Panasonic lumix g6, wow

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Like I said before, I don't think there exist a F1.4 stabilized lens, guess it must be a design limitation,

It's not a design limitation it's just the fact that on a 24mm-50mm lens stabilisation is not required for stills & AFAIK there are no F/1.4 lenses longer than 50mm. The rule of thumb for a sharp picture free from camera shake is to use a shutter speed which is at least as fast as 1 divided by the focal length of the lens e.g. on a 50mm lens 1/50 is sufficient On a longer lens IS can be useful in lower light e.g. shoot with a 200mm lens at 1/50 rather than 1/200

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

Now for stabilization built in, I'm beginning to watch used prices on clean Olympus OMD E-M5 bodies. The built in the body 5 axis stabilization approaches the results of a Steadycam, I've seen some great footage where the stabilization is as clean as can be with little or no shake walking and moving the camera around. The only thing that kept me from buying one of those brand new is that Olympus seems to think we need only one frame rate (30fps).

But I'm looking to pick one of those up if the used (but clean) price drops a bit more, just for where I need stabilization. I shoot mainly at 30p anyway.

I have an OM-D E-M5 & the IBIS is absolutely staggeringly amazingly good & far better than any other stabilisation I have seen even on a proper camcorder. The video quality is OK but I have seen evidence of the CODEC breaking down when stressed e.g. the typical terror subject of rustling leaves on a tree can turn to mush. I am in PAL-land so am shooting at 25p with my other cameras but Premiere Pro does a good job mixing in 30p along with 25p (as does FCP). I shoot at 1/50 to avoid any flickering of lights & haven't encountered any problems. For me the advantages of a camera that fits in my pocket that doesn't need a tripod, monopod, slider, crane or Steadicam to produce usable footage outweighs the 30p & less than perfect video which is excellent most of the time.

The OM-D (or OMG as my wife refers to it:-) is becoming my goto camera. I probably need to invest in the 25mm F/1.4 (possibly 20mm F/1.7) plus the 45mm F/1.8 to complete the package as I already have the 14mm F/2.5 as a wide lens. I don't really want to invest in big heavy manual lenses like a Voigtlander Nokton 25mm F/0.95 or the various SLR Magic lenses or old Nikon or Canon FD lenses as I like the modern small light plastic lenses with AF actually designed for these cameras.

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

The OM-D (or OMG as my wife refers to it:-) is becoming my goto camera. I probably need to invest in the 25mm F/1.4 (possibly 20mm F/1.7) plus the 45mm F/1.8 to complete the package as I already have the 14mm F/2.5 as a wide lens.

You'd likely be better off with the 25mm f1.4 rather than the 20mm f1.7 for the OMD EM5, I'm seeing multiple references to banding issues with the 20mm at high ISOs on that camera. So far I've seen nothing like that but all I have right now are Panasonic Lumix bodies.

The Olympus 45mm f1.8 is an outstanding performer, you'll love it!

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

I have an OM-D E-M5 & the IBIS is absolutely staggeringly amazingly good & far better than any other stabilisation I have seen even on a proper camcorder.

This is what I've read on other forums when the E-M5 first came out. You've just "nailed it" for me as I found a well cared for body with 736 shutter actuations on another forum for a price I felt was fair.

[quote=Nigel Barker;1819880]v

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

For me the advantages of a camera that fits in my pocket that doesn't need a tripod, monopod, slider, crane or Steadicam to produce usable footage outweighs the 30p & less than perfect video which is excellent most of the time.

I'm in the U.S. and 30p is what I'm used to working in. I have the 60p and 24p options with the GH3's, but not any stabilization except what's in the lenses so I'll look forward to doing some testing with the OMD E-M5 when it gets here.

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

I don't really want to invest in big heavy manual lenses like a Voigtlander Nokton 25mm F/0.95 or the various SLR Magic lenses or old Nikon or Canon FD lenses as I like the modern small light plastic lenses with AF actually designed for these cameras.

I'm with you on this all the way, that's why I made the switch from Canon. I love how sharp these lenses are and if necessary I have the diffusion filtration I might need to "soften" them. But at 75 yrs. the light weight of the lenses is sure appreciated.

[Noa Put]

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

It's not a design limitation it's just the fact that on a 24mm-50mm lens stabilisation is not required for stills & AFAIK there are no F/1.4 lenses longer than 50mm.

Panasonic has a 24mm full frame equivalent that is stabilized, I can understand that for stills it might not be required but I always wondered why stabilization doesn't exist on fast primes, surely it can't be the case that all manufacturers think it's not necessary, for video stabilization is even on wide angle lenses a advantage when you shoot handheld.

Originally Posted by Nigel Barker

there are no F/1.4 lenses longer than 50mm.

A 85mm f1.4 exists, or do you mean something else?

[Jeff Harper]

Yes, indeed there is Noa. In fact there is also an 85mm F/1.2. Amazing lens. The F/1.2 was not fun to use at receptions, it was a bear to focus manually at F/1.2. Lots of fun to play with with, however. With no IS it was kind of worthless handheld.

[Nigel Barker]

I was referring to native MFT lenses & in fact I see that neither Olympus nor Panasonic make an F/1.4 lens longer than 25mm although I see that there is actually a 50mm F/0.95 from SLR Magic but that is a manual lens.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Panasonic has a 24mm full frame equivalent that is stabilized,

Panasonic don't have a 12mm prime with IS they have a 12-35mm zoom with IS (24-70mm FF equivalent)

[Noa Put]

That was the lens I was refering to meaning at 12mm it's a 24mm full frame equivalent that is stabilised. Olympus also has a mft 75mm f1.8 but that one is unfortunaltely not stabilised.

[Nigel Barker]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

That was the lens I was refering to meaning at 12mm it's a 24mm full frame equivalent that is stabilised. Olympus also has a mft 75mm f1.8 but that one is unfortunaltely not stabilised.

Olympus don't have any stabilised lenses because they have no need for them with their fantastic patented 5-way in camera IS.

I was round visiting colleague at the weekend & had the opportunity to compare hand holding his Panasonic 100-300mm lens on my OM-D. With Olympus IBIS I could hand hold it at 100mm (200mm FF equivalent) absolutely rock solid whereas with the Panasonic OIS in the lens I could not as it wavered about.

[Noa Put]

I thought the Olympus only had 30p as option? How do you edit this on a 25p timeline, does it not slow down the footage when you go from 30 to 25p?

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Noa Put

Olympus also has a mft 75mm f1.8 but that one is unfortunaltely not stabilised.

No...But it is CRAZY sharp and has beautiful image tones. I tried to avoid the cost of it by buying a Rokinon 85mm T1.5 Cine lens, the Rokinon was OK - I did like it - but I wound up selling it and ordering the Olympus 75mm. Good decision for me, it's a great lens.

[Noa Put]

Yes, but it's also crazy expensive :) I"m sure it's worth every penny but I do have a 85mm rokinon which is 290 euro while the Olympus is 1000 euro. I"m planning to buy a fast prime soon for my gh3/g6 but I find it hard to choose, if I go for a MFT lens I"m stuck with that format with no option to mount on any other camera ever.

[Pete Carney]

Noa, I'd highly recommend looking into Olympus OM Zuiko vintage lenses. I have a quite a few of them from over the years. They have super high contrast and sharpness with none of the yellow muddy colors of the Nikkor AIS's or Canon FD lenses.

The 24mm f/2, the 28mm f/2.8 and the 50mm f/1.4 are particularly incredible lenses. The 28mm and 50mm are quite cost effective as well.

If you take your time I think it's possible to find some of these lenses in the $50 - $80 USD range. I have quite a few vintage lenses and my Olympus OM's are by far and away the finest you can get.

In any case, the Olympus vintage lenses are an incredible option if you can live without IS and autofocus. Surely for a savings of 500+ euro's per lens you can do some truly unbelievable work on the GH3 or G6.

With the 10x zoom function for focusing on the G6, it makes using these vintage manual lenses quite manageable when on a tripod. For stabilizer work and truly wide angle the 12-35mm f/2.8 with IS is still the ticket.

Cheers,
Pete

[Noa Put]

Thx for the tip on the vintage Olympus OM Zuiko lenses! Initially I was thinking on getting a Olympus 45mm f1.8 new and a panasonic 20mm f1.7 as both are cheap but optically good performers, I also need a zoom with a bit larger range where the panasonic 45-200 f4/5.6 came to mind which is also very cheap. All 3 lenses have autofocus capability which I use a lot just to initially point my camera to what I want to have in focus and then press the shutter button half, also when a subject moves pressing the shutter button to make it refocus has proven to be accurate enough and I switch to manual whenever needed. But I do like a all manual lens as well, particular the Samyang cine lenses with their clickless aperturering, I got a 24mm f1.4 e mount for my sony camera to find out later there doesn't exist a adapter for any other camera.

A quick search on ebay I see the 28mm f2.0 starts from around 150 to up to 450 dollar, there I also need to see it doesn't come from the states as the sending costs are high + I need to pay additional custom costs and added taxes. I have a set of vintage tamron adaptall II lenses which I like as they render a image with a lot of "character" but they are not usable in combination with my new lumix lenses as they render a very clean, sharp image and you clearly see the difference. That's why I am a bit wary of vintage lenses as they would be perfect for my personal projects but not so for my paid projects.