FS7: Super 16mm or 16mm Lenses on FS7?

K

Killick

Active member
With center scan now being available on the firmware 3.0 update, I was wondering if anybody has tested any super 16 or 16mm lenses on the FS7. Seems like most mount adapters are available.

Really am specifically interested in the zooms. Would be great to be able to use a nice vintage zoom for some projects. I see a few in the market place but most good ones seem to be $5k and up. Anybody have experience with the Angenieux 12-120 or a similar lens that may be more affordable?

Ryan
 
If you don't own them already it's almost impossible to find lenses in good condition for a reasonable price. These lenses had a hype with the S16 format of the BMPCC. I was looking for a Schneider Variogon 18-70 2 1/2 yrs ago and in a short time the prices raised from 350€ to 800€ and more. It isn't even a Angenieux or a Arri Zeiss! Be carefull with lens mount and sensor size. Make sure it really covers the center scan. There are a lot of different frame sizes.
 
BMPCC jacked up their prices unreasonably high, so unless you've got a specific one at hand, probably not worth bothering with now.
 
After some digging I'm actually finding a few that are reasonably priced. So back to my first question... has anybody tried one on an FS7 yet?

Also wondering what some of your favorite super 16 zooms are if you have experience with any of them?
 
I tried the new center scan mode with an S16 Canon 8-64 t2.4 and a Metabones PL mount adapter. Worked great in my brief test: didn't notice any vignetting over the entire zoom range. Particularly since it's geared for a follow focus, I think that this will be my new go-to lens for event/performance coverage. (I've used the Sony 28-135 f4, which produces an excellent image but just doesn't go wide enough for me. I otherwise use a Contax 28-85 f3.3-4 with a speedbooster, which I quite like. The Canon S16 zoom is the FF35 equivalent of a 24-180 or the S35 equivalent of a 16-135.)

As will not be a surprise, I had previously used the lens with a BMPCC.

It definitely has that "vintage" look people chase by using filters and diffusion with modern lenses. It's very dreamy and soft wide open and at the long end, but sharpens up quite quickly-- noticeably from 2.8 on. Very nice sense of dimension, not much distortion at the wide end.

I also have a PL-mount Zeiss 9.5mm t1.3 superspeed mkI. Just barely covers S16, but I had never had a problem with coverage on the BMPCC. Will give this a try soon as well. I will pair it with an Aspheron for an ultra-wide angle of view-- something like a 18mm on FF35/12mm on S35.
 
I wish my local rental houses stocked S16 lenses. These would be perfect 1 lens solutions for doc work where I can't change lenses.
 
Yeah that Canon looks like a lovely lens, but also on the higher end of the market.

Would regular 16 lenses cover the sensor in center scan mode?
 
Agree with Ned-- while I do not know the actual physical dimensions of the center scan sensor area on the FS7, if it actually is Super 16-sized, you're likely to have problems with regular 16. I don't have any regular 16mm lenses to test.

If you want to get into it, though, there's a good resource: the boards where people traded information on which vintage lenses cover the sensor of the BMPCC. There are certainly some 16mm lenses that offer extra coverage-- these are generally going to be longer focal lengths or just the longer end of a zoom. But it'll be hit and miss-- mostly miss. And even when a given regular 16mm lens covers all of super 16, you may find that the edges of the image are noticeably weak-- very soft, dark, etc.

As for less expensive super 16 zooms, you could check out some of the older Angenieux zooms. I gave the 15-150 a try on the BMPCC at a rental place, it looked pretty good. But in my opinion, it's really best used if your main goal is to get a vintage look-- the one I tried was reasonably sharp, but not in the same category as the Canon s16 zoom. The other thing about this particular Angenieux for me was that it also wasn't particularly wide (the field of view of 15mm on S16 is something like 40mm or 45mm on FF35), so it wouldn't have been that useful for me. If you need a lot of reach and are into the look, though, this might be one to try. Be sure to read up on specifics, though (match focal range and t-stop, don't assume)-- there are a number of older Angenieux zooms that look or sound similar, but they don't all cover super 16.

Hope that helps.
 
I have used my Canon S 16 8X64 on my BMPCC and it looks wonderful, with just the right amount of sharpness. I plan on getting the Wooden Camera PL to E mount adapter soon for the FS7. I also have an Angenieux Standard 16 9.5 to 57. It is a nice wide, sharp lens. It has a CP mount and will need to be adapted to to PL. Not sure it will be worth the expense to adapt as it may not cover the center crop frame on the FS7. Has anyone have one of tried one of these on the FS7? The Angenieux S16 12-120 was never a very sharp lens. I would not bother having it adapted. The Angenieux S16 10-150 was better but still not very sharp.

Alan
 
Thanks everyone these responses have been super helpful. If anybody does test any standard 16 zooms on the camera please let us know what you find.
 
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