GH3 Matching lens

S

sharry

Well-known member
Hey people. Please can you list some wide zoom lens that can match canon fd, nikkor ai and minolta rokkor prime lens? The focal could start from 17mm.
 
sharry said:
Hey people. Please can you list some wide zoom lens that can match canon fd, nikkor ai and minolta rokkor prime lens? The focal could start from 17mm.
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The first place I would start is the Lumix 14-42 f3.5 to f5.6 "kit" lens often sold with Lumix cameras. Depending on where you can order from it's not too expensive (I've shopped amazon and ebay for that sort of thing). I see "used-like new" and "used-very good" listings on amazon starting at $94 (USD). The 14mm end is very good on these and the rest of the focal length also is good.

While a lot put this lens down, it is a very useful "workhorse" wide angle to "portrait perspective" telephoto and for the price is a very good option. Not real fast apertures but the GH3 high ISO performance helps out quite a bit here. One of the biggest complaints is that having a lot of plastic components, the zoom may not feel smooth, of the two of these I've had one felt smooth the other didn't. But I almost never use a zoom in video and both lenses did the job for me.

An alternative is the original Lumix 14-45 f3.5 to f5.6 often sold with the G1, GH1, and some other models. Pretty much all metal, the zoom is much smoother. I have 2 of these, one on a second GH3 body and one on a small Lumix GX1 camera. They cost a bit more but I found one on amazon for $249 and one on ebay for $230 both "used-like new".

One other option is the Olympus Zuiko 12-50mm f3.5 to f6.3 lens, offered as a "kit" lens option with the Olympus OMD E-M5 it gives about the widest perspective you get short of the "fisheye" wides. Retail priced at $499 I got mine used from B&H for $399 and it is now going for $399 new and as low as $255 used on amazon.

Another feature of this lens is that it is weather sealed (with a proper fitting UV filter on it) and on the GH3 should be weather sealed enough to not worry about light to moderate rain although I would still have a one gallon ziplock bag to cover it when not in use. I use mine a lot (it's a 24mm to 100mm full frame equivalent), to me it's a very useful lens.

If budget is not a constraint the new Lumix 12-35mm f2.8 is getting a lot of good reviews. Pricey but wedding guys are liking it very much.

For low light work I use the Lumix 20mm f1.7, Panasonic Leica DG Summilux 25mm f1.4, and Olympus Zuiko 45mm f1.8 primes.
 
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