Cheap M43 lens with smooth iris?

I'm a long time OG Pocket and Pocket 4k owner, but I've never owned an M43 lens before because I've only used EF lenses with a Metabones, so my knowledge of M43 lenses is very limited.

I'm looking for a cheap and light weight M43 lens which I can use to shoot home videos with my P4k when I travel. I'm looking for a wide zoom lens and my only requirement is that the lens have a smooth iris transition when I set the exposure to auto. Any suggestions?

Recently I tried the Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 II, but to my surprise that lens didn't have a smooth iris.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

When you say smooth iris, do you mean a declick aperture?

Thank you for your reply.

Yeah, smooth aperture changes without the sudden jumps.

I'm not sure a light cheap declick-aperture zoom exists for M43. Actually, I don't think a good, light & cheap M43 zoom exists, and most only go down to f/4.0 or thereabouts so are pretty much daylight use only when travelling. The Panasonic Leica f/3.5-5.6 12-60 is a good light travel M43 lens but it's not cheap. Nor does it have a declick aperture option so far as I recall (I sold mine to buy the Oly f/4.0 12-100). I also once had a M43 Voigtländer f/0.95 17.5mm which could be set to declick aperture mode, but that is a manual prime lens so probably not what you want?

For do-it-all anytime street/travel stuff I tend to leave my tiny M43 Oly f/1.8 17mm prime on my BMPCC4K and only pull out the much heavier and bigger Oly 12-100 when required. However both click/jump through the aperture changes noticeably when I just tested them on auto-aperture mode - it's not a setting I've ever used before.

Out of interest, what exactly is your use case where a declick aperture zoom is an important requirement?

I'm a long time OG Pocket and Pocket 4k owner, but I've never owned an M43 lens before because I've only used EF lenses with a Metabones, so my knowledge of M43 lenses is very limited.

I'm looking for a cheap and light weight M43 lens which I can use to shoot home videos with my P4k when I travel. I'm looking for a wide zoom lens and my only requirement is that the lens have a smooth iris transition when I set the exposure to auto. Any suggestions?

Recently I tried the Lumix G Vario 14-140mm f/3.5-5.6 II, but to my surprise that lens didn't have a smooth iris.

Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thank you.

It's not really possible unless you get a manual MFT mount lens where you're controlling the aperture on a ring on the lens itself. There are a lot more manual MFT primes than zooms out there as well. But zooms make it even harder...

If you want manual suggestions I can make some, but I suspect you want electronic?

JB

Cheap? It depends what your definition of cheap is. This one is cheap (in my definition). It has all you’re asking for including parfocal, just not light. It’s a pretty decent lens too.
https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... _lens.html

Bob,

Thanks for the info. I guess I probably won't find a lens with the features that I want. I was basically looking for the M43 equivalent of the Canon EF-S 18-135 STM. That lens is cheap, light, and has a super smooth aperture while on auto mode. That's the lens I used to use to shoot home videos with my old Canon DSLR, but it doesn't work properly on a Metabones Speedbooster or Smart Adapter.

My use case for such a lens is simply to shoot family videos at home or while traveling, so I guess having noticeable aperture changes while on auto exposure mode isn't such a big deal, but it's so annoying.

John,

Thanks a lot, but yeah, I'm only looking for electronic lenses.

Ellory,

Thanks for the link. That's a sweet lens, but I'm looking for something electronic and under $600.

Bob,

Thanks for the info. I guess I probably won't find a lens with the features that I want. I was basically looking for the M43 equivalent of the Canon EF-S 18-135 STM. That lens is cheap, light, and has a super smooth aperture while on auto mode. That's the lens I used to use to shoot home videos with my old Canon DSLR, but it doesn't work properly on a Metabones Speedbooster or Smart Adapter.

Raul, you will not find this kind of lens in an MFT at the price you want to pay. However if you are okay with something similar to the Canon EF-S you mentioned above that works with the Metabones SB, although the focal length is not similar, the Sigma 17-50 2.8 EF-S is electronic and will work well with the SB. Unfortunately this lens is no longer available but you can find it used on eBay, B&H, and many other places. Just Google for it. Here’s one on B&H. I use this lens for walk-about videos and review work with a BMPCC 4K and Panasonic GH-5 in the past and my adult son who does a lot of YT videos likes using it. I still use it today and like it also for the OS.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... html/specs

The other one that can be use with the SB is this one from Canon. Like the Sigma, they have been discontinued but you can still find them used for sale.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/ ... _6_is.html

I hope this somehow helps with your quest.

I set the exposure to auto. Any suggestions?

Don't.

Shoot RAW and fix it in post.