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Good lenses for documentary filmmaking and run & gun shooting
  • sohussohus

    I am currently looking for a good lens for documentary filmmaking with the GH2. I love my primes but when you are shooting documentary, it is very inflexible. One way of solving this is adding one or two bodies so you can just change them around but a zoom lens is the best option IMO.

    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.

  • 3 Replies sorted by
  • kitanokitano

    Panny 14-140mm is a good lens specially for run & gun shooting and that should cover everything and it has good image stablization.

    If you want to be creative then get voigtlander 25mm as well which is also excellent for low light situations.

    If you have gf1/2/3 you can use it as b-cam. Attach cctv 25mm or 35mm, they are cheap as peanuts but not bad for video.

    Get a good fluid head tripod eg. Manfrotto with 701hdv head.

    For sound get rode ntg2 mix with a juicelink amp. I am disappointed by zoom h4n as it was broken ( developed a earthing hum) twice on a overseas shoot and it has a poor quality amp. Although you should always have a backup like h1 or tascam dr7?

    I am sure additional info will come in handy to you or someone else as well

    good luck.

  • itimjimitimjim

    I have the 14-140/4-5.8 although I'm actually selling it at this moment. It's a fantastic lens, seriously versatile, and if I was run and gunning, it's be the first on my list every time. The OIS is incredible.

    Yes, it's slow, but it's relatively cheap 2nd hand (£400), has the most flexible focal length, and did I mention the OIS is superb? Add a 312AS LED for indoor, and you should be fine. The only other contender if AF is a must, is the Oly 12-60/2...which is about 3x the cost.

  • onedayoneday

    a good B4 lens

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