Some Lens Facts

J

JohnnyD

Well-known member
Interesting reading about SD-HD lens.

Through my years shooting stills, film and video, I have gathered some pretty good info about lenses.

I'm in the Los Angeles area. While shopping for lenses for my Nikon still camera,
I've had the benefit of trying different lenses of the same model. I've found not all lenses of the same model are equally sharp. Most are pretty good, but a few I have found are a little bit softer and some a little bit sharper. Whether it's in the polishing stage or assembly, I don't know. But there can be a difference. Same with the highly rated Zeiss lenses for my Hasselbald. Found a used 150mm Zeiss at a store for a GREAT price. Well, that lens was as soft as a coke bottle.

So, the same thing applies to our video lenses. I have found you or I might have a softer or sharper lens of the same model. I said might, because most of time they're equal. But I have seen some exceptions.

Also, certain lenses made for an old tube camera like the Sony M3 I had, won't work with a CCD camera. I learned the hard way when I bought a new M7 and
went on a job,,,, and couldn't focus past 10 feet, no matter what I tried to do,,, Back Focus,etc. Had to run down to my dealer and purchase a CCD lens.

So try a SD lens for the HPX500. You might have one of the sharper lens.

By the way, I'll be shooting my first HD job with my new 500 next week, and I'll be using one of my sharper SD broadcast Canon lens.

JohnnyD
 
Yeah, Johnny, did you miss the top sticky thread in this forum? There's hundreds of posts dealing with this very topic.
 
Yep, read it, good stuff. I was mainly talking about the same model of lens, where some are a little better or a little worse. I have two old Pegusus II lens, exact same model, but one is a little bit sharper. Or is that, one is a little bit softer.

I'm trying to find the pic of an old Panny tube camera that I fitted a Pentax 400mm
still 35mm camera lens on. I used it to shoot planes in Utah coming right toward me on the runway. What a shot. I fitted a Sony B4 mount to the lens and made a support. I'm going to try it on my 500. This was a direct connection, no extra lens conversion. You can do this with only telephoto lens. Wide angle lenses don't work directly because the rear element can't get close enough to the camera prizm.

JohnnyD
 
In the old days lens manufacturers would send 3 or 4 lens to the DP before the shoot. He'd check them out and keep the best of them for the show. I think in the past there was a lot more variation in lenses. I know calculating lens formula was pretty heavy lifting before fast computers.
 
JohnnyD said:
I was mainly talking about the same model of lens, where some are a little better or a little worse. I have two old Pegusus II lens, exact same model, but one is a little bit sharper. Or is that, one is a little bit softer.
JohnnyD
Click to expand...

Oh I see. Yeah, they can definitely vary a bit. Even the Canon J15x9.5's that we have vary from one lens to the next just slightly. You really can't tell withot looking at them very closely side by side on broadcast monitors, but ther eis some difference.
 
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