Full Sensor Dream Lenses

[Steve Rosen]

Sorry, this is long, but there are a lot of options.

As above, Lumix (Panasonic) 12-35 and 35-100, both MFT mount with stabilization (although not as good as Canon's). They are both f2.8, although the image darkens slightly when zooming in on the 12-35. They talk well with the LS300, and the push for auto works well as a start for finding focus. With those two small, light lenses you can cover 95% of normal shooting. They aren't cheap, but in the world of quality lenses, they aren't expensive either.

Also as above, the Olympus 12-40. I sold my Lumix 12-35 to buy this lens because it has a slightly longer top end and holds maximum aperture better through the zoom range. It doesn't - that's DOES NOT - have stabilization, which puts some people off. But it has a much better feeling manual focus ring - it slides back to a manual position and forward for auto, so you can leave the camera on auto if that's how you like to work.

Of course, with the goal to cover the full sensor, there are the EF and EF-S lenses with an MFT smart adapter like Metabones, or a SpeedBooster. I have the 24-105 and 17-55 from my C100 days and don't care for them much on the LS300. For some reason they just don't seem as sharp to me. I use them with a SpeedBooster on my Pocket Cameras instead and they look great on that camera. Stabilization does work well on the JVC.

The best affordable lenses are vintage FF stills, like Nikon, Canon FD and Leica-R - even some Minoltas. They are still cheap, use cheap adapters and have a really nice organic look on the full sensor. They also become short zooms, using the Prime Zoom feature, adding to the versatility. Wider than 17mm is a problem though.

And the variety of affordable full sensor cine primes that are out there now, like Rokinons, Vedra, etc. There are occasionally deals on sets of 3 or 4 that make them a good choice for matched primes. I bought my Rokinons (12, 24, 35 and 85) with native MFT mounts because I avoid adapters if I can, but you can get them with EF mounts and they're pretty future proof.

Of course, if you're in for true future proofing, you can always invest in $60,000 - $100,000 worth of PL mount Zeiss or Leica Cine Primes, although that's probably overkill on a $3000 camera.

But the point is - all of theses lenses, every single one, will work on the LS300 - and will not on a C100 or an FS5.

[B.J. Adams]

Thanks Steve. Do vintage lenses look sharp in 4k as I think they were originally intended for 16mm?

[Steve Rosen]

No, they don't. In fact they don't even look as sharp in 1080. There's been a lot of advancement in lens technology in the last 30-40 years, both in construction and optical design. However...

There are those people - and I am one - who don't judge the quality of an image by sharpness. In fact, when shooting S16 and 35 I almost always had some sort of diffusion, even if just a 1/2 SoftFX or 1/4 ProMist, to take the edge off. In fact I'm currently shooting a lot (on the Pocket and D16) with that old Angenieux 15-150. It's a soft lens, but has a really nice organic quality, especially on women - and the softness runs colors to pleasing pastels (not everyone''s cup of tea I admit).

If you want that teeth rattling resolution popular in BestBuy showrooms, vintage lenses probably aren't for you. The Lumix lenses are quite sharp, even the lower price zooms.

[B.J. Adams]

Thanks Steve, just as I suspected. But they might be useful for a project where that soft & old age look is needed

[B.J. Adams]

Steve, do you have any good thoughts on the Panasonic 25mm f/1.7 ?
The price is incredibly cheap here in EU, and it should perform good in low light from what I have read

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1182677-REG/panasonic_h_h025k_25mm_f_1_7_lens_for.html

[Noa Put]

It's a f1.7 lens so in low light it should compare to any other lens that can do f1.7, there are no bad panasonic m4/3 lenses if you don't mind the fly by wire focus and the fact that you don't have a iris ring on this lens. I personally find the 15mm f1.7 lens a better choice as it does have a iris ring but it's twice the price but you get a more usable zoom range when you use the vsm to zoom.

[Steve Rosen]

Sorry B.J. but I don't know that 17mm lens, or the 15mm one Noa mentions... somewhere back there < I mentioned that I prefer old fashioned manual lenses. These days that's not very possible with zooms (affordably at least). But luckily there are many manual primes, and those are the ones I'm drawn to,

If you shoot J-Log there is no real advantage to an auto lens - auto exposure is deactivated with log, and auto focus isn't that reliable in any situation, so a good manual iris, manual focus (with an actual infinity stop) prime lens is something I would highly recommend.

One lens I didn't mention that I have from my AF100 is the Nokton 17.5 f0.95. If you want a 17mm lens, it is a knockout, It's MFT (but it works up to 92%) and the wide aperture makes up for the low light handicap of the LS300. I don't use it much, but when I do I am always impressed.

[B.J. Adams]

Noa, will a 15mm MFT behave like a 30mm on the JS300?

[Noa Put]

Not sure I understand your question?

[Duncan Craig]

Originally Posted by B.J. Adams

Noa, will a 15mm MFT behave like a 30mm on the JS300?

It will, if you have VSM set to MFT. It's possible that the 15mm will cover more of the sensor than just the MFT setting but I don't know.

You might also consider another brand of lens like the Nikon 35mm 1.8 DX. This lens will cover the entire sensor, so it's approximately a 50mm lens and it's a similar price to the 25mm you mentioned. http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B001S2PPT0

You'll need to buy a dumb adapter to mount it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008GVC2LK but then you can fit any other Nikon lens to the JVC.

[B.J. Adams]

thanks Duncan will look into that option too

[Noa Put]

ok, now I see :) With jvc's prime zoom feature you can get a 2.3x maximum zoom for HD or 1.25x maximum zoom for 4K but a 15mm will not behave like a 30mm, you can zoom with the 15mm so you get the same frame as a actual 30mm lens without loss of detail but, and this is the main difference, your dof will not change when you zoom in. If you would place the image of a 15mm at f1.7 zoomed in to 30mm and a 30mm lens at f1.7 (not sure of that exists but for the sake of comparison lets say it does) the 30mm will have a shallower dof at the same f-stop.

[B.J. Adams]

I was asking because I want to see if with the panasonic 25mm f/1.7 I would be getting a 50mm as STANDARD not with zooming and not with HD (I want to use 4K)

[Noa Put]

I still got it wrong apparantly :) In that case like Steve said you can change the vsm for the focal length to match but the same "problem" will occur, which is that the dof will not be the same as a actual 50mm lens at the same f-stop.

[B.J. Adams]

this is what i wanted to mean for the panasonic 25mm f/1.4 = 50mm!!