Let's talk glass: Lenses for the AF100!

Maybe a silly question but could you use lenses from an old Mamiya? If so what kind of adapter would you have to use? BTW I find this forum very useful and informative. Thanks
 
Dino said:
Wow, really liking the Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 wide angle zoom!
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+1 I love that lens, as does everyone I know who has tried it. Great piece of glass. As I tell people, there is a reason why companies rehouse this lens as cine-glass... I seriously consider it some of the best money I have ever spent on glass. My only ***** is that it does not have an aperture ring, but I don't really care as it is that good, and just deal with it with the adaptor.
 
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Steve Kahn said:
The slr zooms I've used don't have a stick - but that would be a great little mod - just drill a bit and screw one in.

I've pulled zoom as well but could never as smoothly as a camcorder motor zoom.
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Not pretty, but you could probably do a stick mod to any zoom lens using a large enough hose clamp for the diameter of the lens barrel. I'm going to have to try this on my 14-140, which is stiff as hell for zooming. For what ever reason going from long to wide isn't to bad but a lot more torque seems to be needed zooming in.
 
What is the difference between the Zeiss ZE lenses and the ZF lenses besides the mounts and manual iris?

Is a manual iris preferred?
 
Your crop factor is only 1.4X according to the Able Cine chart. Your 50mm is a 70mm and your 85mm is a 119mm. Someone please correct me if I'm wrong. Barry?
 
I heard that the ZF glass is the same as the CP2 glass. CP 2 is made much more robust and cine-ified for production.
 
Bern Caughey said:
While the manual iris of the ZF is desirable, & easy to de-click, they focus in the opposite direction of cine, & ZE, glass.
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Which is only an issue if the rest of your set is not Nikon, lol... I find it only takes a shot or two going from my Nikon set to a PL or whatever set to get back into the habit of which way they twist. You get use to the fact nikons turn backwards, and deal with it. Frankly any lens that is a nikon mount and twists the normal way is almost a deal breaker for me... Nikon mounted lenses twist backwards, it is just a fact of life.
 
I recently found a couple of lenses in the attic from an old Praktica camera: Opteco 35mm f2.8 and Opteco 135mm f2.8. Has anyone got any info on these? been looking around on the net but can't seem to find much on them. would be great to find a reliable source like the Rokkor files. I will order a M42 to M4/3 adapter to do some tests, since i can't use them on the Praktica anymore (camera is broken).
 
BNCR Mount at work

BNCR Mount at work

I think somebody was asking about a BNCR to M43 adapter in one of these threads. I have one from Ciecio7 on Ebay and it works beautifully, shims, and is rock solid. Here it is with Gary Watson and his 10-120 cine zoom lens (it's quite heavy)--I am testing the PL mount I have from Hot Rod cameras with Arri Alura's in one hour. Will post photos this afternoon.
 

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Alura with Hotrod PL mount

Alura with Hotrod PL mount

Texcam in Houston was kind enough to let me and AC John Sheeren test their new Alura's. Perfect fit, no vignetting on the 18-80 either.
 

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Anyone using the voitlander nikon mt offerings. The 40mm and 58mm look interesting as a modern full manual option for about 1/3 the price of zeiss. The 20mm is slow at 3.5, but so are the wider zeiss options.
 
Zak Forsman said:
bought a few to round out the collection of Nikon AIS manual focus lenses. have the metabones mount and the following at my disposal. can't wait to play.

16mm f/2.8
24mm f/2.0
35mm f/1.4
50mm f/1.2
85mm f/2.0
135mm f/2.0
300mm f/4.5
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Hi there, I have many of these Nikon primes myself. Just a quick question. I'm of the understanding that a decent fast prime lens, like a Nikon AIS lens, will always be sharper than a zoom lens. Is this true? I am about to shoot a series of interviews with my Nikons around Europe over the coming month - but when I need to change the framing of a shot using my Nikon primes, I have to change the lens. If a zoom lens offered the same picture quality, sharpness as a prime, I would probably switch to using one to make life easier. But the picture from the Nikon's looks sooo good - I just don't know if a zoom could match it! What's your experience? Cheers, Sparky
 
Sparky: There's the rub. Here's my take on shooting interviews. While it's true that primes are nearly always sharper, changing lenses during an interview can be disruptive. In our case we go out of the way to be sure the subject is comfortable so we can get the most natural responses - but stopping to change a lens is contrary to that. When I shoot film, changing magazines is something I do very quietly and unobtrusively while the audio (double system of course) keeps rolling. That audio can then be used VO later.

Now, with primes on the AF, in lieu of a good zoom (I shoot handheld), I am recording double system again, to allow changing lenses without stopping the interview.

I do have a Zuiko 14-54, which is quite sharp, but I've gone into detail here about why I don't like using it - aperture change when the light changes!

If you are in a controlled environment, though, working on a tripod, there are affordable zoom choices that in some cases are as sharp as old primes. And sometimes it's better to sacrifice "resolution" for convenience.
 
I have the Novoflex, the tokina 11-16 f2.8, the sigma 17-50f2.8 all nikon mount, and am going to be purchasing an older f mount 105mm nikon prime, that f3.5 8mm fisheye russian made off amazon, and hopefully some other primes. I also have the pancake 20mm lumix, but my favorite lens is the sigma nikon mount.
 
Lenses, the AF100, and this imperfect world

Lenses, the AF100, and this imperfect world

Basically always end up doing TV interview where they always ask - do you mind zooming? so unless I'm missing something radical and there really is a cine zoom lens out there somewhere - here's what I've been doing -

Olympus 35-105 one touch 3.5
Olympus 65-200 f4
and I also use the Panasonic 14-45 4. whatever lens

If I have a little more control over the situation, I break out the Olympus primes
24 f2
35 f2
50 f1.4
85 f2
100 f2.8
105 Nikon Micro 2.5 Macro
135 f2.8
180 f2.8

Occasionally I forget and pop a Canon 24-105 on the body, and then of course you confront the you don't have an f-stop ring reality.

So old lenses, manual focus, manual iris. Olympus made great lenses, no doubt about it. If anyone is scrambling to buy lenses, I suggest KEH in Atlanta - why buy on eBay when you can buy at almost the same prices from a known entity and can easily return if not satisfied.

Abel Cine has a mount to put your broadcast lens on, but it costs you over a stop and 4k and so it's not a great solution. The micro 4/3rd lenses tend to have distinct iris changes throughout the zoom range as they are still lenses. I do not see this artifact in the older lenses, even if you are losing stop. I don't think glass has gotten appreciably better over time. It's not an easy camera to outfit, it's not a run and gun camera, but it's a good picture and step up from the HVX200 for sure.

f
 
so unless I'm missing something radical and there really is a cine zoom lens out there somewhere
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You are missing the fact that there are plenty of "cine zoom" lenses out there and they will work with an AF100 camera with appropriate adapters.

Most common and convenient would be PL mount lenses ( zoom lenses)
 
The Nikon 17-55mm has been a workhorse for me. I didn't realize how much I would be using it. The aperture seems to get nudged every now and then when zooming, but then again it's more a variable prime then a zoom. Snap zooms are still possible though.
 
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