Expand Quote
Which lenses do you mean? The ones with Power O.I.S? They are not parfocal.
tl;dr:
I sunk ~300 Eur on a b4 lens setup, which I rarely use because it is annoying to setup/transport and not very ergonomical to use.
Imo the "best" "cheap" option if you want to shoot long lens is to get an old b4 lens + adapters.
I have something similar to this:
But that setup "sucks" as well. Setting it up is a pain. I need to detach the eazyhandle clone because otherwise it is too much stress on the bayonet. Then mount the adapter + lens and get out the powerbank for the lens for being able to use the zoom rocker.
Mine is as heavy as another camcorder + it is incredibly hard to keep stable on the gh4 because you don't have any stabilization and I don't have any additional fixed contact points for keeping it stable. I am trying to find an G-Cup EVF Eyecup for the GH4 for an eternity now, to have a more camcorder-like way of shooting. At some point I might try something like this Walimex Pro viewfinder, but that would be another thing to carry around and setup. Keeping it stable might be easier on a gh5 though with its IBS. I think a good tripod/shoulder rig would help a lot, but than it would be even more annoying to set up every time + even more stuff to transport. It is definitely not a "get it out quick and shoot" type of setup.
If you spend some time on ebay, then it is still a kinda "cheap" option to try. I paid 100 Eur for the lens + ~60 for the lens adapter + ~50 for 5.5 x 2.5 to 12pin hirose adapter cable + ~90 for the power bank. So in sum ~300 Eur.
Not the Power OIS but there was a 45-175 Power Zoom lens that has a zoom on the lens itself supposedly imitating parfocal lenses (of course to a much lesser degree) - https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/818956-REG/Panasonic_H_PS45175K_Lumix_G_X_Vario.html
That setup you have there is sick thanks for sharing, definitely feel the pain on trying to figure out something that's cheap, looks decent and doesn't take ten years and a 5 man crew to setup whenever you want to film lol
Close to parfocal lenses on MFT would be:
Sigma 18-35mm f1.8 (close to parfocal when combined with a speedbooster that has been adjusted, zoom is not consistent, really heavy lens)
Olympus 12-40 2.8 (best bang for buck, best zoom consistency, solid focal length especially when combined with GH5 Extra Tele Conversion setting)
Panasonic Leica 10-25mm f1.7 (very spendy, short focal length, solid zoom consistency)
Have had the Panasonic PZ 14-42mm F3.5-5.6, it was a huge disappointment.
Maybe get a follow focus and attach it to the zoom ring if you go the route of any of the lenses I mentioned.
Here's a zoom out example with the Olympus 12-40mm:
https://imgur.com/a/KhcsJga