M2 Adapter-Which Lens is the best

GoldenCam

GoldenCam

Member
I was looking in the market for a M2, and was wondering what is the best lense to acheive the best cine look and great soft focus. I narrowed down to Nikon and the Canon EOS lenses. Any personel experinces with these lense? Thanks a lot. BTW, this will be on a HVX200. Thanks again.
 
I would not use Canon Eos lenses. They do not have an apeture control externally and as a consequence, you will always have to shoot with the 35mm lense wide open. Often times you may want to control the exact DOF, so you will need apeture control on the 35 lenses.


Look at these Nikon lenses: 17-35mm, 35-70, and 80-200 i believe. look for the fastest lense(F2.8 or lower) as this will allow you to shoot in lower light and also have very shallow depth of field. Make sure the Nikon lense has Manual Iris (apeture) control, as some of the newest ones do not.
 
I have hvx/m2 combo and use nikkor mainly because I already own them. Personally I would stick with primes versus the zooms because zooms tend to be (but not always are ) softer. There are lots of used ones around but if you are going to buy new ones wait a month or so till the new zeiss/ nikkor lenses are available. Early test I saw somewhere on line showed them to be exceptional.
Aloha
-A
 
Love to see some sample clips when you can make some available Poi Boy. I'm very interested to see what an M2-HVX combo can do.
 
The Nikon zooms are probably fine, considering how much resolution is required for a still photo, it should be overkill. I bought a cheap $100 lense the other day and it looks fine on the M2.
 
Hey Machinist,
I've had my camera for about a week and trying to play and fine tune with it between paying gigs; the m2 is awesome, like a 16mm camera with free film (P2), but definately has a bit of a learning curve. I'll get something up in the next week or so.
Aloha
-A
 
These would be a nice basic combo:

Nikon Wide Angle 35mm f/1.4 AIS Manual Focus Lens
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...49&is=GREY&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

Nikon Normal 50mm f/1.4 AIS Manual Focus Lens
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...77&is=GREY&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

Nikon Telephoto 85mm f/1.4 AIS Manual Focus Lens
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bnh/con...27&is=GREY&addedTroughType=categoryNavigation

ZEISS Lenses for Nikon F Mount
http://www.zeiss.com/c12567a8003b58b9/contents-frame/098729cea9ef2428c1257118005d1d20

Cheers!
 
If you shop around used equipment stores you can usually find a ton of workable old AI or AI-S lenses in the 200mm range for around $100-150. I myself am considering grabbing a 400mm f/4 for $400. I wouldn't want to use it on my SLR but for this sort of work it'd be nice.

Of course, in case you can't tell, I like my long lenses. I also have the 17-35mm AF-S, which is stunning, but haven't had a chance to try it on an adapter yet.

Keep in mind that no matter what you get, you almost certainly want it to have internal focusing.
 
Neat. Manual focus only, it seems?

They'd be overkill for this application, but they might be nice lenses to have. Same reason I was considering getting an adapter with a Leica mount.
 
With adapters I think it is best to get the fastest, sharpest lenses possible.. no such thing as overkill, You need to hit the sweet spot of two lenses at once.
Aloha
-A
 
You really only need three lenses.

When I first got the M2 I went on Ebay and purchased a load of Nikon primes. they most sit gathering dust in the cupboard.

In my experience, the three lenses you will use all the time are Nikon 17-35 2.8. Quite an expensive lens but stunning quality and can be picked up for about $900-1200 on Ebay. Perfect wideangle.

35-70 2.8 Nikon. Great quality and a fairly cheap lens. I paid only $300 for it in as new condition.

80-200 2.8 Nikon. brilliant lens, and I use it all the time. Incredible shallow DOF when shooting at 2.8!

I also own a 300mm 2.8 Nikon, which is used occassionally but not a lot.

So with these three lenses you are covered from 17mm through to 200mm, which gives you plenty of room in your bags. I do carry the 35mm 1.2 and 50mm 1.4 for lower light conditions.

The recent screen grabs on redrocks site by Polish director Michal Gutowski using a DVX show it in action. Obviously the images are reduced quality screen grabs.

http://www.redrockmicro.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=1367
 
Canon vs. Nikon lenses

Canon vs. Nikon lenses

Okay, how big of a drawback is it to use the Canon lenses vs. Nikon lenses? From what I've read, the aperture adjustability is the biggest drawback. The reason I ask is that my girlfriend is a photographer on a Canon system and I'd like to be able to just borrow her lenses. If I buy new ones, it'd be great if she can use them too.

What do you guys think?

Also, has there been any final word on whether the M2 or the G35 is better?
 
I have a bunch of different lenses for my families old old Olympus photocamera. Wide angel, zoom, filters etc. - Can these be used with the M2, or Letus35? Do they need to have certain specs, like a manually operated iris, etc? Anyone?
 
proximity said:
I have a bunch of different lenses for my families old old Olympus photocamera. Wide angel, zoom, filters etc. - Can these be used with the M2, or Letus35? Do they need to have certain specs, like a manually operated iris, etc? Anyone?
Click to expand...

You need them to have manual setting. They need an apature ring. I mistakenly purchased the Nikon 12-24 2.8, and it wasn't till it arrived that i realised it was usless for the M2. Check out the Redrock site to see if they do an Olypus mount.


menchifus said:
Okay, how big of a drawback is it to use the Canon lenses vs. Nikon lenses? From what I've read, the aperture adjustability is the biggest drawback. The reason I ask is that my girlfriend is a photographer on a Canon system and I'd like to be able to just borrow her lenses. If I buy new ones, it'd be great if she can use them too.

What do you guys think?

Also, has there been any final word on whether the M2 or the G35 is better?
Click to expand...

Quite a few owners of the M2 use Canon lenses, so yes they work fine. When ordering just order the Canon mount. If you are considering Nikon, then order the Nikon mount as an extra and just swap them over when you use Nikon lenses.

As for the final word between the M2 and G35, well you can go shoot with the M2 today, if you own one. Can you do that with the G35? A month ago Cinemek took 200 orders (with no cash deposit) and looking at their site this week nothing is happening. Still vapourware, so impossible to compare. The results with the M2 have been extremely impressive. Remember, you cannot just bung one of these adaptors on the front of your DVX/HVX/FX1/ZU1/ etc and expect instant stunning results. It takes time and plenty of practice to get the best out of it. A bit like using a Steadicam for the first time. After plenty of practice, and getting the setup spot on, you are ready to get fantastic results.

Check out the link to some footage I made a couple of posts up, to see what you can get out of the M2.
 
Thanks for answers,
More questions:

Does the lense or camera care if I want to switch between 16:9 and 4:3?
Does anyone have any experience with the Letus35?
Is the upside-down issue a big deal? Can't the HVX flip the image it self?
 
proximity said:
Thanks for answers,
More questions:

Does the lense or camera care if I want to switch between 16:9 and 4:3?
Does anyone have any experience with the Letus35?
Is the upside-down issue a big deal? Can't the HVX flip the image it self?
Click to expand...


No problems in 16:9 or 4:3. You zoom the camera lens on into the rotating GG.

No experience with the Letus.

The upside down issue is really not that much of a problem. On the FX1 I use a small magnet to flip the image on the LCD screen. But really, you need an external 7 inch LCD monitor, which has flip or can be attached to the camera upside down. Teletest 7 inch monitors have flip. Marshall make some great monitors without flip, just get an arm to attach it upside down.
 
G35 vs. M2

G35 vs. M2

Okay, I agree that it's great that the M2 is available now. But from the footages I've seen on the M2 and G35 websites, I kinda like the quality of the G35 better. Now, this may be because of the creativity and skill of the G35 shooters.

In the same hands, the two are probably very similar in terms of quality. Once I get my HVX, if the G35 is not available yet, I'll probably get the M2. I'm sure I can't go wrong with either one.
 
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