Who owns AF100 & Panasonic 14-50 f2.8-3.5? or used them both

anatusa

anatusa

Veteran
Hello

I recently got an offer locally to buy a used Pany 14-50 f2.8-3.5 (380$) lens with used Oly adopter mmf1(100$) for my AF101, and i would love to hear some comments from guys who own it or used that cam and lens together!

do you think its a good deal? right now i have just 14-140 lens, for indoors its not ok..... as mostly i have to film with 800 iso

is it sharp? how is the focus wheel? on 14-140 the focus wheel is kind of tight and i need minimum 2 fingers to rotate it, i am asking cause i tried 1 pancake lens and focus wheel there was easy to rotate with just 1 finger, i kind of like it....

there was a guy who posted once, here on a forum, a clip with CLICKING sound of the lens during zooming... but he owned only camera not camcorder, so i could not ask him any more questions about how does it perform with af100!

+ or - plz post it here!

i am looking to get to use something till birger comes up finally with its product and/or pany will introduce new fast video lens

regards
 
Im assuming you mean the 14-54mm f2.8/3.5? If so I have the lens on the Panny and I am very happy with it. The focus is silky smooth and easy to use, there is noise when zooming in and out (clicking) but not to distracting. The important thing is it can be used indoors but still I would prefer a faster lens!

Steve
 
I got the 14-54 because I would not even consider the 14-140 because it is so slow. I like the lens, it's sharp, it communicates with the camera with lens info, but the things I don't like about it. is you still lose 1/2 stop of light when you zoom in, it's varifocal(doesn't hold focus) similar to other oly and panny lenses, and the auto focus and auto iris are crude which I never use anyway. Considering an Olympus 12-35 is pushing $2500 and it doesn't hold focus either(varifocal) the 14-54 is a good compromise lens for the money.
 
guys i am talking about Panasonic LEICA D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm/F2.8-3.5 ASPH./MEGA O.I.S. , i believe 14-54 is olympus lens and is not what i am talking about, sorry if i missed inform you some how....
 
btw - it's varifocal(doesn't hold focus) - its 2nd time when i hear that there are lenses that does hold the focus during zoom, never thought its possible at all, must be a nice future!
 
$380 is a great deal on the Panasonic 14-50mm f2.8-3.5 zoom, which typically sells for over $500 on eBay. I use this lens for handheld shots on the GH1, where its Optical Image Stabilization is in a class by itself. Unfortunately, there are a few drawbacks with using this lens for video, though they were not deal breakers in my case:

1. Like virtually all Panasonic and Olympus Micro/Four Thirds zooms, the internal zoom and focus mechanisms are not entirely independent. As a result, the lens will defocus while zooming and the framing will change while focusing (lens breathing).

2. At f-stops below f4.0 the iris will audibly click at one or more points while zooming.

3. According to Panasonic's AF100 lens compatibility page, neither auto-focus nor OIS will work when mounted on the AF100. It's a real disappointment that Panasonic has failed to engineer fully automated support for legacy Four Thirds lenses on the AF100:

http://pro-av.panasonic.net/en/af100/lens_compatibility.html
 
be aware of the many complaints of the zoom getting stuck after moderate usage, stopping you from using the full range of the zoom...
 
lpowell said:
3According to Panasonic's AF100 lens compatibility page, neither auto-focus nor OIS will work when mounted on the AF100.
Click to expand...

OIS appears to work on my AF100. I rarely use the lens, but tested OIS when deciding whether to keep it, or not.

I also own the 14-35/2 & the AF100 does not display focus distance correctly with either 4/3 lens.

I'm also not a fan of pulling focus on the Panasonic as there's too much slop in the mechanism.

-Bern
 
ok here is what i got - oly adopter for 90$, the funny thing is that there was the only 1 for sale in Latvia and price was 200$ , when i was ready to buy it 3 months ago some one already bought it and as it turned out it was the guy i bought it from now for 90$ , but also he still had a receipt for 200$ so ill put it on my expanses, but also ill get the VAT he payed back, and will save extra 44 usd, so it turned out that i payed just 46$ for it and still have a warranty! how crazy is that?

about the lens after i heard that its a common issue that zoom breaks after some time, i was trying to make the guy who was selling it for 380$ to drop a price a little as its zoom may stop working soon (he also bought it already used), but he refused, but 3 days ago i decided ok i ll buy it......but hear it goes , 30 mins before meeting he told me the zoom is not working any more! So after all i got it just for 70$

i think its a luck as really did not want to spend now a lot before birger comes out, but as i have just 14-140 i need some thing faster. the new pan cake lens like 14mm or 17mm will coast much more like 400$ or even more
so now i have same 14mm but also with little zoom around 23mm for the price of just 70$, and now i can drop my iso from 800 to something like 400 - 600.

so that kind of broken lens can also be a good friend! seems like OIS works , when i turn it on i get that HAND sign on a display.

I would like to know now if Bebob foxi or Manfrotto focus controllers will work with that lens as well? if some one tried it plz make a post here!
 
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