What lens for my GH2?

[subsequent]

Hi!

I just bought a GH2 from ebay (body only) does anyone have any suggestion to what lens i should start whit?

I'v heard some say the Canon FD lenses are nice, but do i need a converter to use them? Or do they fit out of the box?

Many thanks :)

[treyvollmer]

It depends. What type of work do you want to use it for?

[subsequent]

I planning on using my camera for filming my family and some shots outside in the winter weather here in norway. Gonna film a lot of different stuff. i'v been looking on a 50mm FD Canon 1.4 on ebay. Found out that i needed a mount to fit those lenses.

[Chris Mann]

For general family use, and as a first lens, you would probably be better off with one of the Panasonic Micro Four Thirds lenses - unless you are OK with setting the aperture and focus manually all the time.

The 14-42 kit lens is small and light, or you could opt for the 20mm pancake which is a very nice prime lens that gives you a "normal" field of view. A 50mm Canon FD will be the equivalent of a 100mm telephoto lens on the GH2 - the sensor has a 2x crop factor compared with 35mm.

[subsequent]

I will look in to the 20mm pancake lens too then. I have no problem setting the aperture and focus manually, as i'm used to this when i was filming with my d90 as it has pretty basic film options.

I think i will buy some FD lenses since they are pretty cheap on ebay :)

Thanks for all the help :)

[Zxander34]

I would strongly consider looking over the 14-140 lens considering it's great autofocus video abilities.

[Andrew Reid]

I'd look at whether you need AF for family shooting, or whether you are more comfortable with MF. Manual is more cinematic of course.

If it is AF you need look into the Lumix lenses, some recommended above like the 20mm F1.7 pancake and 14-140mm are pretty nice.

If it is manual focus you can get some nice primes which will be cheaper than the Lumix lenses and better in low light. Canon FD 35mm F2, Canon FD 85mm F1.8 and Samyang 85mm F1.4 spring to mind as being particularly good value for money considering their image quality (around £200 each compared to £250 for the Lumix 20mm and £300+ for the 14-140mm).

If you are filming people moving around a lot, it will help to stop the lens down and use a wider focal length... say 20mm F2.8. The Sigma 20mm F1.8 stopped down to F2.8 is nice and sharp and has a nice big manual focus ring on it far more convenient than small one on the Lumix pancake. The Samyang 35mm F1.4 is also good to handle because it is big and fits in the hand well for manual focus.

[Karlbown]

Definitely recommend the 20mm 1.7. We use it for 80% of our filming.

Also second your thoughts on buying some Canon FD glass. Check out the 24mm 2.8 and one of the many 50mm options - the 1.8 gives lovely short dof and can be had for around £30 with the 1.4 much more expensive. I've now got 9 FD mount lenses and am quite addicted to buying them :-)