Large Telephoto lenses?? Suggestions please

S

sydsurferguy

Member
I'm getting older & greyer waiting for the Pana 100-300mm.
I'm looking for something to shoot primarily surfing both still & video.
I've thought about a few options:

Sigma 50-500mm (wont autofocus as far as I know)
Sigma 135-400, f/4.5-f5.6 lens 4/3 mount (not sure on autofocus with this one)

Pana 45-200mm (not long enough for what I want, but for now might do)

I'm happy to buy whatever adapter etc required as well.

While autofocus is not a deal breaker it would be nice if I'm going to be spending $1000 +on a lense.

Happy to go the used route as well.

I'll post a few pics from the local when I get back in a few hours

Cheers
 
Well, I can't help you with anything autofocus. I just don't trust it much. And frankly, you bought the wrong body if you want AF lenses. There's hardly anything out there.

That said, I think there are a few good options. The one thing you have that most people simply don't is a TON of light. Even early or late in the day, you've just got a ton of it. So your lenses don't need to be particularly fast. Which leads me to:


1. Buy a good 70/80-300mm zoom. and a 2x doubler. If you find something in the F3.5 or F4 range, you'll have a 140-600mm F8 lens. That's a LOT of reach, and you can carry them all the way to the beach. Get one with good manual focus and you can track them easily by hand with video. Should cost less than $500 for the whole shebang.

2. Buy a reflex lens. A 500mm F8. A lot less flexible than the first option , but it's compact and you won't need a massive tripod setup to keep it still. Cost, about $500 for an excellent one.

3. Buy a 550D and a modern zoom lens. This is the most expensive option by far, but in a year you can sell the 550D for about 50% of what you pay for it. That's a $400 loss in 12 months. Consider it a 12 month lease for $30 a month. You couldn't rent the thing for anywhere NEAR that price. And any lens you buy could fit right onto your GH1. You get AF when shooting stills, and the GH1 (if you prefer) for shooting video. One lens.


Those are the best options as I see it, but undoubtedly someone will have other good ones.
 
I use a Vivitar 75 - 250mm f3.8-4.5 that i bought on ebay for $50 and love it for long reach. Very sharp and pump/twist action to zoom and focus is easy to use. It does need a good lens hood to stop reflections and a tripod mount lens ring so that the lens is attached to the tripod not the camera. This setup is super stable on a good tripod no shake. I find 500mm ample for shooting surf off the rocks or headland and 3.8 - 4.5 is not a lot of exposure change when zooming while recording if you have too.

BTW this lens is also a Macro, so good for closeups as well. It does lack a little contrast but just tweak in post and you're set, not a bad thing. I use Canon FD/micro3rd adapter as the vivitar is for a Canon FD breechlock.

Cheers Rambo
 
Thanks for the time & the advice guy's

@ Perrone,

Thanks for your advice,

I agree about auto focus lenses & the gh1. (kit lense is great for me..just not long enough).

1/. I'd say no.1 is an option.

2/. I'd pass on the reflex lens for now, never tried it with video but know how they work with 35mm. I've used them years ago.

3/. Good option too, great advice, the canon glass would be the keeper for the long stuff.



@ Rambo, thanks for your advice & input too,

I'll keep an eye out for the vivitar, the close up option sounds great as well.

At that price I'm on it like a seagull on a hot chip!



Photos will have to wait till morning....I'm already in enough trouble.
 
The topic has been discussed recently in this thread.
I have started using the kit lens for surf footage and agree with PerroneFord -- you don't need a fast telephoto for this type of shot. However, I find autofocus very useful, because I shoot both stills and video. Also, on a recent shot on Long Island I tried out manually focusing the kit lens with an indiFocus mini FF and ended up just switching the cam to AFS mode and using FF to control zoom instead. Auto-focus performance was not stellar, but it was acceptable for my needs. Here is a sample.

The longest autofocusable lens for Panasonic mFT bodies (ATM) is 45-200. It's only a tad longer than kit, so I'm going to wait a little longer for 100-300. Olympus mFT bodies have more options, because they will autofocus Oly's excellent selection of telephoto FT lenses.

I am also considering a Canon FD 80-300/f4.5. It can be had for under $300 locally. I like the fact that it has a separate control ring for focus and zoom.
 
I can recommend you the Olympus Zuiko 50-200mm f/2.8-3.5 is a great zoom lens, you need the 4/3 to micro 4/3 adapter, and if you want, you can add the Olympus Zuiko EC-20 2x Teleconverter, make the math.

Good luck
 
I am also waiting for the Pana 100-300. It is supposed to be announced at the Photokina show on September 21. Availability for purchase and price will be announced then. This lens will autofocus and has image stabilization on the Panasonic cameras. All other options that I know of in this focal length range will not do one or both of these things.

Because my main focus is bird video and photography, both of the above features are very important for quick flying bird shots. I for one am going to continue to wait because if I am going to make an investment in glass, I want to get the right glass for the usage and not some compromise. So, I recommend waiting a little longer to see what falls out.
 
Thanks again everyone for their opinions,

I'd thought about the 45-200mm panny but it' not really giving me that much more length.

It does have auto focus but I heard it's a bit slow in low light, so I'll try something else.


I might go with a stop gap measure like an adaptor & FD glass until I can get the 100-300

Here's one from my holiday to bali....this is what I'm talking about, up close, subject in full frame, when I film surfing it has to be tight & close.

P1040655.jpg


P1040661.jpg
 
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Lol - I am also in the waiting surfer ranks for the new panasonic lens :)

Hope they don't price it too high!

I bought an old soligor 85-205mm as a stop gap myself... but was not happy to see it was full of fungus on arrival.... only a tenner... but I was pissed.

Good pics BTW... I need to get to Bali some time!
 
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