New TV Zoom Nab -- 14-70mm Fujinon

pomoville

Well-known member
I remember when affordable HD cameras started shipping, there was a lot of discussion about the lens options and whether or not they could actually resolve HD, since they were just legacy SD television glass. Is this something to worry about with all these old TV zooms? Of course, some of the old "TV" zooms were used on 16mm film cameras, so maybe it's not an issue.

I have an old fast Canon zoom (I think it was originally coupled with a 16mm cam) that I've used on the GH1. I like the image, but it vignettes across the entire range. I don't think the c-mount is fitting correctly, because I have to be several feet away to focus on anything.
 
I remember when affordable HD cameras started shipping, there was a lot of discussion about the lens options and whether or not they could actually resolve HD, since they were just legacy SD television glass. Is this something to worry about with all these old TV zooms? Of course, some of the old "TV" zooms were used on 16mm film cameras, so maybe it's not an issue.

I'd really doubt it's an issue - HD isn't very high resolution when it comes down to it (at least when you're talking photographically) - I'll bet there are very few lenses that don't outresolve 1920x1080.
 
i really want a lens that does that 70's zoom in and out without losing focus. will these lenses do it? what kind of mount do they normally have at the back and how does one go about making it fit onto a gh1?
 
I think they're all c mounts. Some at least should work but they'll vignette on gh1. For gh2 with its improved digital zoom they should hopefully work great.
 
70's in out? you mean like the perspective effect created zooming out while pushing in? You can do that with any zoom.
 
I think he means those monster push zooms, like in any 70's action film. Watch black dynamite for a hilarious takeoff of this.
 
Pomoville, do they vignette throughout the whole zoom range? yeah digital zoom on the gh1 is a shocker. my first clip shot on the gh1 looked terrible until i realised i had digital zoom on =)

ha...yes dan, those kick ass zooms.

tonpole.... that effect would be nice to, just can't do it with the kit zoom lens though with no constant aperture. I always thought that with photo zoom lenses focus is lost when zooming in and out for reasons unbeknown to me..lol.
 
I think they do vignette all through out, I'm still waiting on my c-mount adapter from Hong Kong. Check Seb Farges' videos on Vimeo, though, there are some zooms that don't vignette all that much -- with these you can chop 720 out of your 1080p video to get good footage (or keep the mild vignette for its own appeal.)

Kit lens can be constant if you bump it to F5.8 when you're at 14mm, but the focus doesn't remain consistent throughout, you're right. Autofocus on there adjusts pretty quickly, however, although I'm not quite sure how it'd end up looking.
 
I think they do vignette all through out, I'm still waiting on my c-mount adapter from Hong Kong. Check Seb Farges' videos on Vimeo, though, there are some zooms that don't vignette all that much -- with these you can chop 720 out of your 1080p video to get good footage (or keep the mild vignette for its own appeal.)

As I mentioned earlier, the c-mount zoom that I use vignettes throughout the range. But again, I don't know if it's mounting correctly because minimum focusing distance is something like 6 feet and that can't be right. Apparently not all c-mounts are created equally.

I do exactly what you suggest: shoot 1080 and put on a 720 timeline at something like 80% scale (going from memory). Without doing this, the vignette is anything but mild.
 
I do exactly what you suggest: shoot 1080 and put on a 720 timeline at something like 80% scale (going from memory). Without doing this, the vignette is anything but mild.

I suppose mild isn't quite the right word, but some lenses give an image that fills a fair portion of the frame.
 
I went ahead and bought the Tamron 10-100mm F1.6, the Fujinon 15-70 F2, and a Kowa 17-102mm F2. They're all actually pretty decent looking, although the Tamron's a B4 mount (I'm still hoping for a fairly cheap B4 adapter, although I'm going to try to epoxy an M42 mount on there.)

Still waiting on my C-mount adapter from Hong Kong, when I get it I'll do some image tests.
 
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