Ultra wide angle for GH5: native or adapted?

[Grégory LEROY]

Hello guys,

Should I buy a native lens like the Leica 8-18mm? : compact, autofocus, in camera correction, or should I choose the adapted path buying the Tokina 11-20 f2,8 on Metabones XL Speedbooster: more light & shallow depth, no focus by wire, don't care about a little of vignetting

Performance against bright light is quite important to me.

I'm questioning caus all I see over youtube from GH5 x Leica 8-18 is so un-inspiring, so sanitized (well, it's tourist shot in the same time).

On the other hand, I've heard that adapting an ultra wide angle lens with metabones speedbooster was not a very good idea. 

What is your experienced with ultra wide angle lenses and micro 4/3 camera?

Thank you.

[Spgreen65]

I use the Rokinon 7.5 for ultra wide.  The 12mm setting on my 12 to 60 is pretty wide.  

[Cinegain]

I have the Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO which trully does a spectacular job. But it is huge and doesn't have a filter ring natively. Before I used to fly handheld gimbal stabilizers of the mechanical kind with the GH2 and the adapted Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, but I don't find the image all that satisfying, I find the Olympus has less distortion and better sharpness. But you do need like a 3D printed accessory to be able to mount filters in front. Then more recently Laowa came out with the 7.5mm f/2 MFT rectilinear lens (which the Oly is as well, btw) and it is the perfect thing for wide angle. It's small and light (I have the lightweight version, should I decide to throw it on some aerial platform one day) and actually takes filters natively. Image quality is rather good for the size. People also used to use the Olympus 9-18mm quite a bit, might be worth having a look at. Otherwise... Gordon Laing I believe mentioned it was his favourite lens to come out last year? Just because it's so practical. But I have to agree with you on the look, nothing about these recent Panasonic Leica zooms screams that Leica look, like their primes do (most notably of course the 42.5mm f/1.2). So... dunno. For me, right now it's a mixture of convenience VS quality when I go out, so either Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO or 7.5mm f/2 MFT from Laowa.

 

[IronFilm]

The Tokina 11-20 is pretty sweet. I have the older 11-16mm

This can last you many years across many systems. 

And who the hell needs AF for UWA anyway? Your DoF is measured in feet after all!

[Grégory LEROY]

20 minutes ago, IronFilm said:

The Tokina 11-20 is pretty sweet. I have the older 11-16mm

This can last you many years across many systems. 

And who the hell needs AF for UWA anyway? Your DoF is measured in feet after all!

Could you show me some video you shot with tokina and speedbooster pleas?

21 minutes ago, Cinegain said:

I have the Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO which trully does a spectacular job. But it is huge and doesn't have a filter ring natively. Before I used to fly handheld gimbal stabilizers of the mechanical kind with the GH2 and the adapted Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, but I don't find the image all that satisfying, I find the Olympus has less distortion and better sharpness. But you do need like a 3D printed accessory to be able to mount filters in front. Then more recently Laowa came out with the 7.5mm f/2 MFT rectilinear lens (which the Oly is as well, btw) and it is the perfect thing for wide angle. It's small and light (I have the lightweight version, should I decide to throw it on some aerial platform one day) and actually takes filters natively. Image quality is rather good for the size. People also used to use the Olympus 9-18mm quite a bit, might be worth having a look at. Otherwise... Gordon Laing I believe mentioned it was his favourite lens to come out last year? Just because it's so practical. But I have to agree with you on the look, nothing about these recent Panasonic Leica zooms screams that Leica look, like their primes do (most notably of course the 42.5mm f/1.2). So... dunno. For me, right now it's a mixture of convenience VS quality when I go out, so either Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO or 7.5mm f/2 MFT from Laowa.

In fact, when Im' shooting gun action, 20mm to 24mm (35mm equ) is the sweat spot to me, this laowa is too wide. 35 mm is also nice for journalism/report. I forgot to mention that I imperatively need classic filter on my lens. I've damaged an ultra wide lens  last year (no UV filter) receiving a cartridge...

[Grégory LEROY]

2 hours ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Hello guys,

Should I buy a native lens like the Leica 8-18mm? : compact, autofocus, in camera correction, or should I choose the adapted path buying the Tokina 11-20 f2,8 on Metabones XL Speedbooster: more light & shallow depth, no focus by wire, don't care about a little of vignetting

Performance against bright light is quite important to me.

I'm questioning caus all I see over youtube from GH5 x Leica 8-18 is so un-inspiring, so sanitized (well, it's tourist shot in the same time).

On the other hand, I've heard that adapting an ultra wide angle lens with metabones speedbooster was not a very good idea. 

What is your experienced with ultra wide angle lenses and micro 4/3 camera?

Thank you.

Guys, If you have footage comparaison btw native and adapted ultra wide angle (20mm is enough wide for me)  lens on m43, do not hesitate to post. If you have footage of adapted ultra wide angle (no comparison) I would be also curious.

[aldolega]

You could try the Rokinon/Samyang 12mm f2. It's small, cheap, fast, and takes filters.

[markr041]

SLR Magic 8mm F4.

 

[buggz]

Has anyone used the Sigma Art 12-14/f4 and Speedbooster?

I am thinking of getting one...

[Rinad Amir]

15mm 1.7 Leica ?? Youtube it its gem of lens wide and savior when light needed also small light cheap god i cant praise this lens enough i had it compared to my 18-35 1.8 with booster and weight is the first thing that made me sell sigma and keep Leica

[Cinegain]

It's one of my favourites... but wouldn't call it 'ultra wide angle' of course...

[buggz]

What Speedbooster did you use your Sigma 18-35/1.8 with?

I think my Speedbooster 0.64XL is probably needing "calibrated". 

One day, the lens element in mine was loose, and the set screw was lost. 

I screwed the element back in, but I'm certain there is a point where it should be.

As such, the corners of my vids are horrible with this lens.

Though, I don't see the corner problem with any of the other lenses I use.

 

21 minutes ago, Rinad Amir said:

15mm 1.7 Leica ?? Youtube it its gem of lens wide and savior when light needed also small light cheap god i cant praise this lens enough i had it compared to my 18-35 1.8 with booster and weight is the first thing that made me sell sigma and keep Leica

 

[graphicnatured]

8 hours ago, IronFilm said:

The Tokina 11-20 is pretty sweet. I have the older 11-16mm

This can last you many years across many systems. 

And who the hell needs AF for UWA anyway? Your DoF is measured in feet after all!

Agreed, and the standard 77mm filter thread on 11-16 is also good.

[jonpais]

The Laowa @Cinegain recommends hits your sweet spot with ETC mode enabled on the GH5. 

[TARS]

I have the Panasonic 8-18, and while I do love that lens and it’s sharpness for photos, it doesn’t really have the practical advantages for video you might think. 

The autofocus is bad to the point where I don’t even use it for vlogging. I’ll set focus and flick the switch on the barrel to manual. It’s that bad, even in daytime sunlight. 

The IBIS also doesn’t play very nice with it on the wider end. There’s a lot of jello and background warp happening there. But That will likely be the case for any lens that wide.

it is still one of the better options for the system, given that it has filter threads and has great image quality. 

Just be aware that the autofocus can be maddening and fly by wire is verrrry difficult to pull reliably and consistently.

for my purposes, I still think it’s the right choice. But if you don’t mind the bulk of adapted lenses and will be doing mostly manual focusing, there are better options.  

[IronFilm]

12 hours ago, Grégory LEROY said:

Could you show me some video you shot with tokina and speedbooster pleas?

Punch the right search terms into Vimeo and you can see tonnes of footage from people:

https://vimeo.com/search?q=tokina+panasonic

It is wiiiiiiiiide!

3 hours ago, buggz said:

What Speedbooster did you use your Sigma 18-35/1.8 with?

 

I'm a cheap bastard, and use the RJ Lens Turbo

[Grégory LEROY]

8 hours ago, IronFilm said:

Punch the right search terms into Vimeo and you can see tonnes of footage from people:

https://vimeo.com/search?q=tokina+panasonic

It is wiiiiiiiiide!

I'm a cheap bastard, and use the RJ Lens Turbo

Thank for the Vimeo link. I prefer much more the Tokina look  to the leica 8-18. In the same time Videographers seem more talented on vimeo than on youtube...

Do you know if the tokina vignet a lot with GH5 and speedbooster XL?

9 hours ago, TARS said:

I have the Panasonic 8-18, and while I do love that lens and it’s sharpness for photos, it doesn’t really have the practical advantages for video you might think. 

The autofocus is bad to the point where I don’t even use it for vlogging. I’ll set focus and flick the switch on the barrel to manual. It’s that bad, even in daytime sunlight. 

The IBIS also doesn’t play very nice with it on the wider end. There’s a lot of jello and background warp happening there. But That will likely be the case for any lens that wide.

it is still one of the better options for the system, given that it has filter threads and has great image quality. 

Just be aware that the autofocus can be maddening and fly by wire is verrrry difficult to pull reliably and consistently.

for my purposes, I still think it’s the right choice. But if you don’t mind the bulk of adapted lenses and will be doing mostly manual focusing, there are better options.  

So if I understand, your purposes are mainly photography, but for video, forget it.

10 hours ago, jonpais said:

The Laowa @Cinegain recommends hits your sweet spot with ETC mode enabled on the GH5. 

I like what I see on Vimeo but is the ETC involving more noise? I shoot a lot inside shooting range.

12 hours ago, Rinad Amir said:

15mm 1.7 Leica ?? Youtube it its gem of lens wide and savior when light needed also small light cheap god i cant praise this lens enough i had it compared to my 18-35 1.8 with booster and weight is the first thing that made me sell sigma and keep Leica

I like what I see on youtube indeed. But I need wider.

[jonpais]

In 4K, ETC mode is virtually indistinguishable from shooting without it. I’ve used it a ton in my videos already. Super useful feature.

[markr041]

Again, the SLR Magic 8mm F4 - it is small, it is cheap, it takes filters and stopped down it is very sharp. It is native MFT. Manual focusing - but for 8mm at F8, you just set the focus to infinity and everything will be in focus. 8mm is ultrawide. 12, 14 or 15mm is not.

[Grégory LEROY]

5 minutes ago, markr041 said:

Again, the SLR Magic 8mm F4 - it is small, it is cheap, it takes filters and stopped down it is very sharp. It is native MFT. Manual focusing - but for 8mm at F8, you just set the focus to infinity and everything will be in focus. 8mm is ultrawide. 12, 14 or 15mm is not.

unfortunately, they are impossible to find in Poland or Europe.