FS100/700 Starting Lens Kit - thouhgts

T

True North

Well-known member
I am relatively close to pulling the trigger on a new camera body. It's either going to be an FS100 or FS700.

This is my first camcorder without a lens so I am starting from scratch, although my wife has a couple of decent Canon lenses I will be able to use as well

I will be shooting interviews, some sporting events, live music etc..

The two lenses I am planning on starting with are;

Tamron' SP 24-70mm f/2.8 DI VC USD Lens for Canon

Sigma 70-200mm f/2.8 EX DG APO OS HSM for Canon

Both lenses will be used in conjunction with Metabones Speed Adapter. I am planning on getting a couple of prime lenses but I thought the above lenses would give me a good foundational range to start with.

If anyone has had any experience with the above lenses or has any thoughts before I pull the trigger I would love to hear some feedback and suggestions.

Cheers
Rob
 
You might want to check with Metabones if the Tamron and Sigma lenses will work. They might not since they are 3rd party and not the most popular lenses.

Also, if I had to choose between the regular Metabones or the Speed Booster, I would take the regular. I think the speed booster is just a bonus. Full frame is nice for artsy stuff, but super 35mm is more of a work horse, which is probably why it's been the film standard for decades.

If you're going all zooms, throw in a Tokina 11-16 f2.8. Great zoom.
 
the thing about the speed booster which is cool is that using a 50mm at f4 will have the same depth of field as the same lens on a 5dmk2, but will be as bright as the 5d with the 50mm set to f2.8. you gain brightness but depth of focus doesnt get any shallower. overall you'll save money because you wont need as wide or as fast primes any more. the 24-70 f2.8 L on a speed booster probably won't come off your camera. you'll have what would equate to a 16-50 f2.0 stabilised lens.
 
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Low light with the Speed Booster is cool, especially with the Canon 50 F1.4 (T1.0). The FS700 kit lens' image stabilizer and autofocus turn the FS700 into a more traditional ENG style camera. For certain fast-action/live shots it works very well. First test with the kit lens: https://vimeo.com/58075075 . 120fps slowmo (post sharpened- kit lens isn't super sharp and slomo has slightly reduced resolution; still decent results).

The Canon 24-105 F4L IS is pretty handy for most shots. Also use a 16-35 F2.8 II and 70-200 F2.8 II IS.

I'm considering this lens as it will allow using the zoom rocker on the FS700 handle: http://store.sony.com/p/Sony-Alpha-NEX-18-200mm-Telephoto-Lens/en/p/SELP18200
Reported to work on FS700, interesting Sony doesn't show it on the Compatibility page... Waiting for reviews and to make sure it will work on the FS700.
 
morgan_moore said:
With the booster you are nicely covered

prefer manual lenses myself but that is a great start.

S
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There is some nice Nikon manual stuff but they don't make the Speed Booster for it yet. I believe they said they would have it released for March sometime. I can't afford the decent cine lenses from Zeiss or Canon so that leaves me with Rokinon cine lenses. From what I understand the Speed Booster gives you control over aperture through the FS100 and I would hope through the FS700 as well. From there you can go to manual focus and you have to use manual zoom, so it sort of gives you all the manual control you would need......that is........assuming......I am understanding everything properly.....LOL
 
gene_can_sing said:
You might want to check with Metabones if the Tamron and Sigma lenses will work. They might not since they are 3rd party and not the most popular lenses.

Also, if I had to choose between the regular Metabones or the Speed Booster, I would take the regular. I think the speed booster is just a bonus. Full frame is nice for artsy stuff, but super 35mm is more of a work horse, which is probably why it's been the film standard for decades.

If you're going all zooms, throw in a Tokina 11-16 f2.8. Great zoom.
Click to expand...

Great advice on checking the compatibility of those lenses with the NEX cameras. I really only care if the aperture control through the camcorder will work. I am fine with manual focus as I have an excellent field monitor to help with focusing.

The crop factor using meatbones speed booster make the 24-70 lens more like a 17-50mm. I don't think I will need anything wider than 17mm for now.....but I may stand to be corrected.

Im not sure I am understanding your point on full frame vs super 35mm. I am probably missing a very basic point that is going straight over my head. If you could elaborate a little more it might help me understand what you are trying to get across to me.

Cheers
Rob
 
Speed booster essentially turns your FS 700 from a super 35mm to a full frame camera like the 5D. You get wider angles, 1 stop faster so you get shallower DOF.
 
I just picked up the fs700 last week with the 18-200 kit lens. I also picked up all five Rokinon Cine lenses 8,14,24,35 and 85mm all in e-mount.
Coming from the AF100 and using Nikon lenses with clumsy adapters; there is something to be said for using lenses with the cameras native mount and no longer having to use an adapter. With that said I am very impressed with the rokinon lenses, I love that they are fully manual and actually have a real aperture ring.
The 24mm 35mm and 85mm are really impressive and fast at t1.5.
The 8mm fisheye and the 14mm are a little slower but are still very good.

Coming from a film background I've really missed using real cine lenses on my video cameras and dslr's.
I've been able to get by with still photo lenses but have always been a little disappointed with them.
The Rokinon Cine lenses are a very nice alternative if you can't afford to drop $20,000 dollars + on a set of pl cine lenses.
In my opinion I would rather use them than just about any other still photo lens on the market.
 
gene_can_sing said:
Speed booster essentially turns your FS 700 from a super 35mm to a full frame camera like the 5D. You get wider angles, 1 stop faster so you get shallower DOF.
Click to expand...

Gotcha - It was the 35mm part of your post that threw me for a loop, the rest is exactly how I understood the Speed Booster to work, thanks for the clarification
 
benniles said:
I just picked up the fs700 last week with the 18-200 kit lens. I also picked up all five Rokinon Cine lenses 8,14,24,35 and 85mm all in e-mount.
Coming from the AF100 and using Nikon lenses with clumsy adapters; there is something to be said for using lenses with the cameras native mount and no longer having to use an adapter. With that said I am very impressed with the rokinon lenses, I love that they are fully manual and actually have a real aperture ring.
The 24mm 35mm and 85mm are really impressive and fast at t1.5.
The 8mm fisheye and the 14mm are a little slower but are still very good.

Coming from a film background I've really missed using real cine lenses on my video cameras and dslr's.
I've been able to get by with still photo lenses but have always been a little disappointed with them.
The Rokinon Cine lenses are a very nice alternative if you can't afford to drop $20,000 dollars + on a set of pl cine lenses.
In my opinion I would rather use them than just about any other still photo lens on the market.
Click to expand...

I was going down the exact same path as you but it was that damn focal length gap in the Rokinon range, between the 35mm and 85mm, that kind of left a hole in my heart..lol You can't find a decently priced native 50mm manual lens option for e-mount. Granted Rokinon say they are "working on it" but I have no idea why they left the 50mm out of their lens range. Roki just released a 24mm Tilta Head which seems infinitely more complicated to create than prime 50mm lens, which then begs the question.....why?

I have had the same feeling as you in that I was trying to reconcile using various mounts and dealing with the crop factor for each of these mounts and just wanting some affordable native mount cine lenses. The kicker for me on the Metabones adapters was the ability to manually adjust aperture through the camera. Now granted this is not as desirable (to me at least) as just grabbing the aperture ring on your cine lens but it was a reasonable enough alternative for me. Throw in the fact that you get the extra stop of light and that seemed like a big bonus to me. The 2 EF mount lenses I am looking at, get me a wide focal range, my wife also has the Sigma F/2.8, 150-300mm, which with the crop factor basically gives me 17mm-210mm focal length at F/2 on some pretty decent glass. I was planning on filling in with the Rokinon's as I moved forward.
 
I am currently using the Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 and a Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 with the Metabones Smart Adapter on both the FS100 and FS700 and the results are nothing short of amazing! I rely on the 24-70mm for an interview lens and its amazingly crisp and produces great bokeh. The adapter functions as advertised on both lenses allowing for the cameras to control the iris. I would recommend having the lenses de-clicked.
 
srweaver69 said:
I am currently using the Tamron 24-70mm 2.8 and a Tamron 70-200mm 2.8 with the Metabones Smart Adapter on both the FS100 and FS700 and the results are nothing short of amazing! I rely on the 24-70mm for an interview lens and its amazingly crisp and produces great bokeh. The adapter functions as advertised on both lenses allowing for the cameras to control the iris. I would recommend having the lenses de-clicked.
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Awesome, I really appreciate the contribution, saves me some investigative work. I kind of figured the 3rd party lenses would work but I wanted to make 100% sure. I plan on using the 24-70mm for interviews as well. I was also wondering about the bokeh, so that is also good to hear. The only part I don't understand is that I didn't think that these lenses even came with aperture rings. I thought the only way to manage aperture was through the FS100/700. Let me know if I am missing something, thanks
 
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