Starter Lenses

J

jjraabe

Member
I'm starting my investigation into the whole 35mm world, and expanding my HVX setup and I was looking for some advice.

I'm currently looking at either the Letus Extreme (for the minimal light loss since the HVX is a black hole) or the Redrock )for the beauty/$ ratio).

I'm looking to get a set of 2-3 lenses and I'm looking for suggestions. They don't have to zeiss, actually I'd prefer Nikon or Canon, so they're cheaper.

Yeah, I know that some of you are going to say its worth it to just spend the money now for a top quality lens or a dif 35mm.

But in terms of what lenses I should get (size etc) I know very little. What do you guys suggest? Please spell it out for me if you don't mind.
 
decide first what mount your going with...
"spell it out"... go Canon EOS mount-get the best of both Nikon/Canon worlds
then get the Zeiss
 
Dont forget the SgPro man...

A standard prime set is around these: 28mm, 50mm, 85mm, and go as fast as you can afford. I myself have a 20,28,35,50,55,105,135,35~105,28~80,and a 70~300 all nikon mount, they are all nikkors except for the last 2 zooms (Sigma) and the 20mm(Vivitar)


I love nikkor glass tho, But I have seen great things from Canon F's and Pentex K's also


Jon
 
Grab a fast lens... f1.4 50mm Nikkors are cheap on ebay.

You'll need the fastest glass you can afford for low light situations.


My favorite lens is my 35mm Nikkor f2. Which is on my camera about 80% of the time.
 
Nikons use the same mount which is great where as Canon EOS and FD aren't interchangeable.

I use Canon FD lenses and their very nice and pretty cheap too. I'd recommend the 24mm 2.8, 50mm 1.8 and then a longer lens like a 135mm or so (then get the 85mm 1.8 when you got the money).

Google EVERY lense before you buy - you can find a review for most lenses you'll come across. You want the fastest lenses you can afford, that'll mean 1.8 (prefferably) or 2.8 (you may come across faster than 1.8).

Ian
 
Personally I wouldnt go the FD route unless I already had an FD collection or FD camera. In fact, I have EOS mount and some 20 lenses from different manfctr's but not a single Canon lens... but I do have Nikons, Zeiss, Leica, Takumar, and Tamron SP. All without the "optical"/glass adapter because EOS has one of the shortest registers from lens to sensor. My adapters include Pentax screw, Leica-R, Contax, Nikon, and the Adaptall... all for EOS!
 
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tmnt said:
Doesn't that throw things out of whack with 35mm adaptors though?
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yes it does. theses adapters suck even for cameras. forget compatibility. just pick one. it doesn't matter really. everybody seems to go nikon which is great glass. however canon fd is equally great and tends to be cheaper since it's technically obsolete. i have all fd glass and it's kickass.

if you intend to go zeiss later, i think they all use nikon mount.
 
cheezweezl said:
if you intend to go zeiss later, i think they all use nikon mount.
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The Contax Zeiss uses the same optical scheme as the German Zeiss AE's and its a wonderful lense for both 35mm DOF adapter and SLR/dSLR. Its 1/2 the price [ or less] vs the Nikon ZF's and the focus wheel spins in a cinema lens fashion. A very popular EOS adapter... Contax to EOS. Also gaining recognition here on DVXuser. Many older Zeiss come in M42 Pentax screw... another EOS adapter.
I'm just suggesting to the original poster of this thread that if he's not married to a lens system already, be it Nikon or FD/Canon, to consider what diversity the "mount" will give him, where as if he just buys the first lens that comes along he may be trapped by the descision he's/she's made.
 
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I wouldn't go Canon EOS. They're great lenses, but it's a pain to have to take them off and change the iris on a still camera body. Bought an EOS mount for my Extreme and tried it on a 50mm 1.8; results were nice, better than my current 50mm 1.8 FD, but I just couldn't deal with the iris issue.

I recommend the same lenses as tmnt. A 24mm, 50mm are a must, but I would go 85mm or 105mm rather than 135 for the telephoto. I love my FD 135mm, it's VERY sharp, even wide open, and the DOF is simply gorgeous when you have the space to use it, but most of the time it's too tight to use.
 
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