35mm Lens Madness

[DammitJanet]

I've made up my mind on which 35 adapter I want, but now I need to figure out which lens mount/lens to get. I guess it's between Canon and Nikon. At first, we're primarily going to need a 50mm lens for the majority of our narrow DOF shots, and I've heard these lenses are relatively inexpensive. I don't know where to start though, so could some of you with experience point me in the right direction? Thanks.

[Dennis Wood]

Canon FD is the best of the SLR mounts IMHO. It's impossible to have a loose lense mount as the lock ring of the lens screws down onto the mount..very nice. Next step up, the PL and OCT19 mounts are much, much more robust..but they are not inexpensive.

As far as glass, the major manufactures all have great, and not so great examples :-)

[DammitJanet]

Well, what would be some examples of the great? That's why I started the thread after all. :)

[Thomas J. O'Hara]

what about the canon EOS mount?

[Alex.Flory]

Adaptor makers are not keen to build them to fit EOS lens. They have autofocus feature not necesary in Mini35 adaptor. Manual FD mount fro Canon or Nikon good enough.

[Wayne Kinney]

The SGpro offers an EOS mount, but as alex mentions, they have no manual control of aperture.

[DammitJanet]

So....how about those lens recommendations? Like, if you're going with Canon, or Nikon, say so and then recommend a particular model lens or two...please?

[Wayne Kinney]

I personally use Canon FD. Start with a 50mm F1.4

I would then say get a 28mm F2.8, and maybe an 85mm F1.8 after that.

You can find faster lenses for a little more money.

[Alex.Flory]

I will do the same as Wayne. I personally have a Canon F1.8 50mm and a Tamron Tele Macro 80mm to 210mm. The Tamron works well with the adaptor that I am using. If you read more on this and other forum, people tend towards Canon FD lens more. So I would suggest going specifically Canon FD lenses for FD mount adaptor. Always go for fast lens with F1.4 and below if you can afford them. The lower teh number the more expensive they are. Good luck.

[tigeba]

I don't see the advantage to Canon FD lenses over Nikon other than maybe they are a tiny bit cheaper. You have wedge something into the lens to get the aperture to work in most cases. Additionally if you shoot 35mm still or have the desire at some point, manual Nikon lenses work better on Canon EOS than Canon FD because of the flange distance. And of course they will work on any Nikon camera if you have one. I would say in terms of quality the glass is pretty much a wash.

[Dennis Wood]

I've got the same Canon FD set (85mm coming) as Wayne. The glass is good, and the mount is the best. I also use a selection of Minolta MD Rokkor lensess, including a 24mm f2.8, 50mm f1.4 as well as a few zooms.

[Wayne Kinney]

Dennis,

I have just got the Minolta MD mount for the SGpro, I would love that 24mm F1.8, how much did you pay for it? (currently got a 24mm F2.0)

[DammitJanet]

Great, so where can I find one of these Canon FD F1.4 lenses? B&H? Ebay? A local camera shop?

[Look 1st]

Hi Wayne, I pmed you. Can you get back to me?

Thanks!

[deedive]

from what i read most people with adapters have nikon f mounts. What is the advantage of a canon fd mount. Its not like u can buy a digital slr that fd mount lenses will work with? Plus i've seen alot more nikons used. Is the quality better?

[mikecentola]

i would like to get the mini35 for my dvx and hvx (when we get it)....what is the issues with using the EOS lenses? The only reason I ask is I have a lot of money in EOS glass already for our photography, although if its not too expensive for FD glass, or even nikon glass, then it might be worth getting it just for video purposes...

[Wayne Kinney]

the aperture in EOS lenses is electronically controlled by the EOS camera body. With the lens on a 35mm adapter, there is no such connection, and the EOS lens is usually set at wide aperture.

I have heard of a trick that you can attach the lens to the EOS body and set aperture, then remove power of something similar that will keep the aperture where it is, then you can put the lens on the adapter. I've not tried it, though.

[DammitJanet]

from what i read most people with adapters have nikon f mounts. What is the advantage of a canon fd mount. Its not like u can buy a digital slr that fd mount lenses will work with? Plus i've seen alot more nikons used. Is the quality better?

deedive makes a good point here. What is the benefit (if any) of the Nikon's mount over the Canon FD?

[Smettli]

I chose a nikon mount for my adapter because nikon and nikkor lenses
are the easiest lenses to get a hold of in my country(Norway), and they
have a friendly price as well so I can get a lot of them :)

[DammitJanet]

Thanks for the replies, all. I've decided to go with the Nikon mount.

[DammitJanet]

Well, I found a few Nikon lenses today, but they were all f1.8, not f1.4, and they looked to be about from the 80's or 90's. The guy said he'd let one go for $40. What do you think?

[SomewhereinLA]

As long as the glass is clean, go for it. The reason Nikon lens from the 80's are cheaper is because the don't have the autofocus feature and thus are less popular now.

[DammitJanet]

And I won't need the autofocus anyway, right?

[tigeba]

the aperture in EOS lenses is electronically controlled by the EOS camera body. With the lens on a 35mm adapter, there is no such connection, and the EOS lens is usually set at wide aperture.

I have heard of a trick that you can attach the lens to the EOS body and set aperture, then remove power of something similar that will keep the aperture where it is, then you can put the lens on the adapter. I've not tried it, though.


1) Mount EOS lens on EOS body
2) Set desired aperture.
3) Press DOF preview button (this will cause the iris to close to desired aperture)
4) While holding DOF preview, push the lens release button in and twist off.

When the lens comes off the iris will still be wherever it was when you pushed the DOF preview button. I can't guarantee it wont cause your lens to explode or anything, but I tried it on all my EOS lenses and it works.

[DammitJanet]

I've never bought a camera lens before, so how closely should I be looking at them? What should I look/look out for?

[kyle.presley]

Look through the rear element to examine a lens. Check for dust BETWEEN the elements, check for scratches on the rear element as well as mold throughout.

[wjm]

Also, look for oil on the aperture blades. This can get on the len elements.

I recently purchased a 28mm Minolta MD 2.8 off of eBay and when I checked it thoroughly, it had oil all over the internal lens - could have been due to shipping, but it cost me $ to have it professionally cleaned. Buyer beware. Go to a local cam shop. They deserve your money more, anyway.

[DammitJanet]

Will do. Thanks, fellas.

Oh, and there's not much difference between f1.8 and f1.4, right?

[roscoe]

The F stop difference between 1.4 and 1.8 is less than one stop. It is unlikely that you would use the lens wide open unless you were looking for an extremely shallow depth of field; unlike cine lenses the lenses for still photography do not have markings that correspond to light transmission (T stops) the F stop rating is a ratio of the size of the exit pupil and the focal length of the lens. My 180mm 2.8 lens transmits more light than my 80-200 2.8 lens because of the fewer air to glass surfaces. Zoom lenses are more complex and loose light through the design.

Cheers

Ross

[Bionicpix]

Just got a used Canon FD lens. Fits on Letus, nice pic, etc. Question: there is a manual aperture ring that turns, along with a push button marked "A" in green (I assume for an auto setting). When I spin the dial, nothing happens - i.e. the lens is wide open - no movement of the aperture inside the lens. Is there a trick to engaging it? I also have a zoom lens that I borrowed - same deal with that one. Wide open.

[Sinsemilla]

Well, I found a few Nikon lenses today, but they were all f1.8, not f1.4, and they looked to be about from the 80's or 90's. The guy said he'd let one go for $40. What do you think?

I don't remember the links, but I've read on a couple of different sites that the 1.8 is actually sharper than the 1.4. Personally, I got the 1.4 myself and even though it's not recommended to use it wide open (too shallow dof, softer pic wide open, etc.) I just know that there's gonna be one day (night) that I'm going to need all the light I can get.


Just got a used Canon FD lens. Fits on Letus, nice pic, etc. Question: there is a manual aperture ring that turns, along with a push button marked "A" in green (I assume for an auto setting). When I spin the dial, nothing happens - i.e. the lens is wide open - no movement of the aperture inside the lens. Is there a trick to engaging it? I also have a zoom lens that I borrowed - same deal with that one. Wide open.

Canon lenses require a trick to get the iris to work right on 35mm adapters. Do a search.

By the way, what's in your lens kit collection?

I was thinking of going with an 18mm (or 20mm) and a 24mm (or 28mm) for tight rooms and establishing shots, a 50mm for dialogue/ots shots, and if my budget allows also a zoom lens for those kung-fu jump zooms...

[TimurCivan]

Theres a Sticky right above this thread on this EXACT question........

[TimurCivan]

from what i read most people with adapters have nikon f mounts. What is the advantage of a canon fd mount. Its not like u can buy a digital slr that fd mount lenses will work with? Plus i've seen alot more nikons used. Is the quality better?

CAnon glass is as good as nikon, but cheaper.

[TimurCivan]

I'm using a Canon FD f/2.8 28mm and an FD f/1.4 50mm. f/2.8 is a little slow for the 28mm, but can still produce nice images.

Keep in mind that "fast" and "slow" just refers to the lowest f/stop setting. So a lens with a minimum f/stop setting of f/2.8 is considered "slower" than a lens with a minimum f/stop setting of f/2. It doesn't mean much more that that.

If you do end up going with Canon FD, there is a little "trick" you will need to do with some FD lenses to engage the f/stop lock lever.

http://www.snodart.com/snodpublic/f_stop.jpg

The lever above is normally engaged when attached to a camera. I just cut a small piece from some from brass flat stock (hobby stores), cut it to length, slid the lever over, and inserted the brass piece. Easy fix and works fine. I had forgotten it was even there until you mentioned FD lenses.

Good luck


About the FD apeture pin mechanism. Thank You Snodart.

[Bionicpix]

Sorry. Missed the sticky. I'm new here (funny it didn't come up with a search). Thanks for the replies - all good. I've got a very nice Canon FD 50mm, as well as a Vivitar 75-205mm zoom with macro focus (this is my fave). On the 50mm, the switch locks over, but I guess I need to do the "jam" trick mentioned for the zoom.

[ovjamaica]

Is that a hotspot, especially seen in the third picture?

[Bionicpix]

The small, round white dots? Those are automatic floodlights going on, as it's nightfall. The ones behind the telephone poll are bright lights at a basketball court for a school back there. Or were you seeing something else? Those are taken at full zoom (205mm). Wasn't really "locked off" or anything, so there was probably some movement as I was just panning around.

[TimurCivan]

looks like michael bay.....

[ovjamaica]

The small, round white dots? Those are automatic floodlights going on, as it's nightfall. The ones behind the telephone poll are bright lights at a basketball court for a school back there. Or were you seeing something else? Those are taken at full zoom (205mm). Wasn't really "locked off" or anything, so there was probably some movement as I was just panning around.

No, I mean in the overall image. If you look at the center it seems brighter than the edges. There seems to be a halo of light in the center of the image, if you will. It's easier to pick up on if you've built one of these things, because it's an annoying challenge. I was just wondering if anyone else had noticed this and if it's characteristic of the Letus line.

[TimurCivan]

letus 35's (as far as is know) dont use a condesnser lens. some times depending on the achromat, optics and distances used by the adapter designer, a condenser lens is needed. it helps focus the light in one direction, and this helps even out the GG illumination, and help combat the "hotspot" in the middle.

[Bionicpix]

Ah, yes I did notice this a bit, but only when using the zoom. Whether it's an effect of the adapter or the zoom, I don't know, but I think the zoom lens magnifies the effect if it doesn't cause it. I'll do some more tests with the 50mm. Also more apparent in lowlight conditions.

[ovjamaica]

Ah, yes I did notice this a bit, but only when using the zoom. Whether it's an effect of the adapter or the zoom, I don't know, but I think the zoom lens magnifies the effect if it doesn't cause it.

I'm willing to bet that it happens more on the zoom because it's a slower lens. I have a 28-80mm zoom lens that does the same thing (unless using a condenser with the GG). On my 50mm f/1.8 it's not as pronounced, just like you're saying. I wonder if you could add a condenser and not disrupt the vibrating mechanism. Hmm.....

[Bionicpix]

I'll have to look up condenser usage w/ Letus on here.