New lens - help needed

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David Evans

Well-known member
Hi,

I have two lenses: Zeiss ZF 1.4 50mm and a Nikon 28mm f2.8 AIS. Both give me very different results, but now I'm trying to find a lens that could give me a normal FOV, but without the DOF issues of the 50mm lens I have. In other words, I want to be able to film two actors speaking to each other and having them both in focus at the same time without having to place them at the same exact distance from the camera... And, of course, still maintain that nice DOF on the background.

Sometimes this can be corrected by stopping down my 50mm lens, but many times I can't stop it that much. So I thought that a good solution would be to get a wider lens (not as wide as my 20mm 'cause that lens offers some distortion and it's designed for specific shots). So I thought maybe a Nikon 28mm f2 AIS would be a good choice. What do you guys think of this lens? Or maybe 28mm is too wide? I also thought about the Zeiss Distagon 35mm for Nikon. It has the right focal lenght but it's too expensive and I'm not sure it's worth it, especially when it comes to video and 35mm adaptors.

Any opinion and help is very welcome :)

Thanks!

David
 
What your asking your camera to do, isn't really possible without stoping down to F8 or F16, really what you want to to not be using a 35mm adaptor.

At FF35 normal is 50mm (Still Cameras, 5D and Most DOF Adaptors)
At S35 Normal is about 35mm (Arri Film Cameras, D90, 7D)
At 4/3 Normal is 25mm (GH1)
At 2/3 Normal is about 12mm (HPX500, DSR570 etc)
At 1/3 Normal is about 7mm (HVX200, Z1)

but as you reduce focal lenth to get equivlent FOV you deepen your DOF which is what you want.

Your DOF adaptor unless its a LEX ultimate can't stop down past 5.6 or F8 due to Ground Glass becoming visable. Now if your DOF adaptor is cool with being stopped right down, then you need more light, if you can't add more light, then your format is wrong, pickup a bare HVX200 and shoot it with that.
 
Thanks! I also wanted to buy another lens that would allow me to shoot close ups with huge bokehs in the background. I'm using the SGBlade as my 35mm adapter. Wich focal lenght should I choose? A Nikon 180mm would be good?

Thanks
 
David Evans said:
Thanks! I also wanted to buy another lens that would allow me to shoot close ups with huge bokehs in the background. I'm using the SGBlade as my 35mm adapter. Wich focal lenght should I choose? A Nikon 180mm would be good?

Thanks
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Anyone? I'm really interested in buying a very nice zoom lens that would give me huge bokehs for portraits. When I do a closeup I really feel the need to have those circles in the background. Is the Nikon 180mm too much?
 
If you want to do portraiture with a very soft focus like that, use something like an 85, 90, 100, or 105mm. And for that same effect be sure it's a bright lens, f2, maybe even f1.8 or if you can find one f1.4. The trade off is that it'll be a pain to get the focus dead on if you're using old manual lenses, in my opinion it's the best way to go, but understand it will take patience and tenacity.
 
armisiano said:
If you want to do portraiture with a very soft focus like that, use something like an 85, 90, 100, or 105mm. And for that same effect be sure it's a bright lens, f2, maybe even f1.8 or if you can find one f1.4. The trade off is that it'll be a pain to get the focus dead on if you're using old manual lenses, in my opinion it's the best way to go, but understand it will take patience and tenacity.
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Why would it be hard to pull focus using one of those lenses? Cause of the aperture? But closing the aperture would make things easier, right? I mean, will it be harder then focusing with a 50mm lens?

Thanks!!
 
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Some outside the box thinking would have me recommend testing a split field diopter or a slant focus lens. It's probably not the solution you are looking for, but I thought I'd help offer ALL possible solutions, although not the obvious or the best.
 
David Evans said:
Why would it be hard to pull focus using one of those lenses? Cause of the aperture? But closing the aperture would make things easier, right? I mean, will it be harder then focusing with a 50mm lens?

Thanks!!
Click to expand...



Yes, closing the aperture would make things easier, but if you do that you cannot have those large circles of bokeh you were saying you wanted. It's a trade off. Sorry.
 
David Evans said:
Hi,

I have two lenses: Zeiss ZF 1.4 50mm and a Nikon 28mm f2.8 AIS. Both give me very different results, but now I'm trying to find a lens that could give me a normal FOV, but without the DOF issues of the 50mm lens I have. In other words, I want to be able to film two actors speaking to each other and having them both in focus at the same time without having to place them at the same exact distance from the camera... And, of course, still maintain that nice DOF on the background.

Sometimes this can be corrected by stopping down my 50mm lens, but many times I can't stop it that much. So I thought that a good solution would be to get a wider lens (not as wide as my 20mm 'cause that lens offers some distortion and it's designed for specific shots). So I thought maybe a Nikon 28mm f2 AIS would be a good choice. What do you guys think of this lens? Or maybe 28mm is too wide? I also thought about the Zeiss Distagon 35mm for Nikon. It has the right focal lenght but it's too expensive and I'm not sure it's worth it, especially when it comes to video and 35mm adaptors.

Any opinion and help is very welcome :)

Thanks!

David
Click to expand...

I think you're asking too much of your cameras shooting like this. You might try using a 100mm lens and getting the camera as far back as you can to frame the actors as you like, but then you have sound problems. You could also rack focus, but I wouldn't try that with a standard still photo lens due to problems with breathing.

You could shoot a master two-shot, and then do DOF shots. I would look at some of Stanley Kubrick's films to see how he does it and cuts the scene together.
 
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