So my 50mm is 100mm now?

J

Jean Dantes

Well-known member
I'm still thinking of getting the GH1 over the Canon 7D (7D is not due in Australia till October, and will cost $700 more then GH1).

When I was preparing to buy a GH1, I decided to try and stock up on Canon FD lenses. I've only got one so far; a Canon FD 50mm f1.4.

It's only recently that I found out about the 2x crop factor, and now I'm worried how my image is going to look using a 100mm lens. It's basically become a telephoto lens, right? I'm worried that using the 50mm will require me to stand far back and zoom in, which will result in a cramped image, right?

Does anyone have any videos of a GH1 using a 50mm lens only?

Thanks in advance to any replies :)
 
It's just a shot of one of my dogs on the couch, but it was shot with my Olympus 50mm Macro lens.

http://vimeo.com/6225941

I also just shot quite a bit with the same lens (as b-camera for an interview and a-camera on some indoor rock climbing footage). Everything looks really, really nice. I'd post some, but it's for a client and I have to wait until it's cut to post anything.

Aside from moving in and out to get the right focal length I wanted, using the 50mm was as easy as could be, 2x crop factor and all.

--SM
 
1). It's only the angle of view that's different. not the intrinsic properties of the lens. So DOF will be the same at a given Fstop. Spatial relationships will be the same - objects will still look farther apart with a 28mm and closer together with a 135mm. I mention this because "Equivalent" is misleading. It's only equivalent in 1 characteristic out of the many distinct characteristics of different lenses for which you'd chose one over the other to tell a story.
2.) It's not a 2X crop factor in video mode compared to 35mm motion pictures / the 35mm adapters we're used to. It's only 1.3. So for the same framing with your 50mm compared to 50mm on 35mm motion film you stand back 1.3 times farther. So if you were normally ten feet away you stand 13 feet away for approx same framing. not 2 X's farther back.

So bottom line, it's not that big of a difference and whatever story telling values you've come to associate with various lenses still hold. If you shift your lens selection I'd do it only slightly. Like look for 40mm vs. a 50, not a 25 vs a 50. Remember that a 25 vs a 50 will look drastically different no matter the crop factor.

I've shot three bigger production projects with the GH1 and lens selection was never really affected by the crop factor.
It was still the basics:
20-30 for wides/ wide effects / distortion / unflattering character portraits / horror accentuation / motion exaggeration within the frame / camera motion smoothing, etc.
40-60 for normal/neutral look
85 up for flattering portraits, intimacy, and telephoto effects
 
Very well said JDS.

Also recall that the GH1 only has a crop factor of about 1.35x vs a 35mm Motion Picture camera, so, if I'm not mistaken, when you read an article on the shooting of a feature film, and you read the DP talking about a 50mm lens, you're is only 1.35x cropped from what he's talking about, not 2x, which is what it would be in reference to full-frame still photography.
 
Thank you guys so much for clearing up my anxiety! :)

That Olympus 50mm Macro lens that you used stephenmick really delivered a beautiful image! The whites came out so nice!

Jack Daniel Stanley, I think a sticky should be made out of your reply! Very imformative!! Thank you so much for explaining it all in detail for me!! :)

I was just wondering, if I were to shoot with something like an FD lens on a GH1, does the LCD replicate what the lens is seeing correctly (like it would with the stock GH1 lens)?

I'm really starting to think that the GH1's lack of having a mirror is gonna help it deliver images better then the 7D due to the amount of lenses that is available for use with it...or perhaps my assumption is rather novice...guess time will tell.
 
Jean Dantes said:
....I was just wondering, if I were to shoot with something like an FD lens on a GH1, does the LCD replicate what the lens is seeing correctly (like it would with the stock GH1 lens)?
Click to expand...
Yes. It's all WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get technology). The LCD is just a little monitor showing what the camera is recording. It will be the same / representative of what you will see on a bigger monitor or when projected (resolution and color accuracy issues aside)

I'm really starting to think that the GH1's lack of having a mirror is gonna help it deliver images better then the 7D due to the amount of lenses that is available for use with it...or perhaps my assumption is rather novice...guess time will tell.
Click to expand...

With a GH1 you need a $70 adapter off ebay to use whatever brand of lenses you want.

Same should be true of a 7D no? It's not that the GH1 is made for use with every lens. You have to get and adapter. I don't know a lot about the 7D but this should basically be true and and the mirror should have no bearing on it. Only the mount and the available adapters.
 
Ben_B said:
Very well said JDS.

Also recall that the GH1 only has a crop factor of about 1.35x vs a 35mm Motion Picture camera, so, if I'm not mistaken, when you read an article on the shooting of a feature film, and you read the DP talking about a 50mm lens, you're is only 1.35x cropped from what he's talking about, not 2x, which is what it would be in reference to full-frame still photography.
Click to expand...

That's very refreshing to know Ben! Thanks for that!! :)
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
Yes. It's all WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get technology). The LCD is just a little monitor showing what the camera is recording. It will be the same / representative of what you will see on a bigger monitor or when projected (resolution and color accuracy issues aside)



With a GH1 you need a $70 adapter off ebay to use whatever brand of lenses you want.

Same should be true of a 7D no? It's not that the GH1 is made for use with every lens. You have to get and adapter. I don't know a lot about the 7D but this should basically be true and and the mirror should have no bearing on it. Only the mount and the available adapters.
Click to expand...

Cool! The WYSIWYG is also refreshing to know! :)

In regards to the 7D with FD lenses, I started a thread here and it turned out that I wouldn't be able to use FD lenses with a 7D in their full glory:

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=182252

I was told to get into Canon's EOS series of lenses if I chose to go with the 7D. In the end, I guess it's gonna come down to money. 7D is $700 more then GH1 down here in Australia, and I think that $700 would be better spent on lenses, adapters, a shot-gun mic, shoulder-mount, batteries, memory cards.

Man, choices suck when you're an unemployed student on a tight-ass budget! lol :grin:
 
Jack Daniel Stanley said:
Same should be true of a 7D no? It's not that the GH1 is made for use with every lens. You have to get and adapter. I don't know a lot about the 7D but this should basically be true and and the mirror should have no bearing on it. Only the mount and the available adapters.
Click to expand...

No, that's not true. The beauty of the m4/3 format is that the absence of a mirror results in very short flange distances; 20mm in this case. The 7D's EF mount has a flange distance of about 44mm. This limits what lenses can be adapted to the system. Short of using optics to compensate which will most likely increase the focal length, that is.

Remember, most adapters are just a spacer to bring the lens to its correct flange distance on the adapted system.
 
yslee said:
No, that's not true. The beauty of the m4/3 format is that the absence of a mirror results in very short flange distances; 20mm in this case. The 7D's EF mount has a flange distance of about 44mm. This limits what lenses can be adapted to the system. Short of using optics to compensate which will most likely increase the focal length, that is.

Remember, most adapters are just a spacer to bring the lens to its correct flange distance on the adapted system.
Click to expand...
For clarification: this means that the 7D will have more difficulty accepting all mounts. With the Micro 4/3, as with c-mount before it, the flange distance is so short that you can easily adapt pretty much any lens to it by adding the appropriate spacer. Where you get into trouble is if your camera body requires a certain flange distance, and the lens you want to adapt uses a shorter distance. That makes for one of two big complications -- either needing an optical element in the adapter, or just not letting you focus to infinity.

The GH1 takes just about any lens. I don't know of any common lens type that hasn't our couldn't be adapted to a M4/3 mount.
 
I guess if you are ready to rip out the anachronistic mirror box from a 7D (or 5DmkII) it will be possible to adapt more lenses to it - depending of course on how the rest of the interior in front of the sensor looks. Not a easy DIY project though and don't blame me if it goes wrong.
:violin:
 
Ooooh calling a mirror box anachronistic. On any other place on the internet that would draw a lot of flaming...if they even knew what anachronistic meant.

Still, they're great for taking pictures. I do miss the focus assist when I go over to those though.
 
Except until the GH1 came out there really wasn't a digital viewfinder that could match the better optical ones....I really like the GH1's viewfinder though...sometimes after using an SLR for awhile and then going back to the Gh1 I forget it's digital the clarity is so good (in situations where it's not comfensating for low-light...not that that's a bad thing.)
 
It's not like the Flying Spaghetti Monster let one drop onto humanity from his noodly appendages out of the goodness of his meatball - Panasonic accepted that optical viewfinders on digital cameras are a oxymoron and made a good EVF. Canon and Nikon are too scared of their grumpy old men customers to tell them where the future's at and just do it. Exhibit A: D90. Exhibit B: 5DmkII. Exhibit C: (now it's getting embarrassing) 7D. Proof that people really want one, exhibit D: Hoodloupe.
 
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