Which Nikon primes for GH2?

[zenpmd]

Can anyone advise me on what primes I should be buying for the Gh2 for use, ideally, with a full frame, or at least Nikon DSLR when the time comes that I will eventually replace the GH2?

 

Thanks!

Paul

[dahlfors]

50mm: I've used the Nikon 50mm f/1.8 E Series pancake lens, 50mm f/1.8 AF-D and 50mm f/1.4 AF-D. My #1 recommendation would be the 50mm f/1.8 AF-D. I've used that lens for tens of thousands of stills, and I haven't really found any weakness at all in that lens, it is just superb. In rare cases facing strong light sources or sunlight the 50mm f/1.4 can give some nasty ghosting pattern from inside the lens - the minimal flares and ghosting of the f/1.8 have never annoyed me. The AF-D lenses have manual aperture ring which will be useful for your GH2. For autofocus to work, you need one of Nikon's camera bodies with builtin AF motor (D7000, D600, D800 has such, but not the entry level cameras). In conclusion - the 50 f/1.4 has let me down a few times with nasty ghosting. The 50mm f/1.8 hasn't ever. Both are sharp. The E series lens seem to get a bit of hype, but my own doesn't seem to focus to infinity properly and I had to do service of it's focus ring. Again, considering the bargain price of the f/1.8 AF-D, the E Series isn't worth it.

 

85mm: The 85mm f/1.8 AF-D is great. Also the old Nikon 85mm f/2 AI-S is great. Very sharp lenses.

 

Personally I've had good experience with Nikon's 200mm f/4 AI and 105mm f/2.5 AI-S lenses too. These will be quite in the longer range on a GH2 though. Might be useful depending on how you shoot.

 

For a more normal focal length on GH2 (but wide in terms of full frame): the nikon 24mm f/2.8 AF-D is good. the Nikon 28mm f/2.8 AI-S is a great one, that lens is among Nikon's best lenses.

 

For wide use for your GH2, go for a Micro Four Thirds specific lens. Nikon has some wide primes too, but you'd be paying far too much for just using a center crop on those lenses. If you later on upgrade to a Nikon DSLR, if it's an APS-C sensor size DSLR, go for either the Tokina 12-24mm f/4 or the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, there isn't really any better prime options. For a full frame the zoom options are 17-35mm f/2.8, 16-35mm f/4 VR, 14-24mm f/2.8. I personally got the 16-35mm f/4 VR. Very sharp. The 14-24mm is legendary for its sharpness, one of the best zoom lenses in existance. I haven't yet made my mind up when it comes to wide primes. Basically the choice is 24 f/2.8 AF-D, 28mm f/2.8 AI-S and 35mm f/2 AF-D. The 24mm f/1.4 and 35mm f/1.4 are really good, but I can't justify paying 5-6 times the money per len for just that small amount of light... The difference in sharpness isn't that much.

 

Hope this helps you a bit on the way :)

 

Oh yeah - and most of these lenses would fall in the range of "most quality for the money" category. None of these I recommend for your GH2 are crazy expensive - but they are still among the better Nikon's out there.

[zenpmd]

Hi Dahflors

 

Thanks for much for your detailed response. Is this the one you mean for the 50mm? I hope so, this is the sort of money I wanted to spend! I find some of these "older" lenses a bit confusing!

 

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00005LEN4/?tag=hydra0b-21&hvadid=9550948869&ref=asc_df_B00005LEN4

 

Out of interest, is everyone very excited about the speedbooster? I mean, surely this makes things like the Olmpyus 12mm 2.0 even more attractive, doesn't it? And the lack of wide in the 4/3 range? I ask because I would not have bought the 12mm 2.0, but given that the speedbooster is due out, then I think it makes more sense now?

 

I see photozone loves that 85mm wow! 

 

http://www.photozone.de/nikon--nikkor-aps-c-lens-tests/221-nikkor-af-85mm-f18-d-review--test-report?start=2

[dahlfors]

Yes. The amazon link is the correct lens - amazing deal there! Those lenses usually go for double the price here in Sweden...

[zenpmd]

Great! Which adapter do you recommend?

[dahlfors]

I don't know about the differences. The Novoflex and Voigtlander adapters both seem popular. I bet there are other users who can answer that better in the generic forum or GH2 forum :)

[zenpmd]

Have you used this, out of interest? Could be a good alternative:

 

 http://www.photozone.de/reviews/263-voigtlander-ultron-40mm-f2-ii-nikon-mount-review--test-report?start=2

[dahlfors]

No. But reviews seem to agree that it is great :) Since I already have a 50mm, I've been considering my next step down to be a 28mm or 35mm, no real need for a 40mm in between. But, it's a very interesting lens since it's such a portable pancake and seems to perform so well. Might be a great choice instead of a 50mm :)

[QuickHitRecord]

Nikkor 85mm f/2 AI-S is my favorite spherical for anamorphic shooting with my GH2, but you'd better have a good tripod if you are going to do this.

 

The 85mm Non-AI is also excellent and costs much less.

[zenpmd]

This has worried me, how do I do this on the GH2?

 

. The focus ring cannot be turned manually without disengaging the AF screw drive via the AF/MF switch on the body, unlike the AF-S lenses

Read more on NikonRumors.com: http://nikonrumors.com/2011/11/03/seven-50mm-prime-lenses-for-nikon-f-mount-compared-by-cary-jordan.aspx/#ixzz2KU8d0BNk. 

 

[dahlfors]

I'll try to remember to check it up on my lens later today (never actually tried how it functions without having it on the camera).

 

Bummer, I had forgot that the lens is out of town.

 

However, I checked out the section that you are linking to:

 

"The focus ring cannot be turned manually without disengaging the AF screw drive via the AF/MF switch on the body, unlike the AF-S lenses."
 

This means that you should not turn the focus ring manually on a Nikon body - since that means you are turning around the motor in the camera body as well (you notice it by the resistance of the motor). On a Nikon camera body you should disengage the motor by flipping a switch on the camera house. However, if you don't have a focus motor in the camera body, then you have nothing that attaches to the autofocus drive of the lens - and the lens is limited to manual focus only. So, you can think of the lens as being a manual focus only lens - until you slap it on a camera body with builtin autofocus motor.

 

This is the same for all Nikon lenses that are marked "AF-S" or with a D like this 50mm, "50mm AF-S f/1.8D". Avoid the Nikon lenses that are marked with a G, like "50mm AF-S f/1.8G" - these lenses with a G in the model name are the newest lenses by Nikon. They don't have any aperture ring, and only functions on modern Nikon camera bodies.

 

Conclusion: buy Nikon AI, AI-S, AF-S, AF-D lenses and they should work just fine on a GH2 in manual mode.