OM vs FD primes et al - does it actually matter?

[RandyQ]

I plan to purchase some vintage primes to use with a GH1, and I am wondering if the brand / model actually matters? Does it makes sense to get the SHARPEST 50mm prime, when video resolution is so much less than what these lenses can resolve?

I've been seeing tests that show OM 50mm primes (my personal choice) to be sharper than FDs, but does it really matter? I am aware that these tests are all for stills, which is a different ballgame altogether. Is all this pixel peeping irrelevant at 720P resolution?

Take note that we're comparing major brands here (canon, oly, nikon, etc). I'm thinking even more important is getting one of these in good condition, rather than the brand itself.

What do you guys think?

 

[MR Fanny]

i look at it as double investing, so i get a good stills lens aswell as for video. But if you are purely concerned about video then in my opinion it's not on the top of the list, speed and focal length rates higher. thats just my two cents though. I'm using contax zeiss myself but i have been eyeing out those OM's.

 

[thisisapocalypse]

i look at it as double investing, so i get a good stills lens aswell as for video. But if you are purely concerned about video then in my opinion it's not on the top of the list, speed and focal length rates higher. thats just my two cents though. I'm using contax zeiss myself but i have been eyeing out those OM's.

I think this is a good approach, as future m4/3 cameras are only going to get better and better as well, and the lens is the first link in the chain. I've never used OM lenses but I've heard wonderful things about them. I really like the Canon FD & FL lenses, they're cheap, plentiful, and very good - but I do have a couple of contax & rollei mount Zeiss lenses as well. For stills you can definitely tell the difference, and for video, while it may be true that it's at a lower resolution, I think getting the best lenses you can afford makes sense here, keep in mind that aside from sharpness, different lenses render images differently in other ways color/contrast and just overall "look" which isn't always captured in lens tests. The Zeiss lenses, for whatever reason, also tend to have better "focus falloff" in that for a given focal length and speed, they seem to get just a little bit more detail and sharpness even once things start getting out of focus, almost like it hangs on a little tighter, for a little bit longer, I'm not sure exactly why/how this is, but it's something you would definitely see even on GH1 video. Having a couple of Zeiss lenses in the bag also gives you that nice warm fuzzy feeling in knowing that you've always got a "great" lens on hand if you need it, especially west german made ones - those will give you really nice warm fuzzy feelings.

 

[RandyQ]

Having a couple of Zeiss lenses in the bag also gives you that nice warm fuzzy feeling in knowing that you've always got a "great" lens on hand if you need it, especially west german made ones - those will give you really nice warm fuzzy feelings.

I get a warm fuzzy feeling just THINKING about a Zeiss lens - and I dont even own one yet. Methinks I will be so warm and fuzzy when I actually own one that I will be unable to shoot it.

 

[Martti Ekstrand]

I'm thinking even more important is getting one of these in good condition, rather than the brand itself.

Bang on. Just make sure you can get a whole set of primes with the brand you chose if you want to be able to swap them quickly when shooting and not have to have use different adapters. As you say - we are using 18MB still resolution lenses for motion imaging at 2MB resolution, you have to get into some serious pixel pooping to see the difference in sharpness, the major thing to check is colour rendition and that it's fairly consistant between the lenses you use.

The Zeiss lenses are really good but the price of the ZF 21mm f/2.8 bought me my entire FD collection; 20mm 2.8, 24mm 2.0, 28mm 2.0, 35mm 2.0, 50mm 1.4 & 100mm 2.8 and a couple of cappuccinos. The price of the ZF 85mm got me a rod based hand held follow focus rig, matte box plus glass ND filters and some biscotti. All of which makes for a better set up when shooting video.

If I'd start working on some bigger project or get lots of commissions and a new GH* model is out with improved video encoding I'd probably get a Duclos cine-modded Zeiss set but right now these old FDs are perfectly fine for me. Both for video and stills.