graduating to 35 mm adapter- have questions

V

vrbhu

Active member
Hi,
I am planning to buy the letus35 ex for my hvx. but before that I want to make sure i have the correct lenses. since i have no prior knowledge of lenses and adapter I want to make sure that I abide my expert advices here..
yes, all my knowledge of 35mm adapters is all due to this forum..
ok here is the thing, i went to BnH today and they are giving me these lenses:

1.Nikon - 50mm f/1.4 D - AF LENS/USA - $285
2. nikon - 28 mm f/2.8 D - AF LENS/USA - $235
3. Nikon Nikon 200/4 NIKKOR - QC NON-AI/Condition 8- $59.00
4. Nikon 85mm f/1.8 D - AF LENS/USA - $364

my need is to make a good short film. I would like to have the minimum set of lenses under $1000( may be $1100)...
Please advice should I buy or not...

-thanks
Vivek
 
I am anxious to see some replies as I am in a similar situation. From my research, these are the type lenses I was leaning towards:

50mm f1.4 Nikkor (AIS,)
85mm f1.4 Nikkor (AIS)
17-35mm f2.8

Though I might be off my mark. Those prices you show, I assume when you say BnH that is B&H Photo?

This is the link to my research for the lenses I listed:
http://www.reduser.net/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=4

As it were, I had the SGPro in my shopping cart - just a click away. But now I'm leaning toward the letus ex with indifollow focus. Both come out to around $2000-$2200 with shipping, etc.

Ho...
 
I will be selling an 80-200 Tokina 2.8 that you guys might be interested in. It will be below $200 and really is surprisingly sharp, very versatile to have a decent zoom. The only thing that beats it (in Nikon mt) is an 80- 200 f2.8 Nikon that I will also have for sale for $600.

Both lenses are push pull style lenses with a single ring that both zooms and focuses. Not ideal but very workable and much cheaper than a 2 ring lens. Optics on the nikon are phenomenal and on the Tokina are still very good.

Let me know if you're interested

Lenny Levy
 
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wow, below $200?! You can get $400 - 500 on ebay no problem! This would be a great deal guys, i own that lens and it is fantastic even on my D200!
 
Ideally, with a manual adapter (eg: letus, redrock, cinevate, etc..),
MANUAL focus lenses are more appropriate, as autofocus lenses have less pull, meaning there will be less room for error if your focus is off on an autofocus lens.

Not to mention, manual focus slr lenses generally sell for less as people want to 'upgrade' to autofocus = great news for us adapter users :)

The speed of the lenses you listed are quite tempting, and if you cannot find them in manual focus, then maybe you should buy, as you do loose light from the adapter + puting extra glass infront of the camera lens. So if low light is a reality for your shoots (meaning you cannot easily add more light if desired) then an F1.4 might make a difference over a F2.8. Keep in mind F1.4 = shallower focus = sometimes too difficult to track (unless pro focus puller) during camera/subject movement.
Then again, to add even more to your plate of 'decision', usually the faster lenses (F1.4) are not as sharp at their max (F1.4) and you stop them down ending up with an F2.8 lens, so then defeating the purpose of an F1.4 lens.

If you are thinking of purchasing a zoom, make sure it is because you actually want to encorporate SLR focus pulls into your camera work, and NOT because you want a range of focal lengths. The disadvantages of zooms over primes (in this case) is like autofocus - the focus pull is shorter. And also they are heavier/larger in physical size. Faster zooms (F2.8) are more expensive, and again there are even faster primes (eg: F1.4).

In a nutshell, for $1000 budget, you could get a full set second hand manual focus primes that would be perfect for your kit. Old Nikon glass is very high quality (pending condition of used item of course).

Total post cost = $0.02
 
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Thanks Charles for your input...somewhere i read the you should have very good lenses for these adapters otherwise you would be spending time and money both without any much result..so just wanted to make sure I am buying the correct thing..

so you say that f/2.8 28mm will loose light..but it seems that nikon do not make 28mm f/1.4 lenses anymore..

-Vivek
 
I've recently given the sgpro another try after saleing off one last ear because i hadn't calbrated it right. let me tell you, I'm using it with my canon a1 and the image is so edge to edge sharp and filmic that it's sickening. even better then my previous letus ex.
 
I have kind of decided to go for letus ex after reading everyone's review here...
all i am looking for is some guidance to buy lenses for that..
 
vrbhu said:
so you say that f/2.8 28mm will loose light..but it seems that nikon do not make 28mm f/1.4 lenses anymore..

-Vivek
Click to expand...

It's funny you should say that, as it does sound a bit hypocritical when recommending the 'faster' lenses. Most true wide angles (eg: 20mm) max at F2.8, so yes, whilst the longer focal lengths (eg: 35/50/85/etc..) go up to F1.4, it might not make sense to get them. Eg: keeping aperture/exposure consecutive when shooting different lengths in a scene = F2.8 on wide lens... 'wasting' the 2 extra stops the 50mm has.

Don't get me wrong, F2.8 is quite fast, but when you take into consideration the light loss you create after zooming your camera in far enough to crop the Ground Glass (probably sacrificing a stop), plus the adapters light loss (letus is quite minimal = 1/2 stop) and then putting a 'new' lens infront of that (eg: 'F2.8'), then you realise the ammount of light you are loosing.

As I think I said earlier, if you can add more light at no expense, then this shouldn't worry you, but if you are shooting natural light, or just low light in general, and creatively desire minimal gain, then you do opt for faster lenses.
 
i bought for myself a set of these:
20mm 1.8 sigma nikon mount
35mm 2.0 nikon
50mm 1.4 nikon
105mm 2.8 sigma ex dg macro
 
Exe,
where do you get those from and for how much?
any other site where I can look for the lenses?
 
Hi guys, actually, i didn't have time yet to try out all the lenses, as the day i got my LEx, that was on monday, i caught cold and still didn't recover, if your interested, i might be able to try some shooting on sunday...

although when choosing lenses, i was reading LOTS, i mean LOTS of reviews, comparing canon, nikon, sigma lenses and i went with the set i wrote before, as i wanted all lenses to have the same mount for less hassle and the price is competive. I bought all the lenses on ebay, all of them were about 1300$ i think, brand new... if you're interested, i can give you the name of guy, he's from HK.

I will post screenshots when i get out of the bed and be able to shoot outside..
 
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