3 fundamental lenses.

[nimborde]

I can afford 3 lenses. I am thinking of 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm. Isn't that the right priority?

[trez]

Think they're too close... I'd get 28/50/100 or 28/50/135

[Ted Ramasola]

If i have to choose only 3 to bring from my kit of several lenses i'd bring my

20-40 f2.8 sigma,
50 f1.4 nikon,
80-200 f2.8 nikon.

if weight is a concern then i'd replace the 80-200 with a

105 f2.8 nikon macro.

[Mj882]

28mm, 50mm and 105mm perhaps.

[Beat Takeshi]

Think they're too close... I'd get 28/50/100 or 28/50/135

These are good to have. Anything past a 135 will be shaky. The 28 is a nice lens to have. I like shooting wide even on the close ups as seen here.
http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_027.jpg

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_024.jpg

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_019.jpg

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_020.jpg

These were all on a 28mm.

[Steve Shovlar]

Nikon zooms.
17-35 2.8
35-70 2.8
80-200 2.8

Cover all bases.

[hoarp001]

Id take 28, 50, 85. In normal shooting you dont really have to go past 85, and they do say that the 85 is the most aesthetically pleasing of all the focal lengths ;-)

[MitchLewis]

Nikon zooms.
17-35 2.8
35-70 2.8
80-200 2.8

Cover all bases.

I agree with Steve, except you need some lower f/stop lense(s) as well (for low light, etc...)

I'd swap the 35-70 with a 50 f/1.4

Down the road I would try and scrounge up:

28/f1.4
85/f1.4 (or maybe older 105/f/1.8)

[PaPa]

These are good to have. Anything past a 135 will be shaky. The 28 is a nice lens to have. I like shooting wide even on the close ups as seen here.
http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_027.jpg

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_024.jpg

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_019.jpg

http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_020.jpg

These were all on a 28mm.

Very nice. Sg pro?

[hoarp001]

Im guessing by his signature it was probably RED.

[reem12]

my guess is those were shot on hvx200

[astigmatic]

if you do a lot of outdoor stuff.. like nature filming. I'd throw in at least a 200mm and a lens with a macro setting.

[nimborde]

My feeling is 2.8 is risky. Even a 1.4 requires quite a bit of light. Otherwise I could just get a 2.8 zoom which covers the entire range. I'm just scared with zooms because they may go soft in certain areas and give me problems while pulling focus. By the way, has anybody tested the AF lenses? Does that work?

[Ted Ramasola]

yeah. the sigma 20-40 are AF, so is the 80-200. They have a switch for manual and auto. whats important is a manual aperture ring.

[nimborde]

Are you telling me I can use an AF lens and follow a person without having to pull focus?

[MitchLewis]

No. He's just saying that you can also use them on a DSLR if you chose to. Everything is manual when you use a 35mm adaptor. People choose Nikon because they most recently made lenses with a manual aperture ring, so more of them are readily available. You can choose any Nikon lens you want as long as it's not a G-series. DX series work as well, but are not very desirable.

[nimborde]

Why do you need an aperture ring? All you need is focus since the camera sets the iris control automatically. What's wrong with the G-series?

[chagchag]

24/28
50
85

those are the focal lengths I'd go with. Since we're only talking three lenses, I imagine the budget is tight, and that leaves out zooms.

Zooms anyways have so many pros/cons that it's better to start out with primes. That way, once you get zooms you can switch to primes when one of the zooms' limiting factors kicks in.

Also, you'll learn lenses and focal lenghts easier when shooting with primes, and in addition you'll be more concience about placing the camera.

[chagchag]

Those 28mm shots looks like RED. I'm hoping it isn't

[Shibuya Oboya]

The pics that Beat put up are RED. They are from a project called "Lost Children"

[MitchLewis]

Why do you need an aperture ring? All you need is focus since the camera sets the iris control automatically. What's wrong with the G-series?

The whole reason you're getting a 35mm adaptor is to control the amount of DOF. You need to set the aperture with the 35mm lens to get the DOF look you want (lots of blur, a little blur, etc...) Then adjust the camera's iris as necessary.

I don't know anyone trying to go for a cinematic look that still uses auto iris. Leave that to the beginners.

[lasvalley]

The whole reason you're getting a 35mm adaptor is to control the amount of DOF. You need to set the aperture with the 35mm lens to get the DOF look you want (lots of blur, a little blur, etc...) Then adjust the camera's iris as necessary.
I'm new to 35mm adaptors -- so if I understand this correctly, the proper procedure would be:

1) Set the desired aperture on the 35mm lens
2) Set the same (desired) aperture on the camera iris (say, HVX-200)

Another question: If I'm using Letus, I believe there is a 1/2 stop light loss. How would I compensate for that in my calculations?

Lastly, does the Sigma 28mm f/1.8 EX DG (http://www.amazon.com/Sigma-Aspherical-Macro-Aperture-Cameras/dp/B00005RKST) have a manual focus ring on the lens? For pulling focus, can I attach a follow-focus to it?

Thank you in advance for your clarifications. I appreciate it.

[Beat Takeshi]

Yes it was shot on the RED for Mark Harris' "Lost Children". I did the reverse though and shot wides with a 100mm so they walked into an extreme close up.

Started from across the street...
http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_023.jpg

Walked down the sidewalk to us...
http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_022.jpg

Into this close up...
http://www.puffinfilms.com/Lost_Children/Lost_Children_021.jpg

[FourLinkSun]

lasvalley,
first off, you cant really control what aperture your camera is at because that is determined by zoom. You will be zooming in ~70% to fill up the ground glass.
secondly, use the desired aperture you want when shooting. I generally dont leave it wide open when im shooing outside, but when im indoors and low on light it is left wide open.

About the Sigma, yes. Almost all lens has a manual focus ring (the only one that doesnt focus manually are a few of the Canon L lens that needs to be attached to a camera inorder to focus).

Back to the original question.
I use 50mm f/1.4 and 135mm f/2.0
I have other lenses that i dont use often, mainly because i havent had a problem with either moving forward or backwards inorder to get the shot i want.

[lasvalley]

Thanks for your response, FourLinkSun. Just to make sure I understand this correctly:


first off, you cant really control what aperture your camera is at because that is determined by zoom. You will be zooming in ~70% to fill up the ground glass.
secondly, use the desired aperture you want when shooting. I generally dont leave it wide open when im shooing outside, but when im indoors and low on light it is left wide open.

I will attach the Nikon f/1.4 on the Letus, then I would zoom the lens on the HVX upto 70% to fill the ground glass of the Letus: if the aperture I want on the Nikon lens is 2.8, should I then switch to 'manual iris' on the HVX and assign the same 2.8 aperture on the camera as well? (Or should the iris control on the HVX be 'auto'?)

Secondly, I would also appreciate someone clarifying this for me:


Another question: If I'm using Letus, I believe there is a 1/2 stop light loss. How would I compensate for that in my calculations?

[utopeya]

lasvalley, i believe the idea is as follows:

say for example that your desired f-stop (for depth-of-field purposes) is f/2.8. what you then need to do is set the f-stop of the Nikon lens to f/2.8. Once that is done, you can adjust the aperture of the HVX lens to whatever you need in order for the scene to be properly exposed. There is no reason that the f-stop of the Nikon and the f-stop of the HVX need to match. Do not set the aperture of the HVX to auto, though, because then the aperture will be jumping around during your shot, which you obviously don't want.

You asked also about how the adapter's light loss affects your calculations. If you are using a lightmeter to expose your scene, you will have some difficulty caculating the camera's ASA with the adapter attached. The ASA of a naked HVX is about 320 I think (500 if it's the newer HVX200a). Then you are losing a few stops due to how far you have to zoom in on the HVX lens to fill the ground glass, and another half-stop from the letus itself. Then, if you are using the method I described above (varying the stop on the HVX to get proper exposure), that's another variable. you'd probably have to test the camera to figure out its ASA when it is set up like you want it. It might be easier to expose using a vectorscope or just the zebras on the camera instead of trying to use a lightmeter.

[krutchkid]

i just ordered my sgpro and hopefully will get it soon, i know this thread is lenses but , what would anyone recommend i get for my first lens, i am a dvx100b user.

[jenningsp]

krutch, your first lens should be a 50mm. try to find a nice secondhand "nikon 50mm f/1.4 AI". that specific lens is the best 50mm lens for adapter use made by nikon and it's also cheap :)

you'd need about 5 lenses to have a workable kit.

my ideal kit would be;

28mm f2 AI
35mm f1.4 AI
50mm f1.4 AI
85mm f1.4 AIS
135mm f2 AI

with and extension tube set and 1.4x tele-converter

my budget kit would be;

28mm f2 AI
35mm f2 AI
50mm f1.4 AI
85mm f2 AI
135mm f2.8 AI

with and extension tube set

the great thing about the budget kit is; it's just as usable and all the filter rings are the same size! so one circular polarizer fits all!!

[nimborde]

Could we be specific about the models? I am looking at Nikon or Canon, 50,35 and 85 and 1.4 is possible. Best price.

[lasvalley]

lasvalley, i believe the idea is as follows:

say for example that your desired f-stop (for depth-of-field purposes) is f/2.8. what you then need to do is set the f-stop of the Nikon lens to f/2.8. Once that is done, you can adjust the aperture of the HVX lens to whatever you need in order for the scene to be properly exposed. There is no reason that the f-stop of the Nikon and the f-stop of the HVX need to match. Do not set the aperture of the HVX to auto, though, because then the aperture will be jumping around during your shot, which you obviously don't want.

You asked also about how the adapter's light loss affects your calculations. If you are using a lightmeter to expose your scene, you will have some difficulty caculating the camera's ASA with the adapter attached. The ASA of a naked HVX is about 320 I think (500 if it's the newer HVX200a). Then you are losing a few stops due to how far you have to zoom in on the HVX lens to fill the ground glass, and another half-stop from the letus itself. Then, if you are using the method I described above (varying the stop on the HVX to get proper exposure), that's another variable. you'd probably have to test the camera to figure out its ASA when it is set up like you want it. It might be easier to expose using a vectorscope or just the zebras on the camera instead of trying to use a lightmeter.

Thanks, Utopeya. I guess this means having a good HD monitor would be my best bet.

[Beat Takeshi]

Could we be specific about the models? I am looking at Nikon or Canon, 50,35 and 85 and 1.4 is possible. Best price.

From the RED forums the Zeiss lenses resolve more than enough for the RED and there have been tests against cinema lenses where in some cases the Zeiss' were sharper. Most of the Nikon mounted RED are using the ZF's.