Help Please

[WallyCartwright]

Hi,

I am new to this forum so if I am asking a silly question then please forgive me.

I have a Panasonic DMC-G2K with the Lumix G Vario 14-42mm/f3.5-5.6 lens that came with the kit. The lens uses the Micro Four Thirds system. I am currently looking for a decent small telephoto lens (say up to 200mm).

I was told that Olympus lenses are compatible with my camera. Can anyone confirm or deny this and if it is true then would I lose any of the functionality that comes with the lens? (eg autofocus, Optical Image stabalisation, etc)

Many thanks

[Donald]

Wally

The answer to the first part of the question is 'Yes, they are compatible ' ... unless something's changed that I don't know about. I don't know the answer to the second part as I've never used either Panasonic or Olympus. Hopefully those who do know, will see your post and provide the answers.

[Shadowman]

See page 18 of your manual for compatible lenses.

[thequacksoflife]

The Olympus lenses are fully compatible with the Panasonic G2, they will autofocus some functionality might be lost e.g. "Direction detection related functions on DMC-G2(ex. a function to rotate and play back pictures vertically when they are shot with the camera held vertically) are not available."

You need to bear in mind that Olympus doesn't put image stabilisation in their lenses. Olympus cameras all have sensor based stabilisation so if you need stabilisation then you need to buy Panasonic lenses.

I guess the two lenses that would meet your requirements would be the:
Panasonic 45-175x f4-5.6. warehouse express have this for £319 but are advertising a further £50 cash back from panasonic
Panasonic 45-200 f4-5.6 price? approx £215 via Amazon, warehouse express have this for £250 but are advertising a further £50 cash back from panasonic

the Olympus 40-150 f4-5.6 will work fine but won't be stabilised. warehouse express have this for £230 but are advertising a further £75 cash back from Olympus

other shops are available

Hope that helps

Pete

PS rather than refer to your manual this will give you the current state of play on lens compatability

http://panasonic.jp/support/global/c...onnect/g2.html

[inkista]

+1 on the previous post. Olympus does in-body stabilization, Panasonic does in-lens stabilization (OIS), so the upshot is that no Olympus m4/3 lens will be stabilized on a Panasonic body.

Because of the stabilization differences, chances are good you want to stick to Panasonic when it comes to telephoto lenses, simply because stabilization becomes more important the longer the lens gets to combat the 1/focal_length shutter speed rule of thumb (i.e., to mitigate camera shake blur, you should use a shutter speed of 1/focal_length or faster). I would also throw the crop factor in there with m4/3, particularly if you're using the LCD to compose and not the EVF.

I have a G3, and I went for the Panasonic 45-200 f/4-5.6 OIS. It was cheap as these things go, and gave me the full-frame equivalent of a 90-400 stabilized lens. I was tempted by the 100-300 OIS, which cost about twice as much, but realized that if I were going to be birding, chances were good I'd prefer to go with my Canon SLR setup instead.

The 45-200 OIS is good enough for my zoo-shooting needs.


Panasonic DMC-G3, Panasonic Lumix G Vario 45-100 f/4-5.6 OIS. @158mm, iso 800, f/8, 1/320s.

Generally, the two Olympus lenses most Panasonic m4/3 shooters look at for use on a Panasonic body are two of the fast primes: the 45/1.8 and the 12/2.

One more odd upshot you may not have run into, yet. The Panasonic Gx bodies do not have built-in orientation sensors. The OIS unit in the lens is used instead. So, when you use Oly lenses or non-OIS Panasonic lenses, you will have to manually rotate any portrait shots you've taken in post. I go a little nuts every time I find I have to rotate the shots from my Panasonic 20/1.7.

[thequacksoflife]

One more odd upshot you may not have run into, yet. The Panasonic Gx bodies do not have built-in orientation sensors. The OIS unit in the lens is used instead. So, when you use Oly lenses or non-OIS Panasonic lenses, you will have to manually rotate any portrait shots you've taken in post. I go a little nuts every time I find I have to rotate the shots from my Panasonic 20/1.7.

yes it does drive you mad but it's a lovely little lens. coupled with the 14 f2.5 it's a nice walk around pairing though.

if the continuous a/f was better I might be tempted by the 100-300

[WallyCartwright]

Many thanks to all who have replied to my query. I found all you answers most helpful and it has given me 'food for thought'. I will certainly look into all your suggestions and do a bit more research now.

Thanks again