I'm trying to stay away from having 2nd body. GH2 or none. Not saying GH2 is da best.
I wish the rumored Lumix 12-50/2.5-3.3 Power O.I.S. becomes true. I really don't care how big it becomes. A high quality fast m43 zoom!!! But highly doubtful as Panasonic is focusing more on general consumers. Even if it becomes available, it will be painful to wait until the price drops.
For now... shutting my eyes and ears to rumors and exotic lenses. Nothing but cheap lenses and more post-processing tricks... for a couple of years. I have Lumix 20.7, Vivitar 28/2.0, Hexanon 40.8, Ai-s 50.4, FD 50.4, Ai 85/2.0, Lumix 14-42. The entire set is about the price of Nokton 25.95. Haha.
I did not mean video only here :-) Wide lens, at least for me, is very useful not only for video.
>Tokina 11-16mm
I tried this lens few times. It is good. But. It is not available in Pentax mount version (due to agreement between Pentax and Tokina :-) ). And I do not want to have both 12-24mm and 11-16mm in non-Pentax mount (as I tend to use first much more in video). So, for me, best bet seems to be Sigma, either one of 10-20mm versions or 8-16mm.
>Doesn't it apply to all cropped systems? If I really need a fast wide angle, I'd get a FF body
APS-C multiplier is smaller (1.5x or 1.6x for Canon). And you have much more options for wide lenses or zooms. Even Samyang 14mm is really valuable on APS-C, but on GH2 it is not so useful. You can also get many wide zooms (starting from most popular Tokina 11-16mm). On GH2 you are really restricted with 7-14mm and Olympus zooms if you want to go really wide. But even them can not compete with Sigma 8-16mm, for example.
While you can pan, for many locations or for artistic reasons you must use wides.
> One of the problems with GHx cameras is that you need to remember 2x multiplier with this old full frame lenses. :-)
Doesn't it apply to all cropped systems? If I really need a fast wide angle, I'd get a FF body.
I think wide angle is more useful in photo when panorama isn't an option. A single frame gotta capture a story. Having wider FOV definitely helps in that case. Good corner sharpness becomes important. Definitely careless about DOF from wide angle...
Video can have panning over many frames to capture a story. I guess wide angle in video is more issue to cinematographers.
I wanna use wide angle lens to capture indoor event... hundreds of people. Preferably 2.0 due to not so ideal indoor lighting. I heard lumix 14/2.5 is soft at 2.5. The upcoming m.zuiko 12/2.0... zero hope in getting good corner sharpness at 2.0. It would have to be big like Nikkor 85mm 1.4 Ai-s. Huge glass and high precision.
Prolly I will get 7-14/4.0 and raise ISO. Better to get noisy detail than no detail. Hopefully Panasonic improves S/N of future sensors.
I own the Leitz Canada R 90 mm f2. Got it two years ago from ebay. It becomes considerably softer at f2 but this happens on a Leica level, so nothing to worry about. Built quality is superb, bokeh a dream!
I also use Contax lenses like the before mentioned 45 mm f2. Those lenses have a plastic protector that protects the rear element. You need to cut those off in order to fit the adapter to the lens. If you open a few screws and remove the protector that way, it de-clicks the aperture because the plastic piece is holding against a spring used for the click mechanism. You have to cut the electronic connection to the lenses inside though ... I did it with the 28 mm Contax.
One of the problems with GHx cameras is that you need to remember 2x multiplier with this old full frame lenses. :-) This makes 35mm, 40mm and 50mm very similar lenses. So, you can be pretty ok using 28mm, 50mm, 85mm and 200mm set. Even wide 20mm becomes normal lense. So, you really need lenses in 10mm-20mm interval. And, except 14mm pancake (and big 14mm Samyang), is mostly F2.8 and slower zooms.
taken w/ nikkor 85mm 2.0 ai. then cropped. then color grading. still looking sharp. love 2.0! but i'm thinking to sell it and get another one. pentax 85/2, takumar 85.8, or hexanon 85.8
I have Vivitar Komine same as yours. It's no longer available in ebay. Every time I tried to sell it on Craigslist, I got many calls. After realizing the power of 2.0, I decided to keep it.
For longer ones both the Nikkor and Canon 200mm F/2.0 are really good!
VK's Pentax 85/2 recommendation is very good! I'll add both the Super-Multi-Coated TAKUMAR 85/1.8 and the Super TAKUMAR 85mm/1.9 to those as well! The 85/1.9 when you can find them are pretty special lenses - Very nice character!
Couldn't agree more. F2 max aperture performance for circular bokeh, sufficient natural light, and controllable focus. So right on. Just got a nikon 24 f2
Thanks to you. I got Vivitar FD 28mm F2.0 Close-Focus last year. Nobody sells it anymore.
This beat-up lens has good center sharpness at wide open and close range. But its corner sharpness is supposedly sucks. Luckily m43 sensor gets only the good juicy center part.
Like many legacy lenses it suffered from ugly flare, but I can't ask for more at $100 I paid.