Lenses for GX8?

[edavenport]

Hello All,

I am doing some long term traveling, and have decided to buy the GX8 for both video and stills for documenting my travels. I will using it for all different settings from street photography to large mountainous landscapes, and am looking for the best glass to accompany the GX8.

I am willing to carry two different lenses, but ideally would like to carry one. How is the kit 14-42 mm lens? It seems to have a decent range when factoring in the MFT crop effect, but how is the quality?

Thank you for any and all answers!

 

[BBbuilder467]

Hello All,

I am doing some long term traveling, and have decided to buy the GX8 for both video and stills for documenting my travels. I will using it for all different settings from street photography to large mountainous landscapes, and am looking for the best glass to accompany the GX8.

I am willing to carry two different lenses, but ideally would like to carry one. How is the kit 14-42 mm lens? It seems to have a decent range when factoring in the MFT crop effect, but how is the quality?

Thank you for any and all answers!

The 14-42 II is one of the sharpest kit lenses that is currently available.You'll probably still want a fast prime lens for low light, but a 14-42 makes a nice all-purpose walk-around or travel lens.

It's hard to relate to the focal length with a micro 4/3 until you have one in your hands.

 

[KCook]

Hello All,

I am doing some long term traveling, and have decided to buy the GX8 for both video and stills for documenting my travels. I will using it for all different settings from street photography to large mountainous landscapes, and am looking for the best glass to accompany the GX8.

I am willing to carry two different lenses, but ideally would like to carry one. How is the kit 14-42 mm lens? It seems to have a decent range when factoring in the MFT crop effect, but how is the quality?

Thank you for any and all answers!

I don't see how "best glass" for a wide range of subjects can be distilled down to just 2 lenses. M4/3 lenses are so compact, get by with such a modest bag, that a 2 lens limit seems off the mark to me. Anyways, there are lots of lenses, here are links to lots of opinions -

Sorry some lens advice needed for a lumix gf6 Newbie

Best Kit lens for Panasonic G6

Advice on UWA lenses

Kelly Cook

 

[Jacques Cornell]

Hello All,

I am doing some long term traveling, and have decided to buy the GX8 for both video and stills for documenting my travels. I will using it for all different settings from street photography to large mountainous landscapes, and am looking for the best glass to accompany the GX8.

I am willing to carry two different lenses, but ideally would like to carry one. How is the kit 14-42 mm lens? It seems to have a decent range when factoring in the MFT crop effect, but how is the quality?

Thank you for any and all answers!

For travel, Panasonic's 14-140 is a great 10x zoom for stills that minimizes lens swapping. However, many report that it produces jittery video.

 

[Alphoid]

It's a great camera, but it's a waste of everything if you're not planning to swap lenses. If you want a fixed lens camera, you should get a fixed lens camera. An LX100 will be, for almost all intents and purposes, smaller, cheaper, and better than a GX8.

With an LX100, your lens will be 2 stops faster across the entire zoom range. That's not a small difference. It's f/1.8-2.8. Your kit lens is f/3.5-5.6.

MFT has a terrific selection of primes. They're small, quite spectacular, and on a body like the GX8, stabilized. If you're not planning to make use of that, or other lenses, the purchase makes little sense. It's like buying a pickup truck, but saying you're not going to use the trunk.

As far as I know, the only advantages you'll see in the GX8 are a microphone input, and more megapixels.

 

[dlpruk]

If I were to pick just two of mine, they'd be the fantastic 20mm f1.7 pancake for street photography and interiors and the admittedly pricey 12-35mm f2.8 for general use as the popular 14-140mm f3.5/5.6 needs good light to perform well.

 

[alcelc]

Hello All,

I am doing some long term traveling, and have decided to buy the GX8 for both video and stills for documenting my travels. I will using it for all different settings from street photography to large mountainous landscapes, and am looking for the best glass to accompany the GX8.

I am willing to carry two different lenses, but ideally would like to carry one. How is the kit 14-42 mm lens? It seems to have a decent range when factoring in the MFT crop effect, but how is the quality?

Thank you for any and all answers!

14-42 M2 (if come with GX8) should be among the best standard kit zooms among Pany family. Of course, if money is of no issue 12-35 f/2.8 would be the best. Teamed it up with 45-150 or 45-175 PZ would give quite a good focal length coverage. Either 45-150 or 45-175 PZ are cost friendly, relatively small and light weight for its range, fast in AF and deliver good IQ.

Same as GX8, 12-35 f/2.8 is weatherproof for severe shooting condition.

14-140 M2 is one of the best one lens solution.

If not shooting fast moving objects in low lighting, the Dual IS of GX8 (when a compatible Pany OIS lens be mounted like your 14-42 M2) might support quite slow shutter speed, e.g. <1/10", for most general shooting. Unless faster shutter speed and or the DoF control be required, I rarely use fast speed prime.

7-14, 14-45 and 45-200 are always travelling with me. Recently, replaced 45-200 with 45-150 for the weight and size saving. Still not sure should I carry 12-32 instead of 14-45 for my next trip. It covers from UWA 14mm to 300mm eq FF for merely 1kg only (7-14, 12-32, 45-150 and GX85).