Stock lens options for Panasonic GH2

[Michael Sacci]

[Jonathan Frank] “14mm pancake lens and the 100-300mm zoom”

There is a huge gap there. No way those to lenses would be enough for most shooters. You have a wide and then an extreme tele.

The comment on most of the Panasonic lenses is that they are slow, starting at f4 and going to 6.3 (if think on some). So you give up some of the shallow Dof that you get when you have a fast lens. But fast lenses are expensive. So if you get this lens it should be a useful outdoor or well lit indoor lens that you can use. I have not read any negative about the quality of the lens, just the slowness. Then you start buying the expensive primes. I think that is a good road map for lenses.

[Deleted User]

This is a really good overview of several Panasonic-brand m43 lenses:
https://www.dvxuser.com/V6/content.php?6-My-take-on-the-Lumix-lenses-I-ve-bought-for-the-AF100-and-GH2

—

https://www.peterdv.com

[John Frey]

The 14-140 kit lens, although slow, is a very good all-around lens. Many GH1/Gh2 users, like me, are using older Nikon Nikkor fixed lenses with Fotodiox adapters. My 28mm 2.8 and 50mm 1.4 are great, metal-bodied lenses with “real” manual aperture and focus rings with full markings. And, the best part is that there are plenty of them out there at great prices. Mine were about $75.00 each and the adapters about $25.00 each.

John D. Frey
25 Year owner/operator of two California-based production studios.

Digital West Video Productions of San Luis Obispo and Inland Images of Lake Elsinore

[Chip Thome]

I’ve asked this myself on a different board and the consensus has been the 14-42 isn’t bad for the $100 you pay additional for it.

Of the lens packages offered on the GH2, if you have nothing going in, the 14-140 is an excellent lens to start with. It is the only lens Panasonic offers that is claimed to be optimized for video. The auto focus on this is also supposed to be super fast, again optimized by the GH2.

The 20mm pancake is excellent in low light, but auto focus is slow and noisy as well. The 100-300 with the crop factor turns it basically into a 200-600 lens.

Over the last several months I have read of quite a few people buying the 14-140 for their anticipated new $5000 AF100. That alone says a lot about it.

Good luck and enjoy it!

[Jonathan Frank]

Thanks alot for the link – I had been doing a lot of searching for info on the lens and nothing popped up (everything google threw my way was how to buy it with the GH2).

Very informative and helpful

[Jonathan Frank]

Thanks for the feedback. I’m more than a bit rusty on SLRs and lenses as I haven’t played with one since my Minolta X-700 (which is still in storage some where…). If memory serves I had a 50mm lens and an extreme zoom for that one. (and have been strictly PnS for the last decade for photography and the video cameras at work all have the same lens…so haven’t had to think in a while!

[Jonathan Frank]

That’s an option I hadn’t really considered straight off the bat…getting the ‘stock’ lens and then supplementing with older/non-Panasonic lenses…

Do you recommend the 28mm Nikon to take the place of the Panasonic pancake, or as a supplement?

And how are you enjoying the GH2?

[Jonathan Frank]

Yes, I’d be starting from scratch. So it looks like they may have a valid reason for using it as a stock lens…whodathunk!

Can’t wait for B&H to get the GH2 in so I can see how it feels in hand

[Malcolm Matusky]

The Olympus 4/3 lenses (not micro 4/3) do have a few “fast” zoom lenses worth looking at. You will need an adapter for the M 4/3 mount, do make sure all of the electronic functions work with the GH2!

Malcolm