GH1 Olympus 45 f1.8 on GH1?

C

crashwins

Active member
Thinking about picking up one of these for my Olympus EP1 and was wondering what folks think in regards to video? I already have a 20mm pancake so it seems like it would compliment my other lens well. I hear the lens focuses very quickly. Thoughts? Thanks!
 
I have a GH1. I have the 20mm/f1.7. I *don't* have the Oly 45mm, but, I did buy an old 50/f1.7 Minolta lens (before I had saved up enough for the 20 mm/f1.7). Yes, the 50mm is manual focus, but, it has a manual aperture ring, and after a little practice I got some pretty nice STILLs of my daughter in low natural light with the 50 mm. However, Videos? No way. Unless I use a tripod I simply *can't* use the 50 mm for videos. Far too unstable. I don't think I have very unsteady hands, but...without a tripod I can't use the 50mm for videos. So, maybe you can hold the GH1 much more steady than I, but...45 mm is close to 50mm, so you might also find that without a tripod, or a monopod, or some other physical stabilization method, your videos might be unusable?

As a contrary note, and to illustrate the almost magical power of Panny's "Mega OIS": I CAN shoot acceptable video using the Panny 100-300 mm with OIS, even at 300 mm, HAND HELD !!!!

HTH?

Cheers,

John
 
Buy it. Autofocus is great, it's sharp wide open and takes AMAZING stills and video.

I took this photo with it last night (45mm 1.8, 100 shutter speed, 2000 iso) on a Halloween music video shoot. I shot a bunch of video with it as well.

http://i50.tinypic.com/bebn69.jpg
 
Wow. Great shot Erik. I take it that was *not* shot on a GH1? ISO 2000 on my GH1 would be very noisy. I agree that the Oly 45 mm is a *great* lens. The price makes it one of the best u43 lens for the money. I've considered it, but, I feel like I'd only be able to use it for stills since I mostly shoot hand held (I'm not a pro, typically my video clips include my daughter doing this or that).

I've seen so many *great* portrait shots taken with the 45mm, usually on an Oly EM5. I've been very tempted to upgrade to the EM5, since it is such an outstanding u43 camera. But...I'm holding out for the GH3.

Still: that 5-axis in-camera stabilization of the EM5 makes it very tempting, especially since with the recent Oly firmware upgrade the 5-axis hardware IBIS will work with *all* lenses, u43 or not (though from what I understand you need to tell the camera the focal length used in a 3rd party manual lens before shooting....but....big deal).

I've seen some really amazing high quality video from the EM5 as well. EOSHD has a really nice example on his website, in which he used the Oly 45mm for some of the shoot.

https://vimeo.com/channels/eoshd/46037469

I've come close to pulling the trigger on an EM5 (with, of course that *fantastic* 45mm lens), but...the video codec in the EM5 is pretty darn limited (especially compared to what will be coming in the GH3). Still: it seems to make some pretty fine video!

So, again: I agree that the Oly 45 mm is a GREAT lens. But, with a GH1 I believe you could never use it hand-held for Video?

John
 
Last edited:
GH1_newguy said:
But, with a GH1 I believe you could never use it hand-held for Video?
Click to expand...

I use the 45mm all the time for handheld video on the GH2 (personal and paid work). You do have to be careful and have a steady hand but it does work and the results are great. Indoors at F1.8 you get very nice bookeh and thin DOF.

My prime set includes the 12mm and 45mm from Olympus and the 20mm from Panasonic and I have been very happy with all three + the GH2.
 
Cool. If others can shoot acceptable hand held video with the 45mm on a GH1, then...I guess I *do* have 'shaky hands'? :Drogar-Thinking(DBG

That's the value of a forum like this. I can only speak from my experience, as *one guy* who can't use a 50 mm lens hand held for video. It sounds like I might be an 'outlier', so...

Get that great Oly 45mm and enjoy!

Cheers,

John
 
Here is a quick edit of some of my recent shots with the 45mm + GH2:


I hope that helps. They were all handheld (first shot is sitting on my carpet I think).
 
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