Blackmagic Forum

Hello everyone,
To avoid wasting my money unnecessarily, I am looking for an autofocus lens with a stabilizer at a reasonable price. I saw that there is a model "Panasonic Lumix G 45-150mm f/4.0-5.6 ASPH Mega OIS". What do you think?
I only do family or landscape films. I do not have any particular skills in filming. This is a hobby.
Thank you for your advice.

That’s pretty long for MFT. Try to find a good Canon 18-55 f2.8 second hand and adapt it.
There was recently a detailed thread about that.

Also do note that the PCC4k does NOT have any continuous autofocus. You can use the tap to focus for triggering AF, but that will focus quite slow. For landscapes no problem, for fast moving subjects like kids it won't work - you will have to focus manually.
You get the best triggered AF performance when filming in higher frame rates like 50 or 60 fps.

The best single universal zoom lens you can buy for your PCC4k is the Olympus 12-100 f4.0 IS, but that one costs as much or more as the PCC4k body.

I am using two of them (I own several cameras) and the Olympus is super sharp, has excellent optical image stabilization and is very versatile. Like all MFT lenses it is suffering from barrel distortions on the wide end, which can be corrected in Resolve later on.

Thank you for your answers which are rich in teaching.
All this information enlightens me on the use of the bmpcc 4K.
As an amateur, it is essential for me to have advice but given my budget, I cannot consider investments that are too heavy. This is why I must use equipment that may not be efficient but whose cost is bearable.
The bmpcc 4K is a solution to approach filming differently and that is why I bought it.
Thank you again and see you soon.

Philippe-Lot wrote:Thank you for your answers which are rich in teaching.
All this information enlightens me on the use of the bmpcc 4K.
As an amateur, it is essential for me to have advice but given my budget, I cannot consider investments that are too heavy. This is why I must use equipment that may not be efficient but whose cost is bearable.

Yes, that is understandable. When I buy this lens for my company, it is not a huge investment.
For an amateur it is quite expensive though. Maybe you could buy a second hand one?

Philippe-Lot wrote:The bmpcc 4K is a solution to approach filming differently and that is why I bought it.

Yes, it is indeed. Mine have been in use for 6 years now and have become like an extension of my body.

Another advice: shoot in BRAW Q3 or Q5 and learn to work in Davinci Resolve. File sizes are similar to ProRes HD but with BRAW you have access to 4k resolution and all the RAW abilities.

I have also created a free LUT you can use to get instant nice images out of your PCC4k:
Use this version: LBK-BMD_Gen5_neutral_High-desat_v10
viewtopic.php?f=2&t=151668

Note: LUTs are not a magical image beautifier, just a shortcut. Learning to grade should be the final goal.

One more thing to add.

I'd stay away from most of the Panasonic lenses. Some of these require in body correction for distortion and etc. Especially on the wide side.

In the years I used the 4K Pocket for documentary production, I tried a number of options and found the Olympus M.Zuiko Digital ED 12-100mm f/4 IS PRO to be the best stabilized zoom lens for it. Excellent IS, well built and not too heavy. Not the cheapest option for sure, but they can found used for reasonable cost given the quality.

My three choices here would be the 12-35, the 35-100 and the 14-140 from Panasonic.

The first two are Constant 2.8. The last ranges from 3.5 to 6 depending on focal length, so is probably best used only in well lit environments (like outside).

All thee have good OIS.

THANK YOU ALL.........Once again very good advice and opinions.

Hello everyone,
Following all your messages, I found a stabilized lens that is not too expensive and that could be suitable:

Panasonic Lumix G Vario 12-60mm f/3.5-5.6 ASPH,

What do you think about putting it on my bmpcc 4k.
Thanks for your answers

I've used that lens.

Was never a fan. I guess I preferred the Constant 2.8 of the 12-35 and 35-100.

Zoom lenses that don’t maintain a constant aperture should be called variable primes. There’s nothing wrong about using a variable prime at any aperture as long as you don’t use it to do a zoom and that you adjust the exposure as appropriate.

I used to think that it would be useful if, for example, manually set the aperture to f/4 for a lens designed as a f/2.8-4 zoom. But it was perhaps at least a couple of years ago that someone pointed out that ‘trick’ didn’t work as the lens would be true to its design and did not retain the f/4 setting as you zoomed in and out.