Weight limit for mounting legacy glass on GH cameras?

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DHart

Member
I have on order a Contax Planar 85mm f/1.4 lens which weighs about 21 oz. (595 grams). I'm not sure of the lens adapter weight (Fotodiox) but I think it may be about 4 to 5 oz. bringing total weight (without a lens hood) to at least 25 to 26 oz. I am planning to use the lens with the camera mounted on a tripod much of the time, so the camera's lens mount will be bearing more weight than any Panasonic lens weighs, but a good measure. For comparison, the heaviest Lumix lens available at present is the new 100-300, which weighs 18.3 oz. (520 grams).

Does anyone know if this will be too much weight for the GH camera mount to safely support when the camera is tripod mounted?
 
DHart said:
I have on order a Contax Planar 85mm f/1.4 lens which weighs about 21 oz. (595 grams). I'm not sure of the lens adapter weight (Fotodiox) but I think it may be about 4 to 5 oz. bringing total weight (without a lens hood) to at least 25 to 26 oz. I am planning to use the lens with the camera mounted on a tripod much of the time, so the camera's lens mount will be bearing more weight than any Panasonic lens weighs, but a good measure. For comparison, the heaviest Lumix lens available at present is the new 100-300, which weighs 18.3 oz. (520 grams).

Does anyone know if this will be too much weight for the GH camera mount to safely support when the camera is tripod mounted?
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If it's any help, I use (sometimes) a breech lock Canon FD 100-200mm on my GH1. This has a weight around 600 grams - and it's never felt as though it would damage the camera.

Normally, of course, you hold the lens anyway for focussing - but even when just holding the body, everything felt solid and secure with the lens in-situ.

I also use a Canon FD 300mm f/4 - which weighs 945 grams. This has its own tripod mount - but, again, it feels solid and secure when holding the body. Actually, I've just tried it again - held the body only, and waggled the camera around a bit - no sign of flex or any movement at all.

Obviously, you wouldn't really do that in normal use - but that camera mount is obviously pretty tough.

For the lens you have in mind, I wouldn't give it a second though.
 
DHart said:
Does anyone know if this will be too much weight for the GH camera mount to safely support when the camera is tripod mounted?
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If a lens is heavy enough to raise a mount support issue, I'd mount the lens to the tripod rather than the camera. The lens mount can easily support the weight of the GH1, and I find it more convenient to treat the GH1 as if it were an installable camera back.
 
Framerate... thanks buddy for your comments. And for doing a little "testing". ;-)

I think the 85/1.4 lens with adapter and hood weighs somewhere around 765 grams. When hand held, of course, the lens weight would be supported along with the camera so no worries there... on a tripod, though, all the weight would bear on the camera's mount, but from what you've said, it sounds like 765 gr. is probably just inside the safety zone as long as things are handled carefully.
 
lpowell said:
If a lens is heavy enough to raise a mount support issue, I'd mount the lens to the tripod rather than the camera. The lens mount can easily support the weight of the GH1, and I find it more convenient to treat the GH1 as if it were an installable camera back.
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I agree on mounting the lens to the tripod, but not sure how I would do that with this lens without investing in a custom mounting setup of some sort.
 
i dont have any issues mounting the same contax on my camera on a tripod. It doesn't play nice on a gorilla focus cause its quite front heavy but on a tripod its fine. Just had a look at mine and your right, there's just no position to fit a generic lens collar on it. only space i can see is on the adapter.
 
MR Fanny.... good to know... thank you.

The lens I have on order doesn't come with a lens hood and they seem to be hard to come by... would you happen to have any suggestions as to where I might find one? Contax GB-82 lens hood.
 
ive even had the contax 3 piece extention tube + the 85mm + adaper on it and it held up...not something i'd like to do everyday though. i see your on getdpi too =)

you can try posting up a want to buy in fred miranda forums. obviously ebay is a hit and miss. Mine came with a retractable rubber hood which i quite like, it lets me get super low shots by letting it rest on the rubber when retracted (or when i want to just place the camera down) so i dont have to worry about scratching the paint as it does topple over =) I ended up buying a generic rubber one for my contax 50mm also. they aren't the nicest looking lense hood but they sure are practical =)
 
Hey man, a generic rubber lens hood would be just the ticket for me.... I really don't want to have to fork over a couple hundred for a lens hood! Where are generic rubber lens hoods offered? Is there a brand name or model number on your lens hood?
 
DHart said:
I have on order a Contax Planar 85mm f/1.4 lens which weighs about 21 oz. (595 grams). I'm not sure of the lens adapter weight (Fotodiox) but I think it may be about 4 to 5 oz. bringing total weight (without a lens hood) to at least 25 to 26 oz. I am planning to use the lens with the camera mounted on a tripod much of the time, so the camera's lens mount will be bearing more weight than any Panasonic lens weighs, but a good measure. For comparison, the heaviest Lumix lens available at present is the new 100-300, which weighs 18.3 oz. (520 grams).

Does anyone know if this will be too much weight for the GH camera mount to safely support when the camera is tripod mounted?
Click to expand...

On some Panasonic litterature, I've read that the maximum weight tha camera mount can support is about 1 kilograms.
As soon as I find the document, I'll post it.
 
the hood on the 85mm is an original contax G-13 rubber hood 67mm thread unfortunately. The 55mm thread rubber hood for my other smaller contax lenses has no name or branding whatsoever, just thread size. I picked it up on ebay. I have seen them floating around on ebay in various different thread sizes. have a look, they are dirt cheap, $5-$8 for a 67mm =)
 
Mr Fanny... if you are ever in the Portland, OR area... let me know... I owe you a few shots of your favorite scotch or whatever! ;)

Thank you... the hood is on it's way, while the lens and adapter make their way here as well. Decent price, shading the lens will be done! (I shoot into the sun -strong backlight- quite a bit in the course of my work)

http://www.legendimaging.com

YES! My usual "stills" kit is the 5DMkII with 80-200 f/2.8L @ f/2.8. But I am going to try using my GH2 to do some movies in the same style as my HS senior portrait stills. The Contax 85/1.4 shot @ f/1.4 on the GH2 will go a long way toward helping me achieve a similar motion "look" to the stills "look" that I achieve with the 200mm @ f/2.8 from my 5DMkII.

Thanks very much for your help. Sure appreciate it and fingers crossed that the lens is a goodie on my GH2!
 
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