What new lens to give GH1 owner as a gift?

She has the GH1 with only the 14-140mm kit lens so far.

I want to add a lens to her kit that supports auto-focus, primarily to be used for stills, with one of the following purposes in mind:

• Fast & great for low light shooting. I assume a prime, macro use would be a plus.
• Longer than 140 for bird & wildlife shooting, zoom preferred.
• Shorter than 14 for great wide angle shooting.

I'm a Canon owner so I'm not very familiar with the best lens picks for the Panny yet. Would prefer to keep the budget to around $400 or under, including adapter if necessary, but could go a little higher if it's something really compelling.

Suggestions?

get the 20mm 1.7

And the DPReview lens review calls it a "must have."
--
http://www.pbase.com/morepix

Carnivore99 said:

She has the GH1 with only the 14-140mm kit lens so far.

I want to add a lens to her kit that supports auto-focus, primarily to be used for stills, with one of the following purposes in mind:

• Fast & great for low light shooting. I assume a prime, macro use would be a plus.
• Longer than 140 for bird & wildlife shooting, zoom preferred.
• Shorter than 14 for great wide angle shooting.

Click to expand...

I guess you're asking for a 7-300 f/2.8 ?
You know that's not happening.

The 45-200 is a noce lens, but slow.
The 20 f/1.7 is the most logical choice in this case.

However, if you were willing to spend more, you could consider the 7-14 f/4. It sells for about 1K

Carnivore99 said:

I'm a Canon owner so I'm not very familiar with the best lens picks for the Panny yet. Would prefer to keep the budget to around $400 or under, including adapter if necessary, but could go a little higher if it's something really compelling.

Suggestions?

Click to expand...

Ugh, the 20mm seems to be sold out everywhere. Anyone know of a place that has it in stock?

Carnivore99 said:

She has the GH1 with only the 14-140mm kit lens so far.

I want to add a lens to her kit that supports auto-focus, primarily to be used for stills, with one of the following purposes in mind:

Click to expand...

Note, there is no lens that will match all of these criteria. So you have to pick what you are going to give:

Carnivore99 said:

• Fast & great for low light shooting. I assume a prime, macro use would be a plus.

Click to expand...

For low light shooting, the Panasonic 20mm f/1.7, and if you can find it, it is roughly at your budget of $400. I believe this lens is hard to find, except as part of a kit.

For macro shooting, the Panasonic 45mm f/2.8 would perhaps be the best, since it will auto focus. Like the 20mm, it is in short supply, and at $900 is way over your budget. If she is willing to manually focus, the Olympus 50mm f/2 with 4/3rds adapter would be another option (and probably gives a sharper image, but not everybody wants to manually focus -- if she wanted a longer focal length so she could be further back from the bugs, consider the Sigma 105mm or Sigma 150mm macros, which again are manual focus with a Panasonic body).

Carnivore99 said:

• Longer than 140 for bird & wildlife shooting, zoom preferred.

Click to expand...

Panasonic 45-200mm, at about $350 would give you a little more room at the telephoto region. I believe Panasonic will be coming out with a 100-300mm some time next year.

Carnivore99 said:

• Shorter than 14 for great wide angle shooting.

Click to expand...

Right now, there is no solution within your budget. There is the Panasonic 7-14mm at $1k, and the Olympus 4/3rds 9-18mm + adapter at maybe $700. Next year, Olympus is going to come out with a micro 4/3rds version of the 9-18mm (no hints so far on price).

Amazon still lists it as available.

Carnivore99 said:

Ugh, the 20mm seems to be sold out everywhere. Anyone know of a place that has it in stock?

Click to expand...

Yes, Precision Camera in Austin, TX just got it in again. Monza/Robert posts on another forum in the vendor section and just posted this. No assoc. with him other than he's a regular on that forum--both as vendor and shooter.
http://forum.getdpi.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12498
--
Diane B
http://www.pbase.com/picnic
G1 gallery http://www.pbase.com/picnic/temp_g1

Michael Meissner said:

Note, there is no lens that will match all of these criteria. So you have to pick what you are going to give:

Click to expand...

Yes, as I said I'm looking to fit one of them.

Michael Meissner said:

Panasonic 45-200mm, at about $350 would give you a little more room at the telephoto region. I believe Panasonic will be coming out with a 100-300mm some time next year.

Click to expand...

The 70-200mm doesn't sound like it provides enough extra reach beyond the kit lens to be a very good addition.

What about the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm F4.0-5.6? Looks like that one has pretty good reach but the slow speed an lack of AFC on the GH1 body probably rule it out for wildlife shooting. Just thinking out loud here. What's the IQ of that lens like, anyway?

I found the Panny 20mm 1.7 on Ebay. Not sure whether I'd get the warranty coverage that way, though.

Michael Meissner said:

Michael Meissner said:

• Shorter than 14 for great wide angle shooting.

Click to expand...

Right now, there is no solution within your budget. There is the Panasonic 7-14mm at $1k, and the Olympus 4/3rds 9-18mm + adapter at maybe $700. Next year, Olympus is going to come out with a micro 4/3rds version of the 9-18mm (no hints so far on price).

Click to expand...

Carnivore99 said:

She has the GH1 with only the 14-140mm kit lens so far.

I want to add a lens to her kit that supports auto-focus, primarily to be used for stills, with one of the following purposes in mind:

• Fast & great for low light shooting. I assume a prime, macro use would be a plus.
• Longer than 140 for bird & wildlife shooting, zoom preferred.
• Shorter than 14 for great wide angle shooting.

I'm a Canon owner so I'm not very familiar with the best lens picks for the Panny yet. Would prefer to keep the budget to around $400 or under, including adapter if necessary, but could go a little higher if it's something really compelling.

Suggestions?

Click to expand...

20mm f1.7 is a great gift for any GH1 kit owner.

--
=============================
My flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/testdasi/

Carnivore99 said:

Michael Meissner said:

Note, there is no lens that will match all of these criteria. So you have to pick what you are going to give:

Click to expand...

Yes, as I said I'm looking to fit one of them.

Carnivore99 said:

Panasonic 45-200mm, at about $350 would give you a little more room at the telephoto region. I believe Panasonic will be coming out with a 100-300mm some time next year.

Click to expand...

The 70-200mm doesn't sound like it provides enough extra reach beyond the kit lens to be a very good addition.

Click to expand...

Well its some extra, but if you want reach, it probably isn't that helpful (I would imagine it is meant more as a companion for the 14-45mm instead of extending the 14-140mm).

Carnivore99 said:

What about the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm F4.0-5.6? Looks like that one has pretty good reach but the slow speed an lack of AFC on the GH1 body probably rule it out for wildlife shooting. Just thinking out loud here. What's the IQ of that lens like, anyway?

Click to expand...

In theory, it should auto focus on a G-H1 once you have the firmware installed on the lens, but people say that it focuses slow. I don't have a Panasonic camera, so I can't say for certain. I did a limited test in my room on my Olympus E-P2, and it did focus inside, but the E-P2 is a different beast that the G-H1.

Carnivore99 said:

I found the Panny 20mm 1.7 on Ebay. Not sure whether I'd get the warranty coverage that way, though.

Click to expand...

With Olympus you would not get the warranty, unless it was sold in Europe, where the cameras come with a second warranty that allows fo resale.

I think the 20mm.

Carnivore99 said:

What about the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm F4.0-5.6? Looks like that one has pretty good reach but the slow speed an lack of AFC on the GH1 body probably rule it out for wildlife shooting. Just thinking out loud here. What's the IQ of that lens like, anyway?

Click to expand...

The 70-300 is a very nice lens, both for birds/wildlife and for macros, but remember it has no in-lens IS because Oly puts the IS in the camera not the lenses. For that reason, I usually use mine on my Oly E620 rather than my G1.

Judy

Hi
Why not an external flash instead of a (prime) lens?
The 14-140 lens will do fine the most situations except
macro.
Regards
Bernie

JudyN said:

Carnivore99 said:

What about the Olympus Zuiko Digital ED 70-300mm F4.0-5.6? Looks like that one has pretty good reach but the slow speed an lack of AFC on the GH1 body probably rule it out for wildlife shooting. Just thinking out loud here. What's the IQ of that lens like, anyway?

Click to expand...

The 70-300 is a very nice lens, both for birds/wildlife and for macros, but remember it has no in-lens IS because Oly puts the IS in the camera not the lenses. For that reason, I usually use mine on my Oly E620 rather than my G1.

Click to expand...

I forgot about the lack of IS when used on a Panasonic body (the E-P2 spoils me in that regard, ditto for worrying about whether the lens auto focuses or not). Unless it is very bright out, the photographer will need to properly stabilize the image with a tripod, raising the ISO to get a fast enough shutter speed (1/600 at the long end using the usual rule of thumb), using things like the chain or monopod to increase stability. It probably helps to give up coffee..

I think the 20mm 1.7 is looking like the winner assuming I can get one, but I appreciate all the other thoughts which I'll keep in mind as Plan B, C or D...

I'll keep watching this thread for a while longer just in case. Thanks again, everyone.