GH5 prime lens set-up

Some time ago (just before the GH4 was released), I purchased a GH3 and the Panasonic 12-35mm f/2.8 lens.  With 20/20 hindsight, I consider this an excellent decision.

Years have passed and the GH3 & 12-35mm lens are long gone (sold) and all of my MFT cameras are Olympus.  I have a special fondness for the Olympus Pen (E-P5 & Pen-F) and own all of the Pen Primes (12mm f/2, 17mm f/1.8, 25mm f/1.8, 45mm f/1.8 & 75mm f/1.8). My preference for primes dates back to my SLR film days.

Excuse my weak analogy, but primes are somewhat like golf clubs--just as one chooses a particular wood or iron for a particular circumstances, one chooses a particular prime for a desired scene.  Continuing with the golf analogy, there is ample time to select the appropriate club while progressing through the game.  Many photographic scenarios also allow ample time to select the desired lens and setup the shot.  However, when facing the unexpected opportunity, a zoom lens can adjust to the scene much faster and capture the image that might otherwise be lost while searching for the appropriate prime lens.

In my case with the GH3, the FF equivalent 24-70mm range easily met my requirements and I used the zoom capability throughout that range frequently (switching out prime lenses would have been impractical for my use).

In my current video use, I am in front of the camera for short topical videos.  I use a Sony a5100 with a 20mm f/2.8 prime lens. Each video session has the same setup and the prime lens gives me great results.  There are no surprise scenarios to accommodate with variable focal lengths and a single focal length is a good match for my current application.

My conclusion?  The anticipated photo/video application determines which lens is the best fit (true for GH3 & a5100 scenarios).  Suggested approach?  Determine your requirements before choosing the lenses.  Choosing the lenses first may result in a poor match for your requirements.

Jim

I don't get your budget.  Very expensive camera, inexpensive lenses?

I know Panasonic is video oriented, but I don't understand their lenses; all fly-by-wire makes it impossible to follow focus.

The m43 advantage is that you can use other format lenses with an adapter.

For native m43 lenses, consider the Olympus PRO lenses or primes with manual focus clutch; although these are still "focus by wire" you get repeatable focus with them.

Or, you can look at the Voigtlander manual focus lenses.  They have 4 (10.5mm, 17.5mm, 25mm, 42.5mm).  If limiting to 3, then the 17.5, 25, and 42.5 make a good set.  Of course, each one is more than your lens budget.  All are f/0.95; very fast for m43.

Another option is a speed booster and FF manual focus primes.  I use a Metabones 0.71 speed booster and a straight adapter, so each lens does double duty in focal length.  Then you can get some good used Nikon AI-s D lenses.  They tend to have the same filter thread diameter.  I have a set of 20mm, 24mm, 35mm and 50mm.  You could drop the 35mm because the speedbooster with 50mm is similar, but I like the speed advantage of the speedbooster with each lens.

The speedbooster will blow your lens budget, so you could get a plain adapter and the lenses, and add the speedbooster later.  That is, in fact, what I did.  The lenses are available used for very reasonable prices.  But I don't think 20mm is wide enough to be your widest focal length.

What's cool about the nIkon lenses is that the focus rings on the 24, 35, and 50mm lenses are the same diameter, so you can use one gear adapter for all three.  That will same some money until you can afford to outfit each of them.

If you are firm on your price, then I recommend a used Olympus 12-40 f/2.8; it has the manual focus clutch for repeatable focus, covers the most usable range, and is relatively fast for m43.