GH5 Lumix G 12-35mm II vs. Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm
- Thread starter jduke
- Start date
fboonzaier
Well-known member
For me the choice of the extra reach was the difference....the 12-60 is only 1/2 stop slower than the 12-35 at 35mm, so the speed difference is not significant...the extra 25mm of reach is though IMO
Cary Knoop
Veteran
I used to have the 12-35mm Mark 1, but now my favorite lens is the 12-60mm Leica/Panasonic.
The 12-60mm with the extra range is the perfect all round lens!
But both are excellent lenses, the 12-35mm is, in my very subjective opinion, a micro tad better in rendering colors but it does not balance against the wider range of the 12-60mm.
So I am quite happy with the 12-60mm.
The 12-60mm with the extra range is the perfect all round lens!
But both are excellent lenses, the 12-35mm is, in my very subjective opinion, a micro tad better in rendering colors but it does not balance against the wider range of the 12-60mm.
So I am quite happy with the 12-60mm.
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BobKo
Well-known member
I have both the 12-35 Mk I and 35-100 Mk I Panasonic lenses, and the 35-100 has terrible micro-jitters. Even after updating it to the latest firmware, it's still too jittery for handheld video -- even on the GH5 body with IBIS. (My wife likes it for photography, however.) I also have the Leica/Panasonic 12-60, and it's nice. However, my normal go-to video lens on my GH5 is Panasonic's 14-140 Mk II. It is stable and has great reach, and looks good with 4K video. Zoomed all the way out to 140 and with the GH5 on the "extended tele" setting, I can shoot butterflies and bees on flowers handheld with minimal shake. The 35-100 Mk I does not get nearly as close and is far more jittery. My wife is not as crazy about the 14-140 Mk II as a photographic lens, though.
April 2020 edit: I now have more experience with the 12-60 Mk II lens, and it is my preferred lens for shooting indoors. (I do not have a lens that shoots wider than 12mm.) Indoors, the 12-60mm lens goes wide and has nice zoom range. With f2.8, I don't have to add lots of light to get the shot I want. So my go-to lenses are the Panasonic 14-140mm for outdoors and the 12-60 Mk II for indoors.
Bob
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SeaRefractor
New member
Picked up the Leica DG Vario-Elmarit 12-60mm f/2.8-4 lens recently and I'm very pleased. Build quality is very very good.
I've turned off AFC and use the back button AF/AE Lock button for focusing. I don't know if the lens overrides this setting, but I can use my Crane 2 follower focus sychro motor to change the zoom and still stay in focus. It's possible Panasonic GH5 may still be performing a focus, because while it's acting as a par-focal lens to me, I've seen threads where Olympus M43 users report that their results do not indicate par-focal.
In any event, the extra reach and the ability to perform "vertigo" style "zoom" pulls on my Crane 2 gimbal is pretty cool!
Again, don't know if product samples have different results, or if the GH5 is adding a focus even when set to MF on the switch setting, but that was a cool unexpected result.
As for bokeh? DoF can be handled very well by using the zoom trick (60mm) and typically my lighting is more than sufficient to keep the ISO down low. For very low light, I'm using some vintage glass (Ashai SMC 50mm 1.7 and other associated K mount lenses) with a 0.71x speedbooster. These older Pentax lenses have enough bumps to act like a cine lens without the wrap around band from Zhiyun. It's a little harder to source Pentax K mount speedboosters, but there's a few good ones out there. I'll look up my purchase info from 2 years ago and see what the availability is now.
I've turned off AFC and use the back button AF/AE Lock button for focusing. I don't know if the lens overrides this setting, but I can use my Crane 2 follower focus sychro motor to change the zoom and still stay in focus. It's possible Panasonic GH5 may still be performing a focus, because while it's acting as a par-focal lens to me, I've seen threads where Olympus M43 users report that their results do not indicate par-focal.
In any event, the extra reach and the ability to perform "vertigo" style "zoom" pulls on my Crane 2 gimbal is pretty cool!
Again, don't know if product samples have different results, or if the GH5 is adding a focus even when set to MF on the switch setting, but that was a cool unexpected result.
As for bokeh? DoF can be handled very well by using the zoom trick (60mm) and typically my lighting is more than sufficient to keep the ISO down low. For very low light, I'm using some vintage glass (Ashai SMC 50mm 1.7 and other associated K mount lenses) with a 0.71x speedbooster. These older Pentax lenses have enough bumps to act like a cine lens without the wrap around band from Zhiyun. It's a little harder to source Pentax K mount speedboosters, but there's a few good ones out there. I'll look up my purchase info from 2 years ago and see what the availability is now.
BobKo
Well-known member
A couple weeks ago, I was shooting with the 12-35mm (version 1) lens on my GH5, when the lens suddenly lost the ability to focus. It would not focus in auto mode, and it would not focus in manual mode. The focus ring felt much stiffer than usual, but it still turned. As I turned it, I could see the indicator in the viewfinder that the focus point of the lens was changing, but the focus was not actually changing. As for what I was doing at the time, I was standing and pointing the camera at a workman at my home -- no odd angles, no stress on the lens, no grit or sand being kicked up. The lens looked perfectly fine... it was just permanently focused at a point about 12 feet (3.7 meters) from the camera.
I sent the lens to Panasonic's official repair location (Professional Electronics in Florida), which pronounced the lens unrepairable. I really liked the 12-35mm lens and used it often. But I will be replacing it with a 12-60mm Pan/Leica lens.
I sent the lens to Panasonic's official repair location (Professional Electronics in Florida), which pronounced the lens unrepairable. I really liked the 12-35mm lens and used it often. But I will be replacing it with a 12-60mm Pan/Leica lens.
There should be a warning, never point lens at a workman. It's a known failure point. I like the 12-60mmm. It is my most versatile, best all around MFT lens not just optically, but focus, stabilization, integration with GH5 and GH5S. Cooperates on the gimbal too, doesn't fight.