Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 and the Panasonic AF-100

Since purchasing my new Panasonic AF-100 camera, I’ve really enjoyed the functionality and image quality that the camera offers. But, I’ve been disappointed at the limited number of lenses available for its MFT, or Micro Four Thirds mount. There’s not much in the way of high quality lenses.

So, here are my options:

Birger Adaptor for Canon EF Lenses

My first solution was to purchase an adaptor for my Canon EF lenses that I’ve been using on my Canon 7D, but there’s a problem. These modern EF lenses use electronic signals to change the aperture, and it won’t translate to my Panasonic AF-100. I’ve enjoyed my fast Canon 50mm lens, Canon 85mm lens and my Tamron 17-50mm while shooting video on the Canon 7D, but they won’t work easily on the AF-100. To change the aperture, you have to take the lens off the AF-100, put it on a 7D or 5D, and set the aperture, then put it back on the AF-100.

Currently, a company called Birger is developing an EF to MFT adaptor that would allow me to use my Canon lenses on the AF-100, but it won’t be available until later this year. The adaptor is supposed to run about $700. Philip Bloom did a nice test shoot with the AF-100 and the Birger adaptor:

Using my Canon FD Lenses

Before purchasing my Canon 7D (with its built in shallow depth of field), I was using the Letus 35mm adaptor on my HVX-200 to get the shallow depth of field I wanted. And, I was using some old Canon FD lenses with used manual focus and aperture. They worked great. They were relatively fast lenses, ranging from f/1.4 to f/1.8. And, they were cheap because they were older lenses. The quality was pretty good for what we were using the for.

Here’s a short film we did using the Letus adaptor and Canon FD lenses.

I purchased an inexpensive MFT to FD adaptor ($40) for the AF-100. and I’ve been using my FD lenses on the AF-100. We recently did an interview with President George W. Bush using this setup on the AF-100.  The image capture quality was quite good.

Voigtlander 25mm f/0.95 Lens

Voigtlander announced a new 25mm lens earlier this year, and it is phenomenally fast! f/0.95 is rare, especially for a price of $1K. I ordered it this morning and I look forward to using it on an upcoming project next month. More on that later.

Right now, they only have this 25mm lens. I hope they will soon have a series of lenses at different focal lengths.