Moving to the GH4 from Canon

DigitalBard

DigitalBard

Well-known member
I am looking at moving to the GH4 from Canon. I have a TON of Canon gear and lenses, so I'm wondering if I should get native M4/3 lenses or adapters for my EF lenses.
 
The relatively inexpensive adapters for EF lenses do not offer aperture control so unless you set the desired aperture on a Canon body then use the "unlock" while holding the DOF prevue button method to remove the lens from the Canon body, the lens remains wide open.

Some adapters have an added iris diaphragm to provide aperture control but this puts the aperture behind the lens, not between element groups where it's supposed to be.

My choice was to go with "native" m4/3 lenses and over the two years since converting to GH2's I've acquired a decent set of mostly primes and a few decent zooms. I sold off all my Canon stuff and work with GH3's, a GX7, and an Olympus OMD E-M5. Never looked back.

Many "native" m4/3 lenses are incredibly small and lightweight for what they do, and as far as I'm concerned I feel I gave up NOTHING in the way of sharpness and quality by going with the m4/3 system. I had a couple of "L" lenses and some good performing primes in the Canon setup up.

Just my $0.02 worth...

BTW, good to see you over in this forum
 
My personal opinion is to sell what you have while it is still worth a decent price. For what you sell your Canon gear for you should be able to buy an equal set of lenses for m43. Canon gear still sells pretty well and is pretty darn easy to find a buyer just about anywhere in the world.
 
I have started to work with M4/3 coming from a larger sensor and FF sensor. Currently own the GX7 and planning on getting the GH4 once it is released. I haven't sold my Canon Lenses because I still use them on other cameras I own.

It would make sense to get the Panny 12-35mm f/2.8 (which I own) or the Olympus 12-40mm f/2.8

Olympus has a great looking 40-150mm f/2.8 coming which I am planning to buy. I am currently using the Panny 35-100mm f/2.8 which is a very nice lens.

If you are coming from Full Frame and you like that look, you will miss some of the shallow depth of field you are used to at f/2.8.

You have to get some very fast primes, like the Voigtlander lenses, to even approach some of that FF SDoF look you might be used to. At other times not having such a SDoF on reasonably fast lens (F/2.8) actually comes in handy.
 
I'd think twice about indiscriminately unloading everything .

I got sucked into M43 for motion images through the GH2, and like many here have gone deeper and deeper in with M43. While my intended use was originally for video, I'm also a still photographer. I didn't see a place for pro work with M43, at least with the GH2. The GH3 has changed that, I suspect the GH4 will take it even further. I sold my last Nikon body over a year ago, but I'm holding onto my Nikkors for a bit. One reason is the massive resolution possible with a D800, far surpassing the current M43's 16MP level. These are some other reasons to consider IMO:

• The tides can shift in this business- what is hot and viable one year can make less sense in a year or two. Canon is not a flash in the pan, they have staying power, innovation and are a significant player. What will the next model year bring?

• Even if Canon doesn't have the hot ticket for you this year, what about the proliferation of Canon mounts (unlike Nikon ;-( ) on various manufacturers cameras?

• How might your own needs change in a year or two or three?

Lastly, I'm glad I held onto my Nikkors because the cameras keep on getting cheaper and better. I'm very interested in the AJA Cion. While it is PL mount, if someone comes out with a Nikkor adapter for this camera, I'll have a much more affordable entry point into this camera. I'm not thrilled at the thought of throwing down a big wad of cash for a minimal PL prime set, much less for a quality zoom that I could use with this or other S35 sized cameras.

I agree with Bruce that the Lumix pro zooms are mighty fine, and for me they are the preferred glass for day in and day out shooting.... but I'm still holding onto my Nikkors until things shake out more in the market.
 
If you value your sanity, the only adapter you'll want for Canon EF lenses is one that provides aperture control. Otherwise you'll need to carry a Canon body around just to set the aperture or shoot wide open (adapters with a built-in iris are not a viable option IMO). Unfortunately, there aren't a lot of Canon EF adapters with aperture control available, Redrock Micro's LiveLens adapter being one of the few.

You have some other options though. You mentioned you have a lot of Canon glass, so you probably know which focal lengths you use most. I'd suggest renting a couple of those focal lengths as native and adapted forms so that you can see which works best for you. Native glass from Panasonic and Olympus provide great optical quality but come with some drawbacks that can affect production efficiency (e.g. if you shoot primarily video as opposed to stills).

There are also some native lenses that mitigate some of the drawbacks (such as fly-by-wire manual focus). Several of Olympus' newer lenses have a clutched focus ring that can be shifted into manual mode to give you hard stop and repeatable focus. Among these options are Olympus' 12-40 f/2.8, 12mm f/2.0, and 17mm f/1.8.

You might also be interested in my series on Lens Options for the GH4. It's written for new M43 users like you and covers many of these things.
 
Thanks much. I only have 3 auto-focus lenses for my T2i, T4i and 60D. The rest are all manual lenses (mostly PK mount) with EF adapters. I just got a PK to M43 adapter today to test my manual lenses on my BMPC. I borrowed an EF to M43 adapter (cheap one) from a friend this afternoon and tried it with the BMPC and I did not like the look, so I'll sell my Canon lenses when I sell the Canon bodies.

I have a couple friends who pre-ordered the GH4 and I'll make my final decision after they've had a week to use it and give me feedback.
 
Based on some tests I ran last night with my BlackMagic Pocket Camera, the lack of any electronic control on my EF/EFS lenses made them very difficult to use with an adapter. However, I have a 28mm F/2.8, 35mm F/2.8, 50mm F/1.4 and 135mm F/2.8 manual lenses and those worked great with the PK to M4/3 adapter.

So I'll be selling off my Canon lenses along with the bodies and getting M4/3 equivalent AF lenses.
 
Smart man. I personally went the Rokinon prime route for lenses, but Lumix are great lenses as well. Extremely sharp! I have LOVED my switch from Canon and I'd never go back.
 
Brandon Rice said:
Smart man. I personally went the Rokinon prime route for lenses, but Lumix are great lenses as well. Extremely sharp! I have LOVED my switch from Canon and I'd never go back.
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Would a Nikon mount Rokinon 35mm f1.4 lens be a good choice since Nikon's mount system is adaptable to other cameras in the future?

I also am wondering about Speedbooster vs Mitakon.

The Speedbooster is a Nikon G to MFT adapter, while the Mitakon is Nikon (F, G, Ai, Ai-s, E) to MFT. Seems like the Mitakon is more compatible?
 
Yes, Nikon mount is a very good option for adapted lenses. It has one of the largest FFDs (Flange Focal Distances) of any lens mount, allowing it to be adapted to many other lens mounts, including M43.

Nikon G mount is compatible with Nikon F mount, so the Nikon G Speed Booster will work with modern and legacy Nikon mount lenses. The real thing you should be looking at when comparing focal reducers is their effect on image quality. Metabones is currently considered the gold standard in this area, but depending on your needs, other options may be satisfactory.
 
Thomas Smet said:
My personal opinion is to sell what you have while it is still worth a decent price. For what you sell your Canon gear for you should be able to buy an equal set of lenses for m43. Canon gear still sells pretty well and is pretty darn easy to find a buyer just about anywhere in the world.
Click to expand...

Thomas, do you mean that a Canon DSLR is going to lose value due to the real ease of the GH4? From a strictly video point of view, that might be true and might effect the 5D-3 to some extent. But from an overall digital photography view, Panasonic mirror-less cams are a flyspeck to Canon and the L glass program. Just some perspective.

Grant

Having said that, I am exploring the GH4 as a dual purpose purchase. I really would like to see how well still images from a GH4 hold up to a 5d3 with good glass. For any type of action shooting, framing with a DSLR would be hard to beat with a lcd screen or finder.
 
Sol M. said:
Yes, Nikon mount is a very good option for adapted lenses. It has one of the largest FFDs (Flange Focal Distances) of any lens mount, allowing it to be adapted to many other lens mounts, including M43.

Nikon G mount is compatible with Nikon F mount, so the Nikon G Speed Booster will work with modern and legacy Nikon mount lenses. The real thing you should be looking at when comparing focal reducers is their effect on image quality. Metabones is currently considered the gold standard in this area, but depending on your needs, other options may be satisfactory.
Click to expand...

That is super helpful. Thanks a lot.
 
I'm really not happy with all of you who ordered the GH4 before me and caused all the shipping delays... :)

I sold all of my Canon AF lenses and got a Lumix 12-35mm and ordered the Lumix 35-100mm. I managed to find the GH4 in stock at Hot Rod Cameras and it should be here in the next day or two. I ordered a cheap EF to M43 speedbooster to use my manuals lenses that have EF adapters on them.

I watched a bunch of videos on Vimeo with c-mount lenses on GH3s and GH4s. I was very impressed and ordered a C-M43 adapter and 2 lenses from eBay (3.5mm 1.2 and a 6-70mm f/1.8 zoom).
 
which cheap speedbooster did you pick, why, and I expect a full report on its 4k quality! :D
 
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