A set of must have lenses?

Francis Ong · January 29, 2014

Hello I'm new to photography and film making, I have a Lumix G5 and only have the 14-42mm lens that came with it. I was wondering are there any lenses that I should invest into first that are must haves for photography and short film making?

Phil Connolly · January 29, 2014

I'm a big fan of the voigtlaender f0.95 25mm prime.

http://www.voigtlaender.de/cms/voigtlaender/voigtlaender_cms.nsf/id/pa_f0_95_25.html

Its a great lens - the look is a bit extreme fully open but a nice lens stopped down a bit. I did a music video on the AF101 almost entirely on that lens:

(although youtube compressions killed it a bit)

Also I've heard good things about the SLR magic 12mm:

http://www.slrmagic.co.uk/slr-magic-12mm-t16-hyperprime-lens-mft-new.html

Zac Fettig · January 29, 2014

Zeiss Apo Sonnar T* 1700mm f4 [V],

Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6L USM [EOS],

Canon 5200mm f14 [FD],

Carl Zeiss 50mm f0.7 Planar [bNC],

Nikon 6mm f2.8 [F]

Everyone must have at least 2 of each of those lenses or they're not a serious photographer/filmmaker... just kidding!

It's a tough question. You have a lot of choices, and they all have plusses and minuses. Honestly, you're a lot better off shooting with what you've got, and focus on practicing. The Voigtlander mentioned above is a fantastic lens. If you're more interested in cinematography, you might do better with a PL-Micro 4/3 adapter and some super 16 lenses. Read as much as you can, and buy lenses piece by piece. I like old Pentax screwmount lenses for still photography and Cooke cine lenses. But that's just my preference.