Best Lenses For 35mm Adapter...

Polanski

Polanski

Well-known member
Hi,
I'm new about all this of 35mm adapter even though I've heard about it for some time. I'm looking for the best lens that can be used with these adapters.
I saw a "NIKON AIS 50MM F/1.8 MANUAL FOCUS LENS NIKKOR 1.8 50 MM"
and I don't know if this is a good option. But as far as I'm concerned the quicker the better and this one is 1.8 which is very quick indeed.
I would really appreciate a list of the most common and better lenses for adapters.

Thanks
 
Hi Polanski

Well, any of the fast lens series from the more reputable companies would be great. Be aware that the latest model lenses could run you up to a grand or more each lens.

Nikkors: 24mm f/2, 28mm f/2, 35mm f/1.4, 50mm f/1.2, 85mm f/1.4, 105mm f/2.5, 135mm f/2.8, 180mm f/2.8

Canons (same focal length series, L series are great. Bear in mind that Canon lens mounts have changed over the years, whereas the Nikon F mount has not. Also some lens apertures won't be fully functional in other lens mounts, and vice versa)

Also Zeiss lenses for Nikon or Contax mount, same focal lengths, slightly slower glass.

Plus Pentax, Leitz, Cooke, Schneider, Kinoptik and Lomo lenses for either 35mm stills cameras or 35mm movie cameras (two different formats) come to mind.
 
Make sure you really read up before you take the plunge on one of these. There is much more to shooting this way then just buying an adapter and a lens.
 
Several things to consider:

1. You should first get zoom lens in your inventory, unless you are prepared to stay an exact distance from your object in order to maintain the same framing. If your handheld or on a steadicam it is very difficult to pull focus, hopefully the remote focus redrock is planning will fix that soon.

2. Be ready to get some bigger lighting fixtures. I'm shooting a feature right know with the redrock M2. We are down two stops of light. On the light meter we have gone from a 320ISO to a 125, and I'm using very fast prime lens. So what does that mean, What was a 1K light now becomes a 5K with a double down. We are cooking our talent and myself so we try to get the shots fast. In large areas it is very hard to light. Outdoors in broad day light I can only get 5.6 and 5.6.

3. Because of the light issue be prepared for shadows to drop off to black in night scenes, unless you have a 10ton grip package.

4. The image is a little soft, but IMO it has a nice look to it.

5. You need to be handy with tools, I have had to make three repairs to the M2 box in one week of shooting. Also be ready to go through the 9v batteries. It would be great to have some kind of adapter to run the box off of bigger batteries.

6. Unless your brain operates upside down and backwards, get an external monitor that you can mount upside down. It'll save you a lot of headaches.

7. Once you have the back focus (the camera lens focused on the ground glass) tape it and the zoom ring off so you don't accidentally bump it. Also turn OIS off or you'll get some wierd movements. Finally tape off the manual/auto focus button in the manual position. It can drive you crazy trying to figure out why you can't get focus if that happens to go into the auto position.

8. Buy a slim rubber strap wrench, it'll help your get in to tighten all the different step up rings and glass you have to mount.

9. I'm using the nikon lens and can't see that any of the other would that much different. I'd suggest the AFS 17-35mm f2.8d, AFS28-70mm f2.8d and the 80 - 200mm f2.8D Remember the G series lens do not have an iris ring, so don't get g series lens. In the primes I like the 24mm f 2.8 if you can get the old AIS it is more durable than the new AF lens, but both will work very well. 50mm f1.4 I Haven't came across a situation yet that the f1.2 would have made a difference, so you can save a few bucks here by going with the 1.4. the 85mm f 1.4 and the 135mm f2.0 and if you need an extreme telephoto I rented a 400mm f2.8 that works rather well.

G
 
Gosh!!! all that to get a descent shot? I start believing that shooting with real 35mm film cameras will be easier than undergoing all this to fake a film look with video. I hope that someday video cameras could have a chip big enough to get DOF without all this hassle.
I really appreciate this information, that way I won't be wishing to kill myself after setting up an adapter. If I do it now I won't have any reason to complain about the big complexity of this system...

Thanks
 
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