Top 5 must have lens for a GH1?

JoeJITSU

JoeJITSU

Veteran
I know this topic may have been discussed over and over. But as time goes by more users start to change their own opinions and since I already own 2 (Canon FD 50mm 1.4 and 24mm f2.0 FD) I would like to know what everyone thinks now?
I am guessing the top 3 will be Canon FD 50mm 1.4, Pancake lens and the kit lens(was under rated several months ago).
 
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I concur with sammy... the nikon 50mm 1.8 is pretty awesome and can be had for cheap. I stumbled on mine stored away in the attic for years. Dusted it off and performs beautifully.

I also have the 20mm 1.7. Extremely sharp lens, my favorite. Both lenses are used for the vast majority of my shooting.

Couple these with an ND fader and your good to go.
 
+1 for the pancake, even though the manual focus ring may take some time to get used to (it just keeps turning for ever....).
The 7-14 wideangle is f4.0 ... that fstop sure makes a difference when the sun goes down...
Waiting for my Novoflex adaptor to see what the Nikon 105 1.8 and 180 2.8 look like :)
And will definitely have a look @ the Nikon 50 1.2

It seems to me that the cinematographical feel calls for longer focals than what I'd personally use for stills (IMHO, YMMW, etc)

Paul
 
interesting info on the 50mm f1.8 nikon. I had one of those but it had a really loose focus ring. I bought a 50mm 1.4 nikon and did some comparisons but I never really saw *that* much difference.

I might have to pick another up to compare again now that we have the higher bitrate settings.

The other old faithful Nikon lenses are the 85mm and the 105mm pre-AI lenses. They are a little bit tele on the GH1 but they are nice and sharp.
 
My picks…

Kit Lens
20mm f1.7 Panasonic Pancake Lens
Panasonic 7-14mm f4
Zeiss ZF 35mm f1.4
Zeiss ZF 50mm Makro-Planar f2
 
Really depends on the usage, I guess. When I need/want auto-focus and the sharpest, crispest picture possible, I use m4/3 lenses. If you've got the 7-14, 14-140 & 20mm you are set up beautifully for run 'n gun shooting.

When I want a more film-like look, something a bit softer with lower contrast, for price/performance I would say Canon FD's are hard to beat. Here's my picks that are in my kit:

24 f/2
28 f/2
35 f/2
50 f/1.8
85 f/1.8

Having the 24 & the 28 might be a bit overkill in that range, but I've found specific uses for each lens depending on the location and shooting requirements.

I generally don't like mixing m4/3 lenses with FD lenses on a shoot, but I've found the the 14-140 can cut well with the FD's. The 20mm, however, is extremely sharp and much contrastier than the FD's, so I tend to avoid using it if I'm shooting primarily with manual focus lenses.
 
On my GH1 I use:
Nikkor 50mm f/1.4
Nikkor 28mm f/3.5
Nikkor 105mm f/2.5 - Any of the Nikkor 105s are excellent
Nikkor 17-35mm f/2.8 - Very nice lens but horrible to use on GH1
Tamron AD2 80-210mm f/3.8 - surprisingly good
My modified Canon J13x9B Video lens (18-234mm f/3.2)

The Tamron looks a little different than the Nikkors (mainly contrast), but not enough to keep me from using it with them. The Canon is way different than anything else so I won't really mix it with the others.
Right now I don't have any m4/3 lenses. Had the 14-140 and couldn't stand it because of the physical feel and aperture change when you zoom in so I sold it.
 
when I had a gh1 my setup was

tokina 11-16 nikon mount with aperture adapter (ceicio7 or jinfinance)
canon FD 24/1.4
AIS nikkor 35/1.4
AIS nikkor 50/1.4
AIS nikkor 85/1.4
 
lvlinux said:
. Had the 14-140 and couldn't stand it because of the physical feel and aperture change when you zoom in so I sold it.
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So when you zoomed in the aperture would change automatically? Care to elaborate on that please? I am buying a kit lens because I have heard allot of good.Good to know the pro and cons. Thanks
 
JoeJITSU said:
So when you zoomed in the aperture would change automatically? Care to elaborate on that please? I am buying a kit lens because I have heard allot of good.Good to know the pro and cons. Thanks
Click to expand...

Kit lens does not have a constant aperture across the zoom range, so indeed it does close down a bit when you zoom in. It's f5.6 at the long end.

That being said, it's a very useful lens that autofocuses well (quietly) and has a great zoom range. And it's pretty light weight. It just needs a good amount of light. I wouldn't think of owning the camera without it, even though I don't use it that often.
 
Lumix 20mm f1.7
Lumix 45mm f2.8
Lumix 7-14mm f4
Lumix 14-140 f4-5.8
Lumix 45-200 f4-5.6

Damn, I could have bought a new car instead. :D

(FYI, I'm not a full time "indie film-maker"...these lenses are just good if you want auto-focus/auto-aperture or use your GH1 for still photography.)
 
I think the best thing about the GH1 & HDSLR's in general is there is no 'must have' lenses. The whole point of these cameras is that now you can pick and choose whatever suits your needs best and what fits closely with your artistic choices. No longer do we have to put up with whatever stock lens is built in and having no other option but a WA or tele converter which often decreases quality.

Personally, I sold the kit lens because I needed the money. My selection of lenses differs greatly from most people's because I shoot surfing where length is more important than maximum aperture.

Now I have:

Pentax 50mm f/1.7, for artistic shots, interviews and shallow DoF.
Sigma 17-35mm f/2.8-4 as my general-purpose lens and my main lens for stills.
Hanimex m42 200mm f/4.5 for shooting surfing - I love the lack of hard stops on this lens!
Sigma 100-300mm f/4.5-5.6 left over from a Pentax 35mm SLR - good for surfing footage
Simga 28-80mm f/3.5-5.6 also left over from my Pentax - I try to avoid using this one because it's soft and lacks contrast.
 
vcassel said:
Why's that?
Click to expand...

Well, the 17-35mm is huge on the GH1, and I'm afraid to hold just the camera for fear of bending the mount, so I hold the lens too, and it's an AF-S lens, so the focus ring just keeps on turning and has a short throw, and it focuses past infinity, and doesn't hold focus throughout the zoom range.

Optically it's awesome, but just physically hard to handle and deal with.
 
JoeJITSU said:
So when you zoomed in the aperture would change automatically? Care to elaborate on that please? I am buying a kit lens because I have heard allot of good.Good to know the pro and cons. Thanks
Click to expand...

I bought the GH1 primarily because of the video - the fact that it does stills is just a little bonus for me. The 14-140mm kit lens is great for stills as far as autofocus and such, and is also excellent for autofocusing during video, but I'd hate to have to run it in manual focus. I come from the shoulder mount video world where autofocus is hardly ever an asset, but an aggravation. And I just like constant aperture lenses - even if they have a smaller aperture. That's just my personal preference. I'd rather have a fixed 14-140mm f/5.8 then it be f4-5.8 (even for stills). Again, let me stress that these are just my personal feelings and I'm not knocking the 14-140mm at all - it's a nice piece of glass and some people love it, but it's just not my cup of tea :-)
 
Ron Rodenmeyer said:
Kit lens does not have a constant aperture across the zoom range, so indeed it does close down a bit when you zoom in. It's f5.6 at the long end.
Click to expand...
Actually, the Lumix 14-140mm is f5.6 nearly all the way down to the short end. For an optically stabilized telephoto zoom, I think the Lumix 45-200mm is the better lens.

Handheld, what I've gotten the most use out of has been the lightweight Lumix 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 zoom, Lumix 20mm f1.8, Canon FD 50mm f1.4, and Canon FD 85mm f1.8.

Tripod mounted, I have a set of Tokina ATX f2.8 constant-aperture FD-mount lens: 24-40mm, 35-70mm, and 60-120mm. The 35-70mm is my favorite, remarkably compact and flexible for a fast 2:1 zoom.
 
The Lumix 14-45mm auto-focuses quickly, but I haven't tried to use it to track a moving subject after acquiring focus-lock. If I were shooting still frames, I'd probably resort to turning on Focus Priority.
 
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