Need advise, going the Speedboster way or not? (GH4)

[TSV]

Hi everyone

I need some advise. As for today I own a GH4 and GX7MKII with a 12-35mm, 35-100mm and 15mm. I have two problems with this setting

1. I need faster lens (1.7 is not that great on the 15mm)
2. I need a wider angle than the 12mm.

Now my problem is as follow.

Shall I get M43 lenses? The just announce 12mm 1.4 is sexy, but the price is just insane. While the 7-14mm from Pana is affordable but not that sharp and stuck to F4 and the 7-14 from Olympus at 2.8 cost twice as much as Pan one, but is amazing.

Or... Shall I go the Speedbooster way and get a Tokina AT-X 11-20 F2.8 PRO DX 11-20mm F2.8 and a 18-35 Sigma Art (all Canon mount)/ To give you an idea, the cost of The Olympus 7-14 will cover the cost of the Tokina and Speedbooster. While the cost of the New Pana 12 1.4, will cover the cost of the Simga and Speedbooster.

I have seen a few 4K Video shot with the Sigma and this lens seems to outperform my 12-35mm un every way (please correct me if I am wrong), but I was not able to find videos shot in 4K with the Tokina.

Thanks in advance. 

[tdonovic]

I use only native lenses, particularly the pro Olympus ones, since they have the proper manual focus ring that will actually work with my follow focus. The Oly 7-14 is amazing, it isn't cheap but it performs amazingly. I have left it and the gh4 out in the rain shooting timelapse over night and it didn't skip a beat. 

If you are only shooting video, it doesn't really matter a whole lot either way, its just whether you are happy with how much the kit will weigh with those big lenses. If you are using them for photos too, you have to go native. 

I went with native mounts, since I dont want a super heavy kit + I need them for stills AF performance.

 

[Justin Bacle]

I use mainly fixed primes with a focal reducer or a dumb adapter and would really recommend using a speedbooster or lens turbo for the extra stop of light you get (and the S35 look).

I use a lens turbo II myself (MD -> M43) for use with minolta MD & M42 glass. This is a joy to use.

Native mount is great, but a bit expensive. I just prefer to use older lenses for the flares and imperfections. But if you seek perfection and ease of use, I guess native glass is the way to go.

Just FYI, I just bought a Samyang 12mm T2.2 in M43 mount (for wide shots as the 7-14/4 can be too dark), and am very happy with it

[mercer]

Have you looked at the Voigtlander 10mm?

Micro 4/3rds, f/0.95, cheaper than the Panasonic 12mm. 

[jonpais]

@OP What exactly will you be shooting?

[dr_jon]

Quite interestingly LensRentals say the metabones products are not reliable enough for professional use...
https://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2016/06/a-look-at-the-new-sigma-mc-11-lens-adapter/
"The Metabones adapters give a tempting promise of being able to use the larger Canon, Nikon, and Sony A- mount on smaller mounts like the micro 4/3 and Sony E-mount. Many times they work and provide aperture control and support image stabilization, but we have routine problems with these adapters that can be quite frustrating. The most common being a loss or lack of electronic connection between lens and camera, sometimes creating errors and freezing in the camera. The adapters also regularly have screws coming loose and other functional issues. We state a warning to customers on the individual product pages discouraging against relying on the adapter for the success of the shoot."

 

[j.f.r.]

7 hours ago, TSV said:

I have two problems with this setting

1. I need faster lens (1.7 is not that great on the 15mm)
2. I need a wider angle than the 12mm.

 

Your problem is the camera...... You need wide go with a Full Frame camera (Sony a7s) You need fast or high iso go with a Full Frame camera (Sony A7s)

Problem solved/
 

 

[TSV]

11 hours ago, Justin Bacle said:

Just FYI, I just bought a Samyang 12mm T2.2 in M43 mount (for wide shots as the 7-14/4 can be too dark), and am very happy with it

I am not confortable with manual focus lens only... Otherwise I would have jump on Samyang.

8 hours ago, mercer said:

Have you looked at the Voigtlander 10mm?

Micro 4/3rds, f/0.95, cheaper than the Panasonic 12mm. 

I have read a lot of bad review on this 10mm, while other models are outstanding. And, as said just above I am not confortable with manual focus lenses.

7 hours ago, jonpais said:

@OP What exactly will you be shooting?

Mainly landscape, street view and occasionally craftworkers https://www.youtube.com/user/TokyoStreetView

5 hours ago, j.f.r. said:

Your problem is the camera...... You need wide go with a Full Frame camera (Sony a7s) You need fast or high iso go with a Full Frame camera (Sony A7s)

Problem solved/

 I wanted to love Sony, but the early problems with the A7RII, A7SII coupled with their recording time limite (without hack), horrible menus, limited Remote app, poor battery time, amazingly expensive body, bulky (and expensive), soft image in 4K (A7SII is softer than the GH4), lenses couple to the fact that there are no Sony repair center in Tokyo* for the average consumer stopped me in my purchase. For the same price as a Sony A7SII I will prefer to wait and go back to Canon for a potential 5DMK IV

*There is actually one but you need to own 3 lenses 2 bodies and pay a yearly fee, while Nikon, Canon, Pana have a repair center that handle most your problem in an hour or a day at most (in my case their changed the sensor of my GH4 in 24h because of dust)

[tdonovic]

49 minutes ago, TSV said:

I am not confortable with manual focus lens only... Otherwise I would have jump on Samyang.

Don't buy a speedbooster expecting the AF to be good. It works, just not very well compared to native lenses. AF == native mount lenses. Buy used and you won't lose anything on them, if cost is of concern.

[HelsinkiZim]

My advice from owning a camdiox generic brand speed booster for a year is: 

Get the best native you can and 'boost' for deficiencies and not for standard practice. The speed booster is not a good investment but a good lens is. And you cannot put a price on things that simplify your workflow.... which a native lens does. 1 stop here or there do not an attractive DOF portrait make. If you have a blurry background then be happy with it and stop thinking that the blurrier it is the better the shot. Nowadays a small blur is sufficient. The oh-my-god shallow DOF look is sooo circa 2013

Edit: and 1 stop of light is not going to make a gh4 an a7s.

[TSV]

Everyone, thanks for the feedback... I will keep on going native then.

Cheers!

[Brian Caldwell]

On 6/15/2016 at 3:39 AM, TSV said:

Hi everyone

I need some advise. As for today I own a GH4 and GX7MKII with a 12-35mm, 35-100mm and 15mm. I have two problems with this setting

1. I need faster lens (1.7 is not that great on the 15mm)
2. I need a wider angle than the 12mm.

Now my problem is as follow.

Shall I get M43 lenses? The just announce 12mm 1.4 is sexy, but the price is just insane. While the 7-14mm from Pana is affordable but not that sharp and stuck to F4 and the 7-14 from Olympus at 2.8 cost twice as much as Pan one, but is amazing.

Or... Shall I go the Speedbooster way and get a Tokina AT-X 11-20 F2.8 PRO DX 11-20mm F2.8 and a 18-35 Sigma Art (all Canon mount)/ To give you an idea, the cost of The Olympus 7-14 will cover the cost of the Tokina and Speedbooster. While the cost of the New Pana 12 1.4, will cover the cost of the Simga and Speedbooster.

I have seen a few 4K Video shot with the Sigma and this lens seems to outperform my 12-35mm un every way (please correct me if I am wrong), but I was not able to find videos shot in 4K with the Tokina.

Thanks in advance. 

I think a lot depends on how much you need lens speed, and how important the speed vs. size/weight tradeoff is to you.  The new Panasonic 12/1.4 is no doubt a nice lens, and it looks pretty compact, but a Speed Booster XL on an 18-35 Sigma will give you an 11.5-22.4mm f/1.1 with excellent wide-open sharpness.  In this case the native lens would make more sense if size/weight is more important than speed, and if you don't plan to use a Speed Booster on other lenses.  On the other hand, a truly sharp f/1.1 zoom can come in pretty handy!