Suggestions for cheaper alternative to Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8?

[James Palanza]

Doesn't have to be native mount to m4/3 as long as it can be adapted. Completely manual is fine. No higher than 2.8. Anything out there, vintage or something that I'm unaware of? Also my god how about Olympus 35-100mm f/2.0 ED Zuiko, that thing looks like a work of art. Sweet jesus is it expensive though.

[Joe Wickert]

Hi,

I found this Konica one on Ebay 35-100 2.8.

Konica Hexanon AR 35 100mm 2 8 M4 3 Sony NEX X PRO 1 | eBay

There was also one of these in Poland recently in Four Thirds mount that might give you auto focus with an adapter.

I have no idea if it's any good or not.

Joe

[James Palanza]

Looks like I'm going to actually go with Sigma's 70-200 2.8. The way I see it is, yeah its more telephoto, but I always have more options to back up further away in a church than I do getting closer.


Amazon.com: Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG HSM II Macro Zoom Lens for Canon Digital SLR Cameras: Camera & Photo

edit: maybe not, looks like its a totally electronic aperture

[Thomas Smet]

Take a look at some of the Nikon D mount lenses. These are modern lenses that still have an aperture ring.

There are plenty of 35-100 f2.8 options that are very cheap. In fact there are some good alternative ranges in the third party options as well. Tamron and Tokina made some good affordable options for this mount.

I actually have a Tamron 28-300 super zoom in that mount that looks great. Slow like most zooms but optically it looks great and gives me an interesting alternative to my 14-140 Lumix. It is a beast to use however. It isn't heavy since it is a modern lens but full manual on a zoom like this is not very easy to use. With a external monitor it is much easier.

[Thomas Smet]

Try to find a Tamron 28-105 Nikon D mount f2.8. Should be around $300.00ish.

[James Palanza]

I decided to end up going with Nikon Mount SIGMA APO 70-200mm F2.8 F/2.8 D HSM. They have manual aperture's. I figure for 600 bucks its pretty hard to beat. Lots of focal length so I can be pretty far away in a church and reach closeups on everyone. I'll keep looking for 35-100's though for smaller churches. Going to get 3 of them for all three GH2 camera angles, and have one camera with wider lens options for switching in and out.

[Kevin McRoberts]

Sigma 50-150/2.8 non-OS Nikon mount (~$500) + Metabones Speedbooster, Nikon G ($429)

= "SigMeta 35-105/2," internal, non-extending, parfocal, with delightfully close repeatable focus (~$929 total)

The SB would also work spiffily with your 70-200. Give me a couple of days and I'll have a few samples up.

[James Palanza]

Oh man, that metabones is sweet. I'll have to keep that in mind in case I need another stop of light for that lens!

[James Palanza]

I'd like to mention that I just pulled the trigger on the new metabones Nikon to m4/3 adapter. This will supposedly turn my 70-200 2.8 manual sigma (effective 140-400) into a 100-284 @ 2.0 for about 1000.00 This would be impressive as all hell, so I'll let you know how it turns out.

[Kevin McRoberts]

good choice, got mine late last week and it's been working splendidly with my Sigma 50-150 and other Nikon-mount glass.

Of course now I'm taunted by the emerging Sigma 18-35/1.8 and prospects of boosting it, so I don't know if the SB has succeeded in saving me any money....

[James Palanza]

Haha! As soon as I bought the SB i immediately started looking at wide nikon mount lenses as well lol. the 11-17 tokina would be amazing but it doesnt have a manual aperture control! crap. It could replace all my wides.

[Kevin McRoberts]

No aperture ring? No problem!

The Nikon SB takes care of that for you... all Nikon DX lens apertures are controlled by a wee lever in the camera's aft end that the camera (or SpeedBooster) can control mechanically. Set the SB aperture ring to 8, attach the lens, and the booster's aperture dial can control your camera.

Tested so far:
Rokinon 8mm Fisheye (full fishy coverage)
Sigma 10-20 (full coverage)
Nikon 10-24 (very slight corner darkening)
Nikon 16-35 (corner vignetting throughout range)
Nikon 18-200 (slight corner vignetting throughout)
Nikon 17-55/2.8 (full coverage)

[James Palanza]

I discovered this on my own yesterday, its good news. I'll let you know how the SB works on that tokina when it all comes in tomorrow. Could be incredible! Not to mention it also acts as a widener at .71 so the already wide tokina gets even wider!