Lenses for high school student film project

IronFilm said:
It is too late to change your mind on the purchases?

As I reckon your first mistake was buying Sony cameras. They're more expensive in that they don't provide the same value as Panasonic does.

The Panasonic G7 is dirt cheap and 4K!

Although as you went with a6000 then 1080 cameras like the Panasonic G6 or secondhand GH2 would also be a great pic. And you wouldn't have the flaws (overheat!!!) that the a6000 has.

This would have left more money in your budget for lenses. And again, go secondhand and you can easily pick up a good little collection for a couple of grand.
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I strongly disagree. I owned 3x GH2s back when they were the hottest thing going, and a G6 for while since it was the "spiritual successor" of the GH2 that used the same batteries, etc. First of all, the GH2 only looked good when hacked IMO, and then you are dealing with a very difficult codec for newbies (high bitrate and unstable playback in some NLEs due to the unexpected size per frame), not to mention I don't want to go hacking the school's cameras. Don't get me wrong, they were my main cameras for years, eventually going alongside my Sony cams before finally going all-in with Sony. I wouldn't go back now, I did not like the colors out of that generation of Panasonic cameras and have plenty of reasons I prefer to teach the kids on a Sony system (we started off with my A7S as the demo camera before the school started making purchases, and they have a clear upgrade path in the future if they wanted to go with an FS5 or A7S series body).

In my experience, the built in focus assist tools are miles better than the GH bodies of that generation (although now that we're using a monitor, I suppose it is less of an issue), and the overheating issue was largely rectified by a firmware update years ago. My a5100 still overheats because it is too small, but I haven't had an A6k overheat since the update years back. I held on to my GH2 family for a while because they were great for long-form recording (2+ hour events, concerts, etc), but behind closed doors strongly preferred the look coming out of my Sony cams. Eventually the Sony PlayMemories side-loaded app came around that removed the recording limit on my A7 and NEX bodies, and I officially had no reason to hold onto my Micro 4/3 cameras anymore, so I sold them all, along with their adapters.
There are times that I miss them, heck there are times I miss Magic Lantern on my Canon bodies, but I've been around and consider myself platform agnostic these days, not playing fanboy and just picking the tools that make the most sense for the job at hand. Considering the school wanted new bodies that they could get a warranty with and/or return if needed, the A6000 made the most sense, and gives them a clear upgrade path if they decide in the future to continue this program and want an a6500/a7000/A7s/FS/etc, and continue using things the way they have them now. You can get them now for under $500 with a warranty, and that was a pretty solid bang-for-buck compared to any current selling Panasonic system.

Anyway, I appreciate the comments, but that's not really what I was here to discuss. I'm trying to talk about lenses only right now, and to be honest the whole vintage thing is a hard sell for the aformentioned reasons (they want to buy new stuff so that if there's a problem, there is a warranty). I tried to explain that old lenses have a value and are mechanical so things don't suddenly fail like new electronics do. They're willing to try that.

And there is plenty of older APS-C lenses you could have purchased. Such as the Tamron 17-50mm f2.8 or Sigma 16-50mm f2.8
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For E-mount? No.
You mean with an EOS adapter? I owned one of those Tamrons for EOS mount, I actually sold here for about $200 a couple of years ago. The problem with going EOS mount is that while I save money without a speedbooster element, I then have to pay more for the primes I'd want vs a vintage mount like FD.
 
UPDATE: Ok, actually I just did some price comparing, and it looks like the price difference for used EOS vs FD is not as much as I thought for primes in the f/2.8 range. In the faster glass models like a 50/1.4 the price difference is compelling (like half), but I don't think they can afford a lot of f/1.4 primes outside of maybe just a fifty so they have the option to go faster.

But that's actually an interesting point, maybe rather than going so vintage, I should go EOS adapter? It doesn't have to be metabones, I'm happy with my Commlite and Sigma MC-11, the only time I would go Metabones is for the focal reducer glass. I've owned knock offs like the RJ Camera and Lens Turbo, and they're ok but sometimes get weird ghosting flares if you don't know what you are doing w/ lighting. And these are high school kids, I want to give them less to worry about, not more. :)

But another advantage might be that if I get, for example, the Sigma 17-50/2.8, we get OIS which might help the students. Or, maybe even the classic Canon L 24-105/4, which is a favorite of mine on my A7S because of the stabilization all the way through and how cheap they are, and get that with a speedbooster. I'll get them a bit more reach without having to change lenses, and an effective f/2.8 throughout the zoom range.

Oh man, too many choices... :/
 
M. Gilden said:
UPDATE: Ok, actually I just did some price comparing, and it looks like the price difference for used EOS vs FD is not as much as I thought for primes in the f/2.8 range. In the faster glass models like a 50/1.4 the price difference is compelling (like half), but I don't think they can afford a lot of f/1.4 primes outside of maybe just a fifty so they have the option to go faster.

But that's actually an interesting point, maybe rather than going so vintage, I should go EOS adapter? It doesn't have to be metabones, I'm happy with my Commlite and Sigma MC-11, the only time I would go Metabones is for the focal reducer glass. I've owned knock offs like the RJ Camera and Lens Turbo, and they're ok but sometimes get weird ghosting flares if you don't know what you are doing w/ lighting. And these are high school kids, I want to give them less to worry about, not more. :)

But another advantage might be that if I get, for example, the Sigma 17-50/2.8, we get OIS which might help the students. Or, maybe even the classic Canon L 24-105/4, which is a favorite of mine on my A7S because of the stabilization all the way through and how cheap they are, and get that with a speedbooster. I'll get them a bit more reach without having to change lenses, and an effective f/2.8 throughout the zoom range.

Oh man, too many choices... :/
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I think you should start with a nice zoom and see where it goes from there...can you add lenses later?
 
NorBro said:
I think you should start with a nice zoom and see where it goes from there...can you add lenses later?
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I'm not in charge what they do later, I'm giving them a crash course and buying equipment with their budget, then they are on their own to shoot the production in March. I might be on hand if they have questions, but I think they want to have bought everything already beforehand.

I think what I'll do, now that I've thought this over more, is get them the Sigma 17-50/2.8 and the MC-11 adapter. I'll also throw in either a nifty 50/1.8 or 1.4, just so they have one for wider aperture scenes. Actually, it might make more sense to get them a 35mm since it is APSC, but those get pricey at wide apertures. I think one prime and one zoom should be enough to get them going. They're likely not shooting anything that would require an 85 or longer, especially considering how likely the are to touch the camera and get some shake in the footage already. :)
 
M. Gilden said:
For E-mount? No.
You mean with an EOS adapter? I owned one of those Tamrons for EOS mount, I actually sold here for about $200 a couple of years ago. The problem with going EOS mount is that while I save money without a speedbooster element, I then have to pay more for the primes I'd want vs a vintage mount like FD.
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I was meaning for Nikon F mount.

A wide range of very affordable Nikon and third party lenses, and the adapters are far cheaper for Nikon F than Canon EF mount. (and you have less problems too with Nikon adapters because they're purely mechanical)
 
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