I just bought an old Sigma 28-70 F2.8 in canon FD mount, and it hasn't left my camera since. It's a little bit long on the wide-angle side (I'd really prefer it to be 14mm or 16mm), but for $100 it's got an amazing cinematic image. I can upload some footage if you want.

lpowell has taken some great vid with his Leicasonic. I personally like the Kobori 28-200 which you can pick up for $35. And recently I shot some vid with the Olly 45-150. But the vid just does not look like primes, so in the absence of a good, fast zoom I recommend getting a camcorder as a second cam with a fast lens, focus and exposure tracking.

magnus387 - I think the f/2.8 is a put off for me, I'm after something faster. At least F2.

Rambo - Haven't been too impressed with the 14 - 140mm stuff that much, looking for something that's even better. Also I'll be shooting with manual focus.

Cheers for the suggestions though guys.

LPowell - That list has some interesting zoom lenses. Any that can open wide to f/2?

My be some PL mount zoom for $30000?

The tokina 11-16 will be my next piece o glass.

Goodness me, just saw the price for that lens! I wouldn't want to go over £800 for a lens guys.

Essentials:

• Manual Focus
• Covers wide to mid focal lengths
• Around f/2.0
• Fits natively onto the GH2 - without an additional adaptor.

Anyone have any recommendations?

@Donnie88 The 14-35 has a good manual focus ring (friction coupled). The 35-100 is focus by wire (ok to use by hand but not repeatable for FF work).

Based on what you're asking around 2.0 would be the panasonic 2.8 if not you have to settle for the Olympus lenses.

I lied, I went with the Tokina 24-70 2.8 ATX Pro II. LOVING IT!

Nice build and sharp. I need to get it geared and de-clicked...

@Donnie88 - have you found your dream lens yet? :D Even the Angie Optimos only open up to a 2.2 . Having that fast of a zoom and planning to manually pull focus is counter-intuitive.

@alcomposer - thanks!

I'm happy with the 100-300. It has a similar IQ to the 14-140.

@Donnie88 I have been looking for what you're looking for for a long time and I haven't found it, b/c it doesn't exist. I second @Vitaliy_Kiselev comment about a PL zoom. Just because the camera is inexpensive doesn't mean a good lens is too. Same rule applies for the tripod.

It looks like what you want doesn't exist in that price range. You'll have to make a compromise somewhere. All still photography zooms are going to be a compromise anyway, they weren't designed for video work and cinezooms are parfocal and a lot more expensive.

Close would be:

-New Panasonic 12-35 F2.8, with OIS & autofocus (for somewhat over 800 sterling). -ENG lens with built-in doubler, with adapter to MFT (BUT, these lenses were not designed for a single chip camera and will most likely give you lots of CA and not all that wide (?) once the 2x is in).

Personally I put up with the 14-140 and love/hate it (would love to get the new 12-35 if I had the cash).

I also have a Tamron 28-105 f2.8 in Nikon mount I bought inexpensively (multiple hundreds of $) off ebay many years ago back when I had money to burn. Sounds great, but, it's not. It weighs 2 Lbs (tons of glass!), so better use an MFT adapter that has a tripod mount, isn't parfocal and if pointed down, the front cluster weight will make it zoom all by its self (so I keep a rubber band on it for extra drag). It gets the job done when needed, it's not really a zoom, but, a vari-focal prime. Every time you zoom even a little you need to refocus. That being said, it's great in a controlled setting or live event when there's time to refocus, it's faster and easier than swapping primes, but, so heavy you could damage the mount.

If you find what you're looking for post it back here. You are not alone.

Hi there, made a quick test with my vivitar 70-210 2.8-4.0

HOVERFLY MACRO from Thomas Samson on Vimeo.