Best 35mm Film Lens for the Letus Extreme Adapter?

CinemaElectronika said:
Hi Avenger007,

Would you confirm if these lenses are the new manual focus Zeiss ZF's for SLR Nikon Cameras?

I really have a particular interest on the Zeiss Wide Angle 25mm f/2.8 Distagon T* ZF Manual Focus Lens for my Nikon Mount RedRock M2 with microX flip adapter ...

If so, do you recommend this as a nice lens? Any portholing issues? I already have the 35mm and 50mm Zeiss ZF's... Wonderful lenses both!

...or would the Zeiss Wide Angle 28mm f/2 Distagon T* ZF be a better option?

Thanks in advance.
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the Zeiss ZF 25/2.8 will give a slight vignette. Its the hardest of my zeiss lenses to get proper edge to edge. This is the same on both my brevis and sg pro. Probably the least favorite of all my zeiss primes (25,35,50,85.... 100mm next week!), but not by much. It would be hard to let go of, but I just bought a nikon 17-35mm/2.8 and may sell the ZF25mm to recover costs. I'm trying to figure out which lens performs better. If anyone has any experience with both, that would be great.
 
Arrik said:
the Zeiss ZF 25/2.8 will give a slight vignette. Its the hardest of my zeiss lenses to get proper edge to edge. This is the same on both my brevis and sg pro. Probably the least favorite of all my zeiss primes (25,35,50,85.... 100mm next week!), but not by much. It would be hard to let go of, but I just bought a nikon 17-35mm/2.8 and may sell the ZF25mm to recover costs. I'm trying to figure out which lens performs better. If anyone has any experience with both, that would be great.
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Thank you ArriK for your reply...

Any further posts on this subject comparing both your Zeiss ZF 25/2.8 and the Nikon 17-35/2.8 will be much appreciated!
 
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some lense designs are worse than others but it is difficult to get a 28mm with no vignetting. I used to have a 28mm c/y zeiss and it had the least ive seen. (but not total gone) I've used most of the sub $1300 adapters and wasnt able to get lower than a 28mm with a usable image.

I havent tried nikon zooms. but im guessing they would be worse. i will have to do a test.

filthrich said:
I have nikon 28mm 2.8 and 50mm 1.4. they seem to work great, but the 28mm is vignetting like crazy no matter the light situation but the 50mm has no vignetting at all. I don't get it and can't seem to fix it. anyone know why?
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Well I have tried both the 17-35 and the 28-70 Nikon zooms and use them a lot.
No vignetting at all, very clear and clean edge to edge image.

Check out some of the shots with a DVX and a LEX here:

http://www.vimeo.com/834229

This video has a bunch of shots from the 17-35 Nikon F2.8, all of them shot at F2.8 in fact. Shot just for fun in half an hour just cut together with FCP no grading . (Its actually a pretty compressed WMV original so excuse the quality a bit)


Also tried the Zeiss and to be honest, I prefer both Nikons.

The only issue I have with the Nikon 17-35 is you really need a FF for decent focus control. Other then this I think you can't get much better zooms unless you go for real filmlenses. No breathing / creeping and work great with the new Letus Nikon mount.

hope this helps.

deedive said:
I havent tried nikon zooms. but im guessing they would be worse. i will have to do a test.
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visualbrother said:
Well I have tried both the 17-35 and the 28-70 Nikon zooms and use them a lot.
No vignetting at all, very clear and clean edge to edge image.

Check out some of the shots with a DVX and a LEX here:

http://www.vimeo.com/834229

hope this helps.
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thx, this helps alot.
I have the 28-70 so ill be tryin that out.(before i only used primes)
Most of the shots are pretty clean but a few vignette and one shot has heavy vignetting with lose of sharpness on the edges. was this all shot at 17mm or are u using different lengths in the 17-35?
 
True especially the first shot looks like that. I should have mentioned I did experiment with an old 20mm F3.5 prime that suffers from both vingetting / portholing, one or two shots are made with that lens.

Three lenses used in that vid: a 20mm F3.5, pretty unsuable on a Letus if you use SLR crop. A 17-35 F2.8 and a 180 F2.8.

Here is a screencap from the vid, this is on the edge of the Letus GG. If the DVX would zoom out just a mill you would see the prism. the only thing now is: I need to replace the DVX with an EX :P

17mm-2.jpg


All the wide shots are 17mm shot at full SLR crop, here is another vid, same 17-35
Some of it at F4.0 but most F2.8

http://www.vimeo.com/840437

On the left of the image you can actually see the Letus Prism, DVX viewfinder is not 100% I guess ;)

Used a 85 F1.8 with and without macro. It is all just test stuff I'm afraid, experiments to see how the lenses + Letus hold up.


deedive said:
thx, this helps alot.
I have the 28-70 so ill be tryin that out.(before i only used primes)
Most of the shots are pretty clean but a few vignette and one shot has heavy vignetting with lose of sharpness on the edges. was this all shot at 17mm or are u using different lengths in the 17-35?
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deedive said:
some lense designs are worse than others but it is difficult to get a 28mm with no vignetting. I used to have a 28mm c/y zeiss and it had the least ive seen. (but not total gone) I've used most of the sub $1300 adapters and wasnt able to get lower than a 28mm with a usable image.

I havent tried nikon zooms. but im guessing they would be worse. i will have to do a test.
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IMO the 28-70/2.8 ED is THE Nikon lens to have. Just as sharp as the other two gold standard zooms AND best of all... NO BREATHING ON RACK FOCUSING!!!

That sucker is expensive, but well worth it, man.
 
Anyone ever stack the nikon up against an angenieux of similar focal length?

Regarding the Zeiss 25,
mine all vignette. Anything beyond a 28 will result in vignetting. Some adapters do it less than others though. Some zooms might do it less at similar focal length but lose sharpness to the prime. I have yet to find a nice big 25 that is fast and doesn't vignette much. It is my ultimate quest without going to something like Lomos. Im honestly not a fan of the Zeiss 25, but I keep them as a kit for rentals. Zeiss makes good 16 and 21 though.
 
Probably best to note that it will Vignette at SLR widths. I don't have a single lens that Vignettes at 35mm framing.
 
visualbrother said:
True especially the first shot looks like that. I should have mentioned I did experiment with an old 20mm F3.5 prime that suffers from both vingetting / portholing, one or two shots are made with that lens.

http://www.vimeo.com/840437.
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looks pretty good, maybe i will have to think about that lense.

Kholi said:
IMO the 28-70/2.8 ED is THE Nikon lens to have. Just as sharp as the other two gold standard zooms AND best of all... NO BREATHING ON RACK FOCUSING!!! That sucker is expensive, but well worth it, man.
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i love the lense too, its my main work lenses. i sold a couple of my cy zeiss lenses for it and it has already paid for itself:) I do miss my c/y 35mm zeiss, it was the sharpest lense i have ever owned.
 
Kholi said:
IMO the 28-70/2.8 ED is THE Nikon lens to have. Just as sharp as the other two gold standard zooms AND best of all... NO BREATHING ON RACK FOCUSING!!!

That sucker is expensive, but well worth it, man.
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Interesting. It does extend and retract with zooming though, right? Have you found that to be a hassle with a mattebox?

I've already got the 17-35 and 80-200 2.8 EDs and they're phenomenal. I'm planning to get the 28-70 next. Great to hear you're so enthusiastic about it.

My only big question about all of them is how user-hostile they're going to be with a follow focus given their short focus throw. I'll find out when my Redrock FF arrives, which will be soon.

BTW I also have a Zeiss Planar T 50mm 1.4. It's great, but it produces a somewhat different look color/contrast-wise than the Nikons. I plan to use it mainly in low light situations.
 
I think if you're removing the donut then there won't be an issue, of course adjusting the mattebox according to Focal Length will be ideal.

Matty_G informed me that the 28-70 also has Hard stops unlike the the other two, that makes it a little better for gearing but again it definitely won't be primes.
 
The push-pull 28-70 has hard stops, the AF-S one, just like the 17-35 do not. This is the only thing that can be very annoying when you overshoot and have to re-calibrate any markers on the FF.

Not a big fan of the push pull version to be honest, so far very happy with the 3 big zoom guns from Nikon. But to be honest, none of them beat my 55mm F1.2 for shooting faces.

Kholi said:
I think if you're removing the donut then there won't be an issue, of course adjusting the mattebox according to Focal Length will be ideal.

Matty_G informed me that the 28-70 also has Hard stops unlike the the other two, that makes it a little better for gearing but again it definitely won't be primes.
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Dont forget about Canon FD's there friends... The L series FD glass is AMAZING.

I have a 85 F1.2L, and its a friggin miracle. wide open its as sharp as it is at F16.
 
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