"Panasonic G series" Owners Thread

Just traded my Takumar 200 F4 for an old Canon FD 50mm f/3.5 macro [does 1:2 I believe and there's an adapter to make it 1:1] anyone ever use this lens? I just went for the trade as I don't use the Takumar anymore, since getting the 100-300. I don't even have an FD to MFT adapter yet, any other lenses worth adapting from that old line?
 
I like old lenses but on MFT much less so. I have a Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro which is a 1:1 and that's nice as are 50mm f1.4/f1.8's and I suppose others can be justified for bargain basement or aesthetic reasons but I do think they make much less sense than on a Sony A7 as quite a few MFT lenses are quite well priced on the used market and much better than the old film era stuff, for example a native 25mm f1.8 wont cost a lot and will be better than a film era 24mm f2.8 on MFT and might even be cheaper too.
 
cardiff_gareth said:
Is there a M4/3 adaptor to take Pentax K / KAF or M42 lenses?
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Yup, I have an M42 to M43 adapter, like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-Moun...TF8&qid=1529354867&sr=8-5&keywords=M42+to+M43

Here's a PK to M43: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fotasy-Pen...9354984&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=pentax+K+to+m43

You can pay a fair bit more and get focal reducer ones which give a 0.71x crop - bringing them closer to APSC equivalent, and you get a stop extra brightness [f/2 becomes f/1.4 etc] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pixco-Boos...sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=M42+to+m43focal+reducer
 
woof woof said:
I like old lenses but on MFT much less so. I have a Sigma 50mm f2.8 macro which is a 1:1 and that's nice as are 50mm f1.4/f1.8's and I suppose others can be justified for bargain basement or aesthetic reasons but I do think they make much less sense than on a Sony A7 as quite a few MFT lenses are quite well priced on the used market and much better than the old film era stuff, for example a native 25mm f1.8 wont cost a lot and will be better than a film era 24mm f2.8 on MFT and might even be cheaper too.
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It's really only for macro I adapt nowadays, though some of the better value 50mm 1.4 classics are still tempting, especially with a focal reducer

Actually been considering a Viltrox focal reducer, Canon to MFT as with EF lenses you get AF and all the relevant data, on top of gaining an extra stop of light and get closer to the original equivalence. There's some cheap EF lenses that I think could be nice on that set up, like the cheap as chips 50mm 1.8, it becomes a 35mm f/1.3 with the FR and from what i have seen, AF isn't bad at all. The Viltrox is oft touted as the 'Metabones killer' - though it is still £150+
 
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Cagey75 said:
It's really only for macro I adapt nowadays, though some of the better value 50mm 1.4 classics are still tempting, especially with a focal reducer
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Ah, I never thought of focal reducers :D but £30-60 for an 50mm f1.4 and then there's the cost of the adapter/focal reducer v the cost of a native 25mm f1.8 may or may not be a good deal.

Apart from the macro I've always thought that the film era lenses I've tried on MFT have been a bit ho hum when looking closely. On my A7 it's usually a different story with some performing well, not up to modern lens standards if looking closely but well enough.

At one time a 50mm was my most used lens on MFT but I had to keep telling myself that I own the excellent Olympus 45,, f1.8 :D
 
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Therse every sort available on eBay, providing your prepared to wait for the slow boat to come. For M42 make sure it dosnt have a step at the bottem of the thread or it blocks SMC (ES mount) lenses.
Every one I've had has worked OK, and some times the're cheeper than UK postage! Great fun.
 
woof woof said:
Ah, I never thought of focal reducers :D

Apart from the macro I've always thought that the film era lenses I've tried on MFT have been a bit ho hum when looking closely. On my A7 it's usually a different story with some performing well, not up to modern lens standards if looking closely but well enough.

At one time a 50mm was my most used lens on MFT but I had to keep telling myself that I own the excellent Olympus 45,, f1.8 :D
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The newer focal reducers apparently improve the IQ on certain lenses, and I've seen samples that would convince me. For an easy start say the Viltrox ef-m2 + Canon 50mm 1.8, you have a 35mm f/1.3 for just over £200, and your next lenses will be a lot cheaper as you already got the FR

How tasty would a Canon 50mm 1.4 be? 35mm f/1.2! Or if you have the funds, one of their 1.2 lenses becomes f/0.95
 
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Yup. For multiple lenses the focal reducer option looks better and for longer lenses too as the native options are more expensive.
 
Cagey75 said:
Yup, I have an M42 to M43 adapter, like this one: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Micro-Moun...TF8&qid=1529354867&sr=8-5&keywords=M42+to+M43

Here's a PK to M43: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fotasy-Pen...9354984&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=pentax+K+to+m43

You can pay a fair bit more and get focal reducer ones which give a 0.71x crop - bringing them closer to APSC equivalent, and you get a stop extra brightness [f/2 becomes f/1.4 etc] https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pixco-Boos...sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=M42+to+m43focal+reducer
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Yikes that's a difference in price!

Will get the M42 normal and PK adaptors!

@Stumpy - The one linked - Does it have this lip you mention?
 
heres a Burnett moth from today hand held with the 100-400 in very windy conditions ,not to bad imho BUT look at the insect in the bottom of the flower bell ,resolution or what
resting his wings by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
cardiff_gareth -

First link yes, but the cheeper one below dosen't!
Second link (PK) sorry dont know or think it applys.
Third link, reducer, looks like it WOULD foul the pin and link on SMC open appature lenses.
 
cardiff_gareth said:
Yikes that's a difference in price!

Will get the M42 normal and PK adaptors!

@Stumpy - The one linked - Does it have this lip you mention?
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Not had any issues with the cheap 'dumb' adapters to date, used them on Fuji and M43 for lenses like the Helios 44-2, Takumar 200mm F4 and Carl Zeiss 135 F/3.5 - all of them worked fine. Of course you get no data back to the camera, you will see shutter speed and ISO as the body controls those, but you change aperture on the lens only, and manual focus obviously. Some of the cheap adapters you can unscrew and remove the 'step/disc' part
 
puffin on the rocks looking out , I was side by side with the wife she using her 7d with 400mm L lens both obviously dated now but posted two side by side shots on flickr ,the difference in clarity and detail is very noticeable so glad I changed now

the look out by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
another shot from last week ,baby swallows being fed hand held with auto iso OH dear and iso 6400 but hold on the g80 is crap at high iso ,another theory de-bunked

more food mum by jeff and jan cohen, on Flickr
 
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It's not crap once you expose correctly, I've been impressed by mine at 2000 - 3200 recently, and I rarely ever use that level with any camera [just personal preference before anyone goes off on some lecture :D ]

There's an awful lot of new photographers these days, because of vlogging popularity, many of them are switching from their under-used FF cameras to M43 for the video side. All experts in their own mind, who make stuff up to suit. The ones you see saying 'M43 can't do ISO 400+, useless' - are the ones who fail at proper exposure. They were used to relying on FF sensors ability to recover exposure by 2-3 stops and don't understand how others seem to cope.

Here's one from the other day at ISO 2000, I could have gone 3200 and shot at 1/50th and the result would have been the same, but I'm confident in my hand holding ability, at 1/25 with this camera it's easy.

Afternoon snooze by K G, on Flickr
 
the black fox said:
another shot from last week ,baby swallows being fed hand held with auto iso OH dear and iso 6400 but hold on the g80 is crap at high iso ,another theory de-bunked
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I've been saying this for years.

I'll use any ISO up to and including 25,600 and most of the time the picture is at least useable as a whole picture to fill a screen and produce a good sized print especially if you consider the final output size and resize if and when appropriate. There are exceptions of course and even an ISO 1600 shot in some horrible artificial lighting can be problematic and need more work but that's true with my FF Sony A7 too.

It always amazes me when people ask what's the maximum ISO you'll use... I assume that if conditions require higher they just turn the camera off and put it away? Personally I'd much rather take the picture and hope it's useable, it probably will be, rather than not take it at all.
 
Cagey75 said:
Just ordered a Samyang 12mm F2, wide angle here we come, should be interesting.
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Wish I had your money Keith ,got a lot of dreams and two lenses :whistle:
 
srhmoto said:
I got a key ring :thinking::LOL:
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Bt your G9 is still worth more than all of my gear, body an' all :D

Normally I get socks 'n' boxers, or a Dad mug.

I had a little lens fund going on the side and everyone knew of it, and saw me stressing over gear sites, pondering on what i could trade in to get such and such .... I didn't need much to allow me get this one to be fair, so not as amazing as you imagine. My first choice was the PL 15mm, but it would have meant trading in my 25mm, and I couldn't bring myself to do that just yet. Wanted the Samyang since I started shooting Fuji a few years back, just never got around to buying it

I tell ya, it's been hard work building up this little M43 set up, I've been buying and selling and haggling and using the 'Oirish' gift of the gab and wheelin' and dealin' to get me the best , cheap set up to satisfy my shooting needs.

I will now have a 12mm, 25mm, 60mm and 100-300. Plus an old 50mm macro. Pretty much covers all I need and it'll all fit in one bag and be lighter than 1/4 of my old FF gear

Now ... a second body ... hmmm ...
 
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I have pondered over a Olympus om1 mk1 ,and also various lenses ,and to be truthful I wonder if I should in reality have gone for the G9 or om1.mkii and a 100-300 lens instead . But as I didn’t know enough about the system beforehand I had to go on what my lad and the salesman presumed I wanted .
 
Many would say Lens > body, but I guess for certain specific situations like birding, you want both as capable as possible. I can't remember the last time I shot a BIF, so it's not something I really worry about, but I do like to shoot the odd bit of wildlife. The old 100-300 is plenty enough for my needs. I do wish it was faster at times, the mkII is I'm sure, so plan to upgrade to that some day.

I'm looking forward to this 12mm, it'll be the widest lens on any format I have used in years. I had the 24-70 2.8 on FF and never made full use of it tbh

Still getting to grips with the 60mm:

Mono by K G, on Flickr
 
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No new lens today ... Boooo! though I'm smothering with hay-fever and probably wouldn't have made any use of it. Should arrive here tomorrow.
 
Wide angle fun times

samyangG80.jpg

A weightier lens than I thought it would be, I mean it's only 255g but it feels heftier for it's size in comparison to my other primes. Very nicely built, seems to be all metal bar the hood. MF seems to be a cinch, much more precise and much quicker to snap into focus than other MF lenses I've played around with. Peaking shows up really clear which helps a lot, I have found with older, longer FL MF lenses that peaking is often hard to notice. Very definitive with this one,.
 
Looks good Keith ,waiting for the results now ,will have to decide on another lens or body soon , I have the 12-60 pano in my bag and all it does is tours of north wales so logically another body is the way to go hence my enquiries about the om1-mk1 which will just about be my budget limit
 
the black fox said:
Looks good Keith ,waiting for the results now ,will have to decide on another lens or body soon , I have the 12-60 pano in my bag and all it does is tours of north wales so logically another body is the way to go hence my enquiries about the om1-mk1 which will just about be my budget limit
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I wouldn't mind a second body myself, a GX80 or so would be fine. That way I could have macro set up on one, in the bag, anytime I head out, and the other for general shooting. Or even one with the tele lens and the other sharing macro and general, depending on the day. Will hopefully do that by end of summer.

Because I'm clogged up with both flu and hay fever [my left eye actually looks like I got a box!] I didn't get to do much with the lens today, just messed about with it in the back garden. Feels really nice to use, if you've ever had a gem of a vintage MF lens, one that just felt right and you found easy as pie to focus quickly, that's what it kind of feels like. It's nice to have something wide for me, 25mm was the widest I had on this system beforehand.

A few testers from today

RAWwwwwRRR by K G, on Flickr
Garden sport by K G, on Flickr
Cloud-watch Kitty by K G, on Flickr
 
Quick question everybody I have the Panasonic GH3 and has stereo microphones but no mic in socket. When I recorded video last time there was a lot of wind noise due to this but I have seen a stick-on small wind muff that attaches via Velcro to the camera body. I was just wondering if anybody has ever bought one of these before and if there are any good to cut down the wind noise
 
CitizenEra5ed said:
Great images Keith. I’m looking at wide angle primes for my G80 and that looks like a good option

Cheers

Chris
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I had watched dozens of reviews on the lens, since I was shooting Fuji, and never came across one bad one. All the praise the lens gets is warranted I would say, especially regarding the build quality. It feels really solid, you feel like you are holding a well balanced and constructed chunk of glass when you pick it up. MF puts many off, and I understand that, but being a 12mm it's pretty easy to snap into focus, a day's practice with it is all you need to get to know it. You could set it at F5.6 - F8 just pulled back a bit from infinity and pretty much run and gun outdoors, everything will be sharp. It only really gets a little tricky when you want to shoot closer up wide open, just getting used to the plane of focus. I say go for it, I got this one used from MPB for £199 and apart from no box inc. the lens was mint. Seen a few go on here for £160 - £180 if you catch them when they pop up, they do go fast.
 
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I have recently changed from Sony (apsc) and am loving this GX8.

GX8 & 12-35 f2.8

Wild horses on the Long Mynd in Shropshire.

Two horses.


P1000412_2horses-XL.jpg
 
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