Feature NOIR film, 2 af100s... but which lenses?

Darren Levine

Darren Levine

Veteran
So, we're doing a feature(got the itch again)

And the plan if the budget stays small, to use mine and a friends af100s.

support equipment is all OK, it's the lenses that yes we have our own kits of canons, nikons, etc... HOWEVER....

The shoot will be very very fast, and the fewer lens changes the better to help that. so i'm leaning against a bag of primes and rather a wide zoom and a long zoom for each camera.
Two things to consider, it will be a Noir, and the director does NOT like shallow DOF, so i will be going for at most a slight bokeh, just enough to pop characters out.

I looked at the nikon 17-55 2.8 and i don't know if it was an old copy but the focus was not very smooth at all.

some angenieux options are excellent, but likely out of budget and too heavy.

the two lenses i'm very attracted to are the olympus 14-35 and 35-100mm f/2 pair. i can rent the pair for under 300 for the week
http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/four-thirds/lenses/wide-angle/olympus-14-35mm-f2-ed-swd
http://www.lensrentals.com/rent/four-thirds/lenses/telephoto/olympus-35-100mm-f2

There are not many reports of people using those lenses on the AF100, and even the rental site does not recommend it, but i imagine for autofocus reasons, which i will not be using anyways.
Has anyone used them? how smooth is the focus pull? what photo or cine lenses would you compare them to?

and for those interested the project is on kickstarter, and $100 pledge gets you an associate producer's credit. http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1191942951/a-little-crime-of-passion

And for those interested in my equipment list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AqmEcUibDCrhdFRNWGJ3aGozaG80YlNrdnhxNExVUkE&hl=en_US

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. . .go the B4 route with a big broadcast zoom. We desperately need a crash-test-dummy here.
 
ha, i wasn't even aware we had a route to power and control one of those on the af100 yet. if it were a bigger budget with a longer schedule i might paint some yellow hazards but we don't have room for trial and error on this set :)
 
Interesting that the rental company you linked to say this about the Olympus lenses.


VERY IMPORTANT: Due to a variety of problems we have encountered, we do not recommend using Olympus lenses for video use with Panasonic micro 4/3 cameras/camcorders. Rent at your own risk.
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yea that's what i meant about i think it's because of autofocus. but heck, they say it's got a full time manual switch, so that's all i care about if the smoothness of the focus ring is good, and of course it can give aperture control to the camera. i don't care for aperture ramping either.

has no one out there tried them on the af100 yet? looks like i might need to do a BH/adorama run
 
VERY IMPORTANT: Due to a variety of problems we have encountered, we do not recommend using Olympus lenses for video use with Panasonic micro 4/3 cameras/camcorders. Rent at your own risk.
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Shame they don't specify what the issues are!!!
But the f/2.0 may be a moot point if the direector doesn't like shallow DoF...
 
It depends on what you mean by "shooting fast." Shooting a proper film is never "fast." By nature, shooting films has a certain process that just takes time to move between setups. If your lighting your shots properly, (as I assume since you said Film Noir) your lens changes are a relatively quick process if you have your lens box handy and have an experienced 1st AC.

That being said, I have the Tokina 28-70mm, and Nikon 80-200mm 2.8 zooms. They are great, and the only place i'm lacking is in the sorter range. There is a good shorter nikon 2.8 that would cover this area. If you had all three of those lenses, you'd be able to cover everything that you could expect to shoot.

I also have my zeiss standard primes. They look AMAZING. But, they do take a bit more time to swap out than just using a zoom. But for a proper film, that's what I would shoot with.

I would shy away from a broadcast lens. It would be softer than the zooms I mentioned above. Plus, you'll loose a couple stops of light. Which may be a problem on a film noir style shoot.
 
Agreed.

Especially this part (see the lenses in my signature):

That being said, I have the Tokina 28-70mm, and Nikon 80-200mm 2.8 zooms. They are great, and the only place i'm lacking is in the sorter range. There is a good shorter nikon 2.8 that would cover this area. If you had all three of those lenses, you'd be able to cover everything that you could expect to shoot.
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Shooter said:
Interesting that the rental company you linked to say this..
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Cine lenses are my first choice for narrative work, but if SLRs better suit your production consider parfocal models.


"Is The Lens Parfocal?

Some lenses are parfocal, meaning that zooming does not change the focus point. All cine zooms are parfocal, but very few photography zooms are — for the same reason that they breathe, and for lower costs. If you want to zoom while filming, its important to make sure the lens you choose is parfocal, and remember, most are not. The following lenses are constant focus while zooming. If its not on this list, it is not parfocal.
http://www.lensrentals.com/blog/2011/02/photo-lenses-for-video/4
 
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It depends on what you mean by "shooting fast." Shooting a proper film is never "fast." By nature, shooting films has a certain process that just takes time to move between setups. If your lighting your shots properly, (as I assume since you said Film Noir) your lens changes are a relatively quick process if you have your lens box handy and have an experienced 1st AC.
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Couldnt agree more.
It is unlikely that the director, actors and the rest of the shooting "circus" can get set up in the time it takes to change a lens.
Of course every shot and angle is planned in advance so the lens will be pretty much a given for each shot you move onto.

Go with the primes you have.

Shooting two cameras on the same scene in a narrative is usuaually a major compromise to lighting and composition ...and a time waster as well.
 
Hi imdjay ,those are my main lenses, i use them with electronic diy focus remote ... pulling works great... even push auto focus can be used... These lenses are fast & sharp !
 
Don't go with the olympus. These lenses don't have a lot of contrast and don't look too filmic. And if you have to make any exposure adjustments mid-shot, you can't - the stepped exposure changes would look awful. Rent a cine zoom. An old Cooke would be great for the noir look.
 
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