Panasonic's new AF100 lens

nutmegger

nutmegger

Well-known member
This afternoon I stopped by Adorama's Post NAB show in New York City and spoke with one of the Panasonic sales reps at the show. He told me a couple of Panasonic factory guys were in town and they told him Panasonic will be introducing a new lens for the AF100. This new lens will be a "professional grade" lens. It is supposed to be much higher quality than the current AF100 "consumer" kit lens. The rep could not provide me with any details at this time regarding this new lens. All he has is the Panasonic part number for this lens. Has anyone heard anything about this new lens?
 
Haven't heard anything... but would love an MFT zoom with a constant aperture of 2.8 or less!
 
THoff said:
Or the new Olympus 17mm, 45mm and 75mm f1/8 lenses.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/971405-REG/olympus_v311050bu000_m_17mm_f1_8_lens.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/971404-REG/olympus_v311030bu000_m_45mm_f1_8_lens.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/971403-REG/olympus_v311040bu000_m_75mm_f1_8_lens.html
Click to expand...
I'd guess any new lens would at least come from panasonic. Must be the new 14-140, that's the only kit lens that's been made available with the AF100
 
LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm / F3.5-5.6 ASPH. / POWER O.I.S.

If it wasn't a variable f stop I would think its great but as is it's just not very exciting.
 
Agreed.

A re-do of the 14-140 without constant aperture, no-step aperture, and not parfocal is not 'a professional grade lens for the AF-100'. The current lens is high quality. It just doen't have video/film features.
 
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I might be the only guy on this forum excited about this lens.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/968587-REG/panasonic_14_140mm_f_3_5_5_6_ois_micro.html

I've been using my 14-140/4-5.8 to shoot scientific demonstrations for years... these jobs often have an emphasis on working quickly and getting very fine detail very close in. The current 14-140 is usually fast enough in decently-lit labs and OR's, but has a couple of foibles that have constantly bugged me - foibles that don't exist with the 12-35 and 35-100 lenses that this seems patterned after:
- push autofocus isn't fast or reliable - often, close focus will shift once I hit the shutter button on GH2. I have to self-slate each shot (Movie Slate on iPhone held just in front of lens), then focus on the manipulation, and I love using push auto to ballpark this.
- zoom especially is particularly clunky. Again, related to the shoot style above, often I'll get my framing, zoom out, slate, roll, then zoom back in. Kind of a chore with the current 14-140 when working fast.
- the lens doesn't hold zoom when held near vertical. Big problem, I have to employ gaffer tape.
- Close focus distance: ~1.5'. Reported close focus on the new version (per B&H): ~1'. On these jobs, that small bit can make a big difference, saving time screwing/unscrewing diopters. I never bought the 35-100 because it doesn't focus close.
- filter diameter - 58mm. I can use all the quality filters/diopters etc. that I've had since my PD150 days, without a step ring, and they'll all work alongside my 12-35 and 17.5.
- it's smaller and it weighs about 6oz. less. I dont' mind that.
 
I asked the Panasonic rep to email me with info on this new lens when he has it. If and when he does, I'll post it. The reason I spoke with the rep is because I'm considering moving up to a larger sensor camera and the AF100 is in my budget range. I've been shooting the with a JVC shoulder mount camera that has a Fujinon lens. Once you have become accustomed to working with a broadcast quality manual lens, lenses like the Lumix 14-140 just don't cut it for video work. The Lumix series lenses may be great lenses for Panasonic's still cameras, but in my opinion they have too many compromises for video work.
 
Before you buy consider these...

Unfixed bugs with the camera still exist... and the few they did fix thay are only giving out as an PAID FW UPDATE!
So be prepared that any future fix will likely cost money if they ever surface.



  • Auto iris is unusable. Having horrible steps and being slow as hell renders it totally useless.
  • Manual iris control is laggy and not precise
  • Auto focus is sooooo slow
  • Ugly clipping of reds causing ugly highlighs
  • Strong aliasing in and around highlights
  • bitrates are really not enough to avoid compression artefacts

Other than those I like it :)


But the fact it really cannot be used with autoexposure renders it useless for many types of jobs. And the autofocus is really too slow to be called auto. It does find good focus eventually though :) To me its only all manual setting with this thing and external recording.
It is a shame. I had to learn the hard way not to buy a single panasonic "pro" camera again. And what is most irritating about it all, is that when they fix some faults with the camera they come up with a PAID upgrade... which is hardly obtainable anywhere.
 
Jasketti. I read your comments with interest. I have heard and read pros and cons regarding the AF100. The camera would be used in the shooting of auto shows. The camera will be used primarily for interviewing a car's owner and b-roll of the owner's car. Auto focus would be nice but not absolutely necessary. What I really want is a shallower depth of field for the interviews. The output would be broadcast on a local cable channel and streamed on the Internet. I also looked at the Canon C100 and Sony PMW-200. If Sony offered a PMW-200 style camera with a larger sensor, I would buy it tomorrow.
 
Jasketti, probably you use the wrong lenses. Since the lens update the Lumix X 45-175 mm autofocus is very fast and accurate (no hunting). I was really surprised how fast it is! The update should improve the autofocus on the GH3, but it seems that it is also improved on the AF100.
An example for auto-iris is below. I think the changes of the iris are not very disturbing in the following video. I had auto-focus ON and auto-iris ON


When the young Snow Leopard stands up and walks into the sun, the iris stops down, but fairly smooth, IMHO.
 
The mother of the young Snow Leopard limps, because she was caught in a trap of hunters. She came to the Zoo of Zurich in 2001 and gave birth to many healthy cups.
 
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