Lenses

[BTM_Pix]

5 hours ago, kye said:

I must admit that the allure of a zoom lens has entered my thoughts of late, just through the sheer convenience of being able to see something and then capture it without delaying so much that the composition has evaporated.

The FZ2000 really is something!

The FZ2000 actually has a large number of options for controlling the zoom too.

There is the barrel on the lens itself (which can be selected to be continuous or stepped focal lengths), the zoom lever for progressive speed and two Fn buttons on the side for three different slow creep zooms and there is even a setting for ease in and out.

Or if you want to get more traditional it has a LANC port for start/stop/zoom control handles.

Its the switchable ND that is the major draw as, for all the talk about "hybrid" cameras on here, its the feature that makes it one of the very few real hybrids out there as you can instantly switch from stills to video at the same ISO without arsing about.

The fully articulating screen is a really big bonus too and for the role I'm looking at it doing as being one single versatile camera then I've got few complaints about it.

For anyone looking for a more compact 1" with a large zoom range then the Panasonic TZ100 is worth a look, particularly as it can take my Cinelike D hack.

[PannySVHS]

Great stuff @BTM_Pix Panasonic should give us an alteraton of this camera with 10bit 422 up to 4k60 from the whole sensor. How does the manual focus feel? Is it similar fun and foremost usuability like from a solid completely mechanical lens? Then it would be a fun camera for micro budget shortfilms. It´s akward how an 8bit S16 camera can fascinate despite all these old and new affordable cameras. Heck, I saw a Sony Cinealta F5 for 2000EUR.

I figure LX15 and FZ2000 have the same sensor. Despite that on the LX15 colour feels pretty thin to me, even in the RAW fiIes. I am not even sure if the camera has a mechanical shutter and sofore it maybe only provides 10bit RAW.

On a side note: 10bit RAW looked fine on the Lumix G6 which provided Raw in 10bit only when using electronic shutter without mechanical one.

[PannySVHS]

The FZ2000 is spitting out 10bit over its Mini HDMI port. From what I got it seems to me to do so only in its 4K modes.

Kinda cool that it can be updated with VLog L for around 100 EUR additional cost. So Panny, give us a 10bit successor for this beauty. Anyway here is a video which brings the lens world and thread together with the FZ2000/2500 putting an Anchromat lens into good use.:)

 

 

[BTM_Pix]

23 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

How does the manual focus feel? Is it similar fun and foremost usuability like from a solid completely mechanical lens?

Its a continuous turn so that rules out it ever feeling completely mechanical.

The whole focus range is covered in a 180 degree turn but the bigger issue from that point of view is that the focus ring is (by far) the thinner of the two rings on the lens and considering that there are other ways to zoom then it would have been better to at least make it assignable that you could swap.

23 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

I figure LX15 and FZ2000 have the same sensor. Despite that on the LX15 colour feels pretty thin to me

I've just shot these two quick frames on both cameras and are out of the camera jpeg stills using the STD profile.

There are differences but they lie as much in the lens as the colour as the colour discrepancy can be balanced between them so I'd have no issue using them both together, particularly as the LX has the f1.4 aperture at the wide end compared to the f2.8 of the FZ.

If you still have the LX then I would definitely recommend you doing the Cinelike D hack on it if you want to get a bit more flexibility.

 

 

[PannySVHS]

Thank you for your findings. The worst manual focussing i remember was with a thumbwheel on a Fuji X10, which a friend of mine had. So FZ with long throw fly by wire sounds no worse than the rest of the typical bunch. I will try the hack sometime. Will have to read into your enormeous findings.:) The top photo looks more lush to me. Which cam is it from?  @BTM_Pix

Thanks n cheers

[BTM_Pix]

10 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

The top photo looks more lush to me. Which cam is it from?

To paraphrase Harry Callaghan, did I shoot it with the FZ or the LX?

Well to tell you the truth in all this excitement I kinda lost track myself.

Its definitely one of them though.

[Bag Fuse]

Thanks man, I’ve been meaning to tell you how much I loved the B&W video you posted... loved the obtuse angles!

[mercer]

Quick question(s)...

I recently picked up a Canon Rebel G SLR and it has a plastic mount. The camera came with a 35-80mm iii which actually seems okay, but I was going to pick up a 24-85mm or a 28-105mm II and I wanted to know if anyone knew how strong the plastic mount is?

Also are there any other early EF lenses that are sleepers? I prefer older manual SLRs but I must say this little Rebel G is a blast to shoot with. The AF is near silent and fast. It's light and really ergonomic.

I figure I'll eventually pick up a nifty fifty, I believe the II version has a plastic mount as well, but with this camera, I kinda enjoyed using the zoom.

Thanks

[kye]

4 hours ago, mercer said:

Quick question(s)...

I recently picked up a Canon Rebel G SLR and it has a plastic mount. The camera came with a 35-80mm iii which actually seems okay, but I was going to pick up a 24-85mm or a 28-105mm II and I wanted to know if anyone knew how strong the plastic mount is?

Also are there any other early EF lenses that are sleepers? I prefer older manual SLRs but I must say this little Rebel G is a blast to shoot with. The AF is near silent and fast. It's light and really ergonomic.

I figure I'll eventually pick up a nifty fifty, I believe the II version has a plastic mount as well, but with this camera, I kinda enjoyed using the zoom.

Thanks

This post says that the 28–80 f/3.5–5.6 USM is great and has a metal mount (or the first version has anyway).  There's a couple of other lenses they liked too.

[webrunner5]

Just buy the EF-S lenses, they are cheap and are really good for the price. The 10-18mm I had was really good and the 18-135mm is amazingly good for that big of a spread. None of them are a fast aperture but they for the money are hard to beat. And they are light weight so you would not have to worry about the mount.

What kind of film you thinking about using?

[webrunner5]

Heck those lenses are not going to work on e 35mm film camera, my bad.

[mercer]

6 hours ago, kye said:

This post says that the 28–80 f/3.5–5.6 USM is great and has a metal mount (or the first version has anyway).  There's a couple of other lenses they liked too.

Thanks Kye. I actually read that article years ago. But thanks for linking to it, it definitely jogged my memory.

[mercer]

3 hours ago, webrunner5 said:

Heck those lenses are not going to work on e 35mm film camera, my bad.

I was waiting for the realization to set in... hahaha.

As far as film, I've been trying to keep it was cheap as possible... so a lot of B&W. Mostly Agfa APX100, some Kodak TMax and I just bought some cheap Kentmere which supposedly Ilford owns... so I'm excited about that. Color film is becoming really hard to find. I've shot some Kodak Gold, Fuji 200 and some Kodak Pro Image 100. Like I said, I'm trying to keep this new hobby as cheap as possible.

[PannySVHS]

I think, the cheapest Canon nifty fifty 1.8 you can find on Ebay would be a great lens to enjoy. Classic plastic fantastic! But you already know this. Still, never hurts to get some approval from your forum nerd friends. 🙂 @mercer The 35mm F2 with image stabilization is a lens you already own, right? I am a great sucker for 40mm focal length. Had a 42mm on some of my back then cheap rangefinders like Oly 35RC or 40mm Ricoh 500G. Loved the 20mm pancake on my Lumix GF1, which was equivalent to 40mm on 135 film. Maybe get the Canon version of a Tokina 28-70 2.8 ATX, but not the Pro Angie like version but this one. Ken Rockwell gives it a nice and indepth review:

https://www.kenrockwell.com/tokina/28-70mm-f28.htm

[kye]

8 hours ago, mercer said:

Thanks Kye. I actually read that article years ago. But thanks for linking to it, it definitely jogged my memory.

Sometimes I think that learning is like an upward spiral.  You look at some things, do some things, think about some things, then move on, and years later you find yourself looking back at the same things you were looking at before, but having learned a bunch of other stuff in the meantime often you can learn more the second (or third) time around.

Or maybe it's just me being a little thick-headed! 🙂 

[kye]

I'm in the market for an MFT zoom lens and keen to hear various opinions (to help me work out what I want, or to point out things I haven't thought of).

Primary use will be a do-everything walk-around zoom with the GX85 but also potentially with the GH5 (or GH6 in future).

I currently have the 12-35mm f2.8 and found the concept to be great but the 12-35/2.8 specifically to not be long enough, and using the 2x digital zoom at the long end with it wide-open it was really soft, so I figure I either need a lens that's sharper or longer.

I figure my options include the below.

Panasonic LEICA 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Looks like a great option, and I've heard good things from people using it with GX85.  I like the fact it has stabilisation so I'll get dual IS, and the aperture only gets slower when you zoom, and for DoF that's fine because the longer focal length will compensate.  It's about $500, which is ok.

Panasonic LUMIX 12-60mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Good focal length, only loses a stop compared to the 12-60/2.8-4 and is a lot cheaper at under $200.

OM Digital Solutions : M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-100mm F4.0 IS PRO
Longer reach (which is welcomed) and only loses a stop of light at the wide end compared to the 12-60/2.8-4.  Has IS so I'm assuming can do dual IS with Panasonic cameras??  It's $1000 though, which is very expensive.  Is this sharper than the Panaleica 12-60 when wide open at the long end?  That would be worth something to be able to crop in and get even more reach.

OM Digital Solutions : M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-200mm F3.5-6.3
Crazy long reach, but still welcome as I could use it for sports.  No IS.  Slower, although 200mm (400mm FF) is pretty darn long so DoF would still be rather thin.  About $650 which is substantial for such a slow lens.

Panasonic : LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 II ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Middle length zoom (for this list anyway) that's slow, but has IS so stabilisation should be excellent?  Sub $300 so ok price for an all-rounder.

In terms of DoF, the 12mm at 6ft distance at f2.8 gives a DoF of 9ft and f3.5 gives a DoF of 14ft, neither crazy bokeh but enough to give some background defocus for a subject.  
In terms of the longer reach:
- 60mm at 20ft at f4 has a DoF of 4ft, which is good for portraits and separation and shouldn't be too tricky to focus
- 60mm at 20ft at f5.6 has a DoF of 5.8ft, similar to the above
- 100mm at 30ft at f4 has a DoF of 3.3ft, similar to the above
- 200mm at 60ft at f6.3 has a DoF of 5ft, similar to the above
The slower lenses will be slow at the mid-points of their range, but the 12-200mm F3.5-6.3 is likely to be somewhere between f4 and f5.6 when at 60mm, which is similar to the 12-60mm zooms.

I don't really need the larger apertures for the low-light, and I don't really need the last-level of sharpness from the "Pro" lenses as I only edit on a 1080p timeline.  Part of me is tempted to just buy a sub$200 Panasonic 12-60mm F3.5-5.6 and see how I go, but if it's not quite what I want then I'm a third down on the price of the PanaLeica 12-60 f2.8-4.

Advice?

[webrunner5]

I would go with the M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-100mm F4.0 IS if you have the money. Great lens and constant aperture.  I have had the LEICA 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH. POWER O.I.S and the LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 II ASPH, POWER O.I.S.

I just keep falling back on a 14-140mm as an all-rounder. Maybe I have been lucky, but I have had 3 different models of the 14-140 and everyone was a great lens.  But the LEICA 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH. POWER O.I.S is a shaper lens and faster, and it too has a great range, and wider on the short end.

But the 12-100mm would sort of be the best of those 2 combined. But, and it is a big but not sure the image stabilization plays nice on a Panny body? Never owned one. I know from experience that the LEICA 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH. POWER O.I.S. on the GH5 is pretty amazing stabilization wise. Killer combo.

[webrunner5]

I took this with the LEICA 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.  on the GH5 handheld unedited. I am not great at twisting my body anymore that much lol but... Not my best effort but kind of shows how good the combo is.

 

 

[BTM_Pix]

5 hours ago, kye said:

Panasonic LEICA 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.

I have this one and its a solid all round option for general use, particularly when travelling.

These frames are from using it on my OG Pocket.

 

[webrunner5]

On 7/13/2022 at 10:39 PM, kye said:

I'm in the market for an MFT zoom lens and keen to hear various opinions (to help me work out what I want, or to point out things I haven't thought of).

Primary use will be a do-everything walk-around zoom with the GX85 but also potentially with the GH5 (or GH6 in future).

I currently have the 12-35mm f2.8 and found the concept to be great but the 12-35/2.8 specifically to not be long enough, and using the 2x digital zoom at the long end with it wide-open it was really soft, so I figure I either need a lens that's sharper or longer.

I figure my options include the below.

Panasonic LEICA 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Looks like a great option, and I've heard good things from people using it with GX85.  I like the fact it has stabilisation so I'll get dual IS, and the aperture only gets slower when you zoom, and for DoF that's fine because the longer focal length will compensate.  It's about $500, which is ok.

Panasonic LUMIX 12-60mm F3.5-5.6 ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Good focal length, only loses a stop compared to the 12-60/2.8-4 and is a lot cheaper at under $200.

OM Digital Solutions : M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-100mm F4.0 IS PRO
Longer reach (which is welcomed) and only loses a stop of light at the wide end compared to the 12-60/2.8-4.  Has IS so I'm assuming can do dual IS with Panasonic cameras??  It's $1000 though, which is very expensive.  Is this sharper than the Panaleica 12-60 when wide open at the long end?  That would be worth something to be able to crop in and get even more reach.

OM Digital Solutions : M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-200mm F3.5-6.3
Crazy long reach, but still welcome as I could use it for sports.  No IS.  Slower, although 200mm (400mm FF) is pretty darn long so DoF would still be rather thin.  About $650 which is substantial for such a slow lens.

Panasonic : LUMIX G VARIO 14-140mm F3.5-5.6 II ASPH. POWER O.I.S.
Middle length zoom (for this list anyway) that's slow, but has IS so stabilisation should be excellent?  Sub $300 so ok price for an all-rounder.

In terms of DoF, the 12mm at 6ft distance at f2.8 gives a DoF of 9ft and f3.5 gives a DoF of 14ft, neither crazy bokeh but enough to give some background defocus for a subject.  
In terms of the longer reach:
- 60mm at 20ft at f4 has a DoF of 4ft, which is good for portraits and separation and shouldn't be too tricky to focus
- 60mm at 20ft at f5.6 has a DoF of 5.8ft, similar to the above
- 100mm at 30ft at f4 has a DoF of 3.3ft, similar to the above
- 200mm at 60ft at f6.3 has a DoF of 5ft, similar to the above
The slower lenses will be slow at the mid-points of their range, but the 12-200mm F3.5-6.3 is likely to be somewhere between f4 and f5.6 when at 60mm, which is similar to the 12-60mm zooms.

I don't really need the larger apertures for the low-light, and I don't really need the last-level of sharpness from the "Pro" lenses as I only edit on a 1080p timeline.  Part of me is tempted to just buy a sub$200 Panasonic 12-60mm F3.5-5.6 and see how I go, but if it's not quite what I want then I'm a third down on the price of the PanaLeica 12-60 f2.8-4.

Advice?

I did a little research and as far as I can tell the Olympus 12-100mm will Not play nice with the Dual OIS on the GH5. So, I would think that lens is out. I was also considering it to be honest. Not anymore, I think.