GH4 Panasonic 12-35mm f2.8 vs. Olympus 12-40mm f2.8

Hi Vardalos,

I owned the Pana 12-35mm and with the firmware update did not experience any iris changes with zooms. It's an amazing lens.

I sold it end of last year to survive a tough winter, and thinking I could film this year's weddings purely on primes. However, I missed having a zoom so picked up the Oly 12-40mm. I love the minimum focus distance, and I love the hard stops and find it easier to pull focus with the Olympus. Generally it has performed very well, however... (and I know another user on here has experiences the same – Psynema I believe) I've been noticing some odd behaviour with highlights and harsh lighting. I've had instances of the lens not holding contrast very well, and not seeming to control highlights on white objects (white cars, paper etc. getting glowy) and once I had this strange ghosting effect on a wedding dress.

I haven't had any ruined shots, but I've had a good handful of shots that needed some treatment. I didn't have this problem with the Panasonic so I'm actually considering a swap back for next season. I would miss the hard stops and minimum focus, but I would gain OIS and confidence in its ability to control highlights / harsh lighting.

Would love to hear if anyone else has experienced this?
 
I haven't used the Panasonic 12-35, so I can't compare, but I have the Olympus 12-40 and have been very happy with it. I shoots extremely clean and as others have mentioned it has an unusually mechanical feel for an autofocus lens.
 
James Fisher said:
I've been noticing some odd behaviour with highlights and harsh lighting. I've had instances of the lens not holding contrast very well, and not seeming to control highlights on white objects (white cars, paper etc. getting glowy) and once I had this strange ghosting effect on a wedding dress.
Click to expand...

Have you been using the Olympus at the longer end (>20mm)?
 
Hi Yslee,

I've noticed at both ends of the zoom range. I'll post some examples if I get time later (Christmas deadlines looming)
 
Here are three examples of the "glowy" whites I'm experiencing. Frame grabs from GH3 + Oly 12-40mm footage. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a great lens but there have been a number of shots where something strikes me as odd (sometimes I can even spot it on the LCD while filming), and these are some examples. Maybe I'm expecting too much! But I've never noticed this with my Panny lenses or my 20 year old Nikons. The Nikons have low contrast but I don't get these kind of glowy whites. I'll dig out some indoor shots too. These are all shot with a Heliopan variable ND, but as I said I haven't seen this behaviour in combination with other lenses. Thoughts very welcome!

I exposed for the bride's face, but there is a discernible glow on the dress which is leaking into the faces of the girls above.
glowy-dress.jpg

To me the programme is glowing unnecessarily...
glowy-programme.jpg

Now, you could argue this is just plain overexposed. But I think there is something else going on here with the white of the car. It still has its details, but its kicking off a glow.
glowy-car.jpg
 
You could try a Tiffen UltraCon filter before selling off the Olympus. Might help with the harsh highlights.
 
I KINDA have a tiny pinch of regretting buying the 12-35mm because I didn't know it was FOCUS BY WIRE, but being honest with myself, that hasn't cause any problems. And it was the best, fully auto, run and gun, great looking lens I could afford. So, mostly happy, just didn't know what I didn't know. And wanted auto focus, zoom, great glass, OIS, aperture.... so, couldn't find a better auto fit. FWIW
 
Hmm, without a side-by-side it's hard to tell if it's just overexposed or something else. The first image of the girls could just be light reflecting off the wedding gown?
 
James,

Did you ever get the "glowy" whites I'm experiencing problem solved, I still thinking about buying a Olympus 12-40mm to use with my GH4.

James Fisher
Here are three examples of the "glowy" whites I'm experiencing. Frame grabs from GH3 + Oly 12-40mm footage. Don't get me wrong, I still think it's a great lens but there have been a number of shots where something strikes me as odd (sometimes I can even spot it on the LCD while filming), and these are some examples. Maybe I'm expecting too much! But I've never noticed this with my Panny lenses or my 20 year old Nikons. The Nikons have low contrast but I don't get these kind of glowy whites. I'll dig out some indoor shots too. These are all shot with a Heliopan variable ND, but as I said I haven't seen this behaviour in combination with other lenses. Thoughts very welcome!
​
 
Ed Jeffersen said:
Panasonic bodies corect for Panasonic lenses.
Also the 12-35 has the stabilizer.
Click to expand...
Yes that's why I'm getting the 12-35 over the 12-40. I have a lot of other lenses that can adapt to the m43 mount, but the 12-35 is the best run and gun lens to take advantage of the GH4 electronic features whether I need them or not.
 
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