My take on the Lumix lenses I've bought for the AF100 and GH2

[Barry_Green]

Most likely, this.

Yep, that's it. It's not perfect, I did a post a few weeks ago on it, but if you want to pull focus on a Lumix lens, it's the best of the bunch because it does work as a pretty good substitute for a manual follow focus.

Other remotes will work as well (VariZoom, Manfrotto, etc) but none of them are set up to emulate a manual follow focus, so I went with the FoXi.

 

[Barry_Green]

G'Day Barry, Another great review and post thankyou. At the end of 2010 I spent a month in Nepal - Kathmandu, Chitwan National Park and the Annapurnas, shooting with an unhacked GH1 20mm and 14-140mm, mostly 50p and some stills. We were traveling light so no sticks, just a gorrillapod and a telescopic trekking pole with a ball mount on top. I agree with your thoughts on both these lenses, the sharp/bright factor on the 20mm pancake, great for stealth shooting downtown backstreets Kathmandu and the functionality of the 14-140mm zoom. Whilst trekking in the Annapurnas, I did a bit of walk and talk to camera with the Gh1/14-140mm mounted on my trekking pole (the 7-14mm would have been killer!) lens set to MF and OIS of course, shots turned out great. On the back of an Elephant in the jungle of Chitwan spotting Rhino, Deer, Monkeys and Wild Boar was a challenge, but again the 140mm end of the zoom handheld did the job, I thought really well.

Footage! C'mon Shane, you've been with us for over four years and only three posts, and you hit us with a travelogue like this? That's teasing! We want to see the footage! :thumbsup:

 

[Barry_Green]

The 20mm is push auto focus only.
Its not going to change.

Yep.

If you want to use it on a Steadicam, the FoXi or other remote would be the way to go. But that's only an option on the AF100; you can't do remote focus on the GH2...

 

[dcloud]

You're not going to find that on any autofocus lens. Unless there's something I don't know about, a free-spinning focus wheel is always part of the deal when you get an autofocusing lens.

ok maybe its a crappy built lens (nice optics though) but the 50mm 1.8 EF lens has hard stops while having noisy autofocus.
on a 50 1.4 EF, you can feel if you hit the end of a focus

 

[Shane McLachlan]

Okay, okay, okay Barry ... today & tomorrow I get to play with the AF100, Friday I'll see if I can post a clip of highlights, I just needed a shove.

 

[Barry_Green]

> shove <

 

[dillont]

WOW, Barry. You are real gift to this community. Thank you for sharing your findings and recommendations with us. I'll definitely be getting a couple of the lenses you recommended.

Thank you!!

Dillon

 

[Saddler]

Barry, do you have any test footage to show us with the 7-14 on either an AF100 or GH2? I'm thinking of starting out my lens kit with the 14-140, Voigtlander 0.95, and maybe the 7-14.

 

[Neil Richards]

Err, I'm certainly not Barry but Logan shot some footage with it here:

Test-footage-with-7-14mm-Lumix-Lens

I personally loved this, thought it was really impressive and this has pushed me towards getting one (if I can find one at a halfway sensible price in the UK of course )

 

[mimirsan]

those on a low budget like myself (yes the 7-14mm is loooovely but priiiicy) and wanting a similar wide angle you could try the 8mm samyang- nikon mount. No need for focusing either and pretty damn sharp @f5. (so not fast but great for outdoor stuff.)

 

[BobbyMurcerFan]

...

You're not going to find that on any autofocus lens. Unless there's something I don't know about, a free-spinning focus wheel is always part of the deal when you get an autofocusing lens.

The EX-1/3 autofocus and have hard stops. So do the Canon XF's. Granted these are different cameras, in many regards, from the AF100.

 

[Chris Messineo]

Also, I'm not 110% sure on this, but I think the most recent firmware updates may have changed one of my favorite behaviors on this lens.

First thanks for the great write up on the lenses.

I have the 14-140, but I haven't had the time to do the firmware upgrade yet. Is this something I should avoid doing? What are the benefits of this upgrade?

 

[Barry_Green]

The EX-1/3 autofocus and have hard stops.

Not at the same time. You put the focus ring in one mode or the other, and when in the autofocus mode there's no hard stop (or am I crazy? I'm pretty sure they work this way). Don't know about the Canon XF's.

Here's the thing with hard stops -- either the focus ring is physically connected to the things it's moving, or it isn't (aka free-spinning or focus-by-wire). In a Voigtlander (with no AF) the focus ring is physically connected and it's a lush, exquisite, magnificent focus mechanism. And yes, it stops at one end and the other. Same with the Zeiss ZF's. Same with the Compact Primes or any cinema lenses.

In autofocusing lenses, if that were the way, then the focus ring would spin while the camera autofocused. And most (if not all) don't. Which means the focus ring is not physically connected to the internal lens focusing functions. So if there's a hard stop, it's fake.

 

[Barry_Green]

First thanks for the great write up on the lenses.

I have the 14-140, but I haven't had the time to do the firmware upgrade yet. Is this something I should avoid doing? What are the benefits of this upgrade?

Do you have an AF100 and the 14-140 with version 1.2 or 1.3 firmware? If so, try zooming all the way in, set the iris manually to, say, f9, and then zoom slowly out. Does it stay at f9 all the way? Mine will click over to f8.5 at some point. Same with focus -- set it at full tele, focus to some fixed distance (30' mabye) then zoom slowly out. Does it stay firmly on 30', or does it vary?

 

[Petros Kolyvas]

In autofocusing lenses, if that were the way, then the focus ring would spin while the camera autofocused. And most (if not all) don't.

Tamron AF lenses behave this way, with the ring mated to the mechanism; and you're correct Barry it moves with the autofocus servo system. Thankfully the focus throw is ridiculous short because it could sand one's fingers right off when it's hunting around for focus.

Hard stops aren't the end all and be-all though. In many lower-cost stills lenses, infinity is achieved before the hard stop at one end, and so if you're not paying attention and go past it by a millimetre... whoops... everything is out of focus again.

Half dozen of one... six of the other. Etc. etc.

 

[cinolatino]

Thanks Barry for your great input. I hope not to be' OT but I shot with a 14-20-45 Lumix set lady week.
It was my very first test with the camera. The pancake is brilliant.
Here is some footage
http://vimeo.com/18597360

 

[Jim Arthurs]

I like the 14-140 overall, but boy is it a joy kill for the sort of instant, shallow DOF everyone who is buying this camera is wanting. Here's a little sample I shot at 50mm, with the Lumix wide open (f5.5) compared to my ancient Nikkor 50mm 1.8 AIS at both 1.8 and 2.8.

http://ftp.datausa.com/imageshoppe/outgoing/AF100/50mm_DOFranges.jpg

For fun here's the Peleng 8mm circular fisheye on the camera, same setup, same distance to subject...

http://ftp.datausa.com/imageshoppe/outgoing/AF100/8MM_PELENG_fisheye.jpg

So what's the deal with the aliasing on the massively over-exposed edge between the barn doors on the softbox and the background? When I first saw this I though it was some 3:2 issue, as I was viewing it on a TV via HDMI from the camera (60i output of 24p), but no, it's actually in the AVCHD file as well. Come to think of it, any time I've seen aliasing, it's been on overexposed edges where there's higher contrast to a background. Any ideas or has anyone see this before? That's DSLR bad.

Regards,

 

[Barry_Green]

Thanks Barry for your great input. I hope not to be' OT but I shot with a 14-20-45 Lumix set lady week.
It was my very first test with the camera. The pancake is brilliant.
Here is some footage
http://vimeo.com/18597360

Very, very nice -- and wow, it's always great to see something from a longtimer! 2006 is four and a half years!

What did you think of the 14mm? I've heard mixed reviews on it -- did you notice any vignetting or anything else about it that you didn't like? Or were you very happy with it?

 

[Saddler]

Thanks Barry for your great input. I hope not to be' OT but I shot with a 14-20-45 Lumix set lady week.
It was my very first test with the camera. The pancake is brilliant.
Here is some footage
http://vimeo.com/18597360

Dang! When I skimmed your post before watching, I thought it was all the Pancake, I couldn't believe how close it could focus! Obviously the macros are with the 45, duh. Not only that, but I really started freaking out about how crazy huge it made the snowflakes look--like a forest. Then as it progressed I realized that that snow is some of the craziest massively large flake size, dry, powder snow I've ever seen. Stupid Italian Alps (yes, I'm jealous). Really nice footage.

 

[Saddler]

Got you beat by a month! Unfortunately, no AF100 in hand ... yet.

No surprise that Barry has me beat by almost 3 years. I started shooting on the original DVX when my director friend turned me onto it when it was first released. The first project that I used it on, I used it as a D Cam, paired up against some F900s (even had it setup on the same dolly tracks), and as a Making Of cam w/ a .7 adapter. Loved it and kept using it on other music video shoots. Didn't get involved here until the HVX was released, which I promptly purchased and attended an early HD Bootcamp. Thanks to Barry, Jan, and all of the others who tirelessly participate in the DVXUser forums.