telephoto lens - As far as i understand a 300mm with ETC mode on would provide some pretty tight shots. - what would you guys use? - eh?> http://www.vistek.ca/store/CameraLe...0300mm-f4056-asph-mega-ois-micro-43-lens.aspx - its quite a slow lens, thats my gripe with it. An older used lens to use instead???

lastly im looking for a couple fast 25-75mm lenses eh?> http://www.vistek.ca/store/CameraLenses/257916/panasonic-leica-25mm-f14-asph-micro-43-lens.aspx - pretty darn expensive
Click to expand...

The crop factor is based on the body, not the lens. That means, on a m43 body, you have to multiply the focal length of _any_ lens by 2 to get the equivalent field of view for a regular 35mm film camera.

The Nikon 300/4.5 is likely the cheapest and best choice for a 300mm, but keep in mind that any vintage 300mm won't have the same sharpness and contrast as the Panny 100-300 at ETC. It'll be likely okay if you don't use ETC.

The Summilux 25/1.4 for $600- is actually not bad, but a good alternate would be the Panny 20/1.7 for $400-. The difference btwn 20mm and 25mm is really not that much.
 
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