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Mounting long lens on GH2
  • ethanpilethanpil

    I am considering a long (heavy) manual lens to mount on my GH2 with an adaptor, such as the attached one. (Canon FD 100-300mm f5.6)

    Will it stay on the camera? Will I need rails or some other mounting scheme?

    canon 100-300mm f5.6 fd.jpg
    576 x 432 - 53K
  • 14 Replies sorted by
  • peternappeternap

    I have 6 80-200 lenses about like the one you're showing....love em. You don't really need rails but on a lighter tripod it is front heavy and will cause some undesirable motion when panning.

    A trick that works pretty well after you've gotten the hang of it, is hold the lens just the way you would to focus, hold the camera as you would to work the shutter/exposure and use your shoulder to pan. That stabilizes against the lens bounce.

  • ethanpilethanpil

    So it seems there is no concern for the weight on the camera's mount. I don't want to crack my baby!

  • GrueGrue

    You might consider an adapter that has a tripod mount, so that you're putting less strain strain on the camera and the lens mount. (So that you're attaching the lens mount to your tripod, instead of the camera.)

    I had similar concerns about my Tokina 28-70mm and got a ciecio7 Nikon to Micro Four Thirds adapter which has a tripod mount. Might have been able to get away without the tripod mount (though I would probably have been pushing what would be acceptable weight), but it gives some piece of mind. (And the adapter is rock solid, much better than my old sloppy Fotodiox one.)

  • ahblezaahbleza

    @Grue is right. When I use a long heavy lens with my GH2, it's either with the built-in mount on the lens (Nikon 70-200 G series VR2) or mounted via the adapter. So I think about stabilizing my glass first, then mount the camera on the lens.

  • bostonmikebostonmike

    I have the Vivitar Series 1, both 28-90mm and 70-210mm..no issues with either...Using a MD-M4/3 mount that works great. I love the 28-90mm lens on my GH2..it captures a film-like quality I just can't get with my more expensive lens. I use my $16 Rig I invented for smooth movement while walking.

  • nomadnomad

    If you don't want to bend (or even rip) your mount, get such a heavy lens supported.

    It's not about sheer weight only, if you do a fast pan, there is inertia force as well!

  • rsquiresrsquires

    What's a good M4/3rds to FD tripod mount? Anyone got good ones that they can recommend and/or bad ones to steer clear of.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @Grue Did you get that tripod mount one recently? I haven't seen any Nikon with the mount on it from him. Also, I take it that the adapter has the iris ring.

  • GrueGrue

    @vicharris Yeah, I hadn't seen any Nikon to Micro Four Thirds adapters on eBay in a long time, but I messaged him directly on a lark, and sure enough after a week or two I was able to buy one. Really happy with it.

    However, this one doesn't have aperture control (which would be very cumbersome anyway), but that wasn't really a problem for me. That's not to say that if you need an aperture ring he can't help you; I don't know, but if you message him let him know what you're looking for and see what happens!

  • peternappeternap

    @ethanpil So it seems there is no concern for the weight on the camera's mount. I don't want to crack my baby!

    I haven't and use them all the time. If you use them the way I described, it would be impossible. All my lenses have aperture rings so I just use a cheap Fotiox adapter.

    Rambo posted a Canon adapter with built in tripod mount that was pretty nice. They make other mounts as well.

  • vicharrisvicharris

    @peternap There's major room for concern! I believe the weight limit of the mount is just under 2 pounds or so. I'm not sure how heavy that lens is but I don't feel comfortable slapping on my 35mm Rokinon or 11-16 Tokina with good support. The Tokina is 1.3 pounds but better safe than a busted ass mount.

  • peternappeternap

    @vicharris I can't tell him anything other than what I do and what's NOT happened to either of my GH2's.

    He asked if he needed rails, he doesn't! Actually, it's hard to support those slide zooms on rails unless you add a hood and sit that on the lens rest.

    A tripod adapter would be nice if for no other reason than balance.

    Just the facts!

  • nomadnomad

    As I tried to explain: one very fast movement or a hard bump can exert forces to the mount which are much higher than weight alone.

    I stress this because I've seen a NEX mount ripped out. Admitted, it's a tad flimsier than MFT, but not really an order of magnitude.

  • ethanpilethanpil

    Wow, thanks for the great info. I guess I will search for a Tripod mountable adapter.

    In case anyone finds this thread, it took me a while to find the mount someone mentioned above from @rambo

    Here is the thread: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/3873/m43-adapter-with-tripod-mount

    Thanks again!

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