Upgrading my lens set, looking at this in the long run.

R

ReelFilmGeek

Well-known member
Want to upgrade my lens collection and have been looking at lenses that are more future proof. So what I currently have in mind upgrading to use with my T2I while trying to get lenses that could be used on really any camera are:

Tokina 11-16mm (I already have this in canon mount so its not the most future proof but still an amazing lens)
Samyang 35mm Cine lens
Samyang 85mm Cine Lens (Comes out in October I believe)
Samyang 50mm Cine lens (I know they don't have a 50mm at the moment but ill just keep my cheap m42 mount 50mm lens till they do come out with one)

And then the Nikon AF 20-35mm f2.8 lens. And older lens that has a little less range than the 17-35mm but it sells for about $800 used so its a lot cheaper.
Some people said I should get something like the Sigma 17-50mm lens instead but that lens only covers crop sensors (which wouldnt be a problem unless I upgraded to full frame) and I believe no manual aperture ring (now that is an issue).

So does this seem like a future proof and good investment? I keep hearing that Nikon lenses are the way to go as they can be used on almost anything.
 
Future proof?

Depends on what you consider future proof.

Are your intentions to only use cameras with a Canon EF mount?

Are your intentions to not replace these lenses in the foreseeable future, or are you purchasing these Samyang lenses due to budgetary restrictions and think you will replace them when budget allows?
 
All these lenses would be bought in Nikon mount to make them more versatile. From what I hear all these lens have grey optics and unless I could afford Zeiss lenses they seem to be the best value price wise. Also I'm not stuck on working with just EF mount cameras, it really just depends what camera is right for the job.
 
The Rokinon/Samyang lenses are really nice, from what I've seen. My only concern would be how well they'd hold up to cinema use over the long term. They feel more "plastic" than I'd like in a cine lens. The Zeiss lenses, on the other hand, are solid metal with real heft.
 
future prof means nikon mount and full frame lenses. just two aps-c lenses are usefull: the tokina 11-16 and the sigma 8-16. all other lenses must be full frame nikon mount. no problem any nikon line, all allow manual focus and fstop with correct adapter. and can fit almost all digital video/cinema camera.
 
I guess future proof means different things to different people.

#1: I'm not fond of the bassakwards focus direction of Nikon mount lenses.
#2: I'm not fond of plastic lenses.
#3: I sure wouldn't select a set of "future proof" lenses based on what you have heard, instead of what you have tested.
 
David W. Jones said:
I guess future proof means different things to different people.
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It really depends on what you're planning to shoot. If your future is settled in one direction then one choice for lenses will be great. Unfortunately to survive in the film world you never know what will hit you. I shoot on commercial film sets where all I want is a set of manual primes, then the next day it's of to the GP track where I need ultra telephoto lenses with IS and auto everything. I shoot everyday and no two days are the same. If I have time I would rather use manual focus and aperture, but when the $hit hits the fan most of the time and I gotta move to keep my client from looking at my competition, electronics save the day. Canon has been very good getting the job done and so far in the last 3 years since I switched from Sony HD to Canon DSLR, it has never failed to get what I need. Knock on wood.
So try to focus on today or tomorrow at best, which may be as far into the future as you need to see, and by tomorrow it will all be changed.
 
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ROCKMORE said:
It really depends on what you're planning to shoot. If your future is settled in one direction then one choice for lenses will be great. Unfortunately to survive in the film world you never know what will hit you. I shoot on commercial film sets where all I want is a set of manual primes, then the next day it's of to the GP track where I need ultra telephoto lenses with IS and auto everything. I shoot everyday and no two days are the same. If I have time I would rather use manual focus and aperture, but when the $hit hits the fan most of the time and I gotta move to keep my client from looking at my competition, electronics save the day. Canon has been very good getting the job done and so far in the last 3 years since I switched from Sony HD to Canon DSLR, it has never failed to get what I need. Knock on wood.
So try to focus on today or tomorrow at best, which may be as far into the future as you need to see, and by tomorrow it will all be changed.
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Amen.....

I'm going to tell the op what really is the future. Go out and shoot, and when your current lens will not allow you to do your job , THAT'S when you upgrade. You can spend a fortune buying lenses and never need them/use them.

My suggestion is to first buy a t3i or gh2. Then get a Zoom lens in normal focal range, a cheap 50mm lens and maybe a nice prime in the 25-30mm range. That's it, but first and foremost I would get a 50mm lens which cost no more than $100-$150 and a constant aperture zoom. Go out and shoot, shoot and then do some more shooting. Don't spend all this money on lenses. We all love our art, but when you get paid it really makes a difference. After you get paid then you can start buying more lenses.
 
To jFR, I currently own a T2I and the reason I am looking to get new lenses is because I'm starting to get some paid work. I have been buying new gar from these paid jobs while using my part time job to pay for college (ya no debt!).

And yes I have been filming as much as I can so i can get better. I'm even getting able shoot on a red scarlet next month for a PSA so I'm excited.
 
Just be careful spending money, it's great to have gear but the smartest thing is to never overspend. The lenses you want to buy are not every expensive so you should be fine, only problem is I think you need a zoom. Regardless good luck and great thing on paying your school debt!
 
J.F.R. said:
Just be careful spending money, it's great to have gear but the smartest thing is to never overspend.
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This is the real meaning of future proof, how well do your lens investments hold their value. Canon lenses especially, L grade lens do very well on resale. Even with lenses that may end up not useful in the long run with changing lens mounts and sensor formats etc, they can be sold.
I just sold all my Arri standard mount Zeiss and Schneider lenses from my old Arri 2c and couldn't believe how much they sold for, Even though the lenses were no longer useful to me the investment turned out to be future proof. My Zeiss 16mm Distagon I bought for $600 in 2001, sold for $2,308. The Arri 2C camera which cost $4,800 was rebuilt by Arri tech Axel Broda with all new gears and movements can't even get a $500 bid.

J.F.R's comment is how to think about lenses and "smart money".

Many sharp lenses will get great images for little money while you become a better shooter even if the plastic casings seem cheap. The Canon 50mm 1.8 and the 55-250 s are good examples. I bought both of those cheap lenses just because I thought $300 for both, what the heck.
As much as I hate them both for their cheap build quality, and usually ashamed to admit even owning them, I continue to use them and get great images. Just stick a giant rubber lens hood on and clients oooh and aaah. The 50mm 1.8 was even used once in an emergency on a commercial shoot along with an 85mm 1.4 Zeiss Planar and a Canon 24mm 1.4 L , and they all matched perfectly in post.

Just grab anything and shoot. Less talk more action.
 
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ROCKMORE said:
Just grab anything and shoot. Less talk more action.
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And this I have been doing. For a while I was stuck on the stupid gear mentality but lucky have moved on.

Also some of you mention a zoom lens. The one zoom lens focal range I keep looking at is the 17-50mm lenses but is there one with an f stop of 2.8 that has a manual aperture ring? It looks like Sigma and Tamron's have auto rings (even on the Nikon mount version) and that is something I dont like.
 
ReelFilmGeek said:
The one zoom lens focal range I keep looking at is the 17-50mm lenses but is there one with an f stop of 2.8 that has a manual aperture ring? It looks like Sigma and Tamron's have auto rings (even on the Nikon mount version) and that is something I dont like.
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The tamron 17-50 non vc is about the most all around daily go to lens I've used. A lens like this with a manual aperture ring, I'm not sure it exists. I shoot most run n gun work in manual quick focus mode sometimes with ISO on auto depending on how much my light conditions are likely to change from full sun to shadowed areas. Ive gotten used to trusting the cameras metering and focus and much of the time in full sun I almost can't see anything on the view screen except my framing. In post everything looks great.
I finally got an adapter for my collection of manual Zuiko lenses. The manual aperture ring works great as well, but they do require a lot more care in seeing what your focus and exposure are doing so. The reality these days is it's pretty tough to find something that doesn't work great.
Brave new world.
 
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That Tamron Rockmore mentioned is very good indeed (make sure you get the non-vc version, the VC one is far from great). Not future-proof, really, but I haven't found any reasonably-priced future-proof zooms. In any case, you'd be unlucky to lose $200 on that lens over 2 or 3 years, so if you need a zoom it's a good investment.

My set of primes is very future-proof too: vintage Leitz glass from the 60s and 70s for Leica-R mount (which can be adapted to basically anything, including Sony A and Pentax K, which Nikon glass won't work on). The image from these lenses is amazing. And I thought with them I wouldn't need to buy glass ever again (or close to that) (well, maybe some wide-angles, my widest leitz is 35mm). I could upgrade to the best camera of the moment, and cheaply adapt all my lovely lenses to use with that.

Then the BMC came, with its relatively small sensor, and I'm stuck at "pass, and wait for a bigger-sensor version to come around" or "get the camera of the moment... and new glass for it too".

Some links:
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lensmount/lensmount.html
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/lenstestsa.html
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/lenstestsv.html
http://www.similaar.com/foto/lenstests/bokehtests.html
 
besides the future proof comments, here's a review we just did of the Sigma 17-50mm f/2.8 if you are still interested in it. We focus on its use for video with Canon cameras.

It's in Spanish with English subtitles (made by us)

 
Samuel H said:
My set of primes is very future-proof too: vintage Leitz glass from the 60s and 70s for Leica-R mount (which can be adapted to basically anything, including Sony A and Pentax K, which Nikon glass won't work on). The image from these lenses is amazing. And I thought with them I wouldn't need to buy glass ever again (or close to that) (well, maybe some wide-angles, my widest leitz is 35mm). I could upgrade to the best camera of the moment, and cheaply adapt all my lovely lenses to use with that.

Then the BMC came, with its relatively small sensor, and I'm stuck at "pass, and wait for a bigger-sensor version to come around" or "get the camera of the moment... and new glass for it too".
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I am not sure I agree with this. You say that your prime set has a Leica-R mount. The R-mount has a flange to focal plane distance of 47.00 mm. The Nikon F mount has a flange to focal plane distance of 46.50 mm. It is my understanding that a lens is adaptable to any other camera mount that has a shorter flange to focal plane distance with just a mechanical adapter (And that lenses designed for a mount system that has a longer flange to focal plane distance would require additional optics when mounted on cameras with a shorter flange to focal plane distance).

Nikon F mount lenses are adaptable to Sony Alpha mount cameras (The Sony Alpha mount has a flange to focal plane distance of 44.50 mm) with just a mechanical adapter. However, I was looking around for F mount to Pentax K mount (Which has a flange to focal plane distance of 45.46 mm) and they all have an additional optical element to make the lens work on that mount. I don't know why this is. However this is just an intellectual curiosity for me at this point as I can not see where I would need to be dealing with mounting to a Pentax K mount camera.

I also don't understand your issues with the Black Magic Design camera. The BMD has a Canon EF mount, which has a flange to focal plane distance of 44.00 mm. Yes it has a smaller sensor, but your primes are designed for full frame 35mm still film. They should have no issue working on the BMD camera. I bet they would make some great images on that camera!

When I first got a T2i, I also wanted to "Future Proof" my lens purchases, as best I could. I decided to get a set of Nikon F-mount full manual vintage primes. I am very glad I did that, as now I have a bread and butter set of lenses that I think will be useful for a very long time. However, I really have been a bit surprised by the support for the Canon EF mount when it comes to large sensor HD video acquisition. The Canon EOS-Cinema series cameras, and the BMD camera, all offer a tremendous diversity of cameras that a person with a large investment in Canon lenses can grow and work with. I think that a lot of the advice noted above is absolutely correct. Get what you need right now to do the job that you have to do and when it comes to big investments in glass, think real hard about what you really need.
 
David G. Smith said:
I am not sure I agree with this. You say that your prime set has a Leica-R mount. The R-mount has a flange to focal plane distance of 47.00 mm. The Nikon F mount has a flange to focal plane distance of 46.50 mm. It is my understanding that a lens is adaptable to any other camera mount that has a shorter flange to focal plane distance with just a mechanical adapter (And that lenses designed for a mount system that has a longer flange to focal plane distance would require additional optics when mounted on cameras with a shorter flange to focal plane distance).
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Yup!

It's a different horse to get a lens with a shorter flange distange onto a mount with a longer flange distance. It's easier to add space between a camera and a lens than somehow sink a lens deep into another mount.
 
It is, in general, as you say: "a lens is adaptable to any other camera mount that has a shorter flange to focal plane distance with just a mechanical adapter". And that's why Leica-R is so great, the focal flange distance is huge (47mm): what you want is a lens that is designed for a long focal flange (Leica-R with its 47mm), on a camera designed for a short focal flange (like an NEX with its 18mm), so 47mm Leica-R on 46.5mm Nikon is not a problem... except the adapter would have to be only 0.5mm thick. I actually have an adapter that allows me to use my Leica-R lenses on Nikon-F cameras. It's a mount replacement, which is something we have on the Leica-R world because most of these lenses have their mount attached through the same 6 small screws. If you usually leave your lenses with the adapter on until you buy a new camera (as I find myself doing), it's a perfect solution (actually, better than a regular adapter, since it won't have any play at all). I bought this cheap one, I think Leitax makes high-end ones: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Leica-R-Len...t=US_Filter_Rings_Holders&hash=item3a75b1ca65 ON THE OTHER HAND, focal flange distance is not the only factor: all the nikonF-to-sonyA adapters I've seen either have in-built optics or won't focus to infinity: not because the flange distance is a problem, but because the bayonets can't match mecanically, so the adapter can't be thin, and the lens ends up having to reside further away from the sensor than what it is designed for: http://www.ebay.com/itm/Nikon-AI-Le...ens_Adapters_Mounts_Tubes&hash=item3a5235f461
 
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