Could someone educate me on lenses?

J

jrod81

Veteran
Hey guys,
I am gearing up to shoot a thesis film. I have usually done audio, but I will be shooting this one. I am purchasing a Letus Extreme for my HVX but need some help with lenses.
I've been searching craigslist and ebay and am just not sure what to get. I plan to get a 28mm, 50mm, and 150mm. I see that most are going with a 1.4 for the 50mm and that is about all I know. However, I am seeing prices all over the place when I use "nikon 50mm 1.4" on ebay. Some are $20 and some are like $250... What am I looking for???
 
The letus should be a sweet setup. Look at the top stickies in this 35mm adapter forum, there is one in particular about lenses. Read that all the way through and you should have a good idea about where to go from there.

Cheers,
Ryan
 
you should look for ANY good quality lens 50mm 1.2 to 1.8. Canon any lens is good, there is only difference in the bayonet, but Letus is covering that, they ususally ask you what kind of lens you have. In my opinion, you should throw some cash on good canon 50mm f1.2. they are going between 70-360 usd, depends in which condition is the lens, and many more factors. Try surfing ebay, you'll find some. Minoltas, Nikons, Olimpus, pentax etc... all are fine
 
Nikon or Canon is the good place to start.
get a 1.4 or 1.8 for the 50mm lens. this will be your primary lens. then a 35mm & 85mm should be fine. (an f2 should be good)

the cheap lenses are you seeing is an E-series lens I think...what is E-series lens? maybe you should google it
 
jrod81 said:
and is dslr and slr both fine?
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if you are using Nikon lenses you will be fine. they haven't changed their mount for like 40 years so you can use all lenses on any body. (but some of their small dslr cameras might not me the AI mount so you might want to double check on that before you buy it)

zoom lenses is just an option. if you want it, get it.
 
i thought dslr lenses for 35mm adapters were a no no?!


Anyhoo...if u dont want to sift through the bullcrap of ebay and want to get right to the point check out KEH.com. Trusted place and they also put the lenes on a rating scale such as EX (excellent) BRG (bargain)...ect. u can click on the rating to see what it means.

You'll pay a bit more but u'll have peace of mind in what ur getting. 28mm...50mm...85mm or a 100mm..should be fine. Canon FD/Nikons should be fine
 
powertase said:
you should look for ANY good quality lens 50mm 1.2 to 1.8. Canon any lens is good, there is only difference in the bayonet, but Letus is covering that, they ususally ask you what kind of lens you have. In my opinion, you should throw some cash on good canon 50mm f1.2. they are going between 70-360 usd, depends in which condition is the lens, and many more factors. Try surfing ebay, you'll find some. Minoltas, Nikons, Olimpus, pentax etc... all are fine
Click to expand...

This brings up a common misconception with the Canon lenses: the old FD 55/1.2 lens (and its update, the new-FD 50/1.2 lens) is generally considered inferior to the 50/1.4. To my mind, therefore, the prices that the 1.2 goes for are unjustifiable; the 50/1.4 is a much better deal.

Note that the old 55/1.2 ASPHERICAL or the newer 50/1.2 L-series lens are both better than the 50/1.4, but they also both go for a *pile* of money.

Duncan
 
frobozz said:
This brings up a common misconception with the Canon lenses: the old FD 55/1.2 lens (and its update, the new-FD 50/1.2 lens) is generally considered inferior to the 50/1.4. To my mind, therefore, the prices that the 1.2 goes for are unjustifiable; the 50/1.4 is a much better deal.

Note that the old 55/1.2 ASPHERICAL or the newer 50/1.2 L-series lens are both better than the 50/1.4, but they also both go for a *pile* of money.

Duncan
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I'm a noob adapter user but it sounds almost backwards to say that the FD 1.2 lens is inferior to a 1.4. Isn't the 1.2 twice as fast?
 
jrod81 said:
and is dslr and slr both fine? and do i want zoom lens- i guess that defeats the purpose huh
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don't use nikon "dx" lenses. they are only for dslr dx format. they aren't designed to cover a full 35mm frame. with a 35mm adapter you will get vignetting.

keep in mind that if you are used to using cinema lenses, you will find that nikons focus backwards. canon FD lenses focus the same direction as cinema lenses, are as good as nikon, and are cheaper.
 
shoook said:
I'm a noob adapter user but it sounds almost backwards to say that the FD 1.2 lens is inferior to a 1.4. Isn't the 1.2 twice as fast?
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That is of course the one way the lens is better - one stop faster...and thus the misconception that it's a better lens, when by all other measures it is not. In the Canon FD world if you absolutely need that one stop and you don't want to sacrifice image sharpness, etc. you need to pony up the big bucks for the Aspherical or L versions of the 1.2.

I always look at it the other way around: the Canon FD 50/1.4 is a screaming bargain compared to the overpriced 1.2 (non-L, non-Aspherical version) lenses. You give up a stop, but 1.4 is still pretty darn fast! It's the best $50-ish you will ever spend on a lens.

Duncan
 
f 1.0 to f 1.4 is one stop...so an f1.2 is about .5 stops faster than an f1.4. Adapters are not necessarily linear in their light loss so you would likely not see the 1/2 stop difference as you'd expect to.

The older Canon FD glass is excellent..I used the 28, 35, 50, 85 and 135mm lenses in faster flavours exclusively until we discovered the Zeiss SLR lenses. One thing I've learned over the last few years is that good glass is pretty much a lifetime investment. Our 30 year old (ish) Lomo 35mm cine lenses are still the favourite here for their warm (but still great contrast) look.

Cheers,
Dennis.
 
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