Wide angle GH2 zoom

N

naavt

Well-known member
Hello all,

Between the Olympus 9-18mm and the Sigma 8-16mm which one would you choose?

Panasonic's 7-14mm is a little over my budget and I've been reading that the Sigma is the new stellar wide angle zoom lens out there! (even better than Panasonic?).

Is the 8-16mm focal distance going to be altered with the adition of a Nikon to m43 adapter?

Thank you
 
peterwphoto said:
I am pretty sure it's 2x and won't have aperture control unless you have a pricier adapter.
Click to expand...

Sorry because I did not explained myself clearly. I know that's a 2x crop factor but since focal distance is measured between the posterior nodal point to the focal plane (when in infinite), my question was if the adapter will add some distance from lens to focal plane thus resulting in a different value other thn 2x crop factor
 
I have the Olympus 9-18mm f4-5.6 zoom with the native Micro Four-Thirds mount. The AFS and AFC auto-focus features work beautifully with GH1, GF1 and G2 cameras, as well as the GH2. The Oly's focus-tracking is so smooth and silent you can barely tell when it's shifting focus. It is an amazingly light and compact lens, though its maximum aperture range is not fast enough for typical indoor lighting.
 
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peterwphoto said:
won't have aperture control
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This is the most important consideration.

Even if you could set the Sigma to an acceptable fixed aperture using another camera body, it seems silly, considering that the Olympus is smaller, lighter, cheaper, faster, has autofocus, aperture control, and corrects the barrel distortion in software.

If you can extend your budget, the Panasonic gives you a 15% wider angle, sharper corners, and zero color fringing. OTOH it is bigger/heavier than the Oly, and doesn't take filters.

J
 
naavt said:
Sorry because I did not explained myself clearly. I know that's a 2x crop factor but since focal distance is measured between the posterior nodal point to the focal plane (when in infinite), my question was if the adapter will add some distance from lens to focal plane thus resulting in a different value other thn 2x crop factor
Click to expand...

Unless you have a poorly made adaptor, you will always just have the same 2x crop. If it was any more or less, the lens would not focus properly. Also, you don't need an expensive adaptor to have aperture control, they can be had on ebay for about $20-30, which to me doesn't seem that pricey.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Nikon-G-AF-S-F-AI-AIS-lens-Micro-4-3-m43-adapter-/330432165468?pt=Lens_Accessories&hash=item4cef4ab65c#ht_3053wt_1032
 
naavt said:
Sorry because I did not explained myself clearly. I know that's a 2x crop factor but since focal distance is measured between the posterior nodal point to the focal plane (when in infinite), my question was if the adapter will add some distance from lens to focal plane thus resulting in a different value other thn 2x crop factor
Click to expand...

As long as your adapter is made properly for the Nikon mount's 46.5mm Flange Focal Distance, focusing etc should work fine as if it were on a Nikon camera but just with a smaller frame size. This means your adapter should be 26.5mm long since m43 has a Flange distance of only 20mm. If the length of the adapter is not correct, you'll find that the focusing marks on the lens will be off and you will either lose the ability to focus to infinity or you will lose some macro focusing range.
 
memphishills said:
you don't need an expensive adaptor to have aperture control, they can be had on ebay for about $20-30, which to me doesn't seem that pricey.

http://cgi.ebay.com/New-Nikon-G-AF-S-F-AI-AIS-lens-Micro-4-3-m43-adapter-/330432165468?pt=Lens_Accessories&hash=item4cef4ab65c#ht_3053wt_1032
Click to expand...
I have the fotodiox version of that adapter, which is basically the same thing, just slightly better fit & finish according to online reviews.

The aperture Open-Lock is not an aperture control ring. It is a very rough mechanism to move the aperture-open lever on old manual lenses that provide this mechanical control.

As far as I know, this Sigma lens does not provide any mechanical lever for the aperture. A quick google search turns up this image that seems to confirm that assumption (Sigma 8-16 on the left):

5299248026_2769ab6458_b.jpg


Novoflex makes a $300 adapter with an "aperture control ring". However, that ring appears to work the same way as on the fotodiox/rainbowimaging cheapies, just smoother. That would mean you have about 1/4" of ring movement, with no detents or labels, to try to "control" the aperture on an old lens that provides the mechanical lever.

I may be wrong. It's possible that the Novoflex adapter has eletrical contacts & chips to take power from the M43 mount, and send an aperture control signal to the Sigma lens. But that seems rather unlikely.

J
 
jaydil said:
I have the fotodiox version of that adapter, which is basically the same thing, just slightly better fit & finish according to online reviews.

The aperture Open-Lock is not an aperture control ring. It is a very rough mechanism to move the aperture-open lever on old manual lenses that provide this mechanical control.

As far as I know, this Sigma lens does not provide any mechanical lever for the aperture. A quick google search turns up this image that seems to confirm that assumption (Sigma 8-16 on the left):

5299248026_2769ab6458_b.jpg


Novoflex makes a $300 adapter with an "aperture control ring". However, that ring appears to work the same way as on the fotodiox/rainbowimaging cheapies, just smoother. That would mean you have about 1/4" of ring movement, with no detents or labels, to try to "control" the aperture on an old lens that provides the mechanical lever.

I may be wrong. It's possible that the Novoflex adapter has eletrical contacts & chips to take power from the M43 mount, and send an aperture control signal to the Sigma lens. But that seems rather unlikely.

J
Click to expand...

You are unfortunately wrong, as what you're looking at there is a canon lens and a canon mount sigma lens, and yes, if you buy canon you cannot control aperture, but if you were to buy the nikon mount of that sigma lens, it would have an aperture lever, as that is how all nikon cameras ever made have controlled aperture, and if it wasn't there the lens would not be able to change aperture.
 
I love the 7-14mm! Just recently got it for significantly less than original price. I expect prices will keep going down as rumors of the 7-14 OIS continue to circulate.

Great lens! Best part is there's practically NO focus breathing, which means it's a great lens for video. Pretty damn quiet focus too.
 
memphishills said:
if you were to buy the nikon mount of that sigma lens, it would have an aperture lever, as that is how all nikon cameras ever made have controlled aperture
Click to expand...
Touché. You are absolutely right about that sigma lens. I dug deeper and it DOES have a lever for automatic aperture control. kenrockwell has a photo.

My point remains though, that lever does not provide "manual aperture control" by any practical definition.

I mean: You get roughly 1/4" of movement, no detents, no labels, plus a rough/jumpy ring to move it via the adapter. Like I said, I own one of those adapters. I've used it on older manual Nikon glass. IME it is unsuitable to even whack the aperture full-open for focusing. Calling it "aperture control" is like calling an on/off light switch "brightness control".

For completeness...actually...Nikon has produced some fully-electronic aperture lenses for almost 3 years now. The PC-E lenses. They have no aperture lever. Yeah I know they're unusual, but there ya go. Wouldn't be so unusual for an aftermarket vendor to omit the lever on one of their lenses too.

But this is all a tangent. Bottom line, the OP's only practical options are the Oly and Pany wide zooms, and his choice mostly comes down to price, size, and widest angle. Filters and CA are secondary considerations.

J
 
jaydil said:
For completeness...actually...Nikon has produced some fully-electronic aperture lenses for almost 3 years now. The PC-E lenses. They have no aperture lever. Yeah I know they're unusual, but there ya go. Wouldn't be so unusual for an aftermarket vendor to omit the lever on one of their lenses too.
Click to expand...

You're right, my apologies. But for the most part you'll never had issues. I've never really felt the need to change aperture mid-recording, so I don't really have an issue with how the aperture is controlled with those adapters.
 
There's the tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 as well. Nikon mount version I believe has the aperture tab.
 
Yeah only thing is with that and an adaptor (if you don't already have one with aperture control) you're nearing (depending on where you shop or what you think it will do in the next few weeks) the price of the 7-14mm which has all the benefits of being a native m4/3rds lens, like auto-focus, on camera control, etc. Sure it's a stop slower, but it's also significantly wider, with a 14mm FF equiv instead of 22mm equiv. For an APS-C sensor I would recommend that lens in a heartbeat, but the 7-14 has it bested for m4/3rds IMO. I've used the 11-16mm on canon a bit but don't own one and can't check it right now...does it breath much during focusing? That's my favorite thing about the 7-14mm...no focus breathing.
 
Ben_B said:
Yeah only thing is with that and an adaptor (if you don't already have one with aperture control) you're nearing (depending on where you shop or what you think it will do in the next few weeks) the price of the 7-14mm which has all the benefits of being a native m4/3rds lens, like auto-focus, on camera control, etc. Sure it's a stop slower, but it's also significantly wider, with a 14mm FF equiv instead of 22mm equiv.
Click to expand...

And significantly more expensive than many other solutions! Can you tell me where are you buying that lens at discounted prices? Here in Europe it will cost me around 1000€! That's about 1375 USD!!!


Ben_B said:
There's the tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 as well. Nikon mount version I believe has the aperture tab.
Click to expand...

Now that's an option that I've putted on the table yesterday! It seems a very good choice really. It even comes with a fixed 2.8 aperture and I've read that it has the best image of the nearly identical zoom lenses around, even better than Nikon 12-24 (despite the longer focal range). The obvious advantage from Pana will be the 7mm focal distance. The Olympus has only a 2mm advantage (4 in the 2x crop), but it has a variable aperture, so it's probably a NO GO from now on...

One last question: When do you expect the 7-14mm price to drop because of the OIS version?
 
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