Leica 4/3 lenses with GH1?

Z

ZumaDog

Active member
I'm looking to replace the deadly slow stock F4-5.6 zoom the GH1 comes with with either the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 12-60mm F2.8-4 SWD Zoom Lens ($499) or the Leica D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 lens ($850) - both are F2.8 zooms and I'm wondering if the auto functions all work since these are 4/3 and not M4/3 lenses.

So I'm wondering - are all auto functions for 4/3 lenses functional on a M4/3 like the GH1 with the Lumix 4/3>M4/3 adapter?
 
vip77 said:
Lens Compatibility list:
http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html#c
Click to expand...

that's a pretty sad list for faster lenses with full compatibility. Even the Panasonic 2010 lens list for M4/3 doesn't show any zoom lens faster than 4.0.

It's a good thing I don't mind manually focusing. I just find the 14-140 F4 stock lens way way too slow in even moderately low light situations and the banding you get at above 400 ISO pretty much kills it for professional use. Putting on the Olympus 17mm (which is fully auto functional) increases stop by upwards of 2 stops and makes the GH1 a great camera.
 
Yes, well in the interest of using the camera efficiently now, I've bought the Olympus 17mm 2.8 lens which is slower than f1.7 but extremely useful and easily 2 stops faster than the 14-140 f4 stock lens. I'm looking for a fully functional f2.8 zoom but it doesn't look like it's going to happen anytime soon. I'm not sure I would have gotten the GH1 for low light photography because of the dismal performance of that zoom in low light. On the other hand, the stock lens looks fine shooting 1080 24fps in good light.
 
How is that 17mm f2.8 lens working out for you? Is f2.8 fast enough for flash-free indoor photography?
 
So if the majority of the 4/3 lenses dont have full or even most of the fucntionality even with the 4/3--M4/3 adapter would it just be better to get the older lenses that are fully manual?
 
Beginning to think so. Was really hot on the Olympus 50-200mm Zuiko Digital f/2.8-3.5 until I realized there's no way to control aperture since it doesn't have a ring and isn't compatible except for AE. And I'm not a big fan of hunting for desired exposure in the shot and then locking it.

Novaflex announced new M4/3 adapters with built-in aperture control rings for Pentax K, Nikon F and Sony Alpha lenses.

http://www.dpreview.com/news/0909/09091101novoflex.asp
 
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