Suggestions for a fast, wide zoom?

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dan_aka_jack

Well-known member
I know most people are planning to use prime lenses but I've got a doccu project coming up and I think a zoom would help a lot. I have my eye on a Nikon DX 17-55mm f2.8 zoom but it aint cheap. Just wondering if anyone has any good ideas about a decent, fast, wide zoom for use on the GH1? I suppose one of the beauties of the GH1 is that it can be adapted to use almost any lens from any manufacturer.
 
Olympus have a very pricey 4/3rds 14-35mm f/2.0 that I'm drooling over. You'd need a 4/3 to m4/3 adapter for it.
Problem with most standard still zooms is that few of them open more than 2.8. A DX lens will be bit troublesome as AFAIK they don't have a manual aperture ring and cannot be controlled by the GH1s electronics.
 
Many thanks for the replies!

That Olympus 14-35mm sounds lovely but, as you say, it is pricey.

I'm keen to avoid spending large lumps of cash on 4/3rds or micro-4/3rds lenses. My plan is to keep my lenses for many years whilst hopping between cameras. The big advantage of Nikon lenses seems to be that you can adapt Nikon lenses for almost any other type of camera (Canon, 4/3rds, micro-4/3rds, RED etc) because the Nikon lenses expect such a long flange depth.

Good point about DX lenses not having a manual aperture ring. That doesn't bother me too much though because I've got the Novoflex Nikon-to-micro-4/3rds adapter which includes a plunger for operating the aperture ;-)

I'm also not worried about the lens operating in full manual mode. My ideal zoom would be a pre-Auto Focus fast zoom (hopefully cheap but good quality!)

How wide? Some where around 17mm would be ideal but I could live with 24mm at the wide end. How fast? f2.8 or faster across the entire zoom range would be great.

So, basically... what I'm after is a second hand, manual focus Nikon zoom around 17-55mm f2.8. That would be lovely!
 
OK, I've just done some more Googling. This page seems to have a fairly exhaustive list of manual-focus Nikon zooms:

http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/nikon/nikkoresources/zoomsMF/index.htm

And the following forum has an interesting discussion about manual-focus Nikon zooms:

http://photo.net/nikon-camera-forum/00TfV5

And, finally, this is another good resource of lens reviews:

http://www.naturfotograf.com/index2.html

The bottom line seems to be that no, there isn't a manual-focus Nikon zoom which is both fast and wide. The nearest seems to be the 35-85mm f2.8 (made in 1961!) (not wide enough) or the 28-50 f3.5 or the 28-85mm f3.5 (not fast enough). So, it would seem that the 17-55mm f2.8 AF lens or the 17-35mm f2.8 would be the ones to go for but operating these lenses in manual-focus mode may be a bit of a PITA. I may try to rent a 17-35 or 17-55mm AF lens to see how I get along. Or maybe I should just stick with my primes and learn to shoot docu-style with primes!
 
17-55/2.8 is a DX lens range; to make that to cover 135 format the lens will be monstrous and expensive. As a result the lenses that cover that sort of range are all the new AF lenses.

ZOMG the novoflex has a control for aperture? How much is it? In that case the 17-55/2.8 could well be what you're looking for. If you don't mind checking out other brands there's the Tamron 17-50/2.8 (which I'm have), the built-like-a-tank Tokina 16-50/2.8, and the Sigma 18-50/2.8.

If you don't mind a limited zoom range, there's always the Tokina 11-16/2.8...
 
The Novoflex Nikon to micro 4/3rds adapter was £149 when I bought it last week. And yes, it can definitely control aperture (although I don't think it's possible to know exactly which aperture it's set to... the Novoflex adapter just has a ring on it which moves a plunger; the ring has no markings on it to indicate the exact aperture. Which makes sense because different lenses have different apertures!

I definitely don't mind checking out other lenses! I'll check out the lenses you mentionl many thanks! Can all the lenses you mention open up to f2.8 across the entire zoom range?
 
Ouch, 149 euros. That's more than twice what I paid for my adapter. I guess that's the price you pay for having the ability to set apertures!

Yes, all the lenses I mentioned are marked as constant f/2.8s across the zoom range.
 
dan aka jack

Does your Novoflex adapter has a model number?
The one I saw did not have a way to control the aperture.

Thanks!

Johnnie
 
I use it for still photography, so it's easy for me. The focus ring is quite loose when you set it to MF on the lens. In fact I uh, normally leave it on AF and focus through the gearings. Not healthy (you can hear the gearing crunch), but the resistance works better for me. Might not be a good idea in video though.
 
A few quick updates.

I did hire the Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 for a GH1 video shoot. I love that lens. Built like a tank (it dwarfs the GH1). Very easy to focus with in manual focus mode.

I fear that none of the other fast, wide zooms (Tamron 17-50/2.8, Tokina 16-50/2.8, and the Sigma 18-50/2.8) will satisfy me after using the Nikon for one simple reason: the focus throw seems to be an 8th of a turn on the Tamron, Sigma and Tokina whilst it's over a quarter of a turn on the Nikon (if I remember correctly). I expect that trying to pull focus on the Tamron, Tokina or Sigma will be very tricky, even with a follow focus. Having said all that, I am planning to try the Tokina or Tamron in a shop to see how I get on with it.

The Nikon is a bit out of my budget at the moment but it's definitely on my shopping list for the future! A Nikon 17-55mm f2.8 on a Scarlet S35mm (or GH1 for the time being) would be a very versatile rig!
 
Yeah, the Novoflex works very nicely. You can't tell exactly what f-stop the aperture is set to but you certainly can control the aperture using the Novoflex adapter.
 
Just though people might be interested but I had a chat with Cieco7 who makes (as most of you know) adapters for the GH-1...he estimates that he too will be offering aperture control models for around 100 bucks US in a couple of weeks. It's going to be hard to wait considering the 11-16 is sitting, tormentingly almost, in front of me but I'll wait for then and see how we go versus the Novoflex (especially hard considering they have an agent here!!!!)
 
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