Best MFT Zoom for new BMPCC 4K?

Filippo Giani · October 23, 2018

Good afternoon everyone,

I have a run & gun gig coming up in the foreseeable future for which I'd like to give the new BMPCC 4K a shot (I don't technically own one yet, but hopefully will reasonably soon).

Due to the job's specific nature, I will require an extremely lightweight and portable setup.

I've done similar work in the past and always suffered from having to work with primes (both in terms of weight and overall practicality), so this time I decided I'd rather stick with a single zoom for the entirety of the shoot.

On a full-frame camera I would probably just opt for the Sigma 18-35 f1.8, but being the new BM Pocket M4/3, I don't think that would give me enough range to handle a broad enough variety of situations.

I've done a little bit of research for suitable options and found that quite a few people seem to be praising the Olympus 12-40 f2.8 M.Zuiko PRO as a good one for video.

Has anyone here had any experience with it? Or would you know of any interesting alternative covering the same/similar range (24-80 equivalent)?

I've also read that a few people appear to be very happy with C-mount vintage options, such as the Angenieux 12-120mm f2/2 (amazing range and constant aperture) but it weights a ton and the whole point is to retain flexibility while shooting.

Also another set of issues that I've had with vintage Angenieux in the past has included very noticeable chromatic aberrations, heavy breathing and vignetting (all things that I would want to avoid for this project).

However, if you're aware of any vintage lens that might fit the bill I'd be more than open to consider it.

Please let me know if you have any recommendations for me, as I could gladly use some.

Wish you all a lovely rest of your day and thank you for having taken the time

Best,

Filippo

Akos Baranya · October 26, 2018

Vintage C mount lenses would be an option on the old pocket IMO and they come with their own bag of worries. The new pocket has a larger sensor, not the S16 of its predecessor so they don't play at all. I have an Angenieux 15-150 with the older pocket and while I really like using it, from about 15 to 30 it's a dog of a lens with wierd areas in unexpected places that are blurred.

I would advise you to monitor this thread: http://www.bmcuser.com/showthread.php?22425-Soft-edges-with-wide-angle-lenses-on-the-BMP4K

as there seems to be some kind of not wholly documented issue with the new pocket and certain lens combinations.

The Oly pro zooms have the big bonus of having repeatable manual focusing whereas the panasonic equivalent does not as the focus speed changes based on the speed of the focus ring turning, so that would be a definite pro to watch.