GH5 Lenses for focusing by hand for a doc shoot?

icarusfilm said:
The IS is extremely good so it works really well even on the long side of it.
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Better then IBIS? To where can you shoot handheld?

icarusfilm said:
The manual focus implementation is the best I found for native lenses and the range is unbeatable if you need it in one lens.
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Really? How good is the "manual" for use by hand? And does it have hard stops and is the focus repeatable? Questions, questions :)
 
I prefer IBIS without IS when movement is involved. But when not comes to just eliminating jitter the IS works great all the way to 100mm.

KINOKS said:
Better then IBIS? To where can you shoot handheld?



Really? How good is the "manual" for use by hand? And does it have hard stops and is the focus repeatable? Questions, questions :)
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The whole Olympus PRO line has a pretty good MF operation, the primes are really good at it.
 
icarusfilm said:
I prefer IBIS without IS when movement is involved. But when not comes to just eliminating jitter the IS works great all the way to 100mm.
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Ok, so basically you keep switching from IBIS to IS while shooting? Doesn't that get a tad tedious? But the fact that IS works for 100mm is great!

Still would have loved better a 24-105 f4 with a speedbooster as f4 on GH5 is imo for interiors quite bad. But what can you do...

icarusfilm said:
The whole Olympus PRO line has a pretty good MF operation, the primes are really good at it.
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Interesting. You seem to be the only one in this thread who likes the MF focus on these lenses... Do they have hard stops and repeatable focus?
 
All Olympus lenses that have IS disable the IBIS on the GH5 so you only have the IS.

KINOKS said:
Ok, so basically you keep switching from IBIS to IS while shooting? Doesn't that get a tad tedious? But the fact that IS works for 100mm is great!

Still would have loved better a 24-105 f4 with a speedbooster as f4 on GH5 is imo for interiors quite bad. But what can you do...


Interesting. You seem to be the only one in this thread who likes the MF focus on these lenses... Do they have hard stops and repeatable focus?
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I dont "like" them I simply dislike them less. I would never work with any photo zoom as a main lens also not the Canons I pretty much need a fully manual lens as may main lens but thats me.
I will use them if I absolutely have to in a situation but I wouldn't do that every day. I prefer less range but full control. I can (and have) shot whole projects on a "normal" prime (50mmFF, 35mm super35 or 25mm MFT)
 
icarusfilm said:
All Olympus lenses that have IS disable the IBIS on the GH5 so you only have the IS.
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It's one or the other. If you disable ois you can turn on ibis?

icarusfilm said:
I dont "like" them I simply dislike them less. I would never work with any photo zoom as a main lens also not the Canons I pretty much need a fully manual lens as may main lens but thats me.
I will use them if I absolutely have to in a situation but I wouldn't do that every day. I prefer less range but full control. I can (and have) shot whole projects on a "normal" prime (50mmFF, 35mm super35 or 25mm MFT)
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I see. Tnx for sharing you experience!
 
icarusfilm said:
The olympus lenses that have IS disable the IBIS on Panasonic bodies regardless
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Oh I see. I thought I've read somewhere that you can choose between is and ibis with the Oly's. But maybe that doesn't apply to all the lenses...
 
I was using them on a BM Micro Cinema Camera S16 sensor, where 35mm is as long as needed. I also,have a set of Zeiss ZF2 lenses in 28, 35, and 50mm I use for video work on larger sensors. Yes, the 12mm was designed more for the MFT size sensor.
A 8-10mm was planned, but never made it to market.

For a long reach zoom, I got the Panny Leica 12-60 Zoom, even though is max f/stop is variable (2.8-4.0), it was designed with video work in mind, it has a nice focus by wire that is easy to use, very fast AF and it and the stepless Iris Servo are dead quiet. The lens is also Parfocal, the only true parfocal Zoom in the MFT auto lens lineup, others are close, but not quite.
Cheers
Cheers

KINOKS said:
Thanks for the offer. Probably going to skip though, as I need zooms not primes atm. The Veydras are nice though. Besides production needs, what put off was the fact that the 12mm is mostly not usable on s35 cameras. Also a wider then 12mm would also be nice if they added to the kit. How come you didn't get the 50? For a first kit, I would have probably gone 12, 16, 25, 50...
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I think what can work really well is the sigma cine 18-35 t2 + speedbooster + normal adapter that should cover you well with just one zoom.
 
Focus by wire is not the same a manual focus, anyone trying to compare the two, will not like focus by wire, which is not as precise as a real manual focus. That said, some lenses have bettermfocus by wire than others. I have used a few, the Oly Pro lenses with the clutch work well, and come close to a manual focus feel, but throw is short, as are most focus by wire. I find the Panny Leica focus by wire has a little longer focus throw, but lacks the hard stops the Oly clutch system has.

That said, I have the PL MFT lenses, and even without stops, the focus by wire works really well, especially for quick single focus pulls, lie yiu would have in doc work.

Given a choice for manual focus, I would go with real dampened manual focus every time, especially with real cine lenses.
Cheers
 
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icarusfilm said:
I think what can work really well is the sigma cine 18-35 t2 + speedbooster + normal adapter that should cover you well with just one zoom.
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Do you find the focus throw on the Cine version to be practical without a follow focus? I haven't tried it myself, but have heard that it can be problematic when pulling focus by hand.

...and it's too bad that it doesn't have electronic contacts even as a manual lens. It would be great to have ibis automatically adjust to the focal length without having to set it in cam. That is a major reason why I am transitioning away from Nikon to m43 speedboosters. For doc work, I want fast changes of focal length without needing to go into ibis menus.
 
You have a point with the non-auto focal length info.
That actually disqualifies a number of zooms. I was mentioning the 18-35 because it has a 180 degree rotation which is more manageable. Taking that into consideration I think that the oly pro 12-100 and the 12-40 if you cal live with 40 on long end will be the least painful solution.

ozmorphasis said:
Do you find the focus throw on the Cine version to be practical without a follow focus? I haven't tried it myself, but have heard that it can be problematic when pulling focus by hand.

...and it's too bad that it doesn't have electronic contacts even as a manual lens. It would be great to have ibis automatically adjust to the focal length without having to set it in cam. That is a major reason why I am transitioning away from Nikon to m43 speedboosters. For doc work, I want fast changes of focal length without needing to go into ibis menus.
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I tried the Panasonic 12 - 35 recently. It’s pretty handy with push button focus. I worked a day on sticks with both Panasonic zooms. I liked them. I haven’t tried it in anger hand held but it works. The point and focus in the box worked. I think having one on a gimbal with that capability could be pretty great. I’m not sure. I’m used to all manual lenses. I use a speedbooster with my big old Nikon zooms or Zeiss ZFs

I had a GH2 back in the day and I had the 25mm Voigtlander. That was my favorite lens ever. I’m thinking a set of those on this GH5 would create the best images. Those lenses are just beautiful.

Zooms really are needed for doc work. It’s just too handy for creating a decent frame under uncontrolled conditions.
 
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I'd get ahold of a Olympus lens and see if you can work with the focus before making a judgement. I haven't found them that difficult to focus with. Otherwise I'd just get a speedbooster with electronic contacts and get a Canon zoom.
 
icarusfilm said:
You have a point with the non-auto focal length info.
That actually disqualifies a number of zooms. I was mentioning the 18-35 because it has a 180 degree rotation which is more manageable. Taking that into consideration I think that the oly pro 12-100 and the 12-40 if you cal live with 40 on long end will be the least painful solution.
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Yeah no electronic communication with the camera is not ideal. It's ok for some projects but not for this one.

The Oly lenses are shaping up to be the best option... But I am just really reluctant into further investing into mft glass...

Man this is a bugger. I am seriously thinking about using a monopod for this project. Mft lens options suck.
 
I honestly don't think the focus by wire is all that bad. It is different but it still achieves very good results when one learns how to use it. There are a ton of native lens users that manual focus every day. Repeatable focus may be difficult for a rack focus but I doubt a lot of that happens in a doc shoot anyway. The focus by wire was designed to make manual focus on a subject easy and it does just that. If you need to keep changing focus back and forth between subjects you may notice it harder to nail the same focus with the same exact amount of turn of the focus ring each time but again on a doc shoot I don't really pay much attention to how much I'm turning the focus ring. I turn it until the shot looks in focus and I stop. Focus by wire works great for that.

Instead of worrying about a manual focus lens consider investing in a external 1080p monitor to help nail focus. You can get really good 1080p lightweight monitors today that make focus a lot easier for around $200. Also learn how to make good use of the focus peaking and focus assist tools. Focus peaking is not perfect but it gets me there most of the time unless the lens is really soft and lacks contrast. Native lenses tend to work extremely well with the focus peaking. The punch in to focus is amazing if you can afford to focus before you hit record.
 
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