Steadicam owners, what lens do you fly?

[Evan Lloyd]

One of the big selling points for me, in considering the GH2, was the auto focus. I almost never use auto focus on a video camera, unless I'm flying it on my Merlin. With the Merlin, plus auto focus, life is easy and fun.

I have recently been experimenting with a bunch of different lenses, and I have found that the 14-42mm is my favorite for flying. The reason I like it, is because it is light and focuses fast. I really wanted to use the 20mm, but for the life of me, I can't get it to focus quick enough. I've tried every setting I can think of, but it's just too slow. I need to be able to quickly approach a subject and then lock focus on it. The 20mm takes too long and ruins the shot.

I've also had a lot of success with the 14-140, although it is too heavy for me. It focuses very fast, but the weight is not worth the effort.

Do any of you fly your GH2 on a steadicam device, and if so, I'd love to hear what is working for you.

Thanks
Evan

[Jeff Harper]

I have no experience, but I can almost bet the best lens for general purposes for flying would be the 7-14mm. I would also guess that many set focus and fly while flying in parallel with a subject, or setting focus for your end point.

Just my guess, and how I would envision using it. I've seen a video online of a guy using that lens for flying and it was amazing. For outdoors it can't be beat.

[Patrick Janka]

I use the 14-42mm, but I generally stop down so I have a deep dof. I don't know if I would trust the autofocus to not keep refocusing on various things as I'm moving. The GH2 with 14-42mm is very light on the Merlin, and feel it's probably not the best camera for it due to the lack of complete stability. I can't get it to cooperate as well as I'd like.

[Roy Feldman]

14-140 too heavy> Are you kidding me? Try it with a Canon XH .
Seriously a little extra weight helps with the merlin, I'm using the 14-140 with a really heavy QR just to add a little mass and to keep its nose off the cheese plate.

[Angelo Ucciferri]

I just bought the 7-14mm to pair with my Steadicam Merlin.

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS LENS! It's unbelievably wide, and changing the zoom doesn't affect balance of the rig since the lens doesn't telescope.

This might be my favorite lens so far, even at f4. And I am comparing it to the 12mm & 25mm! So that is saying a lot since those lenses are amazing.

Thanks,
Angelo

[Dave Rochelle]

I've used the 20mm 1.7 lens but it was really tough to dial in the right balance - I think the whole rig is a little on the light side with that lens. Once I get it perfectly balanced it works pretty well but still not quite wide enough for the indoor real-estate work I'm using it for.

I am really looking forward to the 12-35 2.8 lens for this purpose.. still pretty fast for indoors, but the extra weight and wider angle should hit the sweet spot with the Merlin 2 (I hope...)

[Patrick Janka]

I'm with Dave. As soon as I get the 12-35 that's what I'll be using.

[Angelo Ucciferri]

Originally Posted by Patrick Janka

I'm with Dave. As soon as I get the 12-35 that's what I'll be using.

Does the 12-35 telescope when zoomed? I doubt it, but if it does it won't play nice with a steadicam.

I used my 12mm Olympus for a while, but it was not quite wide enough for my purposes. The 7-14 is a perfect length, as long as you can work around the f4.