Hello everybody. I’m planning to get my first camera body and lenses but I’m not quite sure on what lensens to get. I think I’ll get a LUMIX DMC-GF1 which I can find for fairly cheap prices so I can spend most of the money for some good lenses.
What lenses would you recommend me buying? Is there some kind of “general lenses” I can use without having to switch them according to situations? I’m very new and confused by all the technical terms and stuff
Nothing new to contribute in terms of focal length, but be very wary of a thing called crop factor. The camera you’re looking at has a 2x crop factor.
Most of the lens focal lengths in this thread are popular full frame (1x crop factor) options (like 35mm, 55mm, etc). You also got some APS-C recommendations (the 18-55), and one or two micro four thirds recommendations.
If you were to buy a 50mm, for example, you probably won’t get what the recommender intended. You would need a 25mm lens to get a similar level of magnification.
Unfortunately, it’s going to be hard for you to dig through the recommendations here and guess what sensor format the recommender made it for.
I would start with a “fast 50” or “fast35” prime lens and hold off on buying anything else until you are comfortable with it. By that stage you will know much more about what type of lens you want and can ask more specific questions.
For micro 4/3 this equates to 25mm or 17mm focal lengths. Some suggestions are here: https://shotkit.com/best-micro-four-thirds-lenses/
I’m not a photographer but they all will say you’re going to want to start with a 50mm prime. Every system has one that’s high quality and relatively inexpensive. You should learn on it. Get to understand shooting, framing, lighting, etc without the crutch of a zoom lens.
Do you already know what you will use the camera for or do you want to explore where your interests are?
Then the advices here are very valid. I would not go for a zoom lens. Learn to frame without zooming, you will benefit later on.
Make sure the f number is low-ish (below 2) to get a nice “bokeh” effect (background - or foreground if you want to - blur). Somewhere between 35 and 50 mm.
Or, if you want to get inspired, check a site like Flickr, look for pictures you like and check what lenses are used. Mostly that info is shown.
Can’t go wrong with the Lumix 25mm f1.7. It’s less than $200 and produces some brilliant images. M43 cameras have cropped sensors so it’s effectively 2x the focal distance, so that’s roughly the same as a 50mm on full frame.
For something a bit more flexible, a zoom is a good thing to have. The 14-150mm gives you lots of range, at the cost of lower max aperture (f4 iirc) and a bit of sharpness.
Down the road you might want a fast zoom, something like the 12-40 f2.8. It’s a bit more expensive, but absolutely gorgeous.
Good luck!!
I second having a decent 50mm equivalent lens for starters, they’re pretty versitile and compact.
I personally quite like being constrained to one focal length, I feel like it really taught me to be more deliberate about my positioning, framing and composition, but you’ll have to figure out whether that’s a style of photography you enjoy.
Having a zoom for the flexibility is definitely also nice and fun to try out and invaluable in some settings
In the end, I guess it really comes down to what you end up taking photos of, and which approach is more fun to you.
Have fun! :)