MFT has been around for a while. It was born in 2008 as a mutual effort between Olympus and Panasonic and held great promises. It has delivered almost all of them, but still, it’s not as widely adopted as we’d expect. Instead, thanks to the wide range of mounts that can be adapted on the MFT itself we’ve seen a plethora of rigs sporting the widest variety of lenses one could imagine.
One of the latest cameras (or at least one of the most notable) to jump on the MFT bandwagon has been the Pocket 4K. The camera was quickly followed by the Pocket 6K, a unit that ditched the aforementioned mount in favor of the more common Canon EF.
These two siblings have been all the rage and sharing similar sized sensor it makes sense to pair them in the choice of a lens set, you just need to factor in the crop. Filmmaker Tyler Edwards has chosen three lenses to make his basic all-around kit for the Pocket 4K and 6K, so let’s take a look!
Checking on Blackmagic’s spec sheet, we can see that the sensor on the Pocket 4K is 18,96 x 10mm while the Pocket 6K is 23,10 by 12,99mm. Both of them are quite near to the APS-C sensor, meaning that we can use photographic lenses for both full-frame and cropped sensors. So here we have three choices, let’s start with the first one.
Best lens for traveling
The lens of choice is the Canon EF 24–105mm f/4L IS II USM. It’s one of the most all-around lenses on the market, at least with such great optic quality. It’s an L series piece of glass, meaning it’s in the high-end of Canon’s lineup.
The mount is obviously Canon EF, and the focal range as said is huge. We’re going from medium wide-angle to quite a long telephoto (once factored in the crop factor) in a single lens, and it goes without saying how useful that can be while traveling. Paired with a Pocket camera, you’ll have a discreet and light package, and that’s all you need while touring around.
Best wide lens
Plenty of times these S35ish sensors will give you a fair crop on your image, rendering most of the lenses quite long range. So we have to resort to extreme wide angles if you want to have a decent wide shot.
The problem is most of the extremely wide lenses are either fisheyes or are prone to various image artifacts and distortions: that’s not the case for Tokina’s 11-16mm f/2.8 Pro DX-II. This one too is a Canon mount lens, but as usual with a third party, you may find other mounts too. Unlike its extreme wide counterparts, it has a great image on the whole range, with minimal distortion.
Best overall
Well, it’s time for the champion. The Sigma 18-35 f1.8 Art is a wonderful lens. Just like the rest of the Art line, this piece of glass is fantastic. It’s light, it has a crisp and clear image but a creamy bokeh that is out of this world. If you’ve got a few hundred bucks and you’re wondering what piece of gear you could invest in, then you’ve got your answer.
Here we go, that’s our three-piece kit ready to get you going with your Pocket 4K or 6K camera.
[source: Tyler Edwards]
Order Links:
- Canon EF 24-105mm f/4L IS II USM Lens (B&H, Amazon)
- Tokina AT-X 116 PRO DX-II 11-16mm f/2.8 (B&H, Amazon)
- Sigma 18-35mm f/1.8 DC HSM Art Lens (B&H, Amazon)
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
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