GH2 Sigma 30mm with 4/3 mount

S

stiller

Member
Hi

First of all I'm sorry if this has already been discussed. But I dont really understand how the search thing here on dvxuser works (maybe someone can help me there?).

I am thinking of getting the sigma 30mm 1.4 which has a version with 4/3 mount. My question is if it is a good lense, especially if the AF works well. Does the AF work just as well as with the panasonic lenses?

Thanks a lot for you time.

Cheers
 
MarcusBrody said:
No lenses that you use with adapters are going to have autofocus on the GHx cameras.
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This is incorrect, fourthird lens' that are adapted to micro fourthirds via the electronic adapter often will auto focus. However, none will auto focus as fast as a native microfourthird lens'. And most if not all third party fourthird lens' like the 30mm mentioned will not autofocus well if at all unfortunately.
 
joesiv said:
This is incorrect, fourthird lens' that are adapted to micro fourthirds via the electronic adapter often will auto focus. However, none will auto focus as fast as a native microfourthird lens'. And most if not all third party fourthird lens' like the 30mm mentioned will not autofocus well if at all unfortunately.
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You're right, I apologize. I totally missed that it was a 4/3 lens originally and obviously wasn't thinking of them. I actually was returning to the thread to edit that into my post.

Edit: How I missed that when 4/3 mount was in the TITLE of the thread I have no idea...
 
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does anyone own a sigma 30mm 1,4 and use it on his gh2?

Or what lenses are you using with your gh2? I'm looking for a fast, normal lens with good continuous focus - all for video, im not interested in the lenses foto abilities.
 
I use the Sigma 30mm F1.4 with my GH2. However, I chose the Nikon mount instead of 4/3s. I still have never seen any confirmation that the 4/3s version will AF even on the GH2. I wasn't willing to risk the price of the adapter and the lens to find out. Plus I actually would rather have the manual focus with a continuous aperture control. It also helped that I got my 30mm F1.4 for less than $200 instead of the $400 it probably would have cost me to get the 4/3s version.
 
I've used the Four Thirds mount Sigma 30mm f1.4 on Panasonic GH1, GH2, and L1 cameras. It's a very good lens for low-light photography and I like its fixed outer lens barrel that neither rotates nor extends while focusing. It's also reasonably sharp at f1.4 and excellent when stopped down.

Manual focus operation on the Sigma 30mm is a little strange, but better than Micro Four Thirds lenses. When you hit the max and min limits of focus adjustment, the focus ring continues to move uselessly, but you can feel a bit more resistance, indicating that it's hit the physical focus limit. Unfortunately, this makes it just as unsuitable for use with a follow focus as other M/43 lenses.

While none of the G-series Micro 4/3rds cameras do a very good job of supporting auto-focus on legacy Four Thirds lenses, the GH2 is about the best of the lot. If the Sigma 30mm is already close to focus, the GH2 will quickly nudge it into sharp focus. If not, the GH2 will rack the lens back and forth a few times before it settles down. The end result on my copy of the lens is quite reliable.

To see what the Sigma 30mm is really capable of, however, you need to try it on a Panasonic L1 or Olympus Four Thirds camera. It auto-focuses in an instant and is almost completely silent on the L1.

The GH1 does not support auto-focus on any legacy Four Thirds lens.
 
thanks a lot mpg and powell for your thorough explanations.

powell what is your go to - most used lens for capturing video on the gh2? I just got the standard kit 14-42 in the mail, I bought it to see how the AF of the GH2 works and I must say that its not at all bad for a kit lens. Are the 20mm 1.7 or the 25mm 1.4, except their apparant advantage in f-stops, a lot better (in focusing) than the kit?

If not do you think I might get through shooting a doc about old people who do not move a lot :cheesy::Drogar-Happy(DBG): with the kit lens for outdoor shots with movement and a adapted minolta 50mm 1.4 lens for indoor staged shots. or is it to long with the 2x crop factor? =/

What is it with the AVCHD and the MJPEG? why are there two codecs used? what codec should I use. I have been filming with a canon 550d up until now and start to realize that these two cams are really different to each other. But I want to mix their footages - is that impossible?
Also I can not find how to switch iso in manual movie or 24p movie mode to higher than 3200. Thanks a lot for your help guys. I'm leaving my internet connection :cry: on saturday so i need to get familiar with this camera ASAP... =/.

Cheers Stiller
 
For handheld shots in good lighting, I most often use the Panasonic 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 zoom lens. It has the widest aperture and most effective OIS of any zoom available for Micro/43. However, I prefocus and preframe each shot as it's not a lens you can zoom or pull focus with while shooting. For low-light shots I generally use fast primes f2.0 or wider. The Lumix 20mm f1.7 is a fine lens, but works better for me in auto-focus than in manual mode.

If you hack the GH2 to higher bitrates, the major difference between AVCHD and MJPEG are the frame rates. MJPEG works only at 30fps, which some find unsuitable for their purposes. In NTSC, AVCHD works at 24fps in 1080p and 60fps in 720p, which are more popular frame rates. The GH2 lacks support for PAL 25fps and is not recommended for those regions.

On the GH2, ISO is limited to 3200 for video recording. ISO 1250 is the highest I would recommend.
 
Hey,

I have the Sigma 30mm f1.4 and Panasonic 43rd to m43rd adapter with the GH2. Autofocus is superslow but it will eventually autofocus as lpowell said though it's not always accurate. I find that it works better when their is more light, but that kinda defeats the point of the f1.4. It's a great video lens though if you use it in manual mode. Smooth autofocus and the images just have a more organic feel than the Panasonic or Olympus lenses I've tried. Usually the Panasonic/Olympus are tack sharp and feel very videoish, but they are better for stills.

The focus ring oddity lpowell mentioned is actually HSM like on Canon lenses where you can have it in focus with autofocus, then still be able to manually adjust focus with the shutter half depressed. It's a neat feature and handy for this lens because of the autofocus inaccuracy. However, you probably can manually focus quicker and easier using that GH2 LCD than using autofocus.

Best,
Andy
 
Hi

Thanks again for all the input.

Actually I am from Europe. Does 25p represent the PAL version of 24p? (I do not care at that moment since I am not doing this for a tv channel, its meant for the internet, but just for future reference, so that I know.)

Also again a lot of thanks about the lens discussion. I got the adapter for my minolta md 50mm 1.4 and I like it a lot on the gh2 so I'm going to stick with that and the kit lens first.

I saw a video where the iso of the gh2 was 6400. I think it was hacked, so unhacked it isn't higher than 3200, ok.
So all I have to do to capture good video is switch it to movie mode - turn on 24p mode and shoot? The GH2 definetely seems to have more functions to choose from than my 550d. Or I might just not know how to use it. Is the hack of the GH2 like Magic Lanter on canons? with AGC disable, spot meter, Zoom for focusing while filming...... or is it a pure bitrate hack? I'm used to the goodies from ML and would like to have them on the GH2 - especially the zoom for forcusing while filming.

Cheers all
 
Here is a link to a Panasonic Site that shows lens compatibilities for the GH2. The Sigma 30mm f1.4 can auto focus in stills, and it can auto-focus in videos using a half press of the shutter button, but it can't continuously auto focus in video mode. You must use the 4/3 to u4/3 adapter to obtain auto focus functions.

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/gh2.html

As lpowell mentioned, the Sigma 30 mm f1.4 can't auto focus on the GH1. The GH1 lens compatibilties are listed here:

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/cs/dsc/connect/g1.html
 
cool thanks. I also just bought a 2.5mm - 3.5mm audio adapter and plugged in my videomic. But it doesnt seem to record anything.
 
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