Upgrading from a Nikon D3100 to Lumix GH2 (Have Questions)

i would go body only unless that is the lens that you want to buy anyway. also i would get the fluid head now and make the best out of what you have until you know for a fact that you are ready to get what you absolutely need camera wise, the cards are fine and i don't follow much on panasonic so i wouldn't know the rest of the questions

depends on your budget. Wide glass is hard to come by for micro four thirds, and while there is currently a deal on the 14mm 2.5 is on sale for $160, anything wider than that will be much more expensive

for cut off, but there are many people who go with the 14-140, the 20mm 1.7, or now the 25mm 1.4 (love this lens), and then build up a collection of legacy glass. Not many people use the 7-14, though I have heard it is very good, same with the 12mm f2, but you can always get a tokina 11-16 in nikon mount, which will be somewhat future proof (it can be used at 16mm on full frame

meh, i think the last thing he needs to worry about is getting a FF video camera in his future...


id get the 14-140, everyone seems to love that lens. Another option for wide is getting a rokinon 8mm. But, the tokina 11-16 would be wide enough too.

What about this? I don't know much about it but its a native m4/3's fisheye and I know a few pro skate filmers who use it... In terms of longer lenses there is a ton of great Canon FD glass that isn't usable on DSLR's but is completely fine on M4/3's. Whats great about it is you can get a ton of lenses for absolutely nothing, like $40 - $50 per lenses. Don't know much about native M4/3's lenses but DRTV does a ton of reviews on them you could search through there.

http://www.youtube.com/user/DigitalRevCom

Theres also Leica M's if your willing to sell a kidney......

I think you forgot a link.

But yeah Heath I'm not looking into anything FF until at least 2 years in the future.

I'm not sure if I want to go lower than the 14mm right now because it's just not practical to have only one lense that is that wide. The 14-140 looked good, but I wasn't sure how it matched up the the 14-42 because I thought that the larger the difference in focal lengths the softer it gets. Maybe I'm wrong, somebody please answer that with a yes or no.

I know he probably won't get a FF camera, I was simply trying to say that it is a good investment as far as wide angles go, because it is compatible with many different systems, as opposed to something like the 7-14 or 12mm 2.0 or 1.6.

And to OP, the 14-42 is sharp across the range, but the 14-140 is said to be superior. The only complaint is the speed (f stop, not autofocus), which is why many people also buy the 20mm f1.7, the 25mm f1.4, or the 25mm f.95

Id hope not, FF is pointless for video, the word is moving towards s35/m43 sensor sizes. The 5d is literally the only fullframe video camera (d4/d800 i think will be full frame?) and its fucking pointless.

No it is not "fucking pointless." It gives a VERY different field of view and look than a crop sensor camera. Also it benefits many lenses because of this.

Prime example of this is the new BlackMagic 2.5K Raw camera that was just announced at NAB. The biggest problem is going to be finding WIDE and FAST glass for it. Hell, even a Tokina at 11mm on this new camera (Smaller sensor than Micro 4/3) isn't going to satisfy wide angle needs. Also it is nice to have the control over depth of field. If you want super shallow, FF has it and if you don't want super shallow stop down...

I'm in no way saying a 5d MKIII is good. It's honestly a fucking massive letdown. But if they made a full frame raw camera that shot 3k resolution I would take that over a crop camera in a heartbeat.

To each his own but it is rather annoying when you simply shit on full frame cameras all the time because you think it is pointless. Nice opinion.

I think that every reason you listed doesn't justify shit, but i feel like were to end up agreeing to disagree but here is my 2 cents.

It is pointless. I gives different lenes FOV and look. I dunno if you've ever compared a 30-35(1.6 or 1.5 crop) lens to a 50mm on a FF before but they have very similar FOV. If you want to create a "look" or "feel" fucking walk around, move your camera, don't depend on a FF sensor to do that for you. its call composition.

There is plenty of fast wide glass, nikon 10.5 2.8, tokina 11-16 2.8 olympus 12 ff are three great examples. You act like 20-22mm is so NOT wide and you need to realize outside of the fraction of the video industry that action sports is, no one needs anything wider than a 24mm on a FF. I shoot alot of my follow cam stuff at 16 and alot of people do 17 too which is roughly a 24 on a FF. Saying their isn't any wide fast glass is ignorant. Plus, it sounds like this camera will have good low light capabilities (like every new camera coming out) and fast glass wont be as needed anymore.

DOF... are you fucking kidding me, im not going to even touch this bullshit.

I used to think having a 5d would be cool, i thought because it was FF it was the fucking best, then i bought a camera that is 1.5x crop that shits on a 5d and the 5dmIII. Having a different sensor size is like having a 10MP camer and a 12MP, it doesnt mean shit. There are different KINDS of sensors and other aspects of a sensor that are VERY important, but the fucking size difference between an m43 sensor, s35, EF-S and FF is fucking irrelevant for video.

2 cents shared if you have other points to follow up with, please share them, i could talke about this shit all day.

I have to agree with Heath on this one, FF is awesome or photo but for video it really doesn't matter. I shoot a ton of stuff @ 17mm (28) and its fine. also here's that link that I forgot, it's for the Panasonic m4/3's fisheye. http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/731983-REG/Panasonic_H_F008_Lumix_G_Fisheye_8mm_F3_5.html

I have a GH2 and absolutely love it. the 14-42mm lens is actually really sharp and isnt a bad lens to start off with if you can't afford anything better. As far as memory cards I would suggest having at least 2 16GB cards, especially if you plan on hacking it for a higher bit rate. I have mine at 66mbps for 1080p and 44mbps for 720p and a 16GB card holds about 30min of 1080p footage. Also, if you hack it make sure you dont skimp and buy shitty generic cards. The only ones I have found to be 100% reliable are sandisk extreme class 10 cards.

Since he's looking at DSLRs instead of a dedicated video camera, I assume he is doing photography as well, in which case full frame might be useful to him and that lens suggestion might make more sense.

Right on, I am in fact doing both photography and filming, however like i said above, I'm not ready to jump into FF just yet. I'm trying to learn each level of photography and filming before moving up, so that's why I'm going with the GH2. I want to be as educated as possible and I think this is a good next step.

Plorr thanks for the response, I know you have a GH2 and was just about to ask you what's up with it. I'll definitely be using your videos to look back on and what not.