14-140mm lens usage

alcomposer

Hi,

I am sure that there is a topic here about this- however I can't find it after searching half the day.

I am wanting to know if the 14-140mm standard zoom lens is good for matte box usage etc... if not is there another lens? I mainly (only) use primes, so zoom would be just for documentary work. (so auto focus needed for run and gun)

Please let me know your thoughts, lots of guys on PV don't really have much nice to say regarding the 14-140, I have also used it and it is quite slow... :(

Thanks in advance...
@VK if you can find the thread that details this please take the liberty to post and close topic.

Vitaliy_Kiselev

Title of topic is misleading.
About 14-140mm - it depends from what you understand under matte box friendly.
It extends during zoom.

ABout video frindly lenses including zooms:
http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/859/video-friendly-lenses-for-lumix-dslrs/

alcomposer

>Title of topic is misleading.
Sorry about that,.. I agree. Should have been something like: Zoom lens with AF etc for run and gun.

alcomposer

@VK
I am interested in having a good day to day lens for doco work,... is there anything out there better than the 14-140?

Cheers,
A

Vitaliy_Kiselev

So, lets sum it up:

m43 AF lens with OIS
fast or not is not important
run and gun, but with matte box, so lens must be must be constant length

alcomposer

@VK
Sorry to take your time up, I am sure that you have better things to do. Maybe just point me in the right direction? (or is there anyone else online?

alcomposer

Does this even exist?
>>m43 AF lens with OIS
>>fast or not is not important
>>run and gun, but with matte box, so lens must be must be constant length

sohus

No, it does not exist.

The 14-140mm is the best lens you can get with AF and OIS. Alternative is Olympus 12-60 (but much shorter). Your best bet is to wait for the new Panasonic X fast zoom lenses (12-35 and 35-70). But still not comparable to a 10x, 12x or 20x zoom lens on professional video camera systems.

Alternatives are the 17-50 or 24-70 or 24-120 lenses from other lens systems. But these lenses are bulky, do extend most of the times and offer no AF or OIS on the MFT system.

driftwood

Or the Oly Digital 17mm 1.2:8 pancake - just a tad slower on the autofocus than the 14-140. Plus its noisier, and its a faster lens - nah too bad for run & gun. You can pick it up cheap if u look around. of course its a prime....!

feha

no zooms:
14mm 2.5
and 25mm 1.4
both AF but not OIS ...

new G X lens : Lumix G X Vario PZ 45-175mm F4.0-5.6 ASPH OIS
does not extend in length ... (inner zoom)

alcomposer

Thanks for all of your suggestions.

Such a great community there is here!

Seams like its the 14-140 for now until there is something better, (but then again, a good cinema zoom costs upwards of 20k so lets not kid ourselves).

Was just making sure that I didn't miss something.

Matte box for prime only, (maybe someone can make a T-Shirt of something out of that?)

On a related note- any comments on the 14-140 v's the 14-42/45? (better to go with either- once again for run and gun doco work... plus a bag of primes thrown in for interviews with the nice blurry backgrounds and the cute focus pulls :D )

Cheers,
You guys rock!

Vitaliy_Kiselev

It had been noted that 45-175mm is fixed in size.
Also has Power OIS, and power zoom.
I suggest to look at this new pair of lenses (14-42 X ) for run and gun.

alcomposer

Thanks for the heads up @VK

I am aware of those,... but in a situation where you just need 'set and forget' changing over lenses is a bit painful, (maybe I just need to do what has been mentioned here before- have 3 cameras preset with different lenses... )

Cool- now I can look like that scene out of Apocalypse Now, cool.

Cheers,
A

davhar

Well I certainly think the 14-140 is a whole lot better than most on this site. It is what it is, Al, so don't be going all- "If is the middle word of life" on us now. We need you, bro. Come back from the dark side.

A jungle is just a jungle and a carpenter never blames his tools.

alcomposer

@davhar...

No this scene...

LPowell

@alcomposer
Here's a link to my run-and-gun rig:

http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/654/gh2-h4n-on-gini-shoulder-mount-rig-with-ruige-5-monitor

Instead of the Lumix 14-140mm, I use the Leicasonic 14-50mm f2.8-3.5. It's faster, its OIS is drop dead steady, and it has a manual aperture ring, though auto-focus is slower than Micro 4/3rds lenses. In addition the Leicasonic extends less than an inch when zoomed, which allows me to use it with a rails-mounted lens hood - not really a matte box, but good enough for my purposes.

cosimo_bullo

Have others had a problem with the stabilizer seeming to turn off during shots with the 14-140? Keeps happening here.

alcomposer

Hi @LPowell

Love the rig... I am starting believe that a small hood like yours is the way to go... small camera shooting doesn't need to have large Matte Boxes...

cosimo_bullo

I'm gong to bump this again, just because it's driving me nuts and one of you might have a solution:

Have others had a problem with the stabilizer seeming to turn off during shots with the 14-140? Keeps happening here.

cbrandin

@cosimo_bullo

Does this happen only with high bitrates? If so, it could be related to a CPU bandwidth limitation.

Chris

cosimo_bullo

Hi Chris, you see it at the longer end and happens it usually stops after a few seconds of recording time (my canon 70-300 doesn't to this on the 5d, when the stabilizer is on, it stays on), hack or stock doesn't seem to make a difference.

It doesn't seem to be affected by having a finger on the shutter button.

Ralph_B

@LPowell

RE: Leicasonic 14-50mm f2.8-3.5

When you say "its OIS is drop dead steady", does that mean when you're walking with it, or when you're standing still and zoomed in? There is a difference. Traditional OIS works in the latter mode. The newer "active" stabilizers work to smooth out footstep movement. Does this one do that?

LPowell

@Ralph_B
In video mode, Panasonic GH1/2 cameras work only in OIS "Mode 1", which compensates for both vertical and horizontal jitter. In still photo mode, the GH1/2 can use OIS "Mode 3", which allows horizontal panning by only compensating for vertical jitter.

I also have a Nikon 24-120mm f4 zoom that allows you to select between the same two stabilization modes when shooting stills or video on the Nikon D5100. However, Nikon labels its version of Panasonic's Mode 1 as "Active", and Mode 3 as "Normal". This implies that Panasonic OIS lenses likewise work as "active" stabilizers in video mode.

I rarely attempt to take more than a step or two when shooting video, so I can't really judge how well the Leicasonic's OIS works when walking. My experience, however, has been that its OIS is perceptibly more aggressive than the relatively subtle OIS on Lumix Micro 4/3rds lenses that I've tried. The Leicasonic feels more stable than my Nikon 24-120mm as well.

Ralph_B

@LPowell

Could you do a handheld test walking around with the camera? I would really like to know the results. I have a Sony camcorder which has an active stabilizer that's so good, it's like having a steadicam. I've longed to have similar capabilities for the GH2. I find the OIS in the 14-140 totally useless for walking.

Lukeen

cosimo_bullo >Have others had a problem with the stabilizer seeming to turn off during shots with the 14-140? Keeps happening here.

Dear cosimo_bullo, anything new regarding the stabilizer turning off? I am using 14-140 on AF100 and this drives me crazy. Is it faulty design or faulty lens that can be replaced? Thank you, Lukeen

Rambo

I use the 14 - 140 exclusively shooting on water footage from the back of a Jetski, never had an issue with OIS dropping out in thousands of clips. For outdoor event work, 14 - 140 with ND's is a great lens. I abuse this lens, the zoom rubber is removed so it fits into a water shield tube, i adjust zoom by pushing the tulip shaped stock hood forwards. I also have the mattebox Lpowell posted above and use it with the 14 - 140 to shield water splashes rather than flare. During a shoot a will use the full range of the zoom at some point.

The 14 - 140 works well as a walking shot if restricted to 14 - 50 range, but you need to control horizontal motion carefully else the OIS jumps (vertical is more forgiving). I have an extra side mounted handle to stabilize horizontal movement, the rest is just practice at being a human gymbal.

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