I'm quite new to photograhpy/videography and I only have a limited budget of $800.00US for a lens.
As per Kai's request allow me to pose the question centered around the discussion I initiated:
Which lenses could be considered on a micro four thirds camera to give me similar or better focal length and zoom as I had using a Canon APS-C with a 70-300mm lens?
I am using an MFT camera (BMPCC4K) for video and the lens I am considering is the Olympus 12-200mm f/3.5-6.3 lens mostly for it's zoom capability of 16.6x. It has a 35mm equivalent of 0.46x magnification.
I will always be using this lens outside on sunny days and I will be shooting the video at 24 fps HD. I will always have it mounted on a sturdy tripod for this type of video shooting so IS is not an issue.
The distance from my tripods to the area where I take pictures and record video is approx 70 feet.
My concern is that I will not be able to get close up shots or acceptable video footage being 70 feet away- even with 16.6x zoom and the magnification (.46x 35mm equivalent) because of the smaller format camera and smaller MFT lens.
I have no experience shooting video with MFT lenses but I understand the 12-200mm is a consumer grade lens for wildlife photography and videography- according to the Olympus website and reviews I've watched and read.
My previous experience is with a Canon 80D (APS-C sensor) using a 70-300mm IS II USM consumer lens at 29.97 fps in HD.
With that lens I was able to get fairly close pictures and video when fully zoomed in (from 70 feet away) and I am hoping I will be able to get at least the same zoom result FOV with the Olympus 12-200mm on the MFT camera, when shooting video.
The idea is to shoot pics with the Canon 80D and shoot video with the BMPCC4K.
I have watched many videos and have read many reviews and I know the Olympus 12-200mm lens gets soft in the long range and unless it's super blurry, it doesn't matter to me that much.
I will be shooting video of our garden too and I understand this lens has a good minimum focus distance, which I hope will be adequate for getting flower and plant footage, but again I have no experience with this lens, so I really don't know- which is why I'm here:).
Anyway, in a nutshell, I'm just hoping that with the proposed lens (Olympus 12-200mm) I will be able to zoom in and see the critters (squirrels and birds) fairly close like I can with my Canon 70-300mm.
To clarify a bit, I am not hoping to zoom in and see complex detail in bird feathers or look up a squirrels nose lol, but I'm hoping to get video footage of the animals' bodies filling out the frame when zooming in from 70 feet away.
I'm sure this is a very basic thing to understand but I need to be sure, so I wanted to consult with professionals or at least someone who could assure me I'm getting a proper lens for my backyard video recording activities.
Thanks so much for your time and hope to hear back soon.
Stay safe:).