Panasonic 12-35mm F2.8 - fast enough for fast moving toddler?

[slowpoke]

Hello all (especially fellow dads),

Need your advise.

I am considering this lens due to it's wide angle, and F2.8. The range is good but i'm a little concerned about its aperture.

Is F2.8 fast enough?

I tried to take shots of my 2 year old in an indoor playground going down a slide (S mode, shuttle speed 500, to freeze the moment) and with the OMD kit lens, the image is quite dark.

Just wondering if F2.8 will make a lot of improvement? Can it freeze the moment with a fast shuttle and at the same time, capture enough light?

FYI, i also have the 20mm F1.7 but when i'm with my kid, it's never mounted because it can't focus fast enough. I also have the 25mm F1.4. Its focus is fast but I prefer the flexibility of a zoom when taking pics of my kid.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[ageha]

Hello all (especially fellow dads),

Need your advise.

I am considering this lens due to it's wide angle, and F2.8. The range is good but i'm a little concerned about its aperture.

Is F2.8 fast enough?

I tried to take shots of my 2 year old in an indoor playground going down a slide (S mode, shuttle speed 500, to freeze the moment) and with the OMD kit lens, the image is quite dark.

Just wondering if F2.8 will make a lot of improvement? Can it freeze the moment with a fast shuttle and at the same time, capture enough light?

FYI, i also have the 20mm F1.7 but when i'm with my kid, it's never mounted because it can't focus fast enough. I also have the 25mm F1.4. Its focus is fast but I prefer the flexibility of a zoom when taking pics of my kid.

Thanks in advance!!

The 12-35/2.8 isn't much faster than your kit zoom at the wide end, you won't notice a difference.

 

[JW73]

What is your ISO reading ?
When u mentioned the resulting image is dark, it meant it is under exposured.

When u set 1/500s, did the aperture value start blinking? If blinking, it means the exposure is wrong.

lens with f2.8 is quite respectable for low light.

 

[subzero]

Hello all (especially fellow dads),

Need your advise.

I am considering this lens due to it's wide angle, and F2.8. The range is good but i'm a little concerned about its aperture.

Is F2.8 fast enough?

I tried to take shots of my 2 year old in an indoor playground going down a slide (S mode, shuttle speed 500, to freeze the moment) and with the OMD kit lens, the image is quite dark.

Just wondering if F2.8 will make a lot of improvement? Can it freeze the moment with a fast shuttle and at the same time, capture enough light?

FYI, i also have the 20mm F1.7 but when i'm with my kid, it's never mounted because it can't focus fast enough. I also have the 25mm F1.4. Its focus is fast but I prefer the flexibility of a zoom when taking pics of my kid.

Thanks in advance!!

I supposed you are on auto ISO mode?.shutters speed 500 for indoor IMO is a little ambitious for f2.8. Even with 25mm f1.4 may have some noise depending on the ambiance light. 200-300 should be fine for f2.8 lens with higher iso but again depend on how bright the place is.

 

[airbag14]

Hi Slowpoke.......

Check your ISO range/limit settings.

If I'm not wrong, the default range is only 200-1600. So u need to bump it up to 3200 or even higher.....

 

[wonglp]

There's 2 things here, focus speed and brightness of lens. 12-35 certainly better than kit for brightness, focus speed almost the same as kit.
For brightness, it depends on how dark ambience is. Either bump up iso or use flash when it gets too dark.

As for AF, Toddler should be no issue, kids likely got more issue. anticipation/training is the way. sometime touch focus will help too. Oly has improved in AF speed, but still a bit lack than dslr especially C-AF. Pany 20mm is slower to focus, so toddler also got issue.

 

[Diddy]

hi i have a 14 monnths old boy. i face the same issue as u when indoors. this lens is not "fast" enough when light is somewhat dimmer (like a cloudy day indoors). i have this lens and i'm looking to get a 25mm for indoors. 20mm cannot make it already

 

[Diddy]

having that said, the 12-35 is my favourite for outdoors now (along with my 45mm)