Which Zoom lens?

I currently have the following lenses and time after time I find myself in a position where Pancake lens and Canon 50mm FD don't cut it because of lack of zoom and kit lens is just too slow to be useful in low light situations

- Panny Pancake 1.7
- Canon FD 50mm
- GH1 Kit Lens

I'm looking for zoom lens that fits somewhere between Kit lens and pancake lens and after reading this thread it seems like Olympus 14-54mm is the recommended (if not the only) choice I have.

Are there any other recommendations ?
 
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Sigma 18-50 F2.8 and Tamron 17-50 F2.8 are worth thinking about, too -- they don't have aperture dials, though, so you need an adapter that has one, and I don't think any of them will click from stop to stop (generally good for video,) or tell you specifically which stop you're at. Unless someone sells one that does, but I haven't seen it.
 
I don't there is an adaptor for Sigma or Tamron that has aperture control so in that case, both of them are out of question. So that takes us back to Olympus 14-54mm :).
 
ajamils said:
I don't there is an adaptor for Sigma or Tamron that has aperture control so in that case, both of them are out of question. So that takes us back to Olympus 14-54mm :).
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Check my post at the top of page 2 in this thread for the adapter you use with the Tamron or the Sigma WITH NIKON MOUNT. The Tamron (and I assume the Sigma) come with other mounts, like Canon, which would not work.
 
Received the lens today and like everybody else mentioned the lens does seem to be of higher quality than the Panasonic lens. The zoom and focus rings are very smooth. I'll receive the 4/3 to m4/3 adapter tomorrow so then I will be able to find out about the performance of the lens as well.
 
indoor use

indoor use

Can any owners of the Olympus 14-54mm lens comment on if the lens is fast enough to use indoors for sit-down-interviews with a good light kit? I'm guessing I'd use a focal length of between 40-50mm for the interviews.

Thanks in advance!
 
hammerhorror said:
Can any owners of the Olympus 14-54mm lens comment on if the lens is fast enough to use indoors for sit-down-interviews with a good light kit? I'm guessing I'd use a focal length of between 40-50mm for the interviews.

Thanks in advance!
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As I understand 14-54mm do not work on GH1.
Plus it is focus by wire lens. So, do not seems like good option.
On G2 and G10 same lens work, btw.
 
Vitaliy Kiselev said:
As I understand 14-54mm do not work on GH1.
Plus it is focus by wire lens. So, do not seems like good option.
On G2 and G10 same lens work, btw.
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Sorry, that's not correct. 14-54mm works perfectly on GH1, as long as you get the Mark II version. The original 14-54mm didn't.

Yes the focus is by wire but I found it better than the kit lens.
 
hammerhorror said:
Can any owners of the Olympus 14-54mm lens comment on if the lens is fast enough to use indoors for sit-down-interviews with a good light kit? I'm guessing I'd use a focal length of between 40-50mm for the interviews.

Thanks in advance!
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The best way to answer your question is to take meter measurements of your scene with your lighting with a kit lens. Record settings that are necessary to properly expose that scene -- 14-54 will give you a 1 to 1.5 EV stop advantage. So a scene that must be shot at 800 ISO on a kit lens will got at 400 or 320 on a 14-54.
 
14-140 becomes 5.6 very quickly. at 14mm, 14-54 is 1 stop faster. toward 54mm, the gap increases to 1.5 stop. also 45-200 seems better tuned than 14-140. glad i sold the kit lens. i like 14-54 + 40-200 pair, but im gonna wait until panny announces next new lens for gh2. hopefully 12-75 2.5-3.3 HD OIS... but hard to believe it.


14-140+45-200+comparison.png
 
stonebat said:
14-140 becomes 5.6 very quickly. at 14mm, 14-54 is 1 stop faster. toward 54mm, the gap increases to 1.5 stop. also 45-200 seems better tuned than 14-140. glad i sold the kit lens. i like 14-54 + 40-200 pair, but im gonna wait until panny announces next new lens for gh2. hopefully 12-75 2.5-3.3 HD OIS... but hard to believe it.
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For all I know, 12-75/f2.5-3.3 is somebody's wild fantasy that quickly spread through some rumors sites/forums as "yea, this is getting announced at Photokina." I can imagine that designing a standard zoom this fast is no small feat. For comparison, read up what Olympus had to do to create a "pro" grade 12-60/f2.8-4 zoom., which has less range and is almost a stop slower. We'll be lucky if lens of this class gets "ported" to mFT. Or maybe the FT 14-50 Leica redesigned as "pro" f2.8 lens for mFT. But again all this is just wishful [hopeful] thinking ...
 
if thats the case, i would buy oly 14-54 ii in a heartbeat. but im still daydreaming... i really dont mind having a bazooka to have 12-75 2.8 constant aperture!!!
 
Some pics from my recently purchased Olympus 14-54 II. No post processing, just resized for the forum.
 

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