GH13 Lumix 14-45 kit vs. cropped primes: GH1

[bcdevoe]

Concerned about my wide angles shooting in 16:9. I am awaiting arrival of my GH1 and planning my lens purchase.

1. I assume the 14-45 kit crops, if not, why? How will its shorter lengths compare to a wide prime on the GH1 in terms of filming, i.e. will a 20mm canon really be 40mm as some of the crop discussions would have me believe? Am I missing something in the nature of discussing the "35 equivalent"?

2. How do users feel about shooting with adapted canon or nikkor wide lenses? Is the crop felt when trying to get those wide angles? Should I risk using the kit for indoors at 3.5 since it can get me 14mm when my only other alternative is 20mm canon fd at 2.8?

Kinda lost.

 

[reggietelly]

All lenses for the Micro 4/3rds format crop the image. So you are spot on the 20mm lens is effectively a 40mm. The 25mm becomes what it is, a gorgeous 50mm portrait lens. It's annoying that they stick with the conventions of full frame 35mm format to label lenses but that's been the benchmark for photography since day 1 I guess. You just have to get used to doubling the size when choosing lenses. To get a good wide angle lense you need to go to the 7mm - 14mm, which is a one I am after, although it is expensive and has a design that doesn't allow for filters. It's also rather slow at f4. Olympus do a cheaper one, which is 9mm - 18mm.


If you take a look at this graphic it shows why we are getting a 2x crop on our lenses with the 4/3rds and Micro4/3rds

But it also illustrates that when using the GH cameras as a moving picture device, the frame size is far nearer to 35mm movie film which of course goes through a camera on it's side. Therefore lenses for motion picture cameras are usually great with this camera and lense choices tend to be similar. The 5D is actually an anomally since the frame size is massive in comparison. Depth of field is richer and you can of course get super wide stuff without going to extreme lenses.

Actually this thread probably explains it better!
http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?227557-AF100-Crop-Factor-35mm-Motion-Picture-film-and-Micro-4-3s

 

[TheDingo]

Concerned about my wide angles shooting in 16:9. I am awaiting arrival of my GH1 and planning my lens purchase.

Provided the lens can fully cover the Micro 4/3 sensor, every 20mm lens will produce the same FOV ( field of view ).

The same goes for every other focal length. So 14mm on a zoom will produce the same image as a 14mm prime lens.

How do users feel about shooting with adapted canon or nikkor wide lenses?

They are no longer "wide" lenses on a Micro 4/3 camera, but they are fast, sharp, and easy to manually focus.

Should I risk using the kit for indoors at 3.5 since it can get me 14mm when my only other alternative is 20mm canon fd at 2.8?

That's not your only option. Here are two more lenses to consider:

Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 AF "pancake" lens ( around the $400 mark )

Samyang 14mm f/2.8 manual lens ( also close to the $400 mark )

Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide Angle Manual Focus Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras : $420

It's hard to choose between these two lenses, as I like the AF feature of the lumix when using the lens on a Stedicam in good light, but for non-Stedicam shots I prefer proper manual focus. The Samyang lens also covers up to full-frame sensors, so you could use it for ultra-wide still photography shots.

...According to the Micro 4/3 Rumors website, Olympus will announce a 12mm f/2.0 prime lens in June. I really hope this is true, as I think many of us would line up to buy a fast wide Micro 4/3 lens, especially if it's an Olympus "Pro" lens. ( fantastic image with a rugged build quality, and maybe weather resistant too )

 

[Gabriel Berube]

Samyang 14mm f/2.8 manual lens ( also close to the $400 mark )

Bower 14mm f/2.8 Ultra Wide Angle Manual Focus Lens for Nikon Digital SLR Cameras : $420

Just thought I'd clarify a little something about Samyang lenses, they're also sometimes distributed in the US and Europe under the name Bower or Rokinon but are basically the exact same lens design.

I really hope that Olympus rumor is true, I'd love to get my hands on a Zuiko pro prime lens built especially for mft mount.

 

[bcdevoe]

Thanks to everyone for the responses; I opted to buy the kit since it was praised and relatively inexpensive. At it's 14mm mark it seems very wide indeed, at least when compared to the pancakes.