Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95

JPUSC

Active member
Any opinions on the Voigtlander Nokton 25mm f/0.95?

I am planning on using it with the GH2. Looking to make music videos with it with a shallow depth of field, even for full body long shots.

I really like this look for some of the shots:

musicvideo1.jpg

By the way, what would I need for a shot like this? A normal fog machine from a store? Colored gels or just post-color correction?

Thanks!
 
Well, you might consider gelling some lights, if you wish for the background to be a bit more blue than the talent, however, most of this can be done in color temperature and camera settings. The fog machine, you probably don't need, as I'm looking at the image and it appears that low contrast look is a result from the optics being pinged by light and losing contrast from flaring. But a little atmosphere never hurts.
 
With the Voigtlander (Love that Lens) remember that in order to get shallow DOF that you still need to open up so you might, under some circumstances such as outside or interior into a window, want to use an on lens ND filter. I'm not sure what options are available to you for that, obviously a matte box with NDs or a screw on lens filter. I seem to remember a square filter device just for this for DSLRs. With the GH2 you can also just crank back the ISO. I would try as Ryan suggested to futz with the in camera color temperature to get the look above. If you set the balance for tungsten and if you can fill with some very light tungsten light with 1/2 or 1/4 CTB close you'll recover some of the skin tone and let the background go all daylight blue.
 
Thanks for the responses everyone!!

Well...I was considering the Nokton 25mm, but after doing some research I came across the Sigma 30mm which is about half the price and looks fairly cinematic and someone also gave me some Nikon Series E 50mm 1.8 and 100mm 2.8 lenses.

Any opinions? Should I still try to get the Nokton 25mm or Sigma 30mm, or would the Nikon Series E lenses give me similar or decent results?
 
I think your lighting and camerawork will mean more than the lens at this point. I'm not familiar with any of those other lenses, so I can't tell you. I suppose if they are all fast enough and you can properly control the focus and iris, shouldn't be a big issue. What made you think the video was shot with a 25/30mm prime? You might be good with some other options, as I can't quite tell and I'm wondering how you came to that conclusion.
 
I'm not really sure what kind of lenses they used for that video...but was considering some lenses suggested to me. It would be great if you could let me know of other options!
 
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