Kindly help me buy my gear..importing from USA so price matters

eraserhead_in_time

eraserhead_in_time

Hey guys,
After making few shorts and one feature on my Sony camcorder, I severely started feeling restricted by my camera in terms of realizing what I had imagined. Shots that I storyboarded didn't look as nice on my camera.
So I guess it's time to progress to the world of DSLR's and I'm really excited about it. I read it all. And finally came to the conclusion that I want GH2.
Kicker is, In india it will cost me about 4 times more than if I buy it from USA. So I found one for 770 dollars online (thanks to brunerww links on this forum)
Now had set aside my hard earned rupees roughly equating to 930-950 $$. Since I found this camera cheaper than I had thought, I still have about 200 dollars left.
I wanna know how should I spend it?
Should I get one nifty fifty? Or cz of the 2x crop factor, I should get a 25mm?
Should I buy an adapter and get few FD lenses? Or those russian ones? Helios..Jupiter?
I definately wanna get an adapter..So which one should it be?
Is 64gb class ten card gonna be enough?

Now, I know I can google all this stuff and find out and believe me I do but since I don't really need American sites to buy things, I dont know many. I knew amazon and I knew ebay but luckily I found a new site calld uniquephoto... So if you guys can provide me with some answers and links, I can start building my gear...
I know wheatgrinder loves his gh2 so I'd really appreciate his opinions as well..
My goal is to start filming as soon as possible with my new gh2 :)

Many many thanks
Ash
 
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GH2 users here will give you the advice you need but i just wanted to say that production design is of the utmost importance in getting your shots to look the way you want. Get all the equipment you need but dont forget that aspect.

:)
 
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Ofcourse. But say I wanted some shots to have a thin dof... some shots i wanted to rack focus to reveal characters or motivations..sometimes I stood pressed up against the walls and still couldn't get as wide as I had wanted.. things like that..but yea production design..story..acting..these things will always be supreme.. :)
 
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Hi eraserhead - glad I was able to help you find an affordable GH2.

Based on my experience with this camera, your basic need is for a wide, fast lens with fast autofocus for indoors. On your budget, I recommend the Panasonic 14mm/f2.5 (best prices from eBay). Fast, quiet autofocus, compact form factor, quality lens. 50mm is too narrow indoors because of the crop. And the 14-42 kit lens that will come with your camera works fine outdoors, but for low light it is too slow.

After that, I would personally get a DMW-MA1 adapter and start looking for old Panasonic/Olympus 4/3 zooms on eBay. You can still find them new, but they are rapidly disappearing from stock. They are faster than the current micro 4/3 zooms and I have a couple of them. I keep a 11-22mm f2.8-3.5 Olympus zoom on my GH2 pretty much all of the time ($475 used at Amazon). Autofocus on this lens is a little slower and noisier than on your 14-42.

I still have inexpensive 50mm f1.8 Canon FD and Konica AR 40mm f1.8 lenses with adapters that I almost never use - because I can't afford a monitor and I have missed too many important shots with these old manual focus, manual aperture lenses.

I thought I would enjoy the challenge of manual focus and manual aperture setting, but I got tired of it quickly :-)

Best deal on 64GB cards is the $47 Komputerbay 64GB SDXC. It will work fine with your GH2, but check to make sure your computer is SDXC capable. If not, you may need to get the card with an SDXC card reader for $48. Still a pretty good deal.

Good luck!

Bill
 
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wow bill...thats a wealth of useful information.. thanks so much..
Thanks so much... Unfortunately as I stated, I have limited amount of cash left after the camera..roughly 200$.. if 50 goes on a good card..i got 150 left rite now.. so what would you suggest?
I looked at your other suggestions and I definately will start saving up for those as well..but should I get one 14mm or few FD lens with the adapter?
Although manual focus is a pain, I have worked on other ppls production to get the hang of it and I really think it's imp step in an indie filmmaker's career to be able to work with it..so if Im ok with manual focus n all...what would u suggest?

many thanks
 
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eraserhead_in_time said:
wow bill...thats a wealth of useful information.. thanks so much..
Thanks so much... Unfortunately as I stated, I have limited amount of cash left after the camera..roughly 200$.. if 50 goes on a good card..i got 150 left rite now.. so what would you suggest?
I looked at your other suggestions and I definately will start saving up for those as well..but should I get one 14mm or few FD lens with the adapter?
Although manual focus is a pain, I have worked on other ppls production to get the hang of it and I really think it's imp step in an indie filmmaker's career to be able to work with it..so if Im ok with manual focus n all...what would u suggest?

many thanks
Click to expand...

e.i.t. - I would still see if I could find a used 14mm for $150 on eBay. In my view, the camera doesn't provide you with the tools you need to hold focus on a moving subject without focus peaking or an external monitor.

You might be able to do it, but my eyes aren't good enough :-)

Hope this is helpful,

Bill
 
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eraserhead_in_time said:
Hmm I understand your point.. can u just let me know the diff between 14mm that is covered via kit lens vs 14mm pancake...
Click to expand...

The primary difference is sensitivity to light. At f2.5, the 14mm pancake will be more usable indoors and in low light situations. Your 14-42's max aperture will be f3.5 - not as slow as my 14-140's f4.0, but pretty slow.

Cheers,

Bill
 
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Hmm.. 2.5 seems fast..I saw some youtube videos shot with it and yea it looks really nice in low light condition however my doubts are still that it might be useful for documentary type scenario where you dont have control over lights sometimes but for films is it truly the diff maker?
Is there a long lens that panasonic makes with AF?

Thanks once again
 
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Hey bro. It seems you want a fast and wide lens.. join the club! I have a WIDE lens, but its slower then the kit lens, and not even as wide!

To get deeper DOF (more stuff in focus) you have to close down the aperture, so or docu work it gets even harder to find a good wide lens.

However, Im not convinced that you actually want a wide lens..

If you were trying to get a THIN DOF with your sony, the only way to do that is create separation between the camera, subject and background, hence you were backed up against the wall. With a DSLR that is no longer an issue! In fact, I now FIGHT to get DEEPER DOF..
For example, with a 50mm f.14 lens I can get a VERY thin DOF anywhere in the field I want.. (out to abut 20 feet)


If your doing interview type work, then dont you want to mostly fill the frame with a face?
My 50mm lets me stay a respectable distance, say fourfeet away from a person and still get that nice tight frame.
 
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Thanks for joinin in brother..
Yea sony caused probs with thin dof and sometimes I wanted to make some stylistic choices like shooting a close mid with wide lens (it was a horror film) and I couldnt do such things either..
So if you had 200$ to get a lens (or adapter+cheap fd lens) which lens would you go for?

I'll be making another horror feature with the gh2...
 
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eraserhead_in_time said:
Hmm.. 2.5 seems fast..I saw some youtube videos shot with it and yea it looks really nice in low light condition however my doubts are still that it might be useful for documentary type scenario where you dont have control over lights sometimes but for films is it truly the diff maker?
Is there a long lens that panasonic makes with AF?

Thanks once again
Click to expand...

In my view, faster lenses and good low light cameras are a sound investment for filmmakers because they save money on lights and, with reduced lighting requirements, you can save time - and perhaps save money on crew :-)

All Panasonic micro 4/3 lenses have AF. Their longest lenses are the 100-300 and the 45-200. Both are slow at f4-5.6. The long lens with the fastest and quietest AF is the 14-140 , but it's pretty expensive - and also slow at f4-5.6

Cheers,

Bill
 
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Thanks a lot Bill. I thought really hard about the next few things that I wanna do and most of it involves shooting primarily in Indoor locales. Fast lenses and it's advantage in low light will become apparent to me once I start using it. So far I have used camcorder's and I usually light the scene with atleast 4 200W CFL's and few 40w as well...
So I have decided to get that 14mm 2.5 right now. I'm sure it will be great.
One more thing- Can some one point me to a good set of ND filters(under 40-50$) that will be cmpatible with 14mm and 14-42 kit lens... Indian summer is crazy and ND is a must I think..
 
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