GH3 Liking the GH3 + Rokinon Cine 85mm for Interviews

Looks Great Carlos! Is that Rokinon Cine 85mm a native micro 4/3 lens?
How does it compare for instance to the Olympus 75mm 1.8?
 
The Samyang lenses ( and all of the rebranded versions like Rokinon ) are manual, non-electronic lenses, that are a complete bargoon for the price.

Most people buy the Nikon F mount version because it can be adapted to the widest range of cameras, including Canon.

Samyang 85mm T1.5 Cine Lens for Nikon F : $349

Rokinon 85mm T1.5 Cine Lens for Nikon F : $349

...The Olympus 75mm f/1.8 is auto-focus, and optically one of the best lenses made for any format camera. Much sharper than the Samyang 85mm lens, but you would only really notice this with high resolution still photos. With video the difference won't be very noticeable.
 
Looks great! I love the 85mm.
If you're not used the Nikon way of focus rotation the EF mount is easier to work with. That drove me crazy and had to sell off my Nikon's.
 
Does anyone know what adapter ring (or recommend a good one) that I would need for the Rokinon to work on the GH3 if I wanted to go with the Rokinon EF mount lens?
 
ErikTande said:
Looks excellent, sound is really good too.
Click to expand...

Oktava MK-012 with a low-cut filter since there was a lot of air conditioner noise, computers humming and general office noise in the background including people walking into the shot.
If you have a quiet room the Oktava sounds even better without the low-cut filter. Juiced Link is on order and hopefully that will take the audio quality up another notch.
 
Does anyone have an opinion on which lens would be a better idea to purchase.
The Rokinon 85mm or the Olympus 75mm 1.8. I don't have any full frame lenses so I would also need to purchase an adaptor.
I realize the Olympus is twice the price of the Rokinon, but does it's advantages make up for the price difference?
 
I would prefer the Olympus 75mm, but the B&H price on that one is $900. They had a used Rokinon 85mm Cine lens in Nikon F mount for $289 so I "jumped" on that one immediately. My reasons for preferring the Olympus are size and weight mainly.

So far I'm happy with the performance of the Rokinon in early testing, I don't seem to be experiencing much if any flare and hazing but I use a lens hood whenever possible and that may be why.
 
Bruce Foreman said:
I would prefer the Olympus 75mm, but the B&H price on that one is $900. They had a used Rokinon 85mm Cine lens in Nikon F mount for $289 so I "jumped" on that one immediately. My reasons for preferring the Olympus are size and weight mainly.

So far I'm happy with the performance of the Rokinon in early testing, I don't seem to be experiencing much if any flare and hazing but I use a lens hood whenever possible and that may be why.
Click to expand...

The lens doesn't flare any worse than others but when it does it has a purple cast.

I did a quick comparison with the Zeiss CP 2 and the Rokinon 85mm.

 
Erik,

Thanks for that comparison, makes me wish I could have the budget for Zeiss lenses.

Your comparison did cause me to go out a second night and shoot the same test scenes with my Olympus 45mm. Different focal length, I know, but the 85mm may be a bit too "tight" for what I do (not in business, just do this on a personal level) and based on what my comparisons look like when I get them in an editor, I may just use the Oly for awhile and start saving up for the Olympus 75mm f1.8 if I feel I need that particular focal length.

Thanks again for sharing your comparison
 
Last edited:
Voodeux said:
Looks and sounds great. Care to share your lighting setup? Do I detect an LED panel for the key light?
Click to expand...

I used 5 led panels. It's almost a traditional 3 point light set up except I decided to boost the fill light so that it would be more even lighting but still keep some shadows like from her nose, and placed the hair light on the same side as the fill. The other two lights were used to light the office behind her. I used bi-color lights at the front dialed about half way in between 3200k and 5600k to warm her up a bit. The office had a lot of warm tones in it so I had the hair light and the two lights lighting the office daylight balanced to cool off some of the warm tones and make her skin tone seem a little warmer as compared to the rest of the scene. So basically 4400 k on her, 5600 k every where else and the GH3 was balanced somewhere in between the two somewhere around 5000 k but I don't remember exactly. If I need to match scenes I'll white balance more precisely and use a gray card or color chart but with run and gun quick interviews I usually just WB to taste. I used the Portrait Photo Style with the Noise Reduction dialed all the way down. I pulled the Contrast down 1. Left Saturation alone. And I pulled sharpness down -2. The GH3 over sharpens real bad at left at 0. I think pulling the sharpness all the way down to -5 doesn't just disable sharpness but at some point actively blurs the image slightly but that's just a guess. I wish there was a way of knowing for sure at what setting the camera was neither sharpening nor blurring the image but for now I'm using -2 for sharpening, -5 for noise reduction and the other settings can all vary depending on the situation.
 
Last edited:
Erik, thanks for the reply. the 4/3rds - micro 4/3rds format just slipped my mind. Thank you for the link I will check it out.
 
Erik, Would the combination of the Rokinon 85mm 4/3 lens and the Panasonic adapter to micro 4/3rds give me any kind of camera control over the lens
or would the lens still be completely manual?
 
mmaller said:
Erik, Would the combination of the Rokinon 85mm 4/3 lens and the Panasonic adapter to micro 4/3rds give me any kind of camera control over the lens
or would the lens still be completely manual?
Click to expand...
It should work with the Panasonic adapter but since I've never tried it I cant confirm. The lens is full manual so you could get a cheap dumb adapter and your good to go.
The description is confusing. It's a full frame 85mm lens with a 4/3 mount. I would like to see this one before I buy it.

From description on B&H

The 85mm f/1.4 Aspherical Lens for Olympus 4/3 from Rokinon gives you a medium telephoto field of view that's ideal for portraits. With hybrid aspherical lenses and multi-layer coating, you will produce sharply defined images with a minimum of flare and ghosting. The 85mm lens focuses as close as 3.3' (1.0 m) from the lens, and includes a lens hood. This lens is designed for use with full-frame film and digital cameras, and may also be used with cameras with APS-C sized sensors.

Bright f/1.4 medium telephoto portrait lens

Lens is constructed with hybrid aspherical elements for outstanding, sharply defined images

Lens features super multi-layer coating to reduce flare and ghost images

Lens has a minimum focusing distance of 3.3' (1.0 m) for enhanced portrait shotsDesigned for use with full-frame cameras, and may also be used with APS-C cameras

Removable lens hood included
 
Last edited:
All of these Samyang lenses are full manual, with no electrical contacts, no focusing motors inside. All adapters will work the same with this fully manual lens.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top