What lenses are compatible?

[Jennifer2010]

Hi Everyone,

I'm buying a Panasonic GH3 and I'm confused as to what lenses are available to use with it (besides the Lumix lenses Panasonic lists as compatible).

It's a "Micro Four Thirds" mount. I'm assuming this is smaller than a Four Thirds Mount? I have a hard time finding any lenses from Sigma, Olympus, etc that have a "Micro Four Thirds" mount.

I understand you can purchase adapters to use different lenses. Does anyone know the details of this? What type of lenses would that open up to me?

The APO 50-150mm F2.8 EX DC OS HSM from Sigma looks PERFECT for what I'm trying to do. I'll be using it primarily for video, indoors, at sports events, possibly in low lighting situations. I was at Best Buy yesterday and looked at the T4i with the 18-135mm kit lens on it. I zoomed in all the way and it seemed to be slightly under what I would need - so I'm assuming 150 is right where I'd like it to be.

Any advice/help is greatly appreciated.

Thank you!

- Jennifer

 

[Balinus]

Hello Jennifer,

there's a lot of micro 4/3 lenses from Olympus. Sigma has 2 lens (19mm, f/2.8 and 30mm f/2.8) available. All of them will have all the features working with your GH3.

Here's a list of some of the available lenses : http://www.four-thirds.org/en/microft/lense.html

For the adapted lens, there's almost no limits. I'm no pro about this, but you can basically adapt a good range of old legacy lenses. I've bought one that adapts a Minolta MD 50mm f/2 to my GH2. Though, keep in mind that you'll need to go all manual.

 

[ann]

check here

Micro Four Thirds Lenses - HENNIGArts : Gear

 

[BrianV]

micro-4/3 mount is used for "mirrorless" cameras, such as the one you are getting. The sensor is also used to feed the image to the LCD screen or electronic viewfinder, rather than using an SLR style mirror and optical viewfinder. "4/3" mount is the latter, uses a reflex mirror and the lenses require a larger distance to the image sensor. There are adapters that allow the standard "4/3" lenses to be used with mirrorless micro-43 camera bodies.

Also: there are inexpensive adapters to use "legacy" lenses in a manual-focus mode. You see through the lens, and the adapters are very simple and often inexpensive. If you have older manual focus camera lenses, it is an option. Also an option for limited budgets.

 

[Jennifer2010]

Thank you for the responses.

It seems impossible to find something like a 50-150mm f/2.8 lens for a mft camera.

The closest seems to be something like a 35-100mm f/2.8 from Lumix, but as I mentioned the 18-135mm from Canon I tried didn't provide enough zoom - so 35-100mm definitely would not either.

 

[DiskoJoe]

Correct answer = E-mount

Any E-mount lens will work on your camera or any lenses that they make an e-mount adaptor for.

e-mount adaptor | eBay

 

[Jennifer2010]

Correct answer = E-mount

Any E-mount lens will work on your camera or any lenses that they make an e-mount adaptor for.

e-mount adaptor | eBay

No E-Mount lenses around 50-150mm f/2.8

If there is something like that it's a 18-200 f/3.5 - 6.3 which I'm not interested in.

Why doesn't anyone make something like a 50-150mm f/2.8 for a MFT?

 

[usayit]

Thank you for the responses.

It seems impossible to find something like a 50-150mm f/2.8 lens for a mft camera.

The closest seems to be something like a 35-100mm f/2.8 from Lumix, but as I mentioned the 18-135mm from Canon I tried didn't provide enough zoom - so 35-100mm definitely would not either.

Remember these lenses are designed specifically for the 2x crop sensor of micro 4/3rds. So that 35-100 f/2.8 is actually equivalent to a 70-200mm f/2.8 on full frame which is not too far off from the Sigma's equivalent 75-225mm on a full frame.

You need to account for different formats.

There's also 100-300mm (600mm equiv on FF) as well as the 45-200mm (400mm equiv on FF) but they don't have the same fast aperture.


Sony E-Mount is much more restrictive in lens choices than micro 4/3.

 

[Jennifer2010]

Thank you for the responses.

It seems impossible to find something like a 50-150mm f/2.8 lens for a mft camera.

The closest seems to be something like a 35-100mm f/2.8 from Lumix, but as I mentioned the 18-135mm from Canon I tried didn't provide enough zoom - so 35-100mm definitely would not either.

Remember these lenses are designed specifically for the 2x crop sensor of micro 4/3rds. So that 35-100 f/2.8 is actually equivalent to a 70-200mm f/2.8 on full frame which is not too far off from the Sigma's equivalent 75-225mm on a full frame.

You need to account for different formats.

There's also 100-300mm (600mm equiv on FF) as well as the 45-200mm (400mm equiv on FF) but they don't have the same fast aperture.


Sony E-Mount is much more restrictive in lens choices than micro 4/3.

Thank you for this info!

I was in Best Buy with a T4i and the 18-135mm didn't pack enough zoom. Translating that down to a GH3, what would the equivalent be?

THank you so much!

 

[Balinus]

The T4i has a crop factor of 1.6x (from memory) while micro 4/3rds has a crop factor of 2x. This means that the 18-135mm is the 35mm equivalent of a ~29-216mm (quite close at the zoom end to the Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8, which has a constant aperture btw. While the Canon's kit lens has a maximum aperture of 5.6 at the zoom end).

 

[JRG2501]

One of the coolest thing about Micro 4/3 is that they are compatible to almost anything. Native lenses are produced by Panasonix/Lumix, Olympus an Bresser. On top of that you can use all sorts of adapters to attach not only full size 4/3 lenses like the ones available from olympus but also a wide range of other lenses. I use a Nikon 50mm lens quite often with A Lumix G1 or Olympus E-P1 body. Another very popular combination is a DSLM camera carrying M mount Leica or Zeiss lenses.

My favourite Micro 4/3 lens is the Lumix 45-200mm lens. Its dirt cheap and produces fantastic images. Just a little tip.

 

[byegad]

I own 'native' M4/3 lenses from Olympus, Panasonic, Sigma, Samyang/Rokinon and Voigtlander and I also use 4/3 lenses, with adapter from Samyang, Olympus and Lensbaby plus lenses (with the appropriate adapter) that are from Nikona and also various older and new lenses from manufacturers that use/used M42 and T2 threaded fit.

M4/3, with its short flange to sensor distance allows almost any lens to be fitted with the right adapter. For that reason alone M4/3 is a versatile and rewarding system to use.


Yes I have a lot of lenses, 39 at he last count! To go with my 7 (2 4/3, 5 M4/3P) cameras.

 

[The_Traveler]

zombie thread

 

[Ido]

Thank you for the responses.

It seems impossible to find something like a 50-150mm f/2.8 lens for a mft camera.

The closest seems to be something like a 35-100mm f/2.8 from Lumix, but as I mentioned the 18-135mm from Canon I tried didn't provide enough zoom - so 35-100mm definitely would not either.

Here you're comparing different sensor formats, which is quite misleading. The Micro Four Thirds (and Four Thirds, for that matter) cameras have slightly (some say significantly) smaller sensors than the Canon T4i's, thus images shot at the same focal length with each are somewhat more "cropped" with the Micro Four Thirds cameras.
The ratio between the two "crop factors," in this case, is 1.25x. So in essence, a shot taken at 135mm on the Canon T4i would look similar to a shot taken at 108mm on a Micro Four Thirds camera, as far as framing is concerned, when shooting from the exact same spot.

The bread-and-butter "fast" (f/2.8 or better) telephoto zoom lens for Micro Four Thirds is a rather recent addition—the Olympus 40-150mm f/2.8 lens, part of the company's PRO series of very high-grade optics and rugged designs. However, there is one huge flaw to that lens for users of cameras other than Olympus's own, or the Panasonic Lumix DMC-GX7: it does not have optical image stabilization, as it is designed mostly for Olympus camera bodies which have in-body image stabilization, which works by shifting the sensor in multiple axes. Of all Panasonic cameras, only the aforementioned GX7 has that (though reportedly inferior to Olympus's implementation). Image stabilization becomes very important—if not absolutely crucial/necessary—in such long focal lengths, especially if you intend to shoot videos handheld. If you plan on using a monopod/tripod, it isn't nearly as necessary.
The Panasonic 35-100mm f/2.8 does have image stabilization, making it more sensible and usable with camera bodies like the GH3. You will lose 'reach' significantly, though, as 50mm is nothing to scoff at.

You can use an adapter to mount the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8, and while it may not be so practical in most cases, it might just be sensible in yours, at least if you use a monopod/tripod. With relatively cheap adapters, you'll almost certainly lose autofocus(!) and image stabilization, making the lens almost unusable for shooting any moving action, though with video it might not be a bad thing—many video shooters never use autofocus. I don't shoot video myself, so I can't really comment on that.
It is very likely that most expensive adapters will also disable autofocus and image stabilization. Those two functions require electronic communication between the lens and the camera body, while most adapters are simply mechanical bits that put a different lens mount on the camera, basically. More expensive adapters usually differ from cheap ones in the materials they're made of, which is actually a big consideration when heavy lenses are meant to be used. Some adapters, mostly those that convert Canon EF to other mounts, do have contacts that enable electronic-dependent features of the lens—you really have to look for them, but they exist. I think Metabones is one of the leaders in "smart" adapters.

If you just can't find a good solution, don't force yourself into the Micro Four Thirds system. Many others will give you great video quality and control, even if they're not up to the GH3's standard. The Canon EOS 70D, for example, is very highly regarded. Of course, you can use it with the Sigma 50-150mm f/2.8 and get autofocus and image stabilization.

 

[waday]

This is quite an old thread--from 2013.