Lenses

[noone]

11 hours ago, kye said:

The K35 looks like it has more wide-angle distortion, almost like it is a wider lens that's closer to the subject, but that isn't the case.

Of the more affordable lenses around, what are the ones that stand out? and why?

While I think some of the FD L lenses are at ridiculous prices (24 1.4 especially) I till think it I a lovely lens and I wish I had kept my 50 1.2 L and that my 85 1.2 L did not have the dissolving bearing issue.     The 85 L can be had for (sort of) reasonable prices (be careful about the bearing problem).

I think most older lenses now should be looked at individually because you do not know how hard their "lives" have been or if they were even good copies to begin with.

Shot from my FD 24 1.4 L at 1.4 on my old A7s.

[Paul Jonathan]

I recently converted my Blackmagic 6K Pro to PL mount with the Wooden Camera Mount Modification kit, so now I am looking for some modern highspeed PL-mount S35 lenses. It seems like there has been resurgence of low-cost fullframe PL lenses (DZOFilm, Meike, Laowa, SLRmagic) but those all start at T2.1 and cover full frame. Since the Xeens (which I personally do not really like) has there been any recent developments for high speed S35 PL-glass in that price segment? Or is everyone moving on to full frame to future proof their purchases?

[leslie]

On 1/27/2021 at 5:17 AM, noone said:

While I think some of the FD L lenses are at ridiculous prices (24 1.4 especially) I till think it I a lovely lens and I wish I had kept my 50 1.2 L and that my 85 1.2 L did not have the dissolving bearing issue.     The 85 L can be had for (sort of) reasonable prices (be careful about the bearing problem).

I think most older lenses now should be looked at individually because you do not know how hard their "lives" have been or if they were even good copies to begin with.

I think youtube is both a boon and burden in this regard. Boon in thats there plenty of footage available to view, however a burden in these guys are probably inadvertently pushing the prices towards the stratosphere, in some cases.  I'm also adverse to some of the tactics some of them use that get mentioned on the forum from time to time.

Still i'm old enough to be cynical about most of it, and i take a grain of salt with everything online anyway. 

I have a theory that a lens that was good for photography in its day, should also work for video. Except perhaps a lens that has bad  ( breathing )  thats the only thing that springs readily to my mind.   As theories go it might no be up there with Einstein's general  theory on relativity, but for a jumping off point it works (for me ) anyway. Feel free to elaborate or build on my framework as you see fit 🙂

I think the internet is great for research, at times it can feel abit hit or miss finding those gems.

I'm a long way from suburbia, ebay is my friend. Sadly i have no affiliate links for you to buy from 🤣. If i had a concern about a lens with ( say dissolving bearings )  i would send a message to the seller seeking clarification, so far, that strategy has served me well. 

[leslie]

I suspect you know all of this already, but i posted it for posterity 😉

[PannySVHS]

Some Angenieux 75mm glory, c-mount for S16 format. covers full m43 sensor with some light vignetting. Another gem to support the yearning for a GH6 with prores, oplf, sdi out, internal nds, super16 glory, 10bit HD up to 240fps, etc. 🙂 Lens has a glorious glow wide open at f2.5, which is like a light source of its own. I love everything about it. Hopefully it will become more thant just a magical item but for pratical use in a short film or wait, why not shoot a paid gig with it for some talking heads footage! Photo taken with the beautyful GX85. Hope that body gets the GH5 sensor and codecs some time. Now that would make m43 my format of love again.

I saw a Nikon 35mm f2, a lens from the 60ies vignette pretty strongly on a S1H in 16to9 video mode. So this little lens is doing pretty okay in that regard I think. And it´s my first and only Angenieux lens.:)

 

[PannySVHS]

More Angenieux 75mm goodness with Isco 16mm 2x anamorphic.

Shot on S35 anamorphic crop with my Lumix S1. This lens covers open gate m43 and Super35 in  16 to 9 and s35-ish in 4to3, which is less width but more heigth than  Super35 16 to 9 on the S1. Wish the S1 offered all of the full frame sensor heigth for 4to3 ratio plus full width of s35 crop in anamorphic 4to3.

Anyway, I combined this lil beauty with the Isco, without clamp, held by hand. So here goes y first anamorphic "test":)

https://vimeo.com/549191623

[PannySVHS]

Please keep in mind, this was shot without a clamp! The Isco was held by hand infront of the taking lens. So don´t expect any anamorphic greatness here. 🙂 The flaring goodness comes from the Angenieux. That little guy is a flaring champion!

 

 

[BTM_Pix]

Osmo Pocket (mark 1) with the Freewell anamorphic adapter.

[BTM_Pix]

Sigma 14mm f4 APS-C Lens *

* Fixed lens on the Sigma DP0. 

Shot in 65x24 AR on the DP0 and posted as an FYI for anyone interested in doing Hasselblad XPan style stuff without dropping £4K 😉 

 

[BTM_Pix]

Sigma 19mm f2.8 APS-C Lens *

* Fixed lens on the Sigma DP1 Merrill. 

27mm FOV but with the resolution in the camera for it to be 35mm when you need it.

[BTM_Pix]

Sigma 50mm f2.8 APS-C Lens *

* Fixed lens on the Sigma DP3 Merrill. 

75mm FOV but easily enough resolution for 105mm when you need it. Quite decent macro performance too. 

[BTM_Pix]

The cheap and cheerful Fuji XC50-230mm (mark 1)

Frame grab from a 4K internal recording on an XT-2.

 

[mercer]

On 9/10/2021 at 4:12 PM, BTM_Pix said:

The cheap and cheerful Fuji XC50-230mm (mark 1)

Frame grab from a 4K internal recording on an XT-2.

 

Nice shot. Are you revisiting Fuji?

Btw, loved those Osmo Pocket shots. I am a sucker for a small point and shoot set-up, though.

[leslie]

On 9/5/2021 at 11:29 PM, BTM_Pix said:

Osmo Pocket (mark 1) with the Freewell anamorphic adapter.

 

nice, does the freewell flare much ?

[BTM_Pix]

On 9/12/2021 at 2:35 AM, mercer said:

Nice shot. Are you revisiting Fuji?

Thanks.

Its more a case of revisiting hard drives and finding stuff I'd been doing with the XT-2 before I fell out with Fujifilm !

Looking at some of it does make me think "well I've got all the redundant glass so maybe a used X-T4 at the right price might be worth picking up".

But then I will inevitably think "Or...I could sell all that and use the additional cash I was going to send on an X-T4 and be a long way towards being able to get a GFX100S instead".

You know how that goes.

On 9/12/2021 at 2:35 AM, mercer said:

Btw, loved those Osmo Pocket shots. I am a sucker for a small point and shoot set-up, though.

I think it is definitely going to be the holiday camera setup from now on if such a thing as holidays ever return !

The only downer is that you can't use NDs with it.

But the new version they do for the Osmo Pocket 2 does allow that as you get small slivers of ND that mount magnetically on the rear of the anamorphic element.

So, you know how that will go !

On 9/12/2021 at 9:46 AM, leslie said:

nice, does the freewell flare much ?

In general it isn't dramatic when it comes to flaring.

But obviously if you point a torch etc directly at it then you will end up with more flares than a Northern Soul all nighter at Wigan Casino.

 

[pashaxxl]

Omg, BTM_Pix, I love all of the photos you posted! How do you do that?! I mean the color, the composition, idea... amazing
what do you use for editing?

[kimylos]

11 hours ago, pashaxxl said:

Omg, BTM_Pix, I love all of the photos you posted! How do you do that?! I mean the color, the composition, idea... amazing
what do you use for editing?

I guess lightroom

[Matt Kieley]

So, I'm having issues using my Canon nFD lenses with a follow focus (Tilta Mini). They keep slipping, which is not a problem I have with my Rokinon 12mm Cine lens. I thought maybe it was just the rubber Tilta seamless gear on the lens, so I tried one of the gears with my shitty Sakar 28mm FD (breech lock mount)  and it worked perfectly. That lens does have a very smooth focus ring, and I realized the Canon lenses have a lot more friction/resistance in their focus ring. Are these my copies of the lens, or do others have this experience? I was thinking of getting a couple of different lenses (24-28mm, 50mm) to use for video instead of the FDs. It's a shame because I love these lenses, but either having them serviced or buying multiple copies and comparing is going to be too expensive. I had also read a while back that the older breach lock FD lenses were better for cine use. Any recommendations for lenses in the standard nFD price range that are suitable for cine use? I don't want to get a whole new set of expensive glass, but 2 lenses are all I really need with the G9 since I already have the Rokinon 12mm for wides, plus an FD focal reducer, and ETC mode for more focal length options. 

[meudig]

@Matt Kieley I haven't used that kind of follow focus with the FDn lenses, but I did use one of those that use a timing belt (pic related):

I used it with the 28, 35 and 50 mm FDn and never had a problem. I even think my 50mm might've had a tad bit more resistance in the focus ring and the only slipping problem I had was if I didn't tighten the actual follow focus down on the rod enough. The timing belt would fit perfectly onto the already existing rubber grips on the FDn lenses.

I've also seen arguments about the older breach lock FD lenses being more fit for video but to be honest I think that just comes down to the asphericals being closely related to the K35's. Perhaps the metal build of the older lenses could play a role but to be honest I prefer the quality plastic of the FDn lenses any day (if you drop a FDn on the ground it will survive, but if you drop the old versions you will never be able to fit a lens filter on it again).

[BTM_Pix]

On 9/12/2021 at 5:52 PM, BTM_Pix said:

I think it is definitely going to be the holiday camera setup from now on if such a thing as holidays ever return !

Not exactly a full blown holiday but had a few days away so took the Osmo Pocket and the Freewell anamorphic adapter to test this theory out and these are grabs from 4K/24p videos.

It does OK and its certainly unobtrusive enough in terms of carrying it and using it without attracting any attention.

The problem with the Mark 1 though here is that the FOV isn't quite big enough (which is something the vlogging/selfie crowd didn't like about it) so you can end up shooting low and up which fucks the verticals up.

The Mark 2 with its wider lens and its ability to use ND and anamorphic simultaneously (its either or with the Mark 1) is now showing me a lot of ankle.