Lenses

[BrorSvensson]

http://www.sonyalpharumors.com/slr-magic-announces-the-new-cine-50mm-f1-1-fe-lens/

Im really really excited for this lens! A cine 50mm T(!) 1.1 for 350 bucks. 

[homestar_kevin]

which adapter are you using ?novoflex ?

Nah, I'm just using a cheap Rainbowimaging G to NX adapter.

 

It's been great for me and all my AIS primes and Nikon zooms

[Mat Mayer]

Can anyone recommend (or warn about) the Panasonic 7-14mm? It is under $600 on Amazon US. If that price drop comes to Asia I want to grab it ASAP.  Seems to be mixed reports online about distortion.

[TheRenaissanceMan]

http://www.photozone.de/olympus--four-thirds-lens-tests/530-pana_714_4?start=1

Looks like there's a fair bit of distortion without software correction. I haven't used it, so I don't know if it's objectionable in actual use. Look up some clips and see if it bothers you.

[Cinegain]

Don't know about the Pany. Don't really know anyone with one, nor have I seen raving reviews. I guess if you need the range and the price fits... Just, it's an older lens, I got to bet it quite similar to the 14-140mm and while that lens is nice 'n flexible it renders rather modern. Contrasty, poppy colors, very sharp. Sounds great, but that tends to look very Panasonic videoy.

Perhaps the go-to zooms on the wide end are the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 with Nikon > M43 focal reducer or the Olympus 7-14mm f/2.8 PRO albeit coming in at quite the hefty price. Olympus 8-19mm would be a wildcard here. If you have a Metabones Canon EF(-S) > M43 you might even want to go for the Canon 10-18mm.

[Mat Mayer]

After a bit of reading I have discovered the 7-14 is unsuitable for my purposes of shooting out in the sun, as you get persistent flaring and can't attach an ND filter easily. Lots of chromatic aberration too; maybe the GH4 will fix that though.

I may of liked the Rokinon/Samyang 10mm but it weights 620g which is an issue for me (similar reason to avoid the Tokina). That leaves the 9-18mm Olympus which seems decent enough, can use filters and weighs just 155g. Similar price to the discounted 7-14 too. The Pro 7-14 Olympus is too rich for my blood.

 

[TheRenaissanceMan]

There's also the SLR Magic 10mm if you're cool with manual focus. Beautiful lens.

[Mat Mayer]

There's also the SLR Magic 10mm if you're cool with manual focus. Beautiful lens.

That lens looks awesome, I had assumed it was more expensive so wasn't considering it. I only use manual focus and it has a stepless apeture ring too, which for me is a bonus. They also make a matching variable ND filter with steps, which is another a big bonus. The only downside is the center distortion shown on Andrew's review- it is pretty horrific and I plan to film sunsets which would be ruined. As a noob I am unsure if distortion can easily be corrected in Premiere Pro without losing resolution for videos, so will have to do a bit of reading before forking out for this one. It looks like a lens I would treasure though compared to the old plasticy vibe of the Olympus 9-18.

[TheRenaissanceMan]

That lens looks awesome, I had assumed it was more expensive so wasn't considering it. I only use manual focus and it has a stepless apeture ring too, which for me is a bonus. They also make a matching variable ND filter with steps, which is another a big bonus. The only downside is the center distortion shown on Andrew's review- it is pretty horrific and I plan to film sunsets which would be ruined. As a noob I am unsure if distortion can easily be corrected in Premiere Pro without losing resolution for videos, so will have to do a bit of reading before forking out for this one. It looks like a lens I would treasure though compared to the old plasticy vibe of the Olympus 9-18.

 

 

I'd definitely look up some work with the SLR Magic 10mm before you despair over the distortion. It looks bad on brick walls, but natural subjects look totally fine.

https://vimeo.com/110024810
https://vimeo.com/105817747

https://vimeo.com/105531318

 

[Mat Mayer]

Thanks for taking the time to find those examples. The sunset shots look fine. Looks like SLR Magic lenses are not available in Thailand or Malaysia though. I saw the Oly yesterday and it is tiny; a very attractive attribute for travelling light. Really over priced in Thailand though, so will see if I can grab it in Malaysia where it is £150 cheaper. As I am mostly making true to life landscape videos; not having the character of the SLR Magic isn't such a big loss for me.

[Matt Kieley]

I'm thinking of shooting in the ETC mode on my GX7. Does anyone have any experience using c-mount/16mm lenses in this mode? I tried the widest lens I own, the Rokinon 12mm, and it was pretty narrow (closer to a 50mm equivalent), so it's easily smaller than s16. I own the Meteor 17-69mm lens from my Krasnogorsk 3, and ciecio7 makes a pretty pricey MFT adapter for this lens, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience using this lens with the GX7 or similar camera, and if anyone can recommend a wide lens for ETC mode.

[cantsin]

I'm thinking of shooting in the ETC mode on my GX7. Does anyone have any experience using c-mount/16mm lenses in this mode? I tried the widest lens I own, the Rokinon 12mm, and it was pretty narrow (closer to a 50mm equivalent), so it's easily smaller than s16. I own the Meteor 17-69mm lens from my Krasnogorsk 3, and ciecio7 makes a pretty pricey MFT adapter for this lens, so I'm wondering if anyone has any experience using this lens with the GX7 or similar camera, and if anyone can recommend a wide lens for ETC mode.

AFAIK the ETC mode enlarges the picture 240%, or if you think in full frame-equivalent focal lengths, a crop factor of 4.8 (2*2.4). That means that the Meteor turns into a tele zoom with a full frame-equivalent focal length of 82-330mm. The problem is that you will only use the center part of a lens that isn't very sharp even in 16mm mode. It would be better to combine it with a 4K Panasonic camera and do the crop in post. 

[jonpais]

Thanks for taking the time to find those examples. The sunset shots look fine. Looks like SLR Magic lenses are not available in Thailand or Malaysia though. I saw the Oly yesterday and it is tiny; a very attractive attribute for travelling light. Really over priced in Thailand though, so will see if I can grab it in Malaysia where it is £150 cheaper. As I am mostly making true to life landscape videos; not having the character of the SLR Magic isn't such a big loss for me.

I tossed and turned too, wondering which wide for my GH4. The Panny 7-14 has gotten nothing but good reviews as far as I know. But I decided to go for the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8, for one, because it accepts filters, and I also no longer want to be stuck with a bunch of u43 glass should I ever decide to switch formats. With the Metabones XL, it becomes something like a 17mm f/1.8 or thereabouts when shooting C4K. I find the lens feels very balanced on the GH4, much more so than say, the Sigma 18-35mm. And the Tokina can easily be found here in Vietnam for around $400 USD. The newer Tokina 11-20 is an even better lens, and costs just a few more dollars. Still, if you add in the adapter, it is much costlier than the Panasonic, and as of yet, Metabones adapters aren't available in Vietnam as far as I know. 

[edit] color reproduction of the lens may be more important than stuff like distortion in your case, since you're not shooting architecture. I find the color of even foliage to be more pleasing with the non-Panasonic lenses I've shot with, though I've never done a side-by-side comparison.

[gethin]

are there any big-range zooms (for crop nikon) that are not terrible?  I just picked up a cheap nikon 24-85mm (which is pretty gnarly for video use - focus breathing and crappy focus action), and it would be handy to have a similar range in dx.  I've been looking at 18-100 through to 18-300 sort of range. But will take anything that isn't terrible

[mercer]

Has anyone used the Mitakon 35mm f2?

[TheRenaissanceMan]

are there any big-range zooms (for crop nikon) that are not terrible?  I just picked up a cheap nikon 24-85mm (which is pretty gnarly for video use - focus breathing and crappy focus action), and it would be handy to have a similar range in dx.  I've been looking at 18-100 through to 18-300 sort of range. But will take anything that isn't terrible

The 24-120 isn't too bad. Good range, IS, nice performance. Sort of the Nikon counterpart to the Canon 24-105mm.

EDIT: Just saw that you specified crop Nikon. Can't help much there. :/

[Kolya]

Hi,

I'm new to this forum and am not sure if this is the right topic to post this.

I'm considering getting a Sony RX100 IV because I love slow mo videos, and the article posted by Andrew about the 1080p 120fps feature's got me convinced I need this camera! (Thanks Andrew for a great review: http://www.eoshd.com/2015/10/sony-rx100-iv-review-with-1080p-this-good-4k-is-merely-a-bonus/). I'd love to try the hack mentioned in that article about increasing the camera's poor zoom range. Would anyone be able to recommend a teleconversion lens to use with this camera? Or is it just pot luck? Based on reviews at bhphotovideos.com, I can see that some lenses won't even focus properly!

Thanks in advance!

K.

[homestar_kevin]

are there any big-range zooms (for crop nikon) that are not terrible?  I just picked up a cheap nikon 24-85mm (which is pretty gnarly for video use - focus breathing and crappy focus action), and it would be handy to have a similar range in dx.  I've been looking at 18-100 through to 18-300 sort of range. But will take anything that isn't terrible

I have and use the 18-200 3.5-5.6 vr1 on the nikon d7100 and It's great for what it is.

I think the compromises you have to make are well worth it for what you get in return.

The range is amazing, the VR is really good, even at 200. My copy of the lens will get VR jitters from time to time, like once or twice while filming and zooming for minutes at a time, but nothing extreme, or out of the ordinary.

It's not parfocal, but mine holds focus really well actually. I usually just stop down to 5.6 or more and it's great.

There is definitely focus breathing at pretty much any focal length beyond 35mm.

I don't mind the focus ring on mine, It's not great, but it's nice enough. I just still, after all these years using it, don't like the focus in the back and the zoom in the front.

You really have to nail focus at the 200mm end, but it can be nice and  sharp if you do.

I got mine cheap, but definitely plan to hold onto it as long as I have the camera. 

And with the VR, I honestly use this lens as much if not more than my 80-200 2.8 ED af

 

 

 

[gethin]

thanks kevin,  I wonder if the 18-140 is a viable alternative.  Currrently half the price of the 18-200.  I've been looking at reviews but they're mixed for both lenses, so cant really get a sense of whether build quality for instance is different between the 2.

[redimp]

Hey guys,

I'm sorry to break in like this, but I've just found something that seems like a good deal and need somebody's advice about it. It's LOMO OKC4-28-1 28 f2 lens. It's soviet made, vintage, was used for LANTAN cameras and has OCT-16 (or OCT-18?) Bayonet. 

I shoot with BMPCC and I am awaiting for a Distagon C/Y 28 2.8 delivery, but this OKC lens has just popped up locally, it's $130 and now I am having second thoughts. There are not that many video on youtube, and even less info if I google it.

Is anyone familiar with it? What are your thoughts?

Thanks!