My new Rokinon 14mm and Olympus 17mm - Vlog 002

Somewhat recently I got two new lenses that I felt would be great additions to my ever-changing lens arsenal: the Rokinon 14mm f/2.8 and the Olympus 17mm f/1.8.

The Rokinon is a Nikon mount, so I can use it on my Panasonic GH4 with my Mitakon Zhongyi Lens Turbo II speed booster for a 21mm full-frame equivalent, or with my DEO-Tech OWL adapter (no glass) for a 28mm full-frame equivalent. I got this lens to use for vlogs and general wide-angle applications like wedding receptions since it can be hard to get wide with a micro four thirds camera. I bought both the cine and stills versions and decided to keep the stills one as the focusing is much much smoother and easier to turn. I don't know if my cine version is just a bad copy though, so your mileage may vary.

The Olympus 17mm f/1.8 is a pretty cool little lens. Olympus has implemented a very cool focus clutch design on some of their lenses which allows the user to change from auto focus to manual focus by pulling back the focus ring on the lens. When it clicks back, a focusing scale is revealed and the focusing ring has hard stops at either end. This means it does away with most of the omnipresent, malevolent problems associated with focus by wire systems (The Camera Store TV has a great explanation of this). I have noticed it's minimum focus distance is slightly impaired when in manual focus, and there can be a slight lag when focusing, but it's still a huge step forward from  the Panasonic 20mm I was using before. I got the Olympus 17mm to use as a general purpose lens that's great for photos and video alike and keeps weight and size down.

Watch the video above to see the clip I created with these lenses!