Panasonic 20mm F/1.7The popular Panasonic 20mm F/1.7 lens is available again at B&HPhoto Video, which is about $50 dollars cheaper than the nice markup elsewhere (Amazon). The 20mm F/1.7 is as popular as the 50mm for a Canon DSLR. Nice shallow DOF and good focal distance (2x on Micro Four Thirds). Would go great with the latest G3 camera if you were lucky to grab one.
Tag Archives: 20mm
Panasonic 20mm F/1.7 – In Stock
If you've got a Panasonic GH2, or other Micro Four Thirds camera, you'll know what this lens is. It's been tough to track down lately when they went out of stock because it's just that awesome for a MFT camera. Luckily I grabbed mine months ago, and it's been on the GH2 as the primary lens. My GF2 also came with the 14mm Pancake, which is another popular and highly recommended lens for these MFT cameras. More than likely this new shipment of the 20mm won't last very long, so if you've been waiting patiently here's a chance.
Silicone Friction Follow Focus Gear
Panasonic lenses are fast, quiet, and sharp, but I'm a big complainer about manually focusing with Panasonic Lenses. Looks like i'm not the only one. The lenses need full rotation to get objects in focus, and many Follow Focus lens gears require some type of clamp preventing the full 360 rotation. The solution for Alex M is to add a child's silicone bracelet to the lens, essentially turning it into a friction based follow focus with a seamless lens gear all the way around. [Thanks Alex]
Panasonic Lumix GH2
The Panasonic GH2 seems to have an almost cult-like following. Die hards from previous GH1 models are lovin' the upgrades the GH2 brings to the table. The great thing about these Micro 4/3 cameras aren't just the ability to adapt any practically any lens, but also the quality of Video they provide. Unfortunately it's still a tough camera to find, and always out of stock. This slow availability of cameras is not helping them gain more market share, which I see was a problem with the Nikon D7000. Still, if you have to have the Panasonic GH2 (as of yesterday), there's a few listings at the big auction site, with a very minimal markup.
Once you've picked up your GH2, you'll want to get a wide angle lens with good aperture. Best bang for the buck is Panasonic's 20mm Pancake lens F/1.7. Great lens, fast, and sharp. I just purchased one (I know i'm late) and it's been a top performer for photography. I'm still not a fan of Panasonic's focusing for video, but the quality of this wide lens is exceptional.
