4/3rds lens recommendations

G

Grumps1974

Messages
1,602
Name
Martin
Edit My Images
No
Hi all

Hopefully I will be taking delivery of my new (to me) GX7 on Saturday. It comes with a 14-42 kit lens but I will need to add other lenses to this. As I am new to 4/3rds I really don't know much about them so I am hoping for some steer from members as to the way forward. To suit my style of photography I would like to add a reasonable length telephoto. I have read good things about the Panny 35-100 to fill this need and there is one for sale on here. Any comments?

Secondly I am not sure the 14-42 kit lens is going to be good enough. Can anyone please suggest an alternative zoom at this range or maybe a quality prime between 14 and 42?

Many thanks
 
Minor point but to avoid confusion you're looking at Micro Four Thirds rather than Four Thirds. I think :D

On the prime side I have the Panny 14mm and 20mm f1.7 and the Oly 17, 25 and 45mm f1.8's and can recommend them all although the focus on the Panny 20mm is thought by some to be a bit sluggish, but this may not be an issue for you. If you want a quality standard zoom I believe that the Panny and Oly f2.8's are both pretty nice pieces of kit.
 
The Oly Pro 12-40 f2.8 is my mainstay. It's big and heavy for a m4/3 lens but so much so as to be annoying.
I also use the 75mm f1.8 a lot. The 45mm f1.8 is very good, cheap and focuses close so works well with extension rings for macro work. The 60mm macro lens is highly regarded but I prefer the reduced DoF of the 75mm; there's a significant difference.

The 12-50 kit lens isn't at all bad, just not that fast.
I used to use the Panasonic 25mm f1.4 a lot before getting the 12-40. It's very good and has great contrast but it's not often that I actually need to put it on instead of the 12-40.

The cheap Oly 40-150 is merely adequate; the pro version is well thought of but I just use the 75 when I'm shooting stuff in that range.

The Panasonic 100-300 is ok.

.. that reminds me, I must bung some of my excess stuff in the classifieds ..
 
The 12-40mm f2.8 is my most used lens, very nice lens indeed although is a touch soft at f2.8 imo. The 45mm f1.8 again is a very nice lens, punches well above its weight considering it's price. I disagree with juggler about the cheap 40-150mm. Whilst it does feel very cheap and plasticky and more like a kid's toy, optically it is surprisingly good imo.
 
juggler said:
I found it sharp in the middle of the frame, zoom and aperture range but less so at the ends.
Click to expand...
Yeah I guess there's sample variation and expectations, although I do tend to be picky ;) But this is why it's always good to try things out for yourself. OK so it's a far cry from my 70-200mm f2.8 on my Nikon, but it's not a million miles away from the 70-300mm I used to have.
 
woof woof said:
Minor point but to avoid confusion you're looking at Micro Four Thirds rather than Four Thirds. I think :D

On the prime side I have the Panny 14mm and 20mm f1.7 and the Oly 17, 25 and 45mm f1.8's and can recommend them all although the focus on the Panny 20mm is thought by some to be a bit sluggish, but this may not be an issue for you. If you want a quality standard zoom I believe that the Panny and Oly f2.8's are both pretty nice pieces of kit.
Click to expand...

Sorry yes I did mean micro four thirds. As I said I am new to this having been solely DSLR for years.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. They are appreciated

Looks like there are several decent prime lenses for me to research. Although the GX7 has some in camera IS it is not rated that highly so I would guess for my purposes I would be better to buy lenses with built in IS rather than non IS lenses. So if I am right this rules out Olympus lenses.

If the lack of IS does rule out the Olympus 40-150 and I am restricted to Panny for in lens IS any thoughts on what is the best option for a longer zoom lens
 
I have the Oly 40-150, the lack of IS on the lens hasnt been a problem for me, the inbody IS seems quite capable unless you need to got to low shutter speeds.
 
Grumps1974 said:
Sorry yes I did mean micro four thirds. As I said I am new to this having been solely DSLR for years.

Thanks to everyone for your comments. They are appreciated

Looks like there are several decent prime lenses for me to research. Although the GX7 has some in camera IS it is not rated that highly so I would guess for my purposes I would be better to buy lenses with built in IS rather than non IS lenses. So if I am right this rules out Olympus lenses.

If the lack of IS does rule out the Olympus 40-150 and I am restricted to Panny for in lens IS any thoughts on what is the best option for a longer zoom lens
Click to expand...
People have been coping without IS for years so for me it's not a deal breaker, you just need to make sure your shutter speed is 1/effective focal length.
 
I thought some reviewers had rated the GX7 in body IS as being quite good? One advantage at least is that any lens will benefit from it.

I have a GX7 myself, my main gripe is the EVF which I don't seem to get on with but others seem perfectly happy with it and other than that it's a nice package.
 
snerkler said:
People have been coping without IS for years so for me it's not a deal breaker, you just need to make sure your shutter speed is 1/effective focal length.
Click to expand...


Yeah I know the rules - I have been doing photography for over 30 years. I prefer to use lenses with IS for the extra flexibility it gives me and negate the need to pump the ISO up. So for me having IS on a telephoto lens is a given. Different strokes for different folks.
 
Last edited:
juggler said:
Some of the best m4/3 lenses are made by Olympus and many of the best Panasonic jobbies don't have IS; it seems a bit premature to rule them out.

If you've made up your mind the Panasonic 35-100 f2.8 is probably the only high quality short telephoto zoom with IS but take a look at this list too:
http://lenshero.com/lenses/Panasonic-DMC-GX7-image-stabilized-lens-less-than-10000
Click to expand...

Thanks for the link - makes interesting reading. It is beginning to look that the 35-100 is the best of the options open to me without spending a lot.
 
And for a bit of fun you can pick up the samyang 7.5mm fish eye quite cheap.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top