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Wide-angle Rectilinear Lenses
  • kronstadtkronstadt

    Hi all,

    I wanted to ask if Panasonic Lumix G 14mm lens is rectilinear? and if Panasonic 7-14mm lens is rectilinear throughout?

    And which other rectilinear wide-angle and ultra-wide lenses would you recommend for GH13? Please also mention the rough price for each lens.

    I'm especially interested in legacy lenses that could be had for cheap.

    Many thanks!

  • 15 Replies sorted by
  • PsycoPsyco

    I tryed the Olympus 7-14mm and it is rectilinear. The Panasonic version should be no different - but its sloooooow (max F4.0).

    The Tokina 11-16mm is another wide lens (fast and good quality, just not ultra wide), Ebay says: about 450 EUR used.

  • kronstadtkronstadt

    Thanks @Psycho,
    Tokina 11-16mm is an excellent rectilinear lens. But a bit too pricey for me. Plus it's a zoom, I'd much prefer a prime.
    and what about Panasonic 14mm lens? is that Rectilinear? (I noticed they dropped in price recently)

    I looked at Olympus 7-14mm... £1350 - way too expensive for me.

    Any other nice wide rectilinear and cheap lenses? Anything from 1970s and 1980s?

  • stoneystoney

    ebay sells Lumix 14mm 2.5 around $160. Yes rectilinear.

    DMW-GWC1 is 0.79x converter for the lens. $129. No light loss.

  • RamboRambo

    http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/1978/panasonic-conversion-lenses#Item_74

  • kronstadtkronstadt

    Thanks @stonebat and @Rambo

    What would you rather get a Sigma 14mm F2.8 or Panasonic 14mm F2.5 if you were shooting a short film with an aim to make it look as cinematic as possible (depth of field, crispness, wide angle perspective etc) ???

  • DrDaveDrDave

    I have the 14mm, on the E-Pl1 you get IS, which is very nice and it makes a great pocket cam, as the lens is so thin and light. Pretty sharp edge to edge. On the GH2, you gain width if you use the landscape mode of the sensor, so you have a cam that is basically like a 10mm (approx) on the Olympus cams. So for shooting landscapes, it is really great. Note that in RAW you may have to apply your own lens correction. In RAW, you will see some barrel distortion which you won't see when the cam is adjusting the picture. No biggie, and raw is a tad sharper--DXO does not have a module yet, or didn't last time I checked, but if they produce one, there is a winning RAW combo. So for video, you get the same width, but no IS. Here's the thing, on the16x9 sensor size, you are taxing the lens a bit more than on the other sizes. So you will notice a tiny bit of softness relative to the center. Is it still sharp? Yup. Is it a total steal for $170? yuppers.

  • stoneystoney

    @kronstadt I don't know Sigma lens.

  • kronstadtkronstadt

    @DrDave I have GH13. I never heard of GH2's "landscape mode" - is that for photography. I never use my GH13 and don't intend to use GH2 for photography - only filmmaking. And what's that "RAW" that you mention? GH13 and GH2 don't capture video in RAW.

    With Lumix 14mm F2.5 lens I'm hoping to get a 28mm video frame (with 14mm perspective) that is also rectilinear. What concerns me most about this Lumix 14mm F2.5 lens is it's manual follow focus capabilities - can it be manually follow-focused while recording video? and that it's field of view is only 75 degrees (while at 14mm it should be at least 110 degrees).

    I'm quite guttered that I missed an ebay sale of Sigma 14mm F3.5 rectilinear lens yesterday - 114 degrees of view. They don't make them anymore. Do you think it would be worth $230??? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/280900119474?ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1423.l2649#ht_500wt_1030

  • crunchycrunchy

    @kronstadt Good thing about rectilinear lenses is that they are perfect for 3D (though you'll need another camera with the same type of lens)...

  • kronstadtkronstadt

    @crunchy hmm, interesting piece of info. I don't do 3D, all I want for now is a cheap solution for getting relatively wide angles in video (taking into account GH13's 2X crop factor), so that I get 28mm or 14mm frame without the image curving.

  • itimjimitimjim

    @kronstadt The cheapest and widest will be the Panasonic Lumix 14/2.5. A 0.6x or 0.7x WA adapter should work without too much distortion or image degradation, but it might be a bit hit and miss. A 0.6x WA would give you around the equivalent of 15-16mm 16:9 equivalent.

  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    @kronstadt

    Really, get 14mm F2.5 and forget about this.
    If you really want focus pulls and have dedicated man for this, get Tokina 11-16mm. Period. Do not waste your time.

    @itimjim

    I really suggest to check wide adapters topic, both Sony and Panasonic adapters are very good for this lens, not hit and miss.

  • itimjimitimjim

    @vitaliy thanks for the suggestion. Only reason I thought they might be a bit hit and miss, is 14mm is very wide to be using a WA on, so might introduce some astigmatism/CA at the edges. I have the 14/2.5 and it's great, but a bit too contrasty for me.

    I'm investing in a Tokina 11-16 very soon though, to go with my 28-70/2.8 and 20-35/2.8 of the same brand. Tokina is probably the best value zoom lenses out there that have cine credentials (IF, Internal Zoom, coupled focus, aperture ring (except 11-16), smooth focus ring). I'll probably add Samyang 35 and 85 and that'll be me done then :-)

  • DrDaveDrDave

    @kronstadt really, what everyone says, the Panny 14mm is a jewel: sharp as a Leica, light as a feather. $160-$170 on eBay (I paid $5 more for the black one with a matching hood). And yes, the raw/landscape is referring to photos. @itimjim You can use the WA for the 14mm made specifically by Panasonic, or some ppl like the Olympus .8, which is a really big chunk of glass.

  • tetakpataktetakpatak

    Canon FD 17mm f/4 is also free of rectilinear distortion.

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