Lenses for the Lumix G2, advice needed

icnoble

icnoble

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Iain
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I have a G2 with the 14-42 lens and I have been very pleased with it. I am thinking of buying the 45-200. The reviews I have read have been mixed, Has anyone here got one of these lenses, if so what are your thoughts on it? The alternative i am considering is getting a couple of Nikon manual lenses. Image quality is my priority.
 
20mm f1.7 is becoming an iconic must have lens!
 
45mm f/2.8 Panasonic Leica Macro-Elmarit is now my lens of choice. It's on a par (in terms of sharpness, bokeh, colour and contrast) with the 85 f/1.2 L I used to have. Lovely lens. No need to waste time and effort looking for manual lenses.
 
I have a G1 with the 2 lenses in my footer - I use the 45-200 most but much prefer the 14-45 for sharpness. That said, using focus points rather than letting the camera choose where to focus seems to create very sharp images with both lenses. The 200mm seems to work best slightly backed off from full zoom. I'm no real expert when it comes to lenses however, I can just tell whether it looks nice or if there is something wrong.

Here's a photo I took from a windsurfing session using the 45-200 @ 144mm. This has had some sharpening applied:
4118287676_d57505906f_z.jpg

Full Size: http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2530/4118287676_18a4ddeb13_o.jpg

Trev
 
I have been really impressed with the 45-200 image quality. It's not up there with pro tele zooms that give that kind of reach on DSLR's but for the money it punches way above its weight.

I've used zooms in this price range and above on Canon EOS cameras that can't touch this little pany for IQ and would say if you can put the money aside for one, it's a great option to add to your kit.
 
Thank you for your comments, I will probably go for the 45-200
 
I've had the 45-200 and its not a bad lens, a little soft at the long end and like all of them hunts in low light.

I also had a pentax convertor for mine and two fast prinzflex primes that where cracking lenses, a 135mm F2.8 and a 200mm F3.3.

Still got them in fact so if interested give me a shout.


I got rid of my G1 and traded back to DSLR, it just didnt work for me.
 
py6km said:
45mm f/2.8 Panasonic Leica Macro-Elmarit is now my lens of choice. It's on a par (in terms of sharpness, bokeh, colour and contrast) with the 85 f/1.2 L I used to have. Lovely lens. No need to waste time and effort looking for manual lenses.
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I had one as well but to be honest it doesn't touch the 85mm F1.8 on my 500D, but then I do shoot indoors all the time and I found the M43's didn't really like low light, even with the Leica macro on
 
iancandler said:
I had one as well but to be honest it doesn't touch the 85mm F1.8 on my 500D, but then I do shoot indoors all the time and I found the M43's didn't really like low light, even with the Leica macro on
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Not surprising given that the 500D has a bigger sensor and the 1.8 is a faster lens. In nice light, I don't think you can do much better than the 45mm. That said, with LR3 I can shoot at ISO3200 at f/2.8 in bad light and get results that would have made my D700 a little nervous (only a little though).
 
iancandler said:
I've had the 45-200 and its not a bad lens, a little soft at the long end and like all of them hunts in low light.

I also had a pentax convertor for mine and two fast prinzflex primes that where cracking lenses, a 135mm F2.8 and a 200mm F3.3.

Still got them in fact so if interested give me a shout.


I got rid of my G1 and traded back to DSLR, it just didnt work for me.
Click to expand...

So is the 45-200 a Leica branded lens? I can't find any info on that, but would definitely be interested in any Leica (or Leica class) glass for m4/3 which AFs.
 
py6km said:
So is the 45-200 a Leica branded lens? I can't find any info on that, but would definitely be interested in any Leica (or Leica class) glass for m4/3 which AFs.
Click to expand...


No the 45-200 is panasonic, the 45mm macro *is*, now I say *is* as panasonic now own the Leica name or the right to brand its products as Leica.

As I understand it, the lenses branded Leica have not been made by Leica but have been tested on their test rigs/machines and met their standards.

They are still a different kettle of fish to a "real" Leica lens.

Personally having owned several other brands of dedicated macro lens, I was disappointed with the Leica/ panasonic one as it just did not perform as well as expected for its hefty price tag.

Now I am not knocking the M43 camera's in general, for normal sunny day use they're fine, but in my experience they hate low light situations and as all my shooting is done in relatively low light conditions, ie indoor with no studio lamps set up.. they didnt meet my needs.
 
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