FAQ like Info about 35mm lenses

Chris - "AI" is basically the technology that allowed the lens and camera to "talk" to each other so the camera could shoot in modes like Aperture priority. For 35mm adapters, it doesn't make any difference since there isn't any lens-camera communication (the LiveLens mount is an exception, but that relates to Canon EF lenses)


Luis - you may consider the newly announced Redrock M2 Encore Bundle: $1995 for a complete setup including baseplate, rods, and support. The only thing you need to add are lenses.

Brian
 
Does anyone know where I can find information on what the difference is between a 35mm lens to a............. let's say a............. 300mm? I'm a newbie learning lenses and currently in the market looking for something decent that won't break my pocket.

Your help is appreciated, thanks,
Luis
 
14mm = extremely wide
28mm = wide
35mm = sort of wide
50mm = normal (piece of glass)
85mm = a bit of a telephoto (also good for portraits)
100mm = a bit more telephoto (portraits)
200mm = telephoto
300mm = even more telephoto
800mm = extreme telephoto (wildlife photography)

If you want more info than that, check out the link on post #218
 
MitchLewis said:
14mm = extremely wide
28mm = wide
35mm = sort of wide
50mm = normal (piece of glass)
85mm = a bit of a telephoto (also good for portraits)
100mm = a bit more telephoto (portraits)
200mm = telephoto
300mm = even more telephoto
800mm = extreme telephoto (wildlife photography)

If you want more info than that, check out the link on post #218
Click to expand...



Thank you,
Thank you,
Thank you,

Luis
 
Ok, here I go again. But this is a valid question I promise. :violin:

I just read all 23 pages of this thread and I can actually say I know a whole lot about lenses now, or at least a whole lot more than I knew 23 pages ago!
So I'm going out to celebrate! :beer::dankk2:

My question is... I just ordered a 50mm f1.4 Manual Focus Nikon lens but after I ordered it I'm hoping I ordered it correctly because in all 23 pages of this post no-one really got into the topic of getting lenses of "Manual Focus" or "Auto Focus"

So is it ok that I ordered the "MF" lens? Would you guys recommend that for a first time starter lens? It's for an M2e, and would it be ok to order primes that are AF?

Basically, what is your experience of working with manual focus versus autofocus lenses? (specially if you have an M2)

(I’m so excited I know what a prime lens is now :2vrolijk_08::D)

Also.....
luke e,

I think I have to beat this one up just a little bit more...:kali::crybaby:

I don't think that there was ever a super clear answer as to why the lenses loose light as the zoom changes but in experimenting with my HVX200A I am going to assume (and this makes sense to me) that the reason the f-stop increases (or you receive less light in the camera or the focusing GG for this case) is not because the Aperture is gradually closing but because the lens pulls deeper into the barrel just like walking backwards through an open door into a dark room from a room that is normally lit.

So if the lens is in there deeper further away from the front first piece of glass (and further away from it inside the barrel) on the camera (or in this case the lens) then it will receive less light.
If I'm confused about this can someone clarify?

I also was thinking to have this cleared up for future readers and researchers as my self.

I want to sincerely thank everyone on this thread.
It is great knowledge and I appreciate it.
Thanks!

:dankk2:

Luis.
 
Luis:

In Nikon at least, the manual focus lenses, mostly AI and AIS are what you will find on the market, are far superior in mechanical and optical quality as compared to the auto focus lenses. It works out great for us because most still shooters think that they MUST use auto focus lenses now because they are the norm for modern autofocus cameras.

I own ten Nikon lenses and my AI 50mm 1.4 and my AIS 85mm 1.8 are so superior mechanically to all of my D and AFS auto focus lenses, it is amazing. It makes sense. Auto focus lenses usually have sucky manual focusing mechanisms because few shooters manually focus with them.

Manual focus all of the way for any 35mm adapter usage.

Dan
 
This is not exactly a lens question but its pretty closely related.

I have ordered my adapter but I am still waiting on shipment. Meanwhile I'm preparing with everything else but I'm not sure about a couple things primarily, dealing with filters. I know indoors I will be fighting for light but outdoors I would think I will need some ND filters so I can keep an open aperture in broad daylight. My camera has internal ND filters but I assume I need them on the 35mm lens before the GG not after the GG. On the assumption that the filter should be in front of the 35mm lens I have a 4X4 mattebox (holds 2 filters); in regular use how much ND is practically needed to maintain open apertures on a sunny day. I was intending on getting a .3 and a .6 so I could block either 1,2, or 3 stops.

Is this good?

Am I totally wrong and should I just use the internal cam ND filters?

Also since my 35mm lenses are all the same diameter should I just buy screw in filters? (I figured that it would be much quicker to use the mattebox 4X4 filters on location.)

Lastly, I always use a UV filters for protection on all my lenses should I remove these? is all this extra glass going to cost me appreciable light?

What is everyone else doing about filters?
 
You can use the internal cam ND filters. But supposedly (I don't understand why) you should use a matte box with filters on the front of your rig. But I know lots of people who use the internnal ND filters without issue.

I don't know about your other questions....sorry.
 
Ken

there is a "sunny 16" rule that says on a sunny day outdoors generally for ISO 100 you will be shooting at f16 for proper exposure (this is from the still photo world). so if you want to shoot close to wide open (you don't want to shoot completely wide open as it denegrates image quality)

Therefore you want to pull down the exposure by approximately 4-5 stops, so you'll want a couple of .6 ND filters or possibly a 4 stop ND filter

Also regarding internal ND filters, if you have a choice I'd recommend steering away from them. They can degrade the image, with results varying depending on the manufcacturer and camera. Grab a test chart and you can try it for yourself.


Hope that helps

Cheers

Brian
 
Brian
I was thinking I was going to lose so many stops through the 35mm lens and the adapter that I wouldn't need so much ND. I'll go ahead get 2X .6 and 1X .3 to be safe.

Thanks Brian!
 
The best way to think about calculating how much ND you'll need is to factor in the adapter and the camera's own aperture into the overall ISO. video cameras are generally around ISO 320, and the sunny 16 rule is for ISO 100, so you have about 1.5 stops of play in there.


Cheers


Brian
 
Hi,

I have a quick question here. I did try searching already but can't find it. Is that any different to use SLR vs. dSLR lens with 35mm lens adapter?
 
xha8 said:
Hi,

I have a quick question here. I did try searching already but can't find it. Is that any different to use SLR vs. dSLR lens with 35mm lens adapter?
Click to expand...

Yes, you have to be careful when buying lenses for a 35mm adaptor. (did you really do a search?) The key is to buy lenses that have both a manual focus ring (most due) AND a manual aperture ring. That leaves out most modern lenses except the expensive Zeis lenses. Most people choose Nikon lenses (or cinema lenses if you have a lot of money) because Nikon kept their manual controls longer than Canon did.

http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthread.php?t=51963

Another good site to learn about Nikon lenses is: http://www.kenrockwell.com/nikon/nikkor.htm

Thanks to Red Rock's new M2 adaptor you can now use Canon lenses that DON'T have an aperture ring. (thanks Brian!!) It's a pretty trick setup. They've designed an electronic control to talk to the aperture adjustment. You'll always have to manually adjust both focus and aperture (this is true with all 35mm adaptors) but at least now you can buy modern Canon lenses and use them if you desire.

The used Nikon lenses I bought have both manual and automatic controls on them. So I can use them on our Letus Ultimate 35mm adaptor AND with a Nikon D700 or D3 still photo camera if I ever save my pennies up to purchase one. :)

You could do the same thing with the new Red Rock M2 adaptor and Canon lenses.
 
You welcome. I'm glad I can finally repay the favor for all the people who helped me back in November/December 2008. :)
 
Thank you so much MitchLewis!

BTW, I really tried the search function here. Maybe it's because I'm not familiar to which keyword to use.

EDIT:
Let me clear if I'm fully understand. I can use all Nikon lens except for those G and DX series. Lenses made for dSLR are compatible with 35mm lens adapter as well but it's more expensive that the old AI series. So that's why most people prefer to use Nikkor AI.

Please correct me if I'm misunderstood.
 
Last edited:
There are a number of reasons why people prefer older lenses, the most important one is due to the fact that older lenses had the adjustable aperture rings on the outside of the lens itself. Nowadays digital slr's control aperture through digitally through the camera, thus you can only adjust the aperture of newer lenses when the lens is connected to a dslr.

hope that helps.

now for a sort of a personal question for you prime lens users. I currently have some nikon ai-s primes. For the price do you think canon fd lenses are a better value for their money? Are they known to have any issues (across a series or just certain lenses)?
I might be consideing switching to fd lenses cause it seems to be more cost effective. Though i do enjoy nikon lenses, i prefer canon cameras, but this is in the realm of dslrs, so i guess it doesnt have as much weight. Anyways I'm rambling, what are you thoughts on this?
 
Hi everyone

just to clear up (or maybe restate) a few things about lenses. There are two separate issues here:



1. The lens should have a mechanical aperture.


This means it needs to have a little ring on the lens itself you can rotate to change the aperture. Ages ago when only manual focus lenses were available *all* lenses had this mechanical aperture. Canon had FD lenses, Minolta had M-mount lenses, and Nikon had F-mount lenses, and pentax had k-mount lenses. All these types of lenses have mechanical aperture rings (not quite true for nikon, but we'll cover that in a sec)

In 1987 Canon introduced EF lenses ("electr0-Focus") to replace their FD lenses. The idea was two-fold. First, auto focus was introduced. Second, to reduce the cost and complexity of the lenses, all the controls were put into the camera and all lens functions are then controlled through electrical contacts. In 2003 Canon later introduced EF-S lenses, but for this discussion they are identical.

More recently Nikon introduced "G" type lenses (G stndards for "gelded"). Lenses that are G-type also do not have a mechanical aperture and are controlled solely through the camera. The trend is towards these types of lens mounts, so it will only become more prevalent. The only exception is Zeiss Z type lenses which are the only new lenses of which I"m aware that provide a mechanical aperture on new lenses.




1b. Redrock's LiveLens allows you to use Canon EF lenses.

Redrock now provides the first active lens mount that controls Canon EF lenses electronically, allowing you to open and close the aperture ring of these lenses.






2. 35mm SLR size (aka FX size, "full frame", or 36x24mm) is twice as large as 35mm DSLR size (aka DX, APS-C, 18x24mm). Either can be used, but require different framing sizes for an adapter. You still need the aperture ring stated in 1. above.


As an entirely separate issue, when DSLRs were first introduced it was too expensive to release a full frame sensor, so both nikon and canon started with essentially half sized sensors. Nikon calls this DX and Canon refers to it as APS-C. these sensors are approximately 1/2 the size of full frame SLR which is 36x24mm (if you notice, 18mm is half of 36mm). However, SLR lenses were the only lens option available, and designed for the larger SLR sensor. When you put SLR lenses on these smaller chips, that is what results in the 1.5x crop/magnification factor (i.e., a 50mm lens becomes a 75mm lens)

As DSLRs grew in popularity, manufacturers looked for ways to reduce costs and hit on the idea that they could design lenses for the smaller sensor add it would dramatically save on costs. Therefore Canon introduced APS-C EF lenses and nikon introduced DX lenses (2003) which are lenses specifically designed for the smaller chip size. These sizes have come to be generally known as DSLR lenses. While that's not entirely correct, the name pretty much sticks (but be aware someone may refer to their DSLR lens and it could really be a full frame lens on their DSLR camera)


You can still use these lenses designed for the smaller chips on a 35mm adapter simply by zooming in more. The frame size of DX/ APS-C is actually about the same size as academy 35mm used in motion picture film (also known as 3 perf and is approximately 16x24mm. FYI SLR 35mm is approximately 4 perf in the cinema world)

HOWEVER, generally (but not always) the smaller format lenses also coincided with the same cost-cutting measures of removing the aperture ring, so you typically find DSLR lenses (smaller frame format and no mechanical aperture) to be combined, and therefore of little use to 35mm adapters. Of course with the exception of LiveLens




Phew! Hope that helped shed some light on things


Brian
 
Just to re-iterate, if you buy anything from eBay be very, very careful. I would actually get some kind of guarrantee from the seller if anything.

I bought a lens from eBay that was guaranteed optically and mechanically. When I received the lens it had debris between the glass.

The worse part was that the spots came out in the recording. My seller is giving me a full refund, but why even go through that.

Now I have a shoot scheduled that I'm trying to figure out what to do.

Here's what the lens looked like when I received it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8FtsNUjo6k


well... that is all for now...

good luck and happy filming,

Luis_
 
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