lens for film look

C

Celticman

Member
hey guys
bit of advice needed. i have seen loads of macgregors footage.its fantastic.he is using the beta g35 adapter.however id like to know what is the actual lens he is using. would it be a lens worth 1 thousand dollars or would it be something worth twenty thousand plus.please give me some advice.
 
Meh. I'm going to go against the grain and say that 35mm adapters are a bit over rated. Sure, they can produce some very nice shallow focus shots. But that comes at a big price...

1. You lose a stop to a stop and a half of light. Which, depending on your lighting package, is not very "indie" friendly.

2. There are constant ground-glass and back-fucus issues that must be tended to between setups. Not good for aggressive shooting schedules.

3. You can achieve many of these "looks" using Canon's standard 20x and 6x lenses by shooting with appropriate focal lengths (longer lenses), shot composition (framing), and lighting (underexposing backgrounds versus foregrounds).

Again, this is just my opinion. I've a few very nice 35mm adapter footage. I've also seen a LOT of terrible footage.
 
Robert, after having worked with the Letus Extreme for my last project (a large part of which was very run and gun) I would have to say that while the concerns you listed are valid, they're no longer as big of a problem as they used to be. I'll address them point by point with regard to the Extreme

1) The Letus itself loses very little light. Most of the time all I needed was a single 1k. One particular scene we were racing against the setting sun, and the resulting image was very much usuable.
2) I encountered no back focus issue. Once I've determined the correct focus setting for the GG, it's simple to go back to that.
3) Stimulating DOF doesn't cut it for the 6x lens at all (too wide) and the stock 20x is only useful under certain situations, and not usable indoor. Beside, it compresses the background which can result in weird perspective issues.

The biggest problem in using a 35mm adapter that most people don't realize is getting good focus. DOF is really shallow which is a good thing, but DOF is also really shallow, which is a bad thing for moving shots. Formerly simple shots such as tracking the actors as they walk or dollying in and out becomes impossible without the help of a good AC and a decent follow focus.
 
That's good to know Huy. The Letus is the only adapter I have very little experience with. And you're right, focus is critical with these things (and the H1s VF is bad enough as it is).
 
drdimento said:
So if I have four different size and lengths of Nikon lenses this device will work on those lenses to follow focus?
Click to expand...

There are different diameter lens gear like those sold by Redrock, and then there are "universal" lens gear such as the one being sold by Cinevate. My only gear (Redrock) happens to fit all of my lenses. Not sure about yours.
 
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