Lenses

[mercer]

Picked up a used GH6 and got the LogC firmware and I am loving it. I have a Lens Turbo in FD mount and the underrated 35-105mm Canon lens, but am looking to keep this set up as native as possible. I picked up a 7artisans 24mm 1.4 on the cheap and am pleasantly surprised by the lens, especially since every review I could find of it, trashes it. Since almost every review was with the lens on an aps-c camera, I assume some of the goop is cropped out with m4/3.

Anyway, I'm looking for a cheap zoom, probably a Panasonic kit, that is better than it should be. I intend on making it my Spielberg f/5.6 lens, but then I got to wondering if any of the kit lenses are accidentally parfocal? I'd love for the little 14-42 PZ to be that lens, but for some reason I doubt it. I assume I'll eventually give in and get the 12-35mm for the added IBIS, but the point of the camera is to keep it on the cheap.

Here are a few frames from the 7artisans in case anyone is interested. These were my first few shots with the lens and the LogC profile. Other than the Arri LUT and an s-curve, no construction equipment was harmed with this set up...

 

[BTM_Pix]

1 hour ago, mercer said:

Anyway, I'm looking for a cheap zoom, probably a Panasonic kit, that is better than it should be. I intend on making it my Spielberg f/5.6 lens, but then I got to wondering if any of the kit lenses are accidentally parfocal? I'd love for the little 14-42 PZ to be that lens, but for some reason I doubt it. I assume I'll eventually give in and get the 12-35mm for the added IBIS, but the point of the camera is to keep it on the cheap.

I did a post about it a while back on the OG Pocket where it’s kind of accidentally par focal at f5.6 but maybe on a native Panasonic body it might be properly corrected ?

I did a video of it on the P4K to illustrate the functionality of the BM controller app that I wrote and it was so so with that as you can see when it shows the servo zoom function .

If you’re looking for a cheap 12-32 then the Panasonic f3.5-5.6 kit lens one is limited functionality wise (no manual focus or aperture) but has OS and is absolutely tiny.

I did some stuff (again with the OG Pocket) here. And it also has a companion lens in the same vein in the 35-100mm f4-5.6 to make a tiny two lens kit with a great range.

 

[mercer]

10 minutes ago, BTM_Pix said:

I did a post about it a while back on the OG Pocket where it’s kind of accidentally par focal at f5.6 but maybe on a native Panasonic body it might be properly corrected ?

I did a video of it on the P4K to illustrate the functionality of the BM controller app that I wrote and it was so so with that as you can see when it shows the servo zoom function .

If you’re looking for a cheap 12-32 then the Panasonic f3.5-5.6 kit lens one is limited functionality wise (no manual focus or aperture) but has OS and is absolutely tiny.

I did some stuff (again with the OG Pocket) here. And it also has a companion lens in the same vein in the 35-100mm f4-5.6 to make a tiny two lens kit with a great range.

 

Man, my 50 years are starting to show. I now remember all of this. At least I didn't technically quote you to you.

And I also remember how fantastic your focus module works. I need to stop buying cameras and lenses and send my money to you. 

[BTM_Pix]

13 hours ago, mercer said:

I need to stop buying cameras and lenses and send my money to you. 

Well you can but I'd only spend it on cameras and lenses as well.

I've got all four of the MFT PZ lenses (2 Panasonic and 2 Olympus) and they are lurking somewhere around where I am at the moment.

If I can dig them out and get some time next week, I can put them on a P4K and do some quick shots for you if you are keen.

Won't be anything fancy, it will just be a couple of locked off shots of a Northern seaside town well past its mid-20th century pomp but it'll all be at f5.6 😉 

[MrSMW]

6 hours ago, BTM_Pix said:

Won't be anything fancy, it will just be a couple of locked off shots of a Northern seaside town well past its mid-20th century pomp but it'll all be at f5.6

I’m intrigued…

Does it begin with S?

[BTM_Pix]

5 minutes ago, MrSMW said:

Does it begin with S?

Further north and more nuclear power station adjacent.

Or further west if the S you are thinking of is somewhere on the east coast.

 

[maxJ4380]

scotland ? not really a small town i guess...

[mercer]

On 5/1/2025 at 8:33 AM, BTM_Pix said:

Well you can but I'd only spend it on cameras and lenses as well.

I've got all four of the MFT PZ lenses (2 Panasonic and 2 Olympus) and they are lurking somewhere around where I am at the moment.

If I can dig them out and get some time next week, I can put them on a P4K and do some quick shots for you if you are keen.

Won't be anything fancy, it will just be a couple of locked off shots of a Northern seaside town well past its mid-20th century pomp but it'll all be at f5.6 😉 

That would be amazing, thanks. And if anyone has seen any of my shots, they know I love a seaside town!

[Snowfun]

(Deleted - apologies)

[Matt Kieley]

Been a while since I've been here. I recently got a GreatJoy 1.35x anamorphic adapter and I love it in spite of it's hefty weight. Here are some recent test videos:

 

[eatstoomuchjam]

1 hour ago, Matt Kieley said:

Been a while since I've been here. I recently got a GreatJoy 1.35x anamorphic adapter and I love it in spite of it's hefty weight. Here are some recent test videos:

Nice.  I have the same adapter, but so far, I think I've only ever mounted mine to my Dog Schidt Flare Factories - I have two and the look that I like most is the one with a fixed oval aperture.  I'm not really one for making and posting test videos, but maybe I could take it out this weekend and put up a couple of frame grabs.

BTW, Frankenhooker is a long-time favorite!

[kye]

Went for a wander in the rain over the weekend with the GH7 and this lens:

I applied some filmic colours and a bit of grain, but the halation / bloom / softness / flares are all the lens.

Just remember, the less you pay for a lens, the more fun it is.... and this lens is a lot of fun.

[maxJ4380]

 

6 hours ago, kye said:

 

Just remember, the less you pay for a lens, the more fun it is.... and this lens is a lot of fun.

 I liked the 2nd and the 3rd photo. The blooming / halation is nice or i think its nice anyway. The other photos seem  subdued to me, but take anything i say with grain of salt. The lens looks like, its seen better days, which i suspect adds to the images.

Not sure i want to see what a test chart looks like through that lens, but i think thats probably a great lens for a rainy / moody day scenario. 

  Are these photos or stills from a video ? Sorry no idea what the gh7 can do. Anyway thanks for sharing 

[BTM_Pix]

On 5/3/2025 at 4:11 PM, mercer said:

That would be amazing, thanks.

I haven’t forgotten, I’m just a bit of a lazy bastard.

I’m now in sunnier climes but normal overcast drizzle will be resumed when I get back in about a month so I will do it then.

With the new PYXIS monitor upgrade for the Studio 4K G2 it might well be shot on that.

[kye]

9 hours ago, maxJ4380 said:

 I liked the 2nd and the 3rd photo. The blooming / halation is nice or i think its nice anyway. The other photos seem  subdued to me, but take anything i say with grain of salt. The lens looks like, its seen better days, which i suspect adds to the images.

Not sure i want to see what a test chart looks like through that lens, but i think thats probably a great lens for a rainy / moody day scenario. 

  Are these photos or stills from a video ? Sorry no idea what the gh7 can do. Anyway thanks for sharing 

The 2nd and 3rd are the most extreme, but I think the third-last (with the plant and green chair) is the best as it shows the image being sharp but also having a painterly quality to it.  It depends if you're interested in photography or videography.  People seem to love lenses to be enormously distracting in photos but for video they are often way too much, like this lens was for this subject.

These are frame grabs from a C4K Prores file on a 1080p timeline.

In scenes without a strong light-source that blooms, it is just a lower contrast softer lens.  From memory, it sharpens up substantially at F4, but if that's what you want then you may as well use a kit lens!

[PannySVHS]

Last and third last are my favorites! @kye The Canon nFD 28mm F2.8 would be my pick of a best bang for buck lens. I have posted about a couple times here and it is not a mystery lens by any means but it's still sort of an undertestimted lens imo. I bought mine ten years ago for 20EU and last time I checked, they still went for around 30EU. My sample is almost as high resolving wide open on a China speedbooster as my 20mm F1.7 at 2m distance. It still has a creamy and very pleasing look and looks also fantastic on my S1H. Perfect lens for mft, S35 and FF sensor gates.

[PannySVHS]

40mil CZJ 16mm lens and GX85, jpeg from raw file. A 40mil S16 lens would have covered the sensor without vignetting I am sure. But despite it's vignette I love the image I am getting out of this, super sharp in the centre and great colors in the raw files. It's tiny and pretty looking on my GX85.

 

[kye]

10 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Last and third last are my favorites! @kye The Canon nFD 28mm F2.8 would be my pick of a best bang for buck lens. I have posted about a couple times here and it is not a mystery lens by any means but it's still sort of an undertestimted lens imo. I bought mine ten years ago for 20EU and last time I checked, they still went for around 30EU. My sample is almost as high resolving wide open on a China speedbooster as my 20mm F1.7 at 2m distance. It still has a creamy and very pleasing look and looks also fantastic on my S1H. Perfect lens for mft, S35 and FF sensor gates.

Thanks! and yes, I also like those particular shots too.

Some time ago I invested in a M42-MFT speed booster and since then looked almost exclusively for M42 lenses, except for telephoto lenses where a speed booster isn't required.  Vintage FF lenses don't normally get wider than 28mm, at least the ones that don't cost much, and at 28mm the difference between an M42 lens with my SB and an FD lens (for example) without one is a 40mm FOV vs a 56mm FOV.  

I know I shot the above images without a SB, but mine really steers my buying habits towards that system.

I have now fully converted my setup to native AF MFT lenses (14-140mm, 12-35mm, 9mm, 14mm) so I now need to work out what I will use my MF and vintage lenses for.  When I shot those images the IBIS stabilised the image but not the flares, so the video files aren't really usable.  This means that if I want to shoot with very vintage lenses I need to shoot without IBIS and physically stabilise the camera, either going for a shaky image and embracing the aesthetic, or going for a more stable image and using a heavier setup / tripod / both.

Thinking about turning off IBIS and going for a more vintage look, my thoughts turned back to my GF3.  So I compared the softness of the image from my GF3 to the softness and grain of film, and depending on the amount of movement and detail in the image it's somewhere between being a Super-8 camera and a Super-16 camera.

I am still pondering this information, as I'm not really sure what I would shoot with a S16-like camera and vintage lenses, but I definitely feel some attraction to this concept.  

Also, there is something super-cool looking about this setup!

GF3 + SB + Tokina RMC 28-70mm F3.5-4.5 + vND...   giving a FF equivalent of 40-100mm F5-6.4.  This is quite similar to lots of S16 zooms back in the day too.  For example the S16 Meteor 5-1 17-69mm F1.9 lens is equivalent to 49-198mm F5.5, etc.

Part of my is very interested in finding a larger bulkier zoom and really leaning into the form-factor, but I couldn't find any around, and even if I did I'm not sure what they'd cost and if they'd be worth it to me (considering I don't even know what I'd use this for!)

8 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

40mil CZJ 16mm lens and GX85, jpeg from raw file. A 40mil S16 lens would have covered the sensor without vignetting I am sure. But despite it's vignette I love the image I am getting out of this, super sharp in the centre and great colors in the raw files. It's tiny and pretty looking on my GX85.

 

This is just wonderful...  the trees have a painterly look that sort of makes them feel a bit hyper-real and a bit dream-like at the same time.  Great stuff!

[PannySVHS]

Tokina 28-85 F4 is a heavy baddy, if that's what you are looking for.:) I have never used mine on an actual shoot.

GF3, with that 12MP sensor from the GF1 days is a harsh higlights specialist camera. Respect for giving love to this novelty.:) @kye

Yes, the CZJ 40 has a nice rendering. I would love to try it on a S16 sensor size photo camera like the Nikon 1 series since it's a 16mm lens. But then I like the FOV of the 40 on mft. So I will keep enjoying it that way. Using and enjoying a lens is what it's about after all.:)

 

[kye]

3 hours ago, PannySVHS said:

Tokina 28-85 F4 is a heavy baddy, if that's what you are looking for.:) I have never used mine on an actual shoot.

GF3, with that 12MP sensor from the GF1 days is a harsh higlights specialist camera. Respect for giving love to this novelty.:) @kye

Yes, the CZJ 40 has a nice rendering. I would love to try it on a S16 sensor size photo camera like the Nikon 1 series since it's a 16mm lens. But then I like the FOV of the 40 on mft. So I will keep enjoying it that way. Using and enjoying a lens is what it's about after all.:)

Indeed!

Actually, the killer combo for the GF3, if we think of it like a tiny vintage film camera, is when it's paired with the Olympus 15mm F8 body cap lens.

It is truly tiny....

In a sense it's an incredibly synergistic pairing, because it gives a 30mm FOV, which is wide enough to make any micro-jitters pretty minimal (especially if you add gate weave in post) and it's sharp, so the softness is just limited by the GF3, and it's deep DOF which fits with the 8mm look.  Without an ND you're also using the shutter to expose, which I understand is also how 8mm cameras worked?

However, perhaps the killer aspect of it is the way you would use it.  You'd never use this as your main setup, so this would be a carry-everywhere low-stakes camera for having fun with.  It would be what you pull out when being silly with friends, or filming random things that aren't so formal.  In a way, that's how people might have used an 8mm camera back in the day, because they weren't inundated with video and didn't have the media savvy we all have now, so they would have just pointed their home movie cameras at whatever was happening.

It's even got a lever that closes it for use in pockets, but it also works as a manual focus adjustment and close focus is something like 30cm / 12 inches which might even get a little bit of background blur (I can't recall) so it's quite versatile.

The challenge is that the F8 aperture means it's basically no good after sunset or indoors, so that's the weakness.  Apart from that, this is perhaps the most likely setup I would use this with.  There's an F5.6 version from a different manufacturer that is tempting, but re-buying it for only one extra stop is a bit hard to swallow.

Anyway, here's a video I shot with this combo quite some time ago....

I can't remember how I graded that, but I think I used a film emulation plugin that added a lot of softening in post, so don't take that as the limits of its resolving power.  It also shows a lot of rolling shutter, so maybe the strategy would be to have it on a strap around your neck and pull that tight when shooting to stabilise the camera a little.

There is something about the extreme lack of technical performance that makes my brain think "well, this isn't going to win awards for literally anything, so ignore all the rules and just shoot and have fun!"