Panasonic 25 mm f1.4 lens

[Kevster]

Hi,

Anyone have this lens?
Thinking about buying it for topside shooting & maybe underwater use.

How fast does it focus. I am looking for a new lens for video. Something good for sharks.

During my last trip i was really disappointed with the focus hunting/slow focus of the 14mm.

 

[tarjan]

Too narrow, heck I find 14mm with a semi-dome lens to be too restricting and want the 7-14. I don't find I have any problems with the 14-42 underwater hunting either.

Just taking a wild guess that your issue is that you need to get closer to the stuff you are trying to take photos of.

 

[kkfok]

Hi,

Anyone have this lens?
Thinking about buying it for topside shooting & maybe underwater use.

How fast does it focus. I am looking for a new lens for video. Something good for sharks.

During my last trip i was really disappointed with the focus hunting/slow focus of the 14mm.

I am also using GH2 in a nauticam housing.
14mm F2.5 is considered to be having fast AF in Panny lens group. I think your problem is shallow DOF if you use the lens with aperture wide open. Try reduce the aperture to say F5.6 and you should find the AF hunting reduced.
BTW, I am not using continuous AF in video anymore, it is not a DV with small sensors (hence deep DOF) and so it is unlikely the continuous AF can keep focus on your subjects.
7-14 or 8mm fisheye seems to be not good for video as well, I find the edge distortion unacceptable when I pan my camera in a shot.
I will try the newly unveiled wide angle converter (DMW-GWC1) on my 14mm lens when it releases.

 

[Kevster]

i am happy with the 8mm for video. Large DOF therefore a lot fish/reef in focus. If a reef shark passed focus was quick with little hunting.
Whereas with the 14mm if i was on taking video of reef then pan to a shark then back to reef over say 10-20 sec duration, focus was slow and not sharp.Shark was not in focus.
I will post a short clip here in this post.

I have been using the movie mode (cinema) when shooting video at shutter speed 1/60.
I have just ordered the 14-42 x lens. Hopefully it will be ok. I know there is no zoom gear. But i have read that the new firm ware will remember focal length when you switch on & off. SO i will hopefully be able to shoot at 20 mm for a shark dive.
14 mm was still a bit to wide for reef sharks on my trip to PNG