Poll: What are your preferred lenses looking at potential future productions?

Poll: What are your preferred lenses looking at potential future productions?

  • I prefer to rent in low-budget lenses like the Rokinon / Samyang or similar

    Votes: 1 7.7%

  • I prefer to use my OWN low-budget lenses like the Rokinon / Samyang or similar

    Votes: 6 46.2%

  • I prefer to rent in Canon EF L lenses

    Votes: 2 15.4%

  • I prefer to rent in Zeiss ZE / ZF lenses

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I prefer to rent cinema optics like CN-e or CP.2s no matter what I do.

    Votes: 4 30.8%
  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
legrevedotcom

legrevedotcom

Veteran
In short, if I ask you to look ahead, not behind you; what lenses would you prefer to use for indie film / low/mid-end commercial jobs / music videos etc.

I'm not talking high-end Coca Cola shoots or similar.

I talking bread and butter jobs, like doing a talking head production for a local medium sized company, or a food porn video for a food production company or local café, maybe your next short or a music video for that upcoming band.
 
Its a really personal question really - you and your focus puller if you have one.

Personally I have always used nikkor manuals and have from 10-600 - Im totally happy using them but cos they focus the wrong way that has impeded my use on other cameras and make my kit hard for other ops/pullers to handle.

So looking back I guess I wish I had started on Canon FD not Nikkor AI.

I think using a puller and stills lenses is questionable as the marks are so close together,

Certainly IMO electronic lenses of any nature should not be on the map!

So I feel for me Id use my Nikkors or want to move to having a puller and providing them with a full Preston/cinelens set up.. that is kind of a big leap in price level - Im not sure that there is really a valuable mid point.

One comment I have..

I shoot most shots that I do with a nikkor 35-70 manual that cost $200.

F3.5 gives round bokeh at sensible DOF and the range is good for most mids and CUs - So I have a rythym - do the master/wide with my 18/4 and then move to my 35-70 for the rest of the sequence.

Having super fast glass (eg 50 1.4) is a little pointless if you dont have an 18 1.4 (you wont!) to match it - you will be lighting to your slowest lens anyway.

You can shoot a feature with an 18/4 and a 35-70 3.5

Yes of course I had other lenses, 11-16 for tight corners and a 50-300 for distant work, but 90% 18 and 35-70!

one thing - you director will want wides.. anyone who says they have a 'set' of lenses that doesnt include a 14,16 or and 18 is talking BS

S
 
I purchased all of the SLR Magic mFT Cine lenses and am thrilled with them. Clickless apertures, rounded blades, fast, with a design focus on keeping them sharp wide open are what drew me to them in the first place. using them with a GH4 on my next movie.
 
It's really hard to say. I want to use the best glass I can get my hands on regardless of project unless there is a risk of damage. I prefer to own but with my Veydras I've probably gone as far down that route as I can. And if my next body isn't MFT, I'm screwed! I'm having a love-regret relationship with them right now. I can't part with my vintage Angenieux zoom. I'd be lying if it wasn't in part because I like to mention I have an Angenieux! I haven't been able to give up my speedbooster-Nikon AI/Ais combo yet either. Haven't used them since I got the Veydras but they still do the job if I need to turn my pocket S16 look into S35. Long story short, I keep buying lenses but I don't seem to sell them. It's a problem.
 
+1 for the Nikkor AI and AI-S lenses. That's what I use and you can get an entire set of them for $1,200 or less.

I like my vintage FDs, but I LOVE my vintage Nikkors.

I completely agree with Morgan Moore above. In fact the Nikkor 35-70 is on my camera right now. But I happen to like the focus direction of the Nikkors because it makes more sense to me direction-wise when I use a follow focus, which is almost always.
 
It's all dependent on the material/desired feel and budget, but my basic preferences are:

Low Budget: My lenses - a Contax Zeiss set, Canon L Zooms, and some sigma glass (most notably the excellent 18-35 1.8).
Mid Budget: CP2s (I personally really don't like these at all, but there are many sets out there renting for cheap), Leica R primes
Higher Budget: Ultra Primes, Schneider Cine Xenar IIIs (really like these, especially for what you can rent them for), S4/i or mini S4s
 
I own a set of CP.2s (which I adore) 21mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm (and am currently considering adding the 135mm to the set). These are my workhorses on every shoot, and I supplement them with Nikon mount zooms as required, 70-200mm, 17-55mm, 11-16mm to cover those rare shots that require a more extreme focal length.

I also have a few of the dirt cheap Rokinon f/1.4 primes (24mm, 35mm and 85mm) for those times where having that extra stop of exposure is more important than pure image-quality (though the reality is, I've only ever used the 24mm once, and the others have never even been on my camera - but it's nice to know they're there in an emergency).

My first camera was the Sony F3 and my current one is the F5, which both featured the marvellous FZ-mount, which allows for the easiest (secure) lens mount changes on any camera out there.

So generally when I rent, it's only to bring in specialty lenses: macros or super telephotos. There are certainly projects where I'd much rather have PL-mount zooms, and others where a set of Master Primes to provide high image quality at T/1.3 would be a great boon... but I'm not yet working on projects with the budgets to support those kinds of lens packages yet. Soon though I hope.
 
Sorry, I can't answer your poll as there is not one set of lenses to rule them all. It really depends on the job and the budget. When I do rent its Cooke primes most of the time.
 
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Grug said:
I supplement them with Nikon mount zooms as required, 70-200mm, 17-55mm, 11-16mm to cover
Click to expand...

How do you like the Nikon 17-55? I've been looking for a touch extra reach over my Sigma 18-35 and can't stand the mechanics of the Canon 17-55. 17-55 is probably my most used focal lengths.

Also I'm debating instead forgoing the 35-50 focal length and getting the Sigma 50-150 as I don't currently have a long zoom and need to add one but don't shoot with one often.


To stay on topic here I'm firmly in the owning cheaper Rokinon or Nikon vintage glass and then renting the better glass when budgets permit. At least I am covered for the cheaper jobs and with budgets trying to squeeze the last dollar and the overall performance of Rokinons/Nikon AIS, I don't find myself renting much.
 
I LOVE my vintage Leica-R set. Not the cheapest vintage lenses but definitely worth the price if you ask me. Nikkor AI or AIS would be a cheaper alternative that's still pretty good. They all have an additional advantage over many modern lenses: fully manual and easily adaptable, they make you camera-agnostic. I've already switched from Canon to Sony without having to sell and buy lenses, and may move to Samsung if the NX1 keeps getting better.
 
For years I rented Canon L primes for bread and butter jobs and had a set of vintage Pentax Super Takumars for low-budg stuff. I recently upgraded to a set of vintage Leica R primes for bread and butter stuff, but for high-end work I've always rented true cine lenses: Zeiss, Red primes, Cooke, Canon cine primes, etc. Take your pick. That said, I couldn't be happier with the Leica R lenses. They've raised my day-to-day production value and saved me trips to the rental house.
 
FrameFarmMedia said:
How do you like the Nikon 17-55? I've been looking for a touch extra reach over my Sigma 18-35 and can't stand the mechanics of the Canon 17-55. 17-55 is probably my most used focal lengths.
Click to expand...

It's a lovely piece of glass, sharp as a tack and lovely contrast. But like all auto-focus still zooms, it's crippled for motion work by its minuscule focus rotation and lack of hard stops. For me, it's the lens I take travelling when I know that I won't have to make repeatable focus pulls and need to save space/weight in my luggage.

So lovely optics, with the usual auto-focus lens caveats.
 
Grug said:
It's a lovely piece of glass, sharp as a tack and lovely contrast. But like all auto-focus still zooms, it's crippled for motion work by its minuscule focus rotation and lack of hard stops. For me, it's the lens I take travelling when I know that I won't have to make repeatable focus pulls and need to save space/weight in my luggage.

So lovely optics, with the usual auto-focus lens caveats.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the feedback. You have confirmed my thoughts. I've come to accept lack of hardstops for a decent zoom (I do love the 18-35 Sigma). I hope to get hands on with it to see if the mechanics I can bear. I've wanted to like the Canon 17-55 but after a year of use I just concluded I just couldn't live with it. Nice and sharp but physically it was a bear to work with.
 
Call me wacky but I have a 18 -35 Sigma with a Vid-Atlantic cinemorph filter on it... It's like butter with unicorn sparkles on it. (can you fall in love with a chunk of gear?)
 
The reason for me asking was not so much for myself in terms of shooting, but because I run a small time rental business on the side of my main job as photographer.

I was looking to invest in glass and needed some input as to the habits of potential clients, but from the looks of it, time has run out for the medium budget lenses like the Zeiss ZEs which I had an offer out on.
I already own various Canon L lenses but I'm not confident that me having a set of Zeiss 21, 35, 55Otus, 85 and 100 macro would mean that people would come running for them.

I also suspect that we are at the cusp of a change in the way we use and handle lenses in the medium segment.

The arrival of Aputures adapter with the ability of adjusting focus with a remote, could herald a new age where people accept the limitations of photography lenses and learn how to use them very effectively.
So I'll put off the investment for now.

Thank you for all your input!!
 
If I were looking to rent lenses I would look to keep it simple.

Otus? wtf

Manual contax or FD all prepped with focus rings to equalise the OD and fronts to equalise them at 77mm thread 80mm OD

S
 
I love my Otus :) it is a very good lens. But Ill be honest and say I will sell it off within the next 6 months... In regards to the contax, I would love to own a set of those, but they are rarely sold around here and I dont buy optics 2nd hand online without being able to hold it in my hand.
 
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