Lenses with character

[Oliver Daniel]

 the easiest coating to remove it the front element - get some isopropal on a micro cleaning cloth and get busy

 

I just think it will flare a bit more - as for the internal coatings you will have to take the lens apart - Rich is your guy to ask about this as he takes helios to bits and strips off the coatings - ask him.

 

Haha, just curious.... I know Helios are the way to go for this as they are madman lenses. I know that Matt Duclos started "Rokinon Raws" to give them more "character" by removing coatings, as some DP's have disliked them due to their "ordinary still lens look."

 

There are many times when I don't require character lenses at all, and super sharp contrasty lenses are the best choice. Most of my work does require this weirdness though, approaching 200 music videos shot/edited now -and upping the style each time! 

[nahua]

Based on Andy Lee's recommendation I went and bought a Tokina ATX 28-70mm zoom lens.  I tried it with my GH4 + Metabones Speedbooster + Kowa 2x Anamorphic.  The lens has some interesting character.  I think it's more "soft focus" and not so contrasty as most modern lenses.  The only thing is it doesn't flare enough.  I wish it was just a simple single coated lens.  I wonder if there's any zoom lens that isn't multi-coated but offers the same F2.8 or better range.  I really debated between the Tokina and Sigma 18-35mm, but the Tokina does have the best zoom range that's most usable for anamorphic use.

 

[andy lee]

the Tokina RMC 28-85 f4 , flares more than the AT-X Pro 28-70mm

its alot less contrastly too

[Inazuma]

Nice stuff nahua :) BTW for more natural colour in night shots I recommend using the inbuilt Incandescent whitebalance with the Hue/Tint adjusted to near the bottom right corner.

[nahua]

@Andy Lee - Thanks I'll look into it.  Just wondering about the F4 aperture, although the lens must be smaller?  The Tokina is so large I need to use it on rails.

 

@Inazuma - Thanks!  I wanted a more reddish look so I used "cloudy" although I did try to edit the color in resolve.  It just didn't have the pop and look of a night shoot when color corrected to incandescent.

[Cinegain]

Thanks for the great suggestions, Andy. :lol: I'll be taking these puppies for a couple of spins next few weeks.

[andy lee]

Cinegain - World class glass ! get shooting - you have no excuses - it does not get much better than the Nikon haha!

I might have to ask you to film me something in Vienna !

 

ps: just been reading your blog - very nice

[Cosimo murgolo]

@ Andy

 

this goes to show that all your advices have been seriously taking :D

 

olympus Zuiko 100mm f2.8 with proskar ishico

[andy lee]

comurit

 

its a very nice lens the Oly 100mm ! great for head shots - and background separation

 

you should have a very narrow dof with the anamorphic on the front too - try some close up Sergio Leone style face shots with it

 

[Cinegain]

Cinegain - World class glass ! get shooting - you have no excuses - it does not get much better than the Nikon haha!

I might have to ask you to film me something in Vienna !

 

ps: just been reading your blog - very nice

You're so right! And I will certainly do so. ;)

The mailman also just brought me the earlier discussed Zhongyi 42.5mm f/1.2. Just keeps on getting better. :P

Makes for a nice little character shootout I'm sure.

From tomorrow on 19km of christmas lights will light up each evening. There's punschstandln everywhere.

Should be inviting enough to get some decent Vienna atmosphere on tape SD whilst having fun trying out these lenses.

[Lightlightlight]

Wait a second. Correct me if I'm wrong. Let's say you have a 24mm, with a speedbooster on a GH4 shooting 4k this equals 24 x .71 x 2.3=39.192 or 40mm. Aperture with a speed booster is 2.8 save a stop so 2.0x 2.3=4.6. No?

[andy lee]

no - apperture goes from f2.8 without speedbooster to f2 with speedbooster

1 stop brighter

[andy lee]

You're so right! And I will certainly do so. ;)

The mailman also just brought me the earlier discussed Zhongyi 42.5mm f/1.2. Just keeps on getting better. :P

Makes for a nice little character shootout I'm sure.

From tomorrow on 19km of christmas lights will light up each evening. There's punschstandln everywhere.

Should be inviting enough to get some decent Vienna atmosphere on tape SD whilst having fun trying out these lenses.

Im glad you have this - Ive been looking at this and the 24mm they do - can you compare it to the Nikon 28-70mm at 42mm so I can see how good the Zhongyi glass is

 

sharpness at f2.8

contrast

bokeh etc

 

thanks

Andy

[Christina Ava]

canon FD 85mm 1.2.....

 

straight out of the camera footage..

love it

 

also the new petzval with manual rack focus.. its  hipster lens but its all good and it turns out unique footage

 

a crazy sankor 28mm that i haven't found anyone knowing about it or owning it

 

and everything from dso optics if you love the helios...then its for you!

 

finally my lovely zeiss 50mm 1.4...the blues are magnificent.

 

love c.

[Lightlightlight]

Andy Lee. I still don't grasp how a 2.8 lens becomes a 2.0 lens with a speedbooster attached to a M43 sensor. Especially 4k where the sensor is further cropped. IMO and I would love to be wrong, but 2.8 becomes 2.0 but you still have to multiply it by 2.3 or the crop. I would love to be wrong, I'm hoping someone can explain it to me.

[andy lee]

Metabones , Zhongjy Lens Turbo and RJ speedboosters all make your lens 1 stop faster - thats the beauty of them

plus they make your lens approx x0.72 wider

 

the crop factor has nothing to do with the f stop being faster

 

just think anything on a speedbooster is 1 stop faster and x0.72 wider approx

thats the basic physics of it all

[andy lee]

canon FD 85mm 1.2.....

 

 

straight out of the camera footage..

love it

 

also the new petzval with manual rack focus.. its  hipster lens but its all good and it turns out unique footage

 

a crazy sankor 28mm that i haven't found anyone knowing about it or owning it

 

 

and everything from dso optics if you love the helios...then its for you!

 

finally my lovely zeiss 50mm 1.4...the blues are magnificent.

 

love c.

Christina I do like your sankor 28mm, Ive not seen that before !  it has a nice look to it

plus the Canon 85mm is great too

[SleepyWill]

Andy Lee. I still don't grasp how a 2.8 lens becomes a 2.0 lens with a speedbooster attached to a M43 sensor. Especially 4k where the sensor is further cropped. IMO and I would love to be wrong, but 2.8 becomes 2.0 but you still have to multiply it by 2.3 or the crop. I would love to be wrong, I'm hoping someone can explain it to me.

Think of it this way: The speedbooster bends the image projected by the attached lens into a smaller circle. So there is a trade-off going on, the image the lens projects can only cover a smaller sensor. On the positive side, however, the photons that form the projection are being bent closer together, causing the same amount of light transmitted to concentrate onto a smaller area, thus brightening the projected image. This causes the lens to act as if it had a wider aperture than in reality it has. Likewise with the field of view, that wasted bit of the projected image that falls bejond the edge of your sensor, now is projected onto it, having the effect of reducing that crop factor.

 

If you have larger lenses than your sensor, there is no trade-off as you are just utilising wasted light and image, but you wouldn't want to put a lens that only just covers your sensor through one, it would give you a circle of an image projected onto a black background.

 

In this diagram, a subject being projected into the top left hand corner of your FX sensor without the speedbooster is now being projected into the top left hand corner of your DX sensor with the speedbooster, thus negating the "crop factor"

 

Hope this helps!!

 

FYI, lens extenders do the exact same but in reverse - they take that image circle and make it larger, thus giving your sensor a greater "crop factor" but the trade-off, as I'm sure you are familiar with, is that the light gathered by the original lens is dispersed over a wider area, so less light hits each photosite on the sensor, so the image is dimmer, and the lens acts like it is "slower" while gaining a longer FOV reach.

[Christina Ava]

@andylee 

about the sankor its not attached on the body in this footage

i have been trying for some time now to get information about it

 it has three rings

1 is the focusing fluid distance and fstops
2 is the manual/auto ring (yes its a ring which i find peculiar)... i suspect because of this ring that its a 70s lens?
3 is the Fstops ring 2.8 to 16
"lens made in japan"
Auto-sankor 2.8 28mm
and i believe its multicoated it has a green MC on it.

found it on an old camera shop paid 40 euros, very clean glass both caps on, the guy who sold it to me knew nothing about it. :)

....

[Cinegain]

Im glad you have this - Ive been looking at this and the 24mm they do - can you compare it to the Nikon 28-70mm at 42mm so I can see how good the Zhongyi glass is

sharpness at f2.8
contrast
bokeh etc

thanks
Andy

Sure thing. Not really sure what's up with the 24mm. I was given the same tracking code for both, but only the 42.5mm was to be found. From the video impression on 'em earlier this topic the 24mm did have a nice look too, but sounded a bit quirky handling wise. Of course this range is already covered by the great companies, but the pre-order price was reason enough to get it over the others (Panaleica/Olympus, although I do have the SLR Magic HyperPrime CINE 25mm T0.95 which I adore).