Lenses

[PannySVHS]

Hey, thanks for letting know. F2.8 lookin good for distant shots, centre wise and in the edges, regarding chroma and contrast?

[cantsin]

7artisans 35mm/f1.2 (Canon EOS-M100), all shots with wide-open aperture:

 

[JordanWright]

Mechanically great - focus throw was huge, it was hard to focus handheld but great for the 1st AC. Fully metal and quite hefty however short. Here are a few screen grabs with a 709 LUT applied. All shot on the 50 or 85

[Matt Kieley]

On 6/16/2016 at 12:48 PM, Mattias Burling said:

Kern Paillards are sweet for sure. And one can by a set of three for peanuts.

Used the 16mm switar as well as the 25mm and 75mm for this.

I'm looking to buying a new set. Found all three plus the 10mm for $100.

I went looking in this thread for my old Kern Paillard Switar 16mm bmpcc grabs and saw this reply. These lenses are still ridiculously expensive on ebay (I bid on a couple of auctions that still ended for $100+). I should just paypal you some money so you can buy some of these lenses for "peanuts" and mail them to me.

[Mattias Burling]

21 minutes ago, Matt Kieley said:

I went looking in this thread for my old Kern Paillard Switar 16mm bmpcc grabs and saw this reply. These lenses are still ridiculously expensive on ebay (I bid on a couple of auctions that still ended for $100+). I should just paypal you some money so you can buy some of these lenses for "peanuts" and mail them to me.

Don't bid on the lenses, bid on the cameras with lenses. I see them regularly on ebay and other places for very little money.

[Matt Kieley]

5 minutes ago, Mattias Burling said:

Don't bid on the lenses, bid on the cameras with lenses. I see them regularly on ebay and other places for very little money.

The cheapest auction I'm seeing now is at $255 with 4 hours to go. There's a buy it now auction for $225 + shipping.  I've watched these sort of auctions (Bolex and Kern Paillard lenses) for a couple years now and these prices seem to be pretty normal. Plesae tell me your secrets, Mattias. You must have some sort of underground black market Bolex connection you're not telling me about.

[Mattias Burling]

13 minutes ago, Matt Kieley said:

The cheapest auction I'm seeing now is at $255 with 4 hours to go. There's a buy it now auction for $225 + shipping.  I've watched these sort of auctions (Bolex and Kern Paillard lenses) for a couple years now and these prices seem to be pretty normal. Plesae tell me your secrets, Mattias. You must have some sort of underground black market Bolex connection you're not telling me about.

Did you search for "Bolex" in the camera category or did you search "banged up old camera, don't know name, seems broken" under antiques?

[Mattias Burling]

I got me two sets of D-Mounts. Three Kern Paillards and two Yashicas. They cost me €12 + €6 + shipping for all of them and included two cameras as rear caps.

If someone wonders about the specs compared to a modern Canon or Panasonic equivalent they are smaller, cheaper and better built with loads of character. So better speced indeed

 

Here is a sample of the Kern 13mm f1.8

 

Here the Kern and Yashica 13mm goes head to head.

Yashica

Kern Paillard

 

[Matt Kieley]

Oh no, what have I done? Have I gone and bought the bmpcc again? I tried 4K, it was fine, now I'm back to the land of better color and DR, and ProresHQ/Raw files and that s16 sensor. Feels good. I'd say this is still my favorite camera. Anyway, I decided to compare some of my c-mount lenses. Don't mind the quick and dirty lighting and grading, this is more about the lenses and their sharpness wide open. You can tell the 12.5mm is the sharpest because of the aliasing in my beard. I still love the camera though. Here's some bmpcc/c-mount lens footage I shot a year ago (which is what made me want to get the pocket again) with the KP 26mm, KP Yvar 16mm 2.8, and Fujinon 18-108mm 2.5 zoom:

 

[cantsin]

To add to the above - this video was exclusively shot with the BM Pocket and a Tarcus 16-160mm/f1.8 c-mount zoom for 1" video cameras, a 2.3kg/5lbs beast of a lens that absolutely requires a rig and lens support:

Shooting with the BM Pocket for now 4 1/2 years has completely relieved me from any camera upgrade mania.

[Matt Kieley]

45 minutes ago, cantsin said:

Shooting with the BM Pocket for now 4 1/2 years has completely relieved me from any camera upgrade mania.

I realized recently that most of the upgrade choices I've made were theoretical reasons for hypothetical situations and people. I wanted to pursue more narrative director of photography work outside of the media work I was doing, so I thought I needed 4k, and larger sensors, and when the Sony a6300 overheated while shooting my short film, I got a G7 because it would be more reliable, but I needed a focalal reducer to make up for the extra crop. I've bought Canon cameras to match my partners' Canon cameras. I also convinced myself that the compression of other cameras didn't matter as much since general audiences won't notice. And they really won't, but I notice it, and I want to feel good about my own work. The right choice for ME is the now 5 year old 1080p "only" bmpcc.

So to get back on topic, I'm thinking of getting one or two Canon TV-16 c-mount primes (and maybe a zoom) for the pocket. Anyone here ever test them?

[cantsin]

3 hours ago, Matt Kieley said:

So to get back on topic, I'm thinking of getting one or two Canon TV-16 c-mount primes (and maybe a zoom) for the pocket. Anyone here ever test them?

Yes, this was shot with a TV16 c-mount 50mm/f1.8 (closeups) and a Carl Zeiss Jena Tevidon 10mm/f2 (wide shots) on the BM Pocket:

 

[jonpais]

excellent job.

[canonlyme]

Hey Guys, 
this is my first post after some private messages and tons of reading. So even though I know most of your faces, I haven't written something myself. I am a german film student trying to get more professionell with my video work (on a budget). I have bought the gx80 used. 

Now I am looking for a cheap way to finish up my gear, probably with vintage lenses, so that I can concentrate on storytelling again. Because I am taking more and more time than I would have liked to take in the beginning and am starting to turn in circles, I now want to ask for your help with a decision about a lense set. 

Here is what my goal is.
-A full set of conforming glass, character and vintage is appreciated and meets my budget
-Infinity focus, using only one lens turbo adapter for all the lenses
-Using little budget. 
-I always shoot manual, both video and photos (only events, no fast movements)

I just bought a minolta 28mm 2.8 and 50mm 1.4 and got them cheap, I really like the 50mm, the 28mm has a bit of fungus. 
Also I have the sigma 18-35 1.8 (my most expensive peace of gear ever) and recently I found an old sigma af macro 50mm 2.8 in my moms old photo box.

Now what should I do for a full set of lenses? 
Minolta:
Should I buy one minolta tele and use a full set of minoltas with character? I am looking at the minolta 35-70 3.5 but don't know if that is really good as a main lense, or if I should use a tokina atx pro 28-70 2.6-2.8?
Sigma:
Should I try to get another tele vintage sigma lense and built a full sigma set with a more modern look? Is it possible to use the analoge sigma af macro 50mm 2.8
with an ef to m43 speedbooster, or does it not work because it is analoge?
Nikkor:
Using nikkor afs glass was recommended to me, but I think I only want to go there when my freelance work can actually cover the coast of a bourne lense.


Looking forward to all of your feedback. If this belongs in another thread, I am happy to move it there.

[anonim]

1. Maybe preAI Nikkor set as very low budget - I think @kidzrevil largely use them and you can find many very nice footages of him here and elsewhere - especially if you prefer slightly softer movie aesthetic.

2. I personally tried also many sets of vintage glasses - so I have nothing to add new to extensively elaborate answers: Leica R or Zeiss Contax/Rolleiflex are equally wonderful long-time - and through many camera system - valuable sets with well known different aesthetics. Some of them are not too pricey (200-400e), some could be. Germany and EU are big market, you may find lot of nice offers.

You may look to very instructive youtube channels - Matt Rice, for example, or frequent member of EOSHD Mattias Burling...

Zoom about - Zeiss Contax 24-85 is some sort of vintage wonder... I also like Leica R 28-70. Neither of them is not too pricey today.

(Saying that, I'm sure you already know more than me - but lets pretend that it is not so

[canonlyme]

Thanks anonim. I guess zeiss are really nice because they are so sharp. But I guess from what I have seen I like them rather for photos than for video. I guess for film I don't mind a look with character little chromatic aberations and vignetting as well as softness. A tip with zeiss: if you don't go for the popular ones, you make real bargains. There are old tessar ones from the 50's that go for 5-10 dollars on the fitting vintage cameras, while the new contax zeiss go for 5-10 times the price.

I will buy the minolta set and then let you guys inspire me for the next, maybe more expensive set. Am getting the minolta 35-70 3.5 md and am deciding between the minolta md (4lenses) 135 2.8 for 45 dollars and the 70-210 f4 for 35 dollars.

However I could really cry right now: The zhongyi lens turbo ii for minolta md to m43 is sold out! I can't use my set until they are back in stock. By the way, here is a picture I shot with the sony 6000 and a mediocre sony zooom. It's an officer on the way to a temple in india, I shot this as part of an hyperlapse, if anyone is interested in seeing that. Heavy grading. Hope the 16mp gx80 with minolta lenses will deliver just as much.

[mercer]

@canonlyme ... nice image!!! With results like that, why did you decide to upgrade from the a6000? I had an a5100 a while back and really liked it. They’re both so cheap now, they’d probably make a good street camera when I don’t feel like lugging around my 5D.

And I’ve always liked Minolta lenses on Sony and Panasonic cameras, so you’ve chosen wisely. If you’re looking for a good, cheap 50mm... the MD f/2 lens is really sharp. And the MC PG 50mm 1.4 is awesome as well.

[canonlyme]

@mercer thanks. To be honest, I think the same angle with the same grading would look awesome with a lot of cameras. The light was really beautiful. But it directly hit the lens so I had to crank the contrast all the way up. 
There are a few reasons I considered just now:
1: It was my moms camera (she didn't like me taking it to the desert, haha),
so I was deciding between a new sony 6000 and gx80, at the moment, both cameras are at the same price in germany.
2: For pictures with heavy grading as well as 50mbit fhd the sonys are great, but I think the panasonics have better color space, which is important in compressed video. 
3. The lenses for sony are overpriced, so I chose to go for a cheap camera and invest more in the stuff around it (like lenses, speedboosters, microphones and stuff)
4. The sony overheats, so it is not futureproof if I work for serious clients :D 
5. The gx80 has IS. I think that could be really great when using old glass and tele lenses.
6. The gh2 sundance winner and Andy Lee got me sold on panasonic, even though I don't think that Andy Lee's movie was finished :D 

To be honest, if I happen to prefer the sony, I can just sell my gx80 used and buy the sony6000 so that is a maximum loss of 100 dollars
Also I shoot everything manual, so I don't care about any kind of autofocus tracking. I will try to shoot events with the gx80 (pictures) and see if anyone notices that I am using a tiny camera with vintage class.

Thanks for your tipps: I am really bothered right now because the lens turbo md to m43 is out of stock. Also I don't know if there will be problems with the lenses hitting the glass of the lens turbo, so I don't wanna ship it all the way from USA and then have to return it. How did you solve that problem with the minoltas? I am looking at the 28mm 2.8, 50mm 1.4, 35-70 3.5 md (4 glasses) and the 135mm 2.8. 

Fun Fact: My gx80 is already kind of famous. I already have a dump adapter and took my minolta lense to a movie festival. A television team from german 1st. programm was there that wanted to finish their scene but ran out of time. I was like: I have a 4k camera, I can finish it, so I did. German actor Götz otto was there. I asked him to sit down on a sofa on the event, and gave him directions from 5 different angles. He was like: Man, you are giving a lot of orders for a director, and started laughing, but he really gave me all his acting skills.

In case you didn't know, he was the bad guy in james bond, tomorrow never dies. I guess that makes me one of the few people in the forum that already directed a hollywood actor, haha.
Will post a short clip if anyone is interested. (sorry for writing so much)


Cheers

[mercer]

@canonlyme that makes sense. I briefly had the GX85, it’s a fun camera. However, I never used a Speedbooster with it, so I don’t know if the rear element will hit the glass or not. I know on FF DSLRs, some Minolta lenses will hit the mirror on some cameras. On the 35mm 1.8 I own, the person who modified the mount also sawed of a little of the rear lens housing for clearance... so that may be an option, if there are any issues.

That’s cool that you had the chance to direct Otto... great story. Please definitely share that video. 

[PannySVHS]

20 hours ago, canonlyme said:

6. The gh2 sundance winner and Andy Lee got me sold on panasonic, even though I don't think that Andy Lee's movie was finished :D

In case you didn't know, he was the bad guy in james bond, tomorrow never dies. I guess that makes me one of the few people in the forum that already directed a hollywood actor, haha.
Will post a short clip if anyone is interested. (sorry for writing so much)

Hey, cool write up! Thanks. You must have been a follower for a while now, poiniting out Andy Lees movie with a Panny cam He made a lot of people buy these little cameras. I got a G6 and GX85 myself and not using an additional G7, because I am happy with the HD from the G6 and the 4K and stabilization from the GX85. That´s an awesome story, the most famous GX85 in the world! Yeah, please post some footage. cheers, Marty

@mercer Hey Glenn, so is it about Minolta lenses or just the 35mm hitting the glass of the focal reducer with its rear element?