Building a lense set

[JensK]

Hey guys!

So, we finally got our FS700RH, and we are so very happy with it. We got the Odyssey 7q as well, although I forgot (doh) to buy the SDI cable, so we can't use it yet... That did not go down well at work

Anyway, we're looking to buy a couple of lenses to add to the kit lense. Its not that I don't like it; it seems to be a good lense for run and gun type things, but I wouldn't mind adding a prime or two to go with it. I've pretty much got my mind set on Samyang or Rokinon (whichever really), but I am a bit unsure which to start with. I'm quite the rookie buying lenses, so I'm not sure which mm I should go with. We'll be doing quite a bit of different work, such as interviews, dokumentary-style work, music videos etc. If you were to pick up 2 lenses, which would you pick?

Cheers!

 

[AtticusLake]

Really depends what you're going to be shooting. "Documentary" is pretty broad.

For indoor/architecture kind of stuff, and even in the Lake Powell canyons, the 18mm end of the kit lens was just too long for me... I've been using the Zeiss 12mm, and love it, it's very nice, fast, lightweight and compact. My three primes are 12mm, 24mm, and 50mm, based on the kinds of stuff I like to shoot. For sport or wildlife, I would of course pick something (much) longer!

For inverviews... the kit lens? It covers the right range of focal lengths, and lets you quickly reframe.

 

[Jim Ritscher]

B&H sells a Rokinon Cine kit (24, 35, 85) for a little off. These are full frame lenses. If you also buy a Metabones Speedboster (multiply the focal length by .71), you now have:
17, 24 (2 ways), 35, 60, 85. Pretty good set of focal lengths. I bought all of this in Nikon mount, but that's a matter of personal preference. I really like the fact that they're cine lenses. If you can't afford 3 lenses, you could work up to it gradually. Anyway, just a thought.

 

[Colinelves]

Rokinon/Samyang are the same brand, they're just named differently in different places.

The 35mm has a good reputation and would be a good 'normal' lens on the FS700. An 85mm is always good to have for portraits.

Atticus is right about architecture/landscapes, you'll want a super-wide - the Tokina 11-16mm has a very good reputation, although it will have more distortion than a prime (and the Saymang wide angle is not supposed to be very good) - other options would be used manual lenses. I've got a set of Canon FDs which I like (the 14mm 2.8L has very little distortion, but can be a little soft wide open - not that you're likely to need to shoot wide open all that much). Otherwise people go for the Nikon AIs or Zeiss Contax primes.

 

[sissond]

I have learned to live with the kit lens. And I don't think it's half as bad as some people make it out to be, but I don't love it. I do, however, absolutely adore my Rokinon T1.5 prime cine lenses (24, 35, 85mm)...for the money. There are plenty of better lenses out there, but there's nothing I've seen in that price range that touches them and I'm a budget shooter. The most expensive L series lens I have was still only $1,200.

Due to my job, I've shot a number of lectures in fairly dark rooms (because of projection screens). Before I got the Rokinon lenses, I used a variety of Canon lenses that I already had from my DSLR. But most of the lenses I have only open up to around f/4.0 except for my Canon 50mm f/1.4 (that never seemed to work out for where I could set up). The medium ISO shoots made for some noisy video. With those 3 Rokinon primes and my Canon 50mm, I always seem to have the right lens now. And shooting with those lenses and SLOG II yields spectacular results with minor grading. They do get a little soft wide open but I've never had to go all the way to T1.5 (f/1.2??) and at T2.0 they are plenty sharp.

I got the set from B&H that Jim Ritscher mentioned and saved a few hundred compared to buying separately. And his comment about the speed booster is something I wish I had thought about before purchasing. You end up sort of getting 6 lenses instead of 3. Plus, almost all of my glass has the Canon EF mount and I use the Metabones adapters. For some reason I bought the Rokinon lenses in E-Mount. And since then I've had a few occasions where I wished I could use those lenses with my Canon DSLR. There's a number of smart & dumb adapters to put EF glass onto the Sony E-mount, but I can't find anything out there to go the other way.

I also agree with Atticus that the 24mm is not enough for landscapes and architecture. I was shooting some wide shots of Long Island sound and a nearby tidal pool at a bird sanctuary. And the whole day I wished that I could have gotten a little wider with almost all of the shots. But having nothing wider than the 24mm, I can't personally recommend anything. I have been doing some research for my next purchase and I have been comparing the Rokinon/Samyang/Bower 14mm T3.1 cine lens to others including the Tokina 11-16mm. Without 1st hand experience, only based on reviews and pictures user post, I don't see much of a difference in image quality. I'd still give the edge to the Bower (seems to be cheaper than Rokinon/Samyang for the same lens) T3.1 based on the fact that you get the de-clicked aperture and geared rings. But again, I've had no hands-on experience with them.

 

[AtticusLake]

I have learned to live with the kit lens. And I don't think it's half as bad as some people make it out to be, but I don't love it.

Actually I saw a lot of good reviews of it. Of course it has issues, being a superzoom, but it's really pretty decent, apart from being slow - and the camera being so sensitive, even that's not usually an issue. I'll certainly use it without hesitation when just grabbing shots with no prep.

... others including the Tokina 11-16mm.

I owned that lens, and liked it a LOT, very good, specially for a zoom. However it's big and heavy; the E-mount Zeiss 12mm is half the size and weight, which matters a lot for me, so I made the change. But yes, the Tokina is a great way to get a wide angle, even if you don't need the zoom.

 

[epsom salt]

i owned that lens, and liked it a LOT, very good, specially for a zoom. However it's big and heavy; the E-mount Zeiss 12mm is half the size and weight, which matters a lot for me, so I made the change. But yes, the Tokina is a great way to get a wide angle, even if you don't need the zoom.

I've been looking at this guy for a wide with the speedbooster. http://www.keh.com/camera/Nikon-Autofocus-Zoom-Lenses/1/sku-NA079990386400?r=FE
my reason for the nikon glass is the manual aperture. i'm a little leery of the tokina 11-16 and it's electronic aperture control with the sb adapter. I have successfully used that 11-16 tokina once with the sb adapter. but i'm still sketched out because i've done the same with another tokina lens and a tami lens where after a few days of use the fstop decides to just stop functioning. i sent the adapter back to metabones only to eventually find out the problem can't be fixed. so manual control is pretty important to me because i can't afford to have my wide suddenly crap out on a paid gig. anybody else have the same experience?

 

[ChadN]

I have quite a few of the E-Mount lenses, and a couple others. I don't have the metabones speed booster, so i can't speak about that. Lots of people seem to like it a lot.

I often shoot alone, so i do tend to like auto-focus on the E Mount lenses. Some of my faves are...

Sony 35mm 1.8 E-Mount. A nice, light lens. You get Face Detection AF. It's fast enough for me and like the look of it. My most used lens.
Sony 10-18 F4 E-Mount. For me, it's a nice ultra wide lens. It's very light, which i like a lot because i'll fly it on the Blackbird Stabilizer. With AF (and OSS) that can be very nice.
Rokinon 85mm E-Mount. Has no AF, it's all manual. Dang it looks nice for portraits and close ups. For the price, i'm really glad i took a chance on it. I got the cinema geared version, in case i get a follow focus sometime. The markings are on the side, which would be nice if you had a focus puller. Shooting alone though, it can be hard to see the markings. Not a big deal to me.

The 18-200mm kit lens, i still pull out on occasion. The options for AF and OSS seem a bit better than most of the other E-Mount lenses.

I also have the 16-50mm A-Mount with the LA-EA2 adapter. I have to be honest, the lens is nice... but that LA-EA2 is kind of a pain. The AF is too jumpy for tracking motion anyway. I wish they'd just come out with a fast, constant aperture lens like this in E-Mount. I bought it all for AF and hardly use it for AF now. Again, the lens is nice though.