Panasonic Lumix GH7 and Older Lenses

Lumix GH7 gets tested with my old Micro Four Thirds lenses from Olympus, and Canon EF lenses using the Metabones Speedbooster 0.71x converter.

So, before I sell my beloved Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f2.0 and M.Zuiko 45mm 1.8 (which were originally used on the DJI Inspire 1, do I really need to sell them? Will they work well with the GH7's new AF system?

Also, will my old Canon EF lenses (24-70L 2.8, 70-200L IS 2.8 and EF50 1.4) along with the Metabones Speedbooster also work? In this review I compare a few lenses so read on.

Panasonic AF History

As any long suffering Panasonic Lumix camera users will know, the AF on cameras such as the GH and S-Series have suffered terribly from less than adequate autofocus. So much so, I could never rely on them for run and gun situations at weddings or corporate shoots for example.

I did do a video on the best autofocus settings for the GH5 which worked to a degree, but they did little to match that of rival cameras.

The Comparison

The best way to do this test was to put these old lenses up against the super fast Lumix S 24-105mm f4 lens. This lens is fast and accurate and perfect for a sports event such as the beach motocross in Weymouth.

The best lenses to compare with the Lumix 24-105 would be the Olympus 45mm (equivalent 90mm) and the Canon EF 24-70 at 70mm and the 70-200 at around 100mm. Bear in mind though, the two Canon lenses are almost 20 years old which makes this really interesting.

They do work pretty well with the Lumix S5iiX, albeit quite noisily, but how will the Metabones Speedbooster* affect things? And what about the small Olympus lenses?

The Canon lenses also work really well with the Lumix GH5 using the Metabones Speedbooster but obviously without using autofocus. I was keen to test all these lenses with the Lumix GH7 so...

Lumix Loan Scheme

One thing I love about Panasonic is the Lumix Loan scheme. I have used this for both the Panasonic S1H and S5iiX and ended up buying both cameras. It works like this...

You basically hire the camera through the scheme for just two days for free, including free delivery. All you pay is a deposit for the camera (around £500 in this case) which is refundable on return of the camera in the same condition in which you received it. 

Oh, and I also hired the Panasonic Lumix DMW-XLR2 XLR Microphone Adaptor for the GH7 at no extra cost. This amazing accessory has 32-float recording which means any audio peak distortion from the motocross bikes will be flattened. Perfect, clean audio every time (exactly like the DJI Mic 2).

Lumix GH7 Autofocus Settings

To keep things simple, I will be using the same, max speed AF settings on all tests. That is:

...and all apertures will be tested wide open. This gives the Lumix 24-105 the edge as its widest aperture is f4. If the older lenses can keep up with apertures of f2.8, f2.0 and f1.8, I will be impressed! 

Panasonic Lumix 14-140mm f3.5-f5.6

The 14-140mm Panny lens surprised me the most of all tests. Its built in OIS stabilisation when coupled with the GH7's internal stabilisation was incredible. Even when zoomed out at 140mm (280mm equivalent), it was a steady as a rock!

The stabilisation blew me away and the autofocus was rapid. It's almost enough for me to make the decision to buy the Lumix GH7, what a cool walkaround lens that is also perfect for sports and wildlife. Wow.

Olympus M.Zuiko 45mm 1.8 vs Lumix S 24-105mm

The Olympus 45mm is a superb lens at a reasonable cost of under £$200. Its 35mm equivalent is 90mm so would be great for portraits, some landscapes and headshots. For me, I used this a few times on my old DJI Inspire 1 but not much else since.

I tend to use my Canon glass with the Metabones Speedbooster. Autofocus with this lens on the Lumix GH7 worked well. No complaints.

Canon EF24-70L 2.8 vs Lumix S 24-105mm

Obviously as the Lumix S 24-105 on the Lumix S5iiX were designed to work impeccably together, the Canon 24-70 fell a little short in speed of focus but not by much. If I decide to buy the Lumix GH7, I will no doubt keep the Canon EF24-70 f2.8 as it is still a superb lens and compliments the GH7 well.

Canon EF70-200L IS 2.8 vs Lumix S 24-105mm

Wow! What can I can say? The 70-200 at 200mm worked SO WELL with the Lumix GH7 and Metabones Speedbooster. So well in fact, I forgot to shoot with the Lumix 14-140mm at the recent Beach Motocross in Weymouth. 

I ended up filming the Motocross event entirely with the Canon EF70-200L IS f2.8 USM. I was amazed at how quick and responsive it was with regards to autofocus and tracking.

This has brough that lens back to life for me so I may well hold off from selling it until I decide whether or not to buy the GH7. I probably will.

Olympus M.Zuiko 12mm f2.0 and the Lumix GH7

I have always loved the Oly 12mm f2 lens from its days on the Inspire 1 (full time) and on the GH5 for many of my YouTube videos. Quality is excellent, the autofocus worked very well on the GH7 and this lens is small and light! Perfect for walking around on holiday or shooting stock with the GH7.

Canon EF50mm 1.4 and the Lumix GH7

What the hell, I thought I would throw this in as the new Metabones Speedbooster update got me excited! However, in real world use, the EF50mm 1.4 didn't play too well with the GH7. It worked, AF worked but it was slower and quite noisy so I left it off.

Lumix GH7 and the DMW-XLR2 XLR Mic Adaptor

So did the Panasonic Lumix DMW-XLR2 XLR Mic Adaptor live up to its reputation? Did it produce stunning, clean and distortion free audio from the super loud motocross bikes? It did, very well in fact.

To test this in my office/studio, I put the camera right next to a very loud Bose speaker and recorded the music with both the in-camera mic and 32-bit Float. You can clearly see the difference in levels on the timeline below.

In-camera to the left and 32-bit float to the right...