Hershel Loc: New York City

I received the G9 body yesterday and am thinking of using the Olympus 12-40 Pro lens and the 75-300 II combination as opposed to Panasonic lenses. Any constructive comments/advice on either the camera and or camera+Olympus lenses combination from someone with experience will be welcomed and appreciated.

HERSHEL

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

I would hope someone at B&H could answer that...

I would rather use the Panasonic Leica 12-60 and Panasonic Leica 100-400 on a G9. The DFD and DUAL IS II functions require Panasonic glass.

The Olympus lenses are fine, but the Panasonic lenses will perform more compatibly on Panasonic bodies.

This is mostly true across Micro 4/3. Here’s a document worth printing each time it’s updated:

http://hazeghi.org/mft-lenses.html

Read all the prose before the lists. It’s a little old; add G85, GH5, GH5s, and G9 to the list of bodies that have DUAL IS II.

Hershel Loc: New York City

Thank you for the advice. I like the Olympus 12-40 for the constant f2.8 and the zoom range at that end is just fine for me. Additionally, with this short a zoom range I feel the IS in the G9 body should provide more than enough correction. Having given it a bit more thought I guess what I'm asking is at equal focal lengths and equal settings (for example Auto), which lens will give me better sharpness and color straight out of the camera.

As for B&H, we have experts of every stripe here but the G9 is relatively new and a bunch of us just bought it and it seems I got mine first as I wanted to have a camera for the 10 day Passover holiday break.

Thanks again.

HERSHEL

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

Hershel,

I enjoy the Panasonic 14-140 (that you sold me) when I had a GX7 (that you sold me). You took the GX7 for a trade on the GX8 with a 100-400 (that you sold me).

Now I want you to sell me a G9!

The 14-140 is certainly not fast. But Panasonic makes up for it to some degree with usable high ISO and the Dual IS lets you use low shutterspeeds. The 14-140 is light, compact and versatile.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

You can see /how people like those combos on m4/3.com. You will be fine, but I agree with Burke, the benefits are greater with Panasonic lenses.

tdekany Loc: Oregon

I’d go with the new Panasonic 100-300 mark2. That dual IS is needed at 300mm

Hershel Loc: New York City

Lol! Thank you for your patronage as I guess in a roundabout way you helped me get my camera! Most of my photography is outdoors so I'm not too concerned with shooting at high ISO. My major desire is sharpness and color without PP.

Thanks again (for everything)

HERSHEL

Hershel Loc: New York City

Thank you for your input. Much appreciated

HERSHEL

Hershel Loc: New York City

I'm inclined to agree with you on that point.

Thanks.

HERSHEL

tdekany Loc: Oregon

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Actually, I have the Panasonic Pro 12-35mm f/2.8, gen 1, which is much like what I was used to on full frame digital and 35mm film when using a 24-70mm. The gen 2 version has Dual IS II.

The Oly 12-40 does have a bit less flare than the 12-35, and is a little longer. The Panny 12-60 is like a 24-120mm on full frame, but a stop faster on the shorter end of the zoom, and a LOT lighter. I never have liked lenses I can't use indoors at f/2.8.

The Leica glass is really nice. Colors are rich, bokeh is creamy dreamy, and the sharpness is great. The 100-400 is slightly soft at 400mm, but that's an 800mm FF equivalent, so most folks won't use it that long unless they are bird/wildlife photographers.

If I were an Olympus user, I'd buy Olympus glass. But I record lots of video, so I'll stick with Panasonic. I tried the adapter route with my older Nikon lenses, but the sharpness wasn't there. Plus, working in FULL manual with no auto diaphragm took me back to the 1950s (and I'd never been there as a photographer!). If I still had Canon EF mount lenses, it would be a little different story.

Enjoy your G9! It seems to have most of the best attributes of the OM-D E-M1 Mark II, with many of Panasonic's better video features.

Hershel Loc: New York City

The 100-400 would be nice to have but way out of the question because of price and weight. I'd have my chin resting on my knees with that hanging around my neck. I'm not into video at all so that's not an issue for me. I'm inclined to agree that for a long zoom I'd probably be better off with the Panasonic 100-300 overall.

HERSHEL

wdross Loc: Castle Rock, Colorado

Hershel, my guess is it easiest with the brand name lense on the brand name body. But with the newest Olympus E-M1 mrII and Panasonic G9, lenses are more interchangeable than ever with some lenses providing full lense functions for both brands. My thoughts on a two lens combo would be the Olympus 12-100 mm f4 Pro IS with either the Panasonic 100-300 mm lens or Panasonic 100-400 mm lens. I could be wrong, but I believe the Olympus 12-100 wiil allow dual IS function with your new G9. Add a third lense of either the Olympus 7-14 f2.8 or the Panasonic 7-14 f4 (smaller, lighter, and cheaper with only one stop loss and very little loss of image quality in comparison). This three lens combo would pretty much allow one to shoot 97% or more of any of the pictures anywhere in the world. And weatherproof (shoot in the rain, salt spray, and snow) and dustproof with no other protection other than the camera itself. Optically, there are no "losers" in the Pro and upper end lenses of either brand. You will probably cause more image differences in post processing than you would ever see caused from the differences in the lenses.

In very short terms, your buying the new G9 has made you a winner no matter what lense you put with it. Congratulations!

Hershel Loc: New York City

Thank you for the in depth analysis. I handled the Olympus 12-100mm at the B&H Annual OPTIC Conference in June of last year and was pretty impressed and that lens along with the Panasonic 100-300 might be the ideal 2 lens combination for me. I really don't want to schlep more than 2 lenses around with me. While I'd love to have the reach of the Panasonic 100-400 I think the price is a bit prohibitive (for me) and I really don't want to deal with all that weight around my neck.

Thanks again.

HERSHEL

bsprague Loc: Lacey, WA, USA

My two lens combination for the GX8 is the 14-140 and 100-400. The entire kit weighs about 5 pounds, maybe 6.