GH2 Olympus 14-54mm f2.8-3.5II Vs the 14-140 Kit lens

A

asingfield

Active member
Thinking of selling the 14-140 lens to grab the Oly 14-54. Smart move?
Shoot weddings and events with the kit lens isn't cutting it with indoor or low light stuff.
I have a lot of primes, but i need a zoom lens that's fast and not to pricey.


Cheers Aaron
 
I think the Oly is a better lens for wedding videography. The biggest drawback in my opinion is the distance meter makes when you focus. I use a senn ME66 and when I mount it above the lens it will pick up the noise in a quiet room. Mounting the mic a little farther away using an israeli arm improves the issue dramatically. The noise (a quiet clicking) is not much of an issue for videography work when there is a crowd.
 
My first time buying an Olympus lens. The zoom barrel takes more effort to turn than what i'm used to, is that normal? Woodcarver, how is it on yours? Other than that I like the lens.
 
I sold my GH1's 14-140mm kit lens on ebay in order to buy an Olympus 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 Mark II zoom. The Olympus lens is both sharp and fast and I haven't regretted it since.
 
The Olympus 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 Mark II lens supports auto-focus on all Panasonic G-series cameras, including the GH1. But as with all Four Thirds lenses, it requires the Panasonic or Olympus Four Thirds -> Micro Four Thirds adapter.
 
lpowell said:
The Olympus 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 Mark II lens supports auto-focus on all Panasonic G-series cameras, including the GH1. But as with all Four Thirds lenses, it requires the Panasonic or Olympus Four Thirds -> Micro Four Thirds adapter.
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sort of off topic on topic...

the last firmware which is hackable i believe is vers 1.32

but i was wondering what panasonic did in vers 1.34 apart from encoding to prevent hack? are we losing some sort of bonuses like faster focus speed or lens compatibility by staying with 1.32 hacked firmware?
 
14 to 54mm olympiss need adapter. It cost you about $100. I think olympiss is better walking lens than 14 to 140mm.
 
Thanks everyone for there input...... just sold my 14-140mm Lens on Ebay...

can't wait to get the 14-55 Oly:thumbsup:
 
txiong said:
My first time buying an Olympus lens. The zoom barrel takes more effort to turn than what i'm used to, is that normal? Woodcarver, how is it on yours? Other than that I like the lens.
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The zoom barrel is a little too stiff and the focus ring is a little to touchy for my taste. It's certainly not a perfect lens but it's a good sub-a-billion-dollars choice.
 
ghosttv said:
14 to 54mm olympiss need adapter. It cost you about $100. I think olympiss is better walking lens than 14 to 140mm.
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Completely agree. I won both lenses and Oly has replaced original kit lens since the day I got it. Very sharp lens with great results (on both GH1/13 and GH2)
 
This is too expensive for this thread, but I haven't heard much about the Panasonic 14-50mm, and it seems that since it has the Leica brand and OIS there would be more talk about it. Anyone have experience with it?
 
I recently did a series of video comparison tests on aperture fluctuations seen while zooming with a half dozen auto-focus M4/3-compatible lenses. Here's a link to the thread:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?240054-Exposure-fluctuations-with-auto-focus-zooms

I've used both the Olympus 14-54mm f2.8-3.5 Mark II and the "Leicasonic" 14-50mm f2.8-35. They're both superb lenses with a few significant distinctions. The Olympus Mark II will auto-focus on all Panasonic G-series cameras, while the Leicasonic auto-focuses only on the GH2 and G2 (and not on the AF100 either). The Leicasonic has impressively stable built-in OIS while the Olympus has none. As can be seen in my video tests, the Olympus fails to maintain stable exposure levels while zooming. The major flaw of the Leicasonic, however, is the excessive amount of breathing it displays during focusing, making it a poor choice for follow-focus shots.
 
In addition to the stepping, the Olympus MarkII also seemed very "Vari"-focal compared to the Panasonic 14-50 (which looked in focus from one end of the zoom to the other). I'm reading through your posts now, have you commented previously on how the Pana 14-50 performs otherwise? Does Auto-focus work the same on each?

BTW: Thanks for all the remarkable research and sharing you've done on this thread. I am truly in awe.
 
14-140 does parfocal, OIS, fast silent AF, but sucks in low lighting. 14-54 is faster, varifocal, but no OIS. 14-50 lens is faster, varifocal, OIS, but slow AF.
 
Stonebat's summary pretty much covers my findings as well. Bottom line: I sold the Lumix 14-140mm on ebay, am currently selling the Olympus 14-54mm, and decided to keep the Leicasonic 14-50mm.

All three lenses produce sharp images in situations that make good use of their individual strengths. In my case, fast max aperture and rock-steady OIS are higher priorities than auto-focus. Also, what many consider the Leicasonic's major shortcoming - excessive lens breathing while focusing - is not a dealbreaker for me. While it rules out focus pulls during a shot, in such cases I would use a fast manual prime lens anyway.
 
Although the 14-54 Oly is usable at the long end wihout OIS, it would be nice to have. With any varifocal lens I would be refocusing every time I changed focal length so that's not a big issue for me. The OIS might be worth 300 to me. Not sure.
 
I have 14-54. Lit bit trouble focus manually at 14mm if subject move because focus helper off when recording.
 
I sold my 14-140 and bought a 14-54mm, but I'm re-buying it because I miss having image stabilization. I'll still probably keep the 14-54, though. I hadn't been happy with it on GH1 because it was more or less unusable indoors, but since the GH2 is about 2 stops better, ISO wise, I'm hoping it will work out well -- I've been pretty happy using my Oly 9-18mm indoors, and that's F4-5.6.

Incidentally, the 14-54mm Mark I works fine on the GH2 and is significantly cheaper (I've seen it go for like $200 on ebay.)
 
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