Interested in the AF100 at DVinfo.net

Peter Dunphy · February 5th, 2011, 10:29 PM

Hi Guys

I'm considering selling my XHA1 and Merlin Vest to raise funds towards buying an AF100 here in the UK.

I've never used changeable lenses before, and have no idea how much they might cost (!) so just to get me started, could any of you please suggest:

1 lens for closeup work (not macro, just general close-ups)

1 lens for medium shots (interview subjects)

1 lens for big scenic wide-shots

1 zoom lens for general filming (for example, a soccer match from pitch-side)

This will enable me to check out prices and try to see if its affordable. Ideally all the lenses and lens accessories I need wouldn't cost too much. I'm hoping some bargain lenses might exist out there!

I would love to use the AF100 for corporate videos and ideally make an independent 'no budget' feature with it.

Any tips or thoughts whatsoever would be really appreciated.

Peter

Peter Dunphy · February 6th, 2011, 03:09 PM

I suppose my question is asking a bit too much info. Sorry about that.

To make things easier...are there any 'packages' of lenses for the AF100 available that give an assortment of lenses? I'm imagining a case with 3 or 4 lenses in it but not sure if something like this exists?!

Daniel Epstein · February 6th, 2011, 03:32 PM

The people I know who are trying to figure out which lenses to buy are having a hard time coming up with a basic Lens package they want. The people I know who already have lenses they want to use seem to be all over the map but more decisive. Depending on how much you want to own versus renting makes a huge difference as well. If you want to go from wide to long expect to get three lenses and cost around 5K dollars over the cost of the camera. W accessories batteries and mounts figure 12K in the US. for a package w out a tripod. Think dolly more than zoom operationally.

Peter Dunphy · February 6th, 2011, 03:35 PM

Brilliant Daniel, that's food for thought, I appreciate it.

Olof Ekbergh · February 6th, 2011, 04:44 PM

Just some general thoughts on lenses.

Wide 10-14mm range
Mid 20-30mm
Short Tele 50-80mm
Long Tele 100+mm

I would want at least a mid or normal lens of f1.8 or faster.

F2.8 on all others would be ideal.

So a nice set would be
14mm f2.8
24mm f2
50mm f1.4
85mm f2.8
135mm f2.8

Peter Dunphy · February 6th, 2011, 05:19 PM

Wow thanks Olof that's absolutely tremendous. Will definitely check out the set you suggest. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond - you are a great help.

I'm dead-set on getting this camera. Will be such a good investment I feel.

Thanks again.

Nigel Barker · February 7th, 2011, 01:35 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Peter Dunphy

I suppose my question is asking a bit too much info. Sorry about that.

To make things easier...are there any 'packages' of lenses for the AF100 available that give an assortment of lenses? I'm imagining a case with 3 or 4 lenses in it but not sure if something like this exists?!

You can buy a set of Zeiss Compact Primes that are beautiful but they cost double the price of the camera. There is no wide lens either as the widest lens is 21mm i.e. 42mm full frame equivalent. Production Gear Ltd - The Home of Professional Video - Carl Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 - 4 Lens Custom Set

My favourite lens at present is a Canon FD 24mm F1.4L closely followed by a Canon FD 14mm F2.8L. I also have a Canon FD 35mm F2 & am just waiting for the delivery of a Canon FD 50mm F1.2L. There are other Canon FD lenses that also look desirable e.g. 85mm 1.2L & 135mm F2 & a rare 200mm F1.8L

An alternative to using manual lenses with adaptors are the Olympus MFT 14-35mm F2 & 35mm-100mm F2 which are as far as I know the fastest zoom lenses available for any camera. As MFT lenses their electronics communicate with the camera & they cost about £2000 ($3200) each.

Peter Dunphy · February 7th, 2011, 07:46 AM

Brilliant Nigel thanks so much for contributing.

David W. Jones · February 7th, 2011, 08:04 AM

First thing I would do would be to set a budget. How much do you have to spend on a working set of lenses? Once you know that you can quickly break down your lens choices into what's affordable for your budget.

All the Best!

Dave

Joachim Hoge · February 7th, 2011, 12:46 PM

I´m out on my first job with this camera and I have the following (mix) of lenses:

Olympus 14-35mm f2, main lens (with a micro 4/3 adaptor)
Panasonic 7-14mm f4 wideangle
Panasonic 20mm f1.7 pancake

I have a set of manual Canon FD lenses 24, 35, 50 & 100, but I only brought the 50mm and 10mm as the 2 other focal lengths are already covered. These I will use for interviews and maybe some stock shots
For these I have a Novoflex adaptor

I also have a Beboop Foxi focus controller on the way.

I probably spent the same (or a little more) on glass, adaptors, accesories as I did on the camera body it self (the Canons I got for free)

I wish I had a tele zoom, like the 50-200mm Olympus, or maybe a 100-300mm

Peter Dunphy · February 8th, 2011, 06:05 PM

Thanks for your contributions David and Joachim you are a great help.

I suppose my budget would be (excluding the camera body, battery and memory card and tripod) £3000 ($4818) for the lenses and associated accessories.

From a company here in UK I received the following prices for lenses:

"Below are a list of the lenses we can supply:

PAN-HFS045200E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 45-200mm f4-5.6 Lens = £265+VAT
PAN-HFS014045E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 Lens = £225+VAT
PAN-HF007014E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 7-14mm f4 Asperical Lens = £1,053+VAT
PAN-HVS014140E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-140mm f4-5.8 Lens = £715+VAT
PAN-HH020E Lumix Micro Four Thirds 20mm f1.7 Pancake Lens = £279+VAT
PAN-HES045E Leica Micro Four Thirds DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f2.8 Mega OIS Lens = £585+VAT
PAN-HFS100300E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 100-300mm f4-5.6 Mega OIS Lens = £440+VAT
PAN-HF008E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 8mm f/3.5 Lens = £585+VAT
PAN-HH014E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G 14mm F2.5 ASPH Pancake Lens = £279+VAT
PAN-HFS014042E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 Mega OIS Lens = £162+VAT

The only other essentials are SD cards, otherwise you're good to go."

Has anyone had any experience with these lenses and the AF100 please?

Now, another question that will probably make me sound stupid...Will purchasing a Nanoflash recorder for this camera ensure the highest possible quality output? Or will it achieve just as high quality by recording onto memory cards?

Paul Llewellyn · February 9th, 2011, 08:46 AM

Hey Peter,

It's been a while!

I have had the AF101 for alittle over a week and I'm using my old set of Nikon AF. The lenses which you have listed are pretty slow.

I'm using:

35mm 1.4
50mm 1.4
80-200 2.8

The next lens I'd be looking for will be something wider than the 35. Maybe 20/21mm.

It also, of course, depends on what kind of shooting you are doing.

Best,
Paul

Peter Dunphy · February 10th, 2011, 07:42 AM

Hi Paul!

Thanks for contributing.

That camera definitely seems the business. Will check out the lenses you suggested.

Take care

Peter

Peter Manojlovic · February 10th, 2011, 10:02 PM

Are there any rental houses in your neighbourhood??

You should be able to rent a few, get all your testing done, and find out what works...
Perhaps settle for economical lenses for now, and when you're challenged for lighting, or want a Zeiss, simply rent it, and you'll be ready to roll..

Just a thought.

Kris Koster · February 11th, 2011, 03:59 AM

Before I write this, I don't own this camera yet - I've never had it in my hand, and I didn't even know of its existence until yesterday morning.

That said, I know a thing or two about lenses. My own personal feeling is that if you spend 5000 euro on a camera like this and stick a PAN-HFS014042E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 Mega OIS Lens at £162+VAT, you're gonna get what you pay for.

No disrespect to Panny, but they aren't skilled at making glass (personal opinion, by the way).

I may be wrong, and willing for others to chime in and disagree, but I think you would be better off buying 2nd hand manual lenses from eBay, of the Nikkor, Zeiss, Canon variety etc. As I read it, that's the cool thing about this camera, you can put pretty much any lens on there. Nikon/Canon/Zeiss have been making glass a lot longer than Panasonic and there are some awesome older-style lenses out there that will achieve brilliant pictures.

I'm so glad I never sold my set of mixed primes that I spent many a night feverishly researching and working out the ones I needed, back when I had my XH A1 rigged up to a Letus Elite. When I bought the 5D2 I sold the Letus and kept the primes.

I can't understand why people would buy an expensive cam that can do something like 60fps at 1080p, capable of beautiful images, and stick el-cheapo lenses on it. It's a bit like sliding a Fiat Panda engine inside a Ferrari Testarossa body shell. You're never going to realise its full potential!

You don't have to go to great expense to buying good glass. I sourced most of my lenses 2nd hand on eBay and have a great set. Will list them if you like.

One of the only things I don't like the sound of re this Panny camera is the 2x magnification. I LOVE the look that my 14mm EF L 2.8 Canon lens gives me from my 5D2 body, it looks awesome. I don't love the thought of it being 22mm on this AF cam... but that's for another thread.

February 5th, 2011, 10:29 PM	#1
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Interested in the AF100 Hi Guys I'm considering selling my XHA1 and Merlin Vest to raise funds towards buying an AF100 here in the UK. I've never used changeable lenses before, and have no idea how much they might cost (!) so just to get me started, could any of you please suggest: 1 lens for closeup work (not macro, just general close-ups) 1 lens for medium shots (interview subjects) 1 lens for big scenic wide-shots 1 zoom lens for general filming (for example, a soccer match from pitch-side) This will enable me to check out prices and try to see if its affordable. Ideally all the lenses and lens accessories I need wouldn't cost too much. I'm hoping some bargain lenses might exist out there! I would love to use the AF100 for corporate videos and ideally make an independent 'no budget' feature with it. Any tips or thoughts whatsoever would be really appreciated. Peter __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 6th, 2011, 03:09 PM	#2
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	I suppose my question is asking a bit too much info. Sorry about that. To make things easier...are there any 'packages' of lenses for the AF100 available that give an assortment of lenses? I'm imagining a case with 3 or 4 lenses in it but not sure if something like this exists?! __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 6th, 2011, 03:35 PM	#4
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Brilliant Daniel, that's food for thought, I appreciate it. __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 6th, 2011, 04:44 PM	#5
Olof Ekbergh Sponsor: Westside AV Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Mount Washington Valley, NH, USA Posts: 1,365	Just some general thoughts on lenses. Wide 10-14mm range Mid 20-30mm Short Tele 50-80mm Long Tele 100+mm I would want at least a mid or normal lens of f1.8 or faster. F2.8 on all others would be ideal. So a nice set would be 14mm f2.8 24mm f2 50mm f1.4 85mm f2.8 135mm f2.8 __________________ Olof Ekbergh • olof@WestsideAV.com Westside A V Studios • http://www.WestsideAVstore.com/

February 6th, 2011, 05:19 PM	#6
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Wow thanks Olof that's absolutely tremendous. Will definitely check out the set you suggest. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond - you are a great help. I'm dead-set on getting this camera. Will be such a good investment I feel. Thanks again. __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 6th, 2011, 03:32 PM	#3
Daniel Epstein Trustee Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: New York, NY Posts: 1,267	The people I know who are trying to figure out which lenses to buy are having a hard time coming up with a basic Lens package they want. The people I know who already have lenses they want to use seem to be all over the map but more decisive. Depending on how much you want to own versus renting makes a huge difference as well. If you want to go from wide to long expect to get three lenses and cost around 5K dollars over the cost of the camera. W accessories batteries and mounts figure 12K in the US. for a package w out a tripod. Think dolly more than zoom operationally.

February 7th, 2011, 07:46 AM	#8
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Brilliant Nigel thanks so much for contributing. __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 7th, 2011, 08:04 AM	#9
David W. Jones Trustee Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Little Rock Posts: 1,383	First thing I would do would be to set a budget. How much do you have to spend on a working set of lenses? Once you know that you can quickly break down your lens choices into what's affordable for your budget. All the Best! Dave __________________ David W. Jones www.joneshdfilms.com

February 7th, 2011, 12:46 PM	#10
Joachim Hoge Major Player Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Oslo, Norway Posts: 402	I´m out on my first job with this camera and I have the following (mix) of lenses: Olympus 14-35mm f2, main lens (with a micro 4/3 adaptor) Panasonic 7-14mm f4 wideangle Panasonic 20mm f1.7 pancake I have a set of manual Canon FD lenses 24, 35, 50 & 100, but I only brought the 50mm and 10mm as the 2 other focal lengths are already covered. These I will use for interviews and maybe some stock shots For these I have a Novoflex adaptor I also have a Beboop Foxi focus controller on the way. I probably spent the same (or a little more) on glass, adaptors, accesories as I did on the camera body it self (the Canons I got for free) I wish I had a tele zoom, like the 50-200mm Olympus, or maybe a 100-300mm

February 8th, 2011, 06:05 PM	#11
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Thanks for your contributions David and Joachim you are a great help. I suppose my budget would be (excluding the camera body, battery and memory card and tripod) £3000 ($4818) for the lenses and associated accessories. From a company here in UK I received the following prices for lenses: "Below are a list of the lenses we can supply: PAN-HFS045200E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 45-200mm f4-5.6 Lens = £265+VAT PAN-HFS014045E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-45mm f3.5-5.6 Lens = £225+VAT PAN-HF007014E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 7-14mm f4 Asperical Lens = £1,053+VAT PAN-HVS014140E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-140mm f4-5.8 Lens = £715+VAT PAN-HH020E Lumix Micro Four Thirds 20mm f1.7 Pancake Lens = £279+VAT PAN-HES045E Leica Micro Four Thirds DG Macro-Elmarit 45mm f2.8 Mega OIS Lens = £585+VAT PAN-HFS100300E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 100-300mm f4-5.6 Mega OIS Lens = £440+VAT PAN-HF008E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 8mm f/3.5 Lens = £585+VAT PAN-HH014E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G 14mm F2.5 ASPH Pancake Lens = £279+VAT PAN-HFS014042E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 Mega OIS Lens = £162+VAT The only other essentials are SD cards, otherwise you're good to go." Has anyone had any experience with these lenses and the AF100 please? Now, another question that will probably make me sound stupid...Will purchasing a Nanoflash recorder for this camera ensure the highest possible quality output? Or will it achieve just as high quality by recording onto memory cards? __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 9th, 2011, 08:46 AM	#12
Paul Llewellyn Tourist Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Bristol, England Posts: 4	Hey Peter, It's been a while! I have had the AF101 for alittle over a week and I'm using my old set of Nikon AF. The lenses which you have listed are pretty slow. I'm using: 35mm 1.4 50mm 1.4 80-200 2.8 The next lens I'd be looking for will be something wider than the 35. Maybe 20/21mm. It also, of course, depends on what kind of shooting you are doing. Best, Paul

February 10th, 2011, 07:42 AM	#13
Peter Dunphy Major Player Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: Belfast Northern Ireland Posts: 261	Hi Paul! Thanks for contributing. That camera definitely seems the business. Will check out the lenses you suggested. Take care Peter __________________ https://twitter.com/#!/brunospaws

February 10th, 2011, 10:02 PM	#14
Peter Manojlovic Major Player Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Hamilton Ontario Posts: 769	Are there any rental houses in your neighbourhood?? You should be able to rent a few, get all your testing done, and find out what works... Perhaps settle for economical lenses for now, and when you're challenged for lighting, or want a Zeiss, simply rent it, and you'll be ready to roll.. Just a thought.

February 11th, 2011, 03:59 AM	#15
Kris Koster Regular Crew Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Gatwick, UK Posts: 185	Before I write this, I don't own this camera yet - I've never had it in my hand, and I didn't even know of its existence until yesterday morning. That said, I know a thing or two about lenses. My own personal feeling is that if you spend 5000 euro on a camera like this and stick a PAN-HFS014042E Lumix Micro Four Thirds G Vario 14-42mm f3.5-5.6 Mega OIS Lens at £162+VAT, you're gonna get what you pay for. No disrespect to Panny, but they aren't skilled at making glass (personal opinion, by the way). I may be wrong, and willing for others to chime in and disagree, but I think you would be better off buying 2nd hand manual lenses from eBay, of the Nikkor, Zeiss, Canon variety etc. As I read it, that's the cool thing about this camera, you can put pretty much any lens on there. Nikon/Canon/Zeiss have been making glass a lot longer than Panasonic and there are some awesome older-style lenses out there that will achieve brilliant pictures. I'm so glad I never sold my set of mixed primes that I spent many a night feverishly researching and working out the ones I needed, back when I had my XH A1 rigged up to a Letus Elite. When I bought the 5D2 I sold the Letus and kept the primes. I can't understand why people would buy an expensive cam that can do something like 60fps at 1080p, capable of beautiful images, and stick el-cheapo lenses on it. It's a bit like sliding a Fiat Panda engine inside a Ferrari Testarossa body shell. You're never going to realise its full potential! You don't have to go to great expense to buying good glass. I sourced most of my lenses 2nd hand on eBay and have a great set. Will list them if you like. One of the only things I don't like the sound of re this Panny camera is the 2x magnification. I LOVE the look that my 14mm EF L 2.8 Canon lens gives me from my 5D2 body, it looks awesome. I don't love the thought of it being 22mm on this AF cam... but that's for another thread. __________________ http://kriskoster.com