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50mm Lens Suggestions for Shooting Video On A7 Series

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    50mm Lens Suggestions for Shooting Video On A7 Series

    Hey all,

    I recently sold my Rokinon 50mm to fund the 100mm Macro. I film weddings on the side so I'm in the off season and wanted to re-asses my lens situation. I'll definitely be needing a nice, sharp, fast, preferably manual 50mm going into the season. Also, focus throw is pretty important to me if I decide to go with a manual lens. Please let me know your experience with the focus throw when sending suggestions. I'm very much one to go for less "popular" but still very good lens choices, rather than dropping a grand on your standard L series type lens. I'd like to spend $500 or less if possible but could wiggle a bit.

    What are people's suggestions? If they are manual older lenses, what issues should I look out for? I know vintage lenses have a certain look, which could be great for weddings. The only thing is, I also shoot interviews and beauty shots for other side work and would love this lens to be able to perform well for that situation. I worry about crazy bokeh and glows being distracting in that type of work. I'm also not apposed to AF lenses, as long as they are Sony mount. But it seems the only one I can find is the Sony Zeiss 55mm which looks beautiful, with a not so beautiful price tag... I know $1000 is not much for great lenses, but as someone who uses them for only side work, it just doesn't make sense for me to drop that much right now.

    Oh, I shoot on the A7sii if anyone is wondering. I have the Sigma MC-11 adapter which I use with the Sigma Art 24-105mm. I needed a reliable adapter for my cheat, run n' gun lens, so that's what I got..

    Thanks everyone!

    -Dan

    #2
    Hi, Ive tried zeiss ZE 50 1.4, sigma 50mm 1.4, canon 50mm 1.4 and canon 50mm 1.8 II (cheapest 50mm)
    and I sold all others, only keeping the cheapest 50mm 1.8 II.

    I find the focus ring on this lens is "too lose", and very easy for me to manual focusing in video mode (it allow me focus only using one index finger, the tiny/losen/small rotation focus ring is perfect for one finger focusing, maybe I am the only one that doing this? haha)
    sharpness and bokeh is fine for me @1.8
    it does show weakness when shooting backlit scenes (I try to avoid it always)

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      #3
      I have used the canon 50mm f/1.4 and f/1.8II, the Sony FE 50mm f/1.8, and a good deal of vintage 50mm lenses. My favorite is the Leitz Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4, for the Leica-R mount. It should be just around your budget. The best thing it has is the super nice bokeh, much better than either of those Canon lenses (the f/1.2L is a different story, but that one is way more expensive too).

      Sharpness tests on a T2i, on a 5D2, and on a Sony a7S. And my personal favorite: bokeh tests.

      In any case, reminder: vintage glass is a lottery.

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        #4
        Thanks man! Really looking into the old Nikon 50mm AI f/1.8 right now. A lot of good things have been said about it. I'm going to look into this Leitz Summilux now though!

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          #5
          All of the Leitz Summilux-R 50mm f/1.4's that I'm finding are around $1000. Looking for something more in the $500 range. Any other thoughts?

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            #6
            Wow, that's a lot more $$$ than I paid (around $450, five years ago). I knew they had gone up, but not so much! Super nice glass but yeah, I wouldn't pay $1k either. Check the Nikkors, particularly the 55mm f/1.2 AI (which may not be that cheap either, but it's really good). The rollei 50mm HFT f/1.8 did great in my tests too, and it is a very cheap lens (<$100), but you may have to hunt a few copies until you get a good one. The Helios 44-2 (58mm f/2.0) is another super-cheap 50 with good performance... as long as you don't need corner sharpness (i.e. it's good in the center and has good bokeh, but corners are soft at anything faster than f/5.6).

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              #7
              Thanks so much! I've been eyeing the Nikkor 50mm f/1.8 AI. The bigger version, not the E series. Any input on that one? People seem to say it's really good, and there are also quite a few mint condition copies for around $150.

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                #8
                I haven't tried it, but it's a reasonably popular lens, somebody may pitch in. You may also want to check this very long thread (any vintage lens that works on Canon EF will also work on Sony E).

                Also: testing these lenses for yourself is not very expensive. I got the Leica Summicron-C 40mm f/2.0 to test on my a7S, didn't like it, sold it on ebay. In total, I lost around $50 to check that a $400 lens that many people love is just not for me: the industar-61 is just as good if not better (as long as you get a good copy), it's also very small (which was my main concern for this one), and goes for around $30. (my test)

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                  #9
                  Cool man, this is all great info. Thanks a lot!

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                    #10
                    Hey again. Would you recommend the Zeiss Contax 50mm 1.7 or the Rollei Planar 50mm f1.8? I'm between those two right now. The Rollei seems to get great reviews, I'm just wondering why it's about half the price of the Contax?

                    Thanks!

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                      #11
                      I haven't tried the zeiss contax, but it does get good reviews. The rollei that I tested was really great, but I reckon I got an above-average copy, and luck plays a big role when buying vintage glass.

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                        #12
                        Thanks! Have you tried the Chinon 50mm 1.4 or Takkumar 55mm 1.8? I'm exploring those as cheaper alternatives.

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                          #13
                          No, just the ones you can see in my tests.

                          BTW I read you asked on the other thread for "sharp, contrasty" lenses. My leicas are sharp, but they are not contrasty. And that's how I like my lenses (it's a personal preference thing, so, nothing wrong with wanting something different; I just wanted to state that it's not the same thing as sharpness and you may or may not want high contrast).

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                            #14
                            Gotchya. I'm leaning towards the Zeiss Contax 1.7. Thanks for your thoughts on sharpness / contrast. I guess I'll just have to check it out for myself!

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