GH4 Wide Lens for GH4 on Glidecam

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gh4_storyteller

Active member
I'll admit it, I've been doing it wrong. I bought a Glidecam when I had my GH2. Throughout that period I only used it with a mid range lens. I didn't have the money to invest in a wide angle lens, and thus my shots suffered. Now I have a project coming up, and I need to bring out the Glidecam again. This time I have "enough" money to purchase a wide angle lens. I know my options, but I'm still a bit stuck on what I should choose. I have a Speed Booster, so I'm going to go ahead and rule out M4/3 lenses. I need something I could put on a RED if I needed to. So strictly Nikon mount.

I've been reading this on B&H, and I think the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 is going to give me the best bang for my buck. I need to make sure this is the right choice, so I have two questions.

1) Are there any other lenses I've completely missed, or are there other better options I've overlooked in that B&H list?

2) For those that have worked with Glidecams/Steadicams: Is the 18mm-26mm full frame equivalent wide enough for use on a Glidecam, or would you recommend I go even wider?
 
I use Tokina 11-16mm on my camera stabilizer, and it works flawlesly. The range is perfect for the most, if not all applications and overall setup is a decently weighted.
 
KMA_WWC said:
I use Tokina 11-16mm on my camera stabilizer, and it works flawlesly. The range is perfect for the most, if not all applications and overall setup is a decently weighted.
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Thanks, that's what I'm pretty much set on. Do you know if there is any noticeable benefit from the extra ~2mm on the Samyang 10mm f/2.8?
 
Daniel Brown said:
Thanks, that's what I'm pretty much set on. Do you know if there is any noticeable benefit from the extra ~2mm on the Samyang 10mm f/2.8?
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Never used that particular lens, so can't say for sure. Just from the experience, technically 1mm won't make that much of difference. The great think about Tokina is it's range and flexibility (at the end of the day it's a zoom lens), and also to my taste it's pretty wide enough at its 11mm on GH4 with regular m4/3 speedbooster.
 
Daniel Brown said:
Thanks, that's what I'm pretty much set on. Do you know if there is any noticeable benefit from the extra ~2mm on the Samyang 10mm f/2.8?
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I think the 11 is marginal with the 4K crop unless you have it on the speedbooster, I think the Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 is a viable alternative to the Tok 11-16 + Speedbooster combination.

Remember ND, I don't think the Sam/Rok 10mm has filter threads.

The Tok 11-16 was good when I flew it on Merlin and Glidecam with GH2 and Gh3, but I seem to recall I had some problems with the lens contacting the sled on the Merlin when balancing it, it probably needed an under-camera riser but I was able to balance it ok.
 
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LyleGorch said:
I think the 11 is marginal with the 4K crop unless you have it on the speedbooster, I think the Sigma 10-20mm f3.5 is a viable alternative to the Tok 11-16 + Speedbooster combination.

Remember ND, I don't think the Sam/Rok 10mm has filter threads.

The Tok 11-16 was good when I flew it on Merlin and Glidecam with GH2 and Gh3, but I seem to recall I had some problems with the lens contacting the sled on the Merlin when balancing it, it probably needed an under-camera riser but I was able to balance it ok.
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The Sigma looks promising. My only problem is that I will always be shooting in available light with the Glidecam. Do you think f/3.5 is enough for inside of schools and event halls? It's also not a constant aperture; so there's that.
 
Daniel Brown said:
The Sigma looks promising. My only problem is that I will always be shooting in available light with the Glidecam. Do you think f/3.5 is enough for inside of schools and event halls? It's also not a constant aperture; so there's that.
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Sigma makes 2 different 10-20mm zooms, the f3.5 is constant. You really don't want to working with either the Tok 11-16 or Sigma 10-20 wide open unless you absolutely have to, and you probably don't want to be shooting the GH4 above iso 1600, so that's what you have to work with. You could probably dig another 2/3 stop out of either the Sigma or Tokina with the speedbooster. Available light event stuff might not be the GH4's strong suit.
 
Take a serious look at the Olympus 12-40 f/2.8, it is m4/3 and the optics are simply superb, I own one and love it. 24-80mm in the old 35mm terminology is a really useful range.
 
HughS said:
Take a serious look at the Olympus 12-40 f/2.8, it is m4/3 and the optics are simply superb, I own one and love it. 24-80mm in the old 35mm terminology is a really useful range.
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Thanks! It looks pretty stellar for a M4/3 lens. May be a bit out of my price range though. :)
 
Daniel Brown said:
I bought a Glidecam when I had my GH2. Throughout that period I only used it with a mid range lens. I didn't have the money to invest in a wide angle lens, and thus my shots suffered. Now I have a project coming up, and I need to bring out the Glidecam again.
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If this is for a single project, and then the Glidecam and wide angle gets tucked back into the closet until when ever, might I suggest renting a nice wide angle lens for the project rather than dropping hard coin on a lens. There is nothing wrong with investing in gear that you will be using frequently. But spending heavy cash on gear that only gets used once in a blue moon is not a wise investment from a business perspective.

All the Best!

Dave
 
If you want to not drop a load of cash on this lens, the Rokinon 12mm F2.0 is looking like the best deal out there for this use. I am looking at flying my GH4 on a Blackbird stabilizer, same issue as you are having. I have the Panasonic 14mm F2.5, trust me, you will want wider when shooting 4K with the crop factor. Personally I find the Tokina 11-16 lens to be excellent but too big and heavy for flying a nice, small, lightweight rig on the Blackbird. http://www.amazon.com/Rokinon-Olymp...=1404924361&sr=8-2&keywords=rokinon+12mm+f2.0
 
I run the 14mm/f2.5 on the GH4 but only in 1080 mode. 4K has more rolling shutter and no 60P so I'm not sure if it's a good idea to do that.
 
David W. Jones said:
If this is for a single project, and then the Glidecam and wide angle gets tucked back into the closet until when ever, might I suggest renting a nice wide angle lens for the project rather than dropping hard coin on a lens. There is nothing wrong with investing in gear that you will be using frequently. But spending heavy cash on gear that only gets used once in a blue moon is not a wise investment from a business perspective.

All the Best!

Dave
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This will be for a project that lasts over 1 1/2 years, so it'd probably be best to just purchase the thing.
 
losmignones said:
wouldn't it be beneficial to use a lens with OIS (and maybe reliable autofocus just in case)
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Maybe. I've never used OIS when on a Glidecam, so I've grown accustomed to not having that luxury. It looks fine afterwards. Adding warp stabilizer on the 4K will make the footage really sing.
 
While most of these are good suggestions, I really need to stay with a Nikon mount. I need the versatility for different shoots that I may be on. I'd also like the ability to have some zoom range so that I'm not stuck too wide if I need to be a bit tighter.
 
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