I think if you are serious about m43 then the Pana 20mm f1.7 and Oly 45mm f1.8 are must have primes.
The Pana 25mm f1.4 is slightly better than the 20mm but not enough to justify the price difference to my wallet (or photog skills).
As far as I am aware Leica had "input" into the design of Panasonic lenses. What this entailed is something I've never seen explained.
Molgrips - if you are a serious 17mm fan have you seen the new [url= http://www.dpreview.com/news/2012/02/08/Cosina_Voigtlander_17p5mm_F0p95 ]Voigtlander[/url]? Not cheap by any stretch of the imagination though.
For me, it about the lenses and Panasonic use Leica optics.
better off looking at MTF charts and image samples than trusting a half baked notion of boutique brand as an arbiter of image quality.
zeiss for example have a lot of their lenses made by cosina in japan, just because it says zeiss on the lens barrel doesn't mean it's made by herman the german with teutonic precision.
better off looking at MTF charts
Yes, to a point. But you have to know how to interpret the things, particularly from the point of view of what you want to achieve. And even then you only have part of the picture.
Historically Zeiss designed their lenses for maximum resolution, while Leica designed for maximum contrast. Both manufacturers perform very well in MTF tests and produce "sharp" images to the eye but in different ways and give the classic clinical Zeiss or gentle Leica look.
Ultimately, going further than Mr Smith suggets, the [u]only[/u] way to know if a lens is good for you is to try it on your camera. A lot of what makes a good or bad lens is in the eye (and wallet) of the beholder. Might be a faff but if you are going to drop £500 on a lens I'd want to know it was what I wanted it to be!
Shack - hehehe.. my strategy for camera stuff is as wide a range of different options for as little money as possible. I doubt I've spent that much money on all my lenses!
Plus it's massive. I am into Oly because I like small and light 🙂
Plus plus it's m4/3 and I have 4/3
You won't be disappointed Duckman with the GF3 + 14mm combo. I got the sane last week to replace my LX3 very pleased so far. Lack of buttons are no problem not even with gloves on as the touch screen is very well executed. Flash is not a problem with the 14mm pancake only the kit zoom.
Don't really see why image stabilisation is a must! If a fast f2.5 lens......
Picture quality is no better than the lx3 at base iso (but why would it be as there is lots of available light) but stonkingly good at higher iso (better than my d80 slr). Would not hesitate to use iso800. Image quality is very very good anybody who bitches about it are either looking at images at 250% magnifaction or missing the point.
It really is pocketable.
Amazing price and free lightroom 3 too.
You cannot go wrong.
Panasonic are super quick with the cashback - already payed out. Make sure you find the 3 years free warranty form too.
Don't really see why image stabilisation is a must!
I wouldn't say it's a must, but it's very useful. You might have a fast lens, but there's always room for more light and a longer exposure. f2.5 isn't that fast anyway. Plus, that's a prime - IS is great for zooms too. I can happily hand hold my 300mm f5.6 for instance in overcast conditions.
Molgrips - I try to avoid spending money as well. I was trying to generalise. I have a habit of using manual focus F and FD mount Nikon and Canon lenses. 35mm f2.0 and 50mm f1.4 each availiable for under £100 works out as very fast 70mm and 100mm equiv lenses on a m43.
Manual focus - yeah.. there are some nice cheap old lenses out there but manual focus is just too difficult for me. I'd install a split circle prism but they are available for every Oly DSLR apart from mine.
I've shopped well for lenses I think.
Olympus 40-150mm £99 new
Olympus 70-300mm £250 ish new (this was rash)
Olympus 35mm macro £130 used
Olympus 25mm pancake £120 used
Sigma 30mm f1.4 about £160 used (a steal)
Olympus 8mm fisheye about £160 again used (another steal)
Olympus 9-18mm £250 used (costly, but these things are going for big bucks still)
Most of those are bought in the US mind which helps 🙂
GX1 + 20mm F1.7
Shoot's as good photos as the G3, if not better due to updated processing....in a package half the size.
Err...Molgrips, thats £1300 worth of lens...define spending a lot on lenses...
Yeah but that's an average of less than £200 🙂
EDIT: **** me I never added it up before... 😳 Still, the camera was only £300 so all that is still about the cost of a Canon 5D.
Err...Molgrips, thats £1300 worth of lens...define spending a lot on lenses...
that just about gets you most of the way towards 1 decent lens... 🙄
I'd far rather have 7 reasonable ones of all different types that one 'decent' one!
F2.5 cannot be considered slow - it's faster than every kit zooms and pretty much every other lens with the word zoom on the market.
And to get that pancake with a m43 camera for less than £200 is the bargain of the year.....
esp when you compare it to what £200 gets you with small sensor compacts!
going to add, if you have one of these cameras with 14mm lens, the Lowepro Santiago DV 35 fits my EPM1 with 14mm perfectly and provides semi-solid crash protection and fits perfectly in the side pocket of my dakine nomad, I can be taking pictures in a few seconds without even removing my backpack.
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OTOH with my mju tough I don't even have to stop to take a picture 🙂
Image quality's not as good though!
really? no way!
rs - Lowepro Santiago DV 35
Where did you buy this from?
Just googled it with not much luck in the UK?
ah, sorry i'm in canada, maybe you can get one from ebay or something.
can i add the sony Nex 5n to the mix.
the nice thing about the sony, it the amount of cheap lens adpaters available, which makes a whole host of cheap quality lens available.
Minota 50mm 1.7 prime lens for £15, awesome PQ. adapter £10.
The sony has focus peaking, which displays a red line/dots over high contrast pixels, so manual focus is very easy. plus with the touch screen, you can digitally zoom while focusing too.
cheap lens and a good kit lens, means most situations are covered. plus able to play with old lenses for different pic's. On the hunt of a cheap macro now 😀
the nice thing about the sony, it the amount of cheap lens adpaters available, which makes a whole host of cheap quality lens available
Same for m4/3 isn't it?
Indeed it is Mr grips. I have Canon FD and Nikon F mount adapters sat in front of me now. I've also seen adapters for Pentax, Minolta, in fact pretty much any DSLR fitting available.
molgrips - Member
Yeah but that's an average of less than £200EDIT: **** me I never added it up before... Still, the camera was only £300 so all that is still about the cost of a Canon 5D.
Posted 16 hours ago # Report-Post
Based on that, I took a look at Mrs Duck's lens collection for her Canon eos...I may be having a chat...
