Olympus 14-35mm f/2.0 & 35-100mm f/2.0 VS. Zeiss ZF Prime lenses

bhdfield said:
with the shallow DOF and free of distortion with a lens in the 20-28mm range unless I back up and go longer lens? This would not be the same look, and at times may be impossible due to space restrictions.
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With a lens "in the 20-28mm range" -- you'll be fine with faces as long as your goal is NOT to be flattering to your subject.

The 2x crop factor isn't converting your 25mm to a 50mm -- rather -- you're just zooming in on your 25mm. Furthermore, just backing up changes the focus equation -- so you're not getting the same image out of your 50mm as before by backing up twice the original distance.
 
Thomas Church said:
Barry, any chance of shooting some tests with the Olympus 14-35?

It's out of my range but if it's a truly stellar lens who knows?
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Lots of the stuff from Kyoto and Osaka was with the 14-35. I didn't use it that time, but I'd used it in Amsterdam. I think Philip and Filippo (or was it Emmanuel?) both snagged the 14-35's and used them extensively.
 
Do both the 14-35 and 35-100 hold focus throughout the zoom range?

What adapter would we need to use this Zeiss/Nikon glass?

The 50mm 1.4 looks great.

Is it a Full Frame or DX lens? What's the crop for the 4/3 sensor?
 
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Do you all think that Olympus glass would be a wise investment for their high end lenses, given that zeiss, canon, etc can be used on many other cameras where Olympus would only be useable on 4/3's and micro 4/3's? For it's cost is it's versatility enough over the other brands?

Do the high-end olympus lenses have built in image stabilization? Thanks!

It sounds like the birger adapter will allow potential autofocus and remote control of canon lenses on m4/3 but at a pretty high cost, so would canon glass be a better investment?
 
tflak said:
Neither the Olympus 14-35 or the 35-100 are parfocal. I believe the only current lens that will hold focus is the Lumix 14-140.
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Bummer. The AF100 is going to be a great camera, but there seems to be a lack of adequate 4/3 glass on the market for video.

I don't mean a specifically video-adapted lens, but an affordable 2.8 constant parfocal lens.

If Panasonic released a 14-35 2.8 lens adapted for video it would sell like crazy and would become the "standard" AF100 lens.

It just seems to me they're missing the chance. Didn't their video and optics departments talk to each other when the AF100 was being developed?
 
bhdfield said:
Hmm, I had not really considered that. You see, one of my favorite cinematic techniques with my 50mm f2 on my Letus full frame adapter, is to get fairly close, letting the subject occupy a large part of the frame, and also keeping the background soft with wide aperture. Are you saying that with the Af100 crop factor, that I may not be able to accomplish the same thing, with the shallow DOF and free of distortion with a lens in the 20-28mm range unless I back up and go longer lens? This would not be the same look, and at times may be impossible due to space restrictions.
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You'll be able to do the same thing with your 50mm. On the GH-1, I shoot with the 50 from 3-4 feet away for closeups, 5-10 feet away for MCU, etc etc, the temptation to get too close is definitely there but you'd have to be in a broom closet to be constrained by space when it comes to close-ups.

"Normal" lenses usually have very little distortion; as you head into wide territory, the lens has to bend every color of light to the same focusing plane and keep it sharp, even at an angle of view where the human eye is legally blind. This is why my ancient, pre-Nikkor 50mm that produces beautiful closeups (valued at about $130), will always beat out the $1,300 Zeiss 28mm, even though optically, the design and coatings can't compare.

Thomas, I completely agree with you, that fast parfocal lens needs to happen. And it will. Silent autofocus with facial tracking is a beautiful thing, and I'm sure Panasonic has a design in the works that they're trying to make both affordable and decent. In the mean time, know that the m4/3 crop is about 2x, which is limiting in wide angle but has some definite upsides:

You're shooting through the "sweet spot" of the lens, so the corner artifacts fall outside the sensor. If you put the same lens on a 5D, the corners would be incredibly soft at f/1.4, vignetting would make the corners 1-2 stops darker, and the image might appear to "bulge" depending on the design. I forget the name for that particular aberration, but it's common, noticeable in ovalish out-of-focus highlights and distorted faces.

The best part about m4/3 is an operator can do a decent job racking focus with no rehearsal.
 
Hopefully my Oly 14-35 w/Panny adapter will arrive in time for me to test it at the Panny booth at GVEXPO in Wash. DC this week. Assuming the AF100 will be in attendance as well.
The Panasonic DMW-MA1 Mount Adapter 's electronic connectors should allow exposure info and auto spot focusing with this lens. I'll test it out on my GH1 first and see what happens.
It sounds like a great lens but mignt not hold focus while changing focal length? Zoom in all the way, get focus, zoom all the way out, lose focus at F/2?
Also want to try out those Ebay batteries on the AF100 that the HMC150 users have been touting on the forum.

chris DC/DP
 
monkeyking said:
Hopefully my Oly 14-35 w/Panny adapter will arrive in time for me to test it at the Panny booth at GVEXPO in Wash. DC this week. Assuming the AF100 will be in attendance as well.
The Panasonic DMW-MA1 Mount Adapter 's electronic connectors should allow exposure info and auto spot focusing with this lens. I'll test it out on my GH1 first and see what happens.
It sounds like a great lens but mignt not hold focus while changing focal length? Zoom in all the way, get focus, zoom all the way out, lose focus at F/2?
Also want to try out those Ebay batteries on the AF100 that the HMC150 users have been touting on the forum.
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The GH1 will give you aperture info, but will not give you AFS with the 14-35 - that's a new capability with the GH2 (and AF-100). Also, the 14-35 is not parfocal so you won't hold focus when zooming. Another thing to be aware of is the 14-35 has a funky lens extension where it's extended about 1/4 " at 14mm, goes to zero at around 18, and then full extension (3/4") at 35mm. When I first got mine I thought it was broken as I'd never seen this before.
 
tflak,
Thx for that. Sounds like I'll have to use this lens as a "variable prime" rather than a poor man's zoom. I still want to see if I can at least zoom out from a tight in-focus shot to a wider shot and remain in-focus. I can see going from a focused wider frame to an out-of-focus tighter one. Of course shooting wide open sdof would be less forgiving than at 5.6 especially outdoors.

Test, test, test .......
 
RyanDeFranco said:
You'll be able to do the same thing with your 50mm. On the GH-1, I shoot with the 50 from 3-4 feet away for closeups, 5-10 feet away for MCU, etc etc, the temptation to get too close is definitely there but you'd have to be in a broom closet to be constrained by space when it comes to close-ups.

"Normal" lenses usually have very little distortion; as you head into wide territory, the lens has to bend every color of light to the same focusing plane and keep it sharp, even at an angle of view where the human eye is legally blind. This is why my ancient, pre-Nikkor 50mm that produces beautiful closeups (valued at about $130), will always beat out the $1,300 Zeiss 28mm, even though optically, the design and coatings can't compare.
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Well, no I don't think I will be able to do the same thing with my 50 on the Af100, because backing up and essentially having a 100mm effective focal length changes the character of the shot. I've attached the example below as illustration of a look that I like quite a bit (shot with Nikon 50 f2, Letus/HVX, full 35mm frame). I often prefer getting close to the subject with shallow DOF because it puts you "there" in dramatic moments, in a way looking through a long tube at your subject doesn't. And in the case below, I quite literally was in a "broom closet", well a saddle tack room. There was a wall at my back. SO I still really need a 25mm or so, that will give a nice bokeh after the crop factor eliminates the outer area of the lens's 35mm coverage.

So I still really want a lens at 25 that will give me this look on the AF100. Not sure about the Panny 20 1.7. The Voigtlander 25 f.95 might be close, but at more like f2, not .95.

LL 3 copy.jpgLL 4 copy.jpg
 
bhdfield said:
Well, no I don't think I will be able to do the same thing with my 50 on the Af100, because backing up and essentially having a 100mm effective focal length changes the character of the shot. I've attached the example below as illustration of a look that I like quite a bit (shot with Nikon 50 f2, Letus/HVX, full 35mm frame). I often prefer getting close to the subject with shallow DOF because it puts you "there" in dramatic moments, in a way looking through a long tube at your subject doesn't. And in the case below, I quite literally was in a "broom closet", well a saddle tack room. There was a wall at my back. SO I still really need a 25mm or so, that will give a nice bokeh after the crop factor eliminates the outer area of the lens's 35mm coverage.

So I still really want a lens at 25 that will give me this look on the AF100. Not sure about the Panny 20 1.7. The Voigtlander 25 f.95 might be close, but at more like f2, not .95.

View attachment 26306View attachment 26307
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You might consider the Leica Summilux 25mm f/1.4, if you can find one. Very nice, sharp lens with nice bokeh and very little breathing.
 
RyanDeFranco said:
You'll be able to do the same thing with your 50mm. On the GH-1, I shoot with the 50 from 3-4 feet away for closeups, 5-10 feet away for MCU, etc etc, the temptation to get too close is definitely there but you'd have to be in a broom closet to be constrained by space when it comes to close-ups.

"Normal" lenses usually have very little distortion; as you head into wide territory, the lens has to bend every color of light to the same focusing plane and keep it sharp, even at an angle of view where the human eye is legally blind. This is why my ancient, pre-Nikkor 50mm that produces beautiful closeups (valued at about $130), will always beat out the $1,300 Zeiss 28mm, even though optically, the design and coatings can't compare.

Thomas, I completely agree with you, that fast parfocal lens needs to happen. And it will. Silent autofocus with facial tracking is a beautiful thing, and I'm sure Panasonic has a design in the works that they're trying to make both affordable and decent. In the mean time, know that the m4/3 crop is about 2x, which is limiting in wide angle but has some definite upsides:

You're shooting through the "sweet spot" of the lens, so the corner artifacts fall outside the sensor. If you put the same lens on a 5D, the corners would be incredibly soft at f/1.4, vignetting would make the corners 1-2 stops darker, and the image might appear to "bulge" depending on the design. I forget the name for that particular aberration, but it's common, noticeable in ovalish out-of-focus highlights and distorted faces.

The best part about m4/3 is an operator can do a decent job racking focus with no rehearsal.
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Ouch- I was planning on buying the 28mm Zeiss...

If you were stuck in a dark wide alley and could pick only one Zeiss ZF prime from the set for MFT use, what Zeiss ZF lens would you instead recommend for the AF100?
(I know it's a ridiculous question, but there are too many brighter choices below 25mm for wide angle shots, and the crop factor makes the 18mm not so wide) ...
 
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djkarn105 said:
has anyone mentioned the sigma 18-50 f/2.8?

http://www.sigmaphoto.com/shop/18-50mm-f28-ex-dc-macro-sigma

It's a lot cheaper than the olympus and a little bit more in the middle of the zoom range. Granted it's about a stop slower but it seems like a resonable option to at least hold you over till something designed for video comes out.
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Hmmm... it's macro too. Anyone have experience with this lens? Also, it says it's for APS-C and 4/3 cameras. Anyone know if it will AF and electronic aperture with a GH2? I'm assuming not with a AF100, but I have a GH2 on order also.
 
Mike@AF said:
Hmmm... it's macro too. Anyone have experience with this lens? Also, it says it's for APS-C and 4/3 cameras. Anyone know if it will AF and electronic aperture with a GH2? I'm assuming not with a AF100, but I have a GH2 on order also.
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Hmmm...I've always gone under the assumption that the lens compatibilities and features shown here for the GH2 are also going to apply to the AF100. But maybe I'm wrong. Wondering why you're assuming they won't for that Sigma? Which will have AFS (non-continuous) and electronic aperture control on GH2, btw.

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/gh2.html
 
tflak said:
Hmmm...I've always gone under the assumption that the lens compatibilities and features shown here for the GH2 are also going to apply to the AF100. But maybe I'm wrong. Wondering why you're assuming they won't for that Sigma? Which will have AFS (non-continuous) and electronic aperture control on GH2, btw.

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/gh2.html
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Easy to get confused over what works and what doesn't when you're talking about a video camera using still lenses. I just want to make sure. I'm doing mostly video, so it doesn't do me much good to invest in a lens that I can't take full advantage of its features (i.e. AF and EA).
 
Agreed. I guess there's really no way for anyone to be 100% sure until Panasonic either comes out with a similar page specifically for the AF100 lens compatibility or confirms that the page for the GH2 also applies for sure to the AF100.
 
Olympus 14-35 on the AF100

Olympus 14-35 on the AF100

Finally got to put the 14-35 on the AF100 at GVExpo in Wash DC. I can confirm that it will autofocus when the focus button is pressed on the camera and F stop shows in the EVF/LCD. It balances well on the camera and F2 all the way. Jan said no extra lens support is necessary.
Olympus 14-35_AF1000.jpg


chris li / DC DP
 
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