GH3 Trying to decide on best wide lens ..

A

awomias

Active member
Hi all. I need to buy a lens in the next day or two. It will be on a GH3 on a tripod to cover wide to medium wide shots on a dance floor at wedding receptions. Would like decent auto focus and low light handling. Trying to keep price under $500. Trying to decide between Panny 25mm 1.4, 20mm 1.7 (seems the auto focus is loud and slow) and 14mm 2.5. Would appreciate any input. Thanks!
 
Those lenses aren't very wide. I'd recommend the SLR Magic 12mm or the Panny 7-14. You can pick up the used Panny for about $550 if you get a good deal.
 
Since you're shooting dancing at a wedding reception, you're almost certainly going to be in a very low light situation. So I would steer clear of the Panasonic 7-14mm, because it's an f/4 lens.

The 20mm f/1.7 is such a great lens, but it's not really that wide. It's wider than normal, but it's not going to cover a huge hall. Then again, maybe it's wide enough for your needs! The 25mm probably isn't a good choice, because that's basically a normal non-wide lens. I haven't personally tried the 14mm, but 14mm is about as wide as you can go without too much distortion. Of course, that's f/2.5, which is worse than f/1.7, but then again, you have a GH3, which from what I've heard can shoot cleanly at much higher ISOs than the GH2 (which is the camera I have).

Not sure if I'm helping you decide, but these are the considerations I would have if I were in your situation.
 
The Olympus 17mm f/1.8 is another lens worth considering. ( it's a moderate wide, and almost half the price of the Olympus 12mm f/2.0 lens )
 
omnikron said:
Those lenses aren't very wide. I'd recommend the SLR Magic 12mm or the Panny 7-14. You can pick up the used Panny for about $550 if you get a good deal.
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Wrong.......

Panny 7-14mm is f/4 so forget about it, too slow.....
Slr Magic 12mm is wide but Flares are insane till you stop it down to at least over f/4 as well.

The best wide lens would be a Tokina 11-16mm, Olympus 12mm or Panasonic 14mm.

14mm being the cheapest and very very nice sharp lens, Tokina requires an adapter but actually my favorite wide lens, Olympus is close to perfection but cost in the $800 range.
Lastly Panasonic 20mm could work as well as a great medium wide lens, you will want though a short telephoto/telephoto lens though for close ups.
 
I'd second the Lumix 14mm f2.5, and also consider the 20mm f1.7. I use them both in low-light and they cover most situations.
 
Just to completely confuse you I also would buy the Olympus Zuiko 12mm F2. Expensive but worth every cent, especially for low light. It also has a movable focus sleeve that lets you switch between Manual and Auto focus, great for quick adjustments rather than switching the camera dial.
 
Since the Olympus 12/f2 is almost as expensive as the Panny 12-35/f2.8, I would buy the Panny if 12 is the wide that I want... Al
 
Ordered the Panny 14mm f2.5. Thank you for all your input. This is for a third GH3 on tripod to take wide shots of dance floor at wedding receptions. The other two GH3's cover CU and MCU shots.
 
Here is an example of a wedding using the panny 20mm 1.7 for 90% of the shots in this preview. The ring shot and the shot with the grooms parents back to the camera with the lens flares is the Minolta 50mm 1.7. All else is the 20mm and often using ETC mode which I think came out great. I did use the 14mm 2.5 at the brides home for some footage of flowers and such(no shots in the preview) and when the photographer first saw me with the gh2 and lens he said "Dude, where's your lens?" He thought I still had the body cap still on. I call mine the Oreo lens because it looks like the cookie, black lens cap and rear cap with the silver center filling.

http://vimeo.com/63403753
 
malibudutchie said:
Just to completely confuse you I also would buy the Olympus Zuiko 12mm F2. Expensive but worth every cent, especially for low light.
Click to expand...

Totally agree. I've got the 20mm Panny and the Oly 12mm, and the Oly has that magical quality to it that is so lacking in the Panasonic lens (that 20mm Panny has no character at all). I think I shoot 50% of all my shots with the 12mm Oly. If I was the original poster, I will bite the bullet and go for the Oly - that lens can turn the ordinary into magic, very important especially for weddings.

rgds/ RandyQ
 
I understand the OP has already made a purchase, but I'll share the following thoughts for anyone else visiting this section.

The Panasonic 14mm f/2.5 has serious distortion for a prime lens, and it's entirely mediocre in low light. Autofocus is ok.

The Panasonic 20mm f/1.7 is a reasonable normal-ish lens. Autofocus in video mode is a disaster -- absolutely awful.

The Olympus 12mm f/2 has the "MSC" designation from Olympus -- and that means autofocus is very responsive in video mode. Distortion is there, but not quite as bad as the Panasonic 14mm.

Accordingly -- I'd agree with everyone in this thread who recommended the Olympus 12mm. At f/2 that's about as good as it gets for a 24mm equivalent, and the MSC designation makes it reasonable to use in video mode.
 
Just to add to this discussion - as I posted earlier, I'm a real fan of the Oly 12mm f2, but would the SLR Magic 12mm be a viable contender here?

I'm thinking it has that "look" as well (different, but certainly has character), and quite fast also. 100% manual, but dont we also find ourselves focusing manually a lot of the time?

rgds/ RandyQ
 
Does the Olympus 17mm f1.8 share similar qualities as big brother 12mm f2 as far as auto focus and look? Reconsidering my Panny 14mm f2.5 purchase....
 
Here is a link to a wedding I just shot last month. Everything but the Ceremony (35-100mm) was shot with the 25mm 1.4
I would STRONGLY recommend the Olympus for receptions. For me, a faster lens is critical. Hopefully, you can judge by this clip how wide the 25mm appears
on the averge dance floor.
https://vimeo.com/63016686
 
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