How far in the future are you thinking for upgrading to full-frame? If the mirrorless is just a temporary stop-gap, it might work out better to just rent lenses when you need them until you're...
How far in the future are you thinking for upgrading to full-frame? If the mirrorless is just a temporary stop-gap, it might work out better to just rent lenses when you need them until you're ready to commit.
Where the value cut-off for you will be is going to depend on how often you're shooting and how much you value the logistical effort of planning for and shipping rentals back and forth. But, unless the plan to upgrade to a full-frame is more than a year or two away, I think the financial argument comes down strongly in favor of renting lenses as you need them for now.
Honestly, if you’re going to spend the money on full frame lenses, just get one less lens and get a decent full frame camera. If you don’t want to invest in a full frame camera now, then just buy...
Honestly, if you’re going to spend the money on full frame lenses, just get one less lens and get a decent full frame camera.
If you don’t want to invest in a full frame camera now, then just buy some decent Micro 4/3 lenses. Down the road, you’ll either a) still have them to use on the GH4 or b) sell them off and recoup some of your investment.
You’re wasting the potential of these lenses if you’re not using them on a full frame sensor. So why spend the money if you’re not going to use them with a full frame sensor?
One big problem is that if you get full frame, all the measurements will be wrong and you’ll have to do the conversions in your head to figure out the actual range, focal point, etc. I’m not sure if that will apply to you but there were times when I needed a specific range and I had to do on-the-fly conversions. It was quite annoying.
I use various vintage 35mm lenses on a 4/3 body. I wish I had a speedbooster because the biggest problem I experience is the fact that the lens’s image is larger than the sensor. You only get the...
I use various vintage 35mm lenses on a 4/3 body. I wish I had a speedbooster because the biggest problem I experience is the fact that the lens’s image is larger than the sensor. You only get the a cropped image. So a 300mm lens kinda becomes a 600mm as far as effective image cropping.
The speedbooster would fix that, but damn those metabones are expensive.
Honestly, I think the money would be better spent toward lenses or a full frame camera instead of a speed booster. The good ones are $500-700. I’ve used one on my GH4 and the results are nice, but...
Honestly, I think the money would be better spent toward lenses or a full frame camera instead of a speed booster. The good ones are $500-700.
I’ve used one on my GH4 and the results are nice, but not $600 nice.
I should also ask, what made you choose M4/3 in the first place? Price? Size?
I’d suggest either investing in a full frame now (if you can afford it) or, as @NaraVara mentioned, renting. You can always use your GH4 as a B cam if you need.
I’d suggest either investing in a full frame now (if you can afford it) or, as @NaraVara mentioned, renting.
You can always use your GH4 as a B cam if you need.
I don't have any experience with full-frame, but 35mm lenses with adapters on 4/3 cameras are difficult to deal with. It's not a big problem to do the conversion of focal point/range/etc, but to...
I don't have any experience with full-frame, but 35mm lenses with adapters on 4/3 cameras are difficult to deal with. It's not a big problem to do the conversion of focal point/range/etc, but to actually use any of them is where I find it to not work. A 50mm prime lens requires far too much distance to get anything in frame, for instance. I did this as a stopgap until I could afford a few Panasonic lenses for my body (GX1, a long time ago) and it did not work well. Today I have a 20mm and a 100-300mm that I mostly switch between with much better results. Granted, this is all just sporadic hobby/snapshot/vacation use, not video production.
How far in the future are you thinking for upgrading to full-frame? If the mirrorless is just a temporary stop-gap, it might work out better to just rent lenses when you need them until you're ready to commit.
Just comparing a few prices here
Canon 24-70mm f2.8 LII is $61 per week to rent and ~$1,600 to buy. You'd need to rent for 26 continuous weeks before hitting a break even point.
A Nikon 70-200 f2.8 VRII is $106 per week to rent and ~$2,150 to buy. This is 20 continuous weeks to hit a break even point.
Sony FE 16-35mm f2.8 is $135 per week to rent and ~$2,200 to buy. This is 16 continuous weeks to hit a break even point.
Where the value cut-off for you will be is going to depend on how often you're shooting and how much you value the logistical effort of planning for and shipping rentals back and forth. But, unless the plan to upgrade to a full-frame is more than a year or two away, I think the financial argument comes down strongly in favor of renting lenses as you need them for now.
Honestly, if you’re going to spend the money on full frame lenses, just get one less lens and get a decent full frame camera.
If you don’t want to invest in a full frame camera now, then just buy some decent Micro 4/3 lenses. Down the road, you’ll either a) still have them to use on the GH4 or b) sell them off and recoup some of your investment.
You’re wasting the potential of these lenses if you’re not using them on a full frame sensor. So why spend the money if you’re not going to use them with a full frame sensor?
One big problem is that if you get full frame, all the measurements will be wrong and you’ll have to do the conversions in your head to figure out the actual range, focal point, etc. I’m not sure if that will apply to you but there were times when I needed a specific range and I had to do on-the-fly conversions. It was quite annoying.
I use various vintage 35mm lenses on a 4/3 body. I wish I had a speedbooster because the biggest problem I experience is the fact that the lens’s image is larger than the sensor. You only get the a cropped image. So a 300mm lens kinda becomes a 600mm as far as effective image cropping.
The speedbooster would fix that, but damn those metabones are expensive.
Honestly, I think the money would be better spent toward lenses or a full frame camera instead of a speed booster. The good ones are $500-700.
I’ve used one on my GH4 and the results are nice, but not $600 nice.
I should also ask, what made you choose M4/3 in the first place? Price? Size?
I’d suggest either investing in a full frame now (if you can afford it) or, as @NaraVara mentioned, renting.
You can always use your GH4 as a B cam if you need.
I don't have any experience with full-frame, but 35mm lenses with adapters on 4/3 cameras are difficult to deal with. It's not a big problem to do the conversion of focal point/range/etc, but to actually use any of them is where I find it to not work. A 50mm prime lens requires far too much distance to get anything in frame, for instance. I did this as a stopgap until I could afford a few Panasonic lenses for my body (GX1, a long time ago) and it did not work well. Today I have a 20mm and a 100-300mm that I mostly switch between with much better results. Granted, this is all just sporadic hobby/snapshot/vacation use, not video production.