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Archive 2013 · m43 normal prime with good video AF

  
 
curious80
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p.1 #1 · p.1 #1 · m43 normal prime with good video AF


I am looking to replace my wife's EOS-M + 22mm f2 combo with either an E-PM2 or E-PL5. The idea is to pair it with one of the wide-normal primes i.e. 17mm 1.8, 20mm 1.7 or 25mm 1.4.

My wife's major complaint with EOS-M is that video AF is pretty bad. I would like to settle for the 20mm 1.7 as it is the smallest of the bunch as well as cheapest. However I don't know how is the continuous video AF with the latest bodies. In my GH1+20mm 1.7 days it wasn't that great. Anyone has experience with it on a more recent body?

I know that the 17mm 1.8 and 25mm 1.4 are both supposed to be much faster focusing than the 20mm 1.7. Does anyone have experience shooting video with those and can tell me how well the continuous video AF works with these?



Nov 28, 2013 at 11:13 PM
Wilbus
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p.1 #2 · p.1 #2 · m43 normal prime with good video AF


Hopefully someone more qualified will answer this as well as I don't shoot much video.

The 17mm F1.8 is most likely the fastest focusing of the bunch of those three. The 20mm is without a doubt the slowest. However you say "continuous" focus which means it's not only down to the lens on m43 bodes but as much or more down to the body and the only m43 body that can continues focus fairly well at the moment would be the Olympus Em-1, it's so far the only body with PDAF.

Even the E-PL5 lack this and even though it focuses extremely fast in still pictures it just can't do continues very well. No mirror less can actually part from perhaps the Om-1 and maybe the Fujifilm X-E2?

Like I said, hopefully you'll get some answers from filmers!



Nov 29, 2013 at 01:06 AM
furfoot
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p.1 #3 · p.1 #3 · m43 normal prime with good video AF


20mm is terribly slow to focus and the motor makes a lot of noise when doing so. It's a fantastic lens for sharpness and rendering in video but you will need to use manual focus.

If video is your main concern and you're not looking for extreme focal lengths maybe the RX100 could be an option.



Nov 29, 2013 at 03:04 AM
curious80
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p.1 #4 · p.1 #4 · m43 normal prime with good video AF


Thanks for the responses. When I say continuous AF, I don't mean the tracking that you need for sports and rapidly moving objects. During video when you move the camera from one part of a scene to another, there is a need to readjust the focus. One option is for you to explicitly engage the AF to do that, the other is that the camera refocuses automatically. With my GH1+20mm combo the refocusing was fairly slow, and you could notice in the video the lens hunting to get to the final focus point. Thats why I was wondering if things are any better with newer bodies. Typically in this case you are not really looking for lightening fast AF, but a reasonably quick and smooth transition to new focus area is needed. Similarly having a faster initial acquisition of focus is desired as well.

Video is not the main concern, but a reasonably smooth video experience is needed. The EOS-M + 22mm combo actually replaced my RX100. RX100 is a fantastic compact, but obviously still not at the same level as an APS-C sensor for low-light shots. The EOS M combo improves on that but in the process the video capability has been sacrificed. That's why I am looking to go back to m43 to retain a similar level of stills quality but gain on video performance. At the same time it is preferable to keep the form factor as small as possible. RX100 to EOS-M was already an increase. E-PL5 + 20mm would be similar size to EOS+22mm so if that could work well enough, I would be tempted to go that route. If not then the next one in line to consider would be the 17mm 1.8.



Nov 29, 2013 at 02:05 PM





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