Beginner Micro Four Thirds Lens Help

Antro

Antro

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I need advice on what would be a good second lens to buy for my Panasonic DMC-GF7.

Even though I've not had the camera that long, I would like to try a different lens to the one that came with it (Panasonic12-32mm f/3.5-5.6 Mega OIS Lens). I have googled the crap out of trying to find helpful advice online and they all pointed to similar lenses, like the prime and telephoto lenses.

Now I will have a fairly decent amount to spend ( ~£300 max ) I'd obviously prefer not to spend it all on one lens if that's possible, as I want to get an extra battery and a camera case/bag.

The lenses that I have been looking at are;

Panasonic 25mm f1.7 £150 ish
Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4-5.6 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. Lens £170 ish
Olympus M.Zuiko 40-150mm f4-5.6 R Lens £150 ish
Panasonic 45-175mm f/4.0-5.6 X Lens £300 ish

From what I can understand after reading online and this forum, the 25mm would be good for landscapes and portraits, maybe even photos of buildings, the rest are all from my understanding good for nature photos.

As the camera I have doesn't have in body OIS, would the Olympus be a good choice just to save £20 ? I could then get the 25mm prime and the Olympus zoom ???

I live near quite a few big parks and trying to photo birds and squirrels isn't fun when they disappear from you getting too close, I also liked taking photos of other things that I think the 25mm prime lens will be good for as it can do more than the lens that came with my camera (that or I just haven't got the best out of the lens yet).

Any and all advice is very welcome

Cheers

ps. I will most likely be buying from jessops as there is one close by so I can always try the lens out before I buy, I'd hope
 
Personally I'd ditch the 12-32mm due to the difficulty in focusing manually and replace it with something else.

Just on squirrels. You can sometimes get quite close to squirrels if you have patience and some nuts :D They'll sometimes take nuts from my GF's hand but not from mine as I think they sense I'm a super predator :D 25mm might be ok with some cropping if you can get up close and personal but a longer could be better but the main thing with the squirrels I visit is that they're usually under shade and keeping the shutter speed up means high ISO's even with a f1.x lens so I'm not sure that a variable aperture zoom is going to be much use or to rephrase... I've never had much luck with variable aperture zooms when trying to shoot squirrels. I'd go for a wider aperture lens. I wouldn't worry too much about IS as with critters or anything else that's likely to move you're going to want to keep the shutter speed up to prevent blur due to the subject moving and once you have a fast enough shutter speed the chances are that IS is going to be pretty much redundant. IS is good to have but in the 25/45mm sort of range I wouldn't worry about it, longer lenses will probably benefit more from IS but I suppose it depends on your shutter speed and the subject. That's my thinking anyway.

I bought a lot of my MFT gear second hand and I can recommend the Oly 17, 25 and 45mm f1.8's.
 
The Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-150mm f/4-5.6 ASPH. MEGA O.I.S. is light, compact and has very good image quality for a zoom. Also, you could probably pick this up second hand for nearer the £100 mark. It's the only telephoto I bring along when I travel these days. I also have the Panasonic 45-200, the Panasonic 100-300, and the Olympus 40-150 f/2.8 PRO but I leave them at home.

I second the recommendation for the Oly primes above: the 17 1.8, 25 1.8 and 45 1.8 are excellent. The Oly 17 1.8 is probably my most used prime on m4/3. The 45 1.8 can be picked up for less than £200 second hand.

To stay within your budget, you could also consider the Panasonic 20 f/1.7 Mark 1. This is a very sharp and very good lens, but personally I like the output from the Oly 17 1.8 better. You might be able to pick this up sub £200 second hand.
 
I endorse Maarten's comments on the Panasonic 45-150. For the price, especially used, it is a fantastic lens and very light and compact. I have heard mixed opinions on the Olympus 17 1.8 but it was one of my favourite lenses. For your budget you should be able to get both lenses if you're happy to buy used.

I would not get rid of your 12-32 as it is a very useful walk around lens and decent quality.
 
Buy second hand gear and get the tele-zoom and the prime and you're basically sorted for everything you need.
 
I have been looking around for used lenses and found a place I can buy the Olympus 40-150mm for around £120, it says white box new, something to do with it been taken from a kit. I think it seems quite the bargain, but I do worry about no OIS, will it be noticeable?

I also found an Olympus 17mm and 45mm for around £150 each.

I have seen on eBay quite a few used lenses that can be used with adapters to fit MFT, are these worth the money to try out for not alot of money, M42 seems to be quite a popular fitting.

I think I'd be correct in thinking if I bought a lens that was meant for a full frame at 50mm, on MFT it would be equivalent to 100mm ?

I'm not 100% sure I've understood what I've read so wanted to check

Cheers
 
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Antro said:
I have been looking around for used lenses and found a place I can buy the Olympus 40-150mm for around £120, it says white box new, something to do with it been taken from a kit. I think it seems quite the bargain, but I do worry about no OIS, will it be noticeable?

Also I have seen on eBay quite a few used lenses that can be used with adapters to fit MFT, are these worth the money to try out for not alot of money, M42 seems to be quite a popular fitting.

I think I'd be correct in thinking if I bought a lens that was meant for a full frame at 50mm, on MFT it would be equivalent to 100mm ?

I'm not 100% sure I've understood what I've read so wanted to check

Cheers
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About no OIS: if your body is an Olympus body, it will have stabilisation in the body itself, which is very effective. If it's a Panasonic body, there will be no stabilisation with the Olympus 40-150mm. This may become a problem in low light situations, although OIS will not save every situation (e.g. fast action).

Given that there are excellent native lenses out there for MFT that are not too expensive, personally I'd give the adapter lenses a miss.

You are correct that a lens that has a full frame focal length of 50mm will have an effective Field Of View (FOV) of 100mm on MFT. As another example the Oly 12 f/2.0 has a 24mm Field Of View.
 
Antro said:
I have been looking around for used lenses and found a place I can buy the Olympus 40-150mm for around £120, it says white box new, something to do with it been taken from a kit. I think it seems quite the bargain, but I do worry about no OIS, will it be noticeable?

I also found an Olympus 17mm and 45mm for around £150 each.

I have seen on eBay quite a few used lenses that can be used with adapters to fit MFT, are these worth the money to try out for not alot of money, M42 seems to be quite a popular fitting.

I think I'd be correct in thinking if I bought a lens that was meant for a full frame at 50mm, on MFT it would be equivalent to 100mm ?

I'm not 100% sure I've understood what I've read so wanted to check

Cheers
Click to expand...
I have not used the Olympus 40-150 but I believe the Panasonic 45-150 is better both In terms of image quality and build quality. Also the Panasonic lens has built in image stabilisation which is pretty much a MUST HAVE at the longer end.
 
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Thanks for the links but the 45-150mm has sold already, I have been looking all over for good deals on used lenses, I managed to find some good ones.

I'm going to pass on the Olympus lenses due to the no OIS in lens, for now I think the extra help it can offer if a plus for me, well unless I find a bargain ;)

I have seen a Panasonic 45-200mm lens pretty cheap, the extra 50mm seems like it'd be useful :naughty:, but I'm unsure how good they are as the lens seem to bring with it extra bulk and weight, which might make my smallish camera awkward to use without a tripod.

I will stay away from non-MFT lenses for now, just thought it might be a good way to experiment for not much money.

Before I forget to ask what is the consensus on the Panasonic 45-175 mm lens, seen a few used ones at reasonable prices, after a quick look at reviews, it looks like a good lens.

Cheers
 
If you really want to shoot birds then see whether you can get a second hand Panasonic 100-300.

If you really want to shoot portraits then stick with what you've got or get the Oly 45mm f1.8 or the 75mm f1.8

I don't think the 25mm will add a huge amount to what your kit lens can do - it'll offer a shallow DoF and work better indoors in low light but it won't fundamentally change what you can shoot.
 
juggler said:
If you really want to shoot birds then see whether you can get a second hand Panasonic 100-300.

If you really want to shoot portraits then stick with what you've got or get the Oly 45mm f1.8 or the 75mm f1.8

I don't think the 25mm will add a huge amount to what your kit lens can do - it'll offer a shallow DoF and work better indoors in low light but it won't fundamentally change what you can shoot.
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I am keeping the lens that came with my camera, it's useful to have and I have enjoyed using it.

I am currently looking at the Panasonic 30mm macro f2.8 lens, it's something I know I wanted to buy eventually but have seen a few cheap used ones about, having read as many reviews as I can find it seems to be a good lens.

I am still looking at getting the Panasonic 45-150mm lens, my Panasonic gf7 is quite a small camera and I think the 100-300mm lens might be too big without a tripod, part of my choosing this camera was it's small size so it'd be easier to carry around.

Cheers
 
Antro said:
I have seen a Panasonic 45-200mm lens pretty cheap, the extra 50mm seems like it'd be useful :naughty:, but I'm unsure how good they are as the lens seem to bring with it extra bulk and weight, which might make my smallish camera awkward to use without a tripod.

Before I forget to ask what is the consensus on the Panasonic 45-175 mm lens, seen a few used ones at reasonable prices, after a quick look at reviews, it looks like a good lens.
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The Panasonic 45-200 is a pretty good lens as well, but it is quite a bit bigger and heavier than the Panasonic 45-150. In my opinion it's not worth it for the extra 50mm. You should be OK to use this without a tripod though. I have not used the Panasonic 45-175 so I can't comment on it.
 
After not having much luck trying to buy lenses second hand, I'm going to bite the bullet and buy the Panasonic 45-150 new. It's less hassle for myself, just gotta wait until payday :(

I stopped by Jessops in Manchester today to have a look at the lens in person, only to be told its a dummy and get treated like one in my opinion. I wont be going back there anytime soon.

Online I have seen the Panasonic 30-100mm lens (not the f2.8 one) for sale and was wondering if anybody would recommend it compared to the 45-150 ?

cheers
 
Scratch my last post, I have bought the Panasonic 45-175mm lens, it is used and was a good price. Should have it by the end of the week.

Hopefully the weather will improve and I can get out taking pictures with it.

Cheers for all the advice
 
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