12mm a winner for sure
 

Received the 12mm lens today; great lens. It seems to beat the 20mm F/1.7 for image quality. Absolutely beautiful images.

Can't post anything right now, but I can tell you I left my ND filter on by mistake for indoor commercial shoot, and images came out great anyway. Felt like an idiot afterwards, and I wondered what the heck was going on when I was shooting, but it didn't matter in the end, crisp clear and the sharpest images for video I could hope for.

I have a feeling if I were to look up the definition of the word "sharp" in Webster's dictionary, there would be a picture of this lens next to it.

It is wide, expensive, and worth every penny, highly recommended. It is also nice in low light.

Oh, and did I say it's sharp?

When I ordered the lens I had immediatel case of buyers remorse, but after working with on a job today, I was happier shooting with the GH2 than I've ever felt since I bought the camera.

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Let me add, to assit those considering the lens, that the lens works like any Panasonic lens, completely functional. As pointed out I cannot get continuous focus to work yet, and I have to admit that is a real bummer, but haven't had time to find out whether it's my settings of the lens.

The focus ring is very nice, this is a real "pro" level lens, made of metal. The silver color is a bit odd on black but I have a silver GH2 that I put it on, and it looks better there.

The lens hood is not available domestically yet, the opportunists in Hong Kong are selling them for $100.

The lens is also being sold on ebay for way over $1000, which makes no sense since it's available in many places at it's proper price of $799. I am really beginning to hate ebay, this is a normal occurence with many products nowadays, inflated prices for items available elsewhere at fair prices.

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

That sounds like a fantastic lens. I'll need to borrow it sometime in november.

Would love to see some footage from it eventually,

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Which lens exactly?

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Jeff...let me know where your lens is going to be Saturday night and at which times it would most likely not be guarded, k ??? :-)

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Me too.....Ethan I think Jeff may be talking about the lens in the Olympus 14-54 thread below....but not sure as it is referred to as 12 f2, 12-60f2.8.....guess we'll have to wait on Jeff!

Mark

Re: 12mm F/2.0 is a winner for sure
 

Guys, my apologies, I've been talking about two lenses. In this case I'm talking about this lens. Olympus M. Zuiko Digital ED 12mm f/2.0 (for Micro 4/3) Review - YouTube!

I just shot with it today again and I don't want to take it off the camera. My biggest anxiety for my wedding this weekend is how can I shoot using this lens all day. I don't want to shoot with anything else, it's that nice.

I've also been talking about a 12-60 F/2.8 as you said Mark.

I'm on a mission to go with all (or most) Panasonic and Olympus lenses. The reason for this is because I sent a shooter out on a wedding as back up using only the 20mm f/1.7 and using AWB the color came out close to perfect all day for her, and the reason is because the GH2 works best with it's own lenses.

I on the other hand shot with four different lenses same night and all my camera's footage looked different, as usual. Hard to match in post, etc. So I ordered the not yet released Olympus 45mm f/1.8, the 12mm F/2.0 which I received yesterday, and I bought a used 12-60 Olympus zoom. So at some point in the not so distant future I'll have lenses that will assist with giving me consistent looking footage. The Canon 50mm is not too awfully bad, and my Sigma 18-50 F/2.8 is reasonably close. So instead of the wide issue most of us have had previously with these cameras, my primary issue will be with long range. I think I'm going to try a Canon 135mm F/2.0 to replace my F/2.5 which is nice but not as sharp as I would like and maybe I'll have things covered.

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

I have the Olympus 12mm 2.0 lens and use it on my AF100 all the time for event work. Used it on 8 jobs already. Very sharp lens with a large aperture that is wide. It looks ridiculous on my AF100 but the image is spectacular! The auto-focus is spectacular! Works very well. Struggles in low contrast areas but every camera does.

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Yes Monday, the autofocus seems almost pefect in it's accuracy. You're right it looks a little "different" on the camera, but as you infer, who cares? It works!

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

You mentioned it "seems" to beat the 20mm Lumix. Is it twice the price beat?? I've used the 14 and 20 a couple of times (rental) and have not found them lacking in quality.

Mark

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Mark I can't say if that would be true for you. I've read more than one "buyer review " of the 14mm where a disappointed user claimed to be unhappy with the lens (due to the F/2.5 vs F/1.7), but others really like it. The 14mm f/2.5 is obviously a decent lens, but where are you using it? Do you need F/2.0 enough to justify the cost?

I would suspect if you're asking the question then it might not be worth it to you. I shoot in low-light scenarios a lot (weddings) where a fast lens is very desireable. Could I get by without the lens? Absolutely.

Better than the F/1.7? As a novice I cannot truly know. But my eyes tell me it's is sharper. I feel the lens is worth it's cost.

It's kind of "you get what you pay for". It looks, feels, and performs the way I might imagine a premium lens would perform.

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

I'm on the hunt for a wide fast lens. I need it for receptions mostly. I have a fair amount of reception venues that are small and it would be nice to be able to get a wide shot of the dance floor without going to the extreme of a fisheye. Although I use reception lights....they only go so far.....so the need for wide and fast.

Mark

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

If you want wide and fast, and you want full compatibility with the GH2, this is the only lens to buy. There is nothing else. If you do the small venues like you say, this would be perfect. I have not researched other fast and wide angled lenses, but it's my guess this lens is a bargain for what you get.

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Just shot a wedding using the 20mm, 12mm, and a zoom. I normally run 4 cameras, but today cut back, it's too much work, and sometimes the work suffers running too many by yourself.

Anyway, my preliminary opinion on the 12mm vs the 20mm after 8 hours of shooting with it and comparing the footage from both against each other is that the 12mm does seem to be a sharper lens. In low light they are comparable.

I ran all three of my lenses in AWB and they did just fine. The 12mm width is very useful in a large range of applications, and I will never do a wedding without it. Great lens.

Re: 12mm a winner for sure
 

Just shot a wedding, and the 12mm F/2.0 lens proved to be the best lens in my kit, hands down.

For the ceremony from the rear, sharp as a tack, and gorgeous footage. For reception, I used it handheld and it was the perfect lens. It is as close to perfect as any lens could be for the GH2. I went onto the dancefloor and spent 3 hours shooting handlheld with it. I can be a couple of feet from people dancing and I get it all. The camera, is of course unobtrusive anyway, and with the width of the lens I could walk around with a minimum of shakiness.