@strancali @driftwood @feha Thanks and following on from the Cluster V6 discussion regarding the Pentax FA31 Ltd.

It is a bit of a gem though it's not exactly cheap. I have a Pentax DSLR system and already had this lens for some two years before I bought the GH2. It's not as sharp as say a Samyang 35 F1.4 is wide open, but it's very good from around F2.5.

However it has great color, bokeh and 'depth' for want of a better term. Yes there are faster lenses, and lenses that are sharper wide open, but the FA31 does have a certain look that I think makes it quite unique and seems to be the reason many like it.

It's around 58mm (35 still frame equivalent) on the GH2 and almost could be considered a 'standard' focal length lens on an Super35 or APS-C video camera.

All three Pentax FA Limited's which include the FA31, FA43 and FA77 come from the film era and while they are screw drive auto-focus they do have proper external focusing rings with hard end points and are probably amongst the best manual focusing auto-focus lenses around. They also have proper aperture rings which can be set to either the 'A' setting for aperture control via a Pentax DSLR or you can manually set the aperture when the lenses are fitted to any other camera such as the GH2. The FA Limiteds take lens gears and operate fine with my follow focus.

If I didn't have any Pentax camera gear and was just looking for lenses for the GH2 would I buy a Pentax FA31 Ltd now? I guess at around $1000 USD you need to ask yourself the question is there another lens(es) that would be more desirable for shooting video on your GH2?

I'm personally quite interested in the Voigtlander 17.5mm F0.95 but only wish I could use it on my Pentax K5 as well.

The other thing is the lighting. I use a Photek Softlighter II with flash for still photography but replace the strobe head with 4 x 85w Spiral Fluro's when shooting video.

Sorry for the long rant but you did ask! ;>)

Here's a still shot taken of the same fellow (but in orange garb) with the FA31 Ltd on my previous Pentax K7 and also using the Photek Softlighter II but with flash rather than fluros. The APS-C sensor of the Pentax means a crop factor of 1.5 versus 1.86 with the GH2. So this is around 46mm equivalent focal length on a Super35 which is more relevant with video being the subject here.

(This was shot about two years ago when his house was much less cluttered!)

I recently purchased an Eiki 16f Anamorphic lens, supposedly focusing from 5 feet to infinity. Oddly enough, it focuses from about 11 inches to about 3.5 feet. Infinity focus is impossible to achieve, regardless of how much I've stopped down the taking lens. I've tested with numerous primes, ranging from 20mm to 135mm, all with the same result.

I'm curious to know if I'm completely out of luck, or if the lens just needs to be recalibrated by a tech... or if it's even possible. ...and before anyone asks, no there isn't a diopter on the lens!

Any help/advice would be greatly appreciated! -0z-

Here's a short video illustrating the problem.

And how much do you think I should pay for this lens?

Any advice and suggestions much appreciated!

Looks to have gears for focus and iris!

I think Tokina wold come to the M4/3 bandwagon and manufacture this optical to work fully with our cameras.

PS: Sorry for inaccuracies with the english.

I haven't seen any problems on the footage so far, but it just doesn't feel right.

Should I return it?

I already read about Helios lenses, Here is a good example of the kind of bokeh I'm looking for :

Rokkor This one's pretty extreme

I hope some people are willing to share their knowledge on these crazy lenses ;) Thanks

I have the Voigtlander 25mm and SLR Magic 12mm. I want to get either an 85mm or 100mm equivalent to complete my basic lens set.

Can anyone recommend a lens that will complement my existing set with a cinematic look?

Thanks

I have 14mm 2.5, 20mm 1.7, and Ai-s 50mm 1.4. Definitely not interested in Sigma 30mm 2.8.

@shian used 0.7x converter on his Ai-s 50mm 1.4 http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/61642#Comment_61642 Smart idea. Less # of lenses. Easier color grading.

I'm looking for 0.6x converter to turn Ai-s 50mm 1.4 into 30mm 1.7 if one third stop light loss.

Calvision has 3 different flavors for 0.6x converter. No idea which one will work if it works. http://www.cavision.com/optics/industrial/adapters.htm

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

http://www.google.com/products/catalog?hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=jAl&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&q=camera+lens&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.,cf.osb&biw=1366&bih=572&um=1&ie=UTF-8&tbm=shop&cid=8880211898433948392&sa=X&ei=8rO9T9aTCsKO6gGJu_Ba&ved=0CG8Q9AIwAA&os=reviews

Looks pretty good.

Availability: Late June/early July
Price: $249.95.

Data source: http://www.lensplay.com/lenses/lens_defect_results.php

http://flic.kr/p/bDfsxu

http://flic.kr/p/bSaaMr

http://flic.kr/p/bDfrS3

http://flic.kr/p/bSaaCR

The problem is, the shape of this device puts the rubber about a millimeter shy of where it needs to be. It's so close, but it doesn't quite touch:

If I could find a way to add even 1/8 of an inch to the lens, I think that it could make contact and possibly work. But my problem is that all adapters tend to do something. I want one that does not do anything. Since it's a manual lens to begin with, I won't be losing any functionality.

Does anyone know of anything like this, or another workaround?

I'm looking for a good zoom for video work with the GH2:

-Any mount/brand which allows adjustment of iris is fine.

-Not bothered about auto focus, not bothered about zooming during a shot, unless there is a lenses which holds focus pretty well while zooming.

-Ideally 11-60mm ish but anything down to about 14-50mm would be ok.

-Max about f4, faster the better though.

-Minimal breathing while focusing

-Usable manual focus ring (Canon 24-70mm design would be fine)

-Good picture quality

Price isn't too much of an issue if all of the above are ticked (as long as it's not silly money) Olympus 14-35mm is too heavy by the sounds of it.

Thanks for any advice

Lenses that qualify are:

FourThirds:

OLYMPUS : ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 SWD http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/standard.html#i_012-060mm_f028-040_olympus

Panasonic : LEICA D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm F2.8-3.5 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/standard.html#i_014-050mm_f028-035_panasonic

OLYMPUS : ZUIKO DIGITAL 14-54mm F2.8-3.5 II http://www.four-thirds.org/en/fourthirds/standard.html#i_014-054mm_f028-035ii_olympus

MicroFourThirds:

OLYMPUS : M.ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-50mm F3.5-6.3 EZ http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/standard.html#i_012-050mm_f035-063_olympus

Panasonic : LUMIX G VARIO HD 14-140mm F4.0-5.8 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/standard.html#i_014-140mm_f040-058_panasonic

I focused on the Olympus/Panasonic lenses for now. I think that the Panasonic : LEICA D VARIO-ELMARIT 14-50mm F2.8-3.5 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. and OLYMPUS : ZUIKO DIGITAL ED 12-60mm F2.8-4.0 SWD are good candidates. Especially the Olympus has a very long range (24-120mm in 35mm terms) while still offering a F2.8 wide-angle (and constant F/4.0 over entire range). Documentary shooting is about making trade-off and I will always have my primes for really dark situations (Voigt 50mm/.95, SLRMagic 12mm/1.6 and Olympus 45mm/1.8).

Does anyone here own one of the above lenses? Please share your opinions with me. I probably wait until the Panasonic X 12-35mm and 35-100 are announced as they could be good candidates too, although 12-35mm is a more limiting range.

Won't be cheap, but hope that it'll be quite compact.

for example, here you can read an article about wide and fast c-mount lenses..they work better on GF series!

I am shooting on the Voigtlander 25 mm f0.95. I've tried several shots, insight and outsight. I've noticed that in some parts the dark areas were absolutely clear, no noise at all, but in some where were. I've keep ISO between 320 - 640, f0.95.

How do I get, even if there is less light, the most best possible result - here a clean picture? Do I have to raise ISO in order ta achieve better results? (Sensor need more light sensitvity to bring out details, can you shoot on too low ISO?) I always thought: lower IS0 value= better picture quality.

How do you handle night shoots, any tricks? Any help would be much appreciated!

Thanks, Alex

Looks just.... unbelievable.... I wonder what would be the price?

GH2, using tele conversion Will post more when i resolve the support/tripod issue and when the sky clears up.