Which prime lens focal lengths to get?

Mike@AF said:
Okay, so let me see if I get this right... if I want to shoot video with the GH1 and am using some Nikon, Canon, Tokina, Voightlander, or other similar lenses then it's approximately a 2x crop factor? So a 20mm becomes approximately a 40mm FOV? Is there anything out there (similar to a focal reducer) that will squeeze the image circle by about .5 or .6 to better fit the sensor? Could be a great accessory for 4/3 and micro 4/3 cameras.
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Right. If you're looking for Full Frame FOV comparisons think old school movies that were shot Vistavision.

So a 20mm does become a 40mm.

If you're trying to figure out what it looks like on a 35mm Film Camera or RED @ 4K, it's more like a 28 or so.

Focal reducers I'm not sure about. It's funny though, soon none of the light gathering stuff will matter because sensor technology will improve and a 2.8 will be the new 1.2.
 
Kholi said:
It's funny though, soon none of the light gathering stuff will matter because sensor technology will improve and a 2.8 will be the new 1.2.
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That would be the day. Then the 1.2 would show us things even our eyes can't see!

I've been looking at the Canon FD lenses on eBay. Apparently smaller than 50mm lenses faster than f/2.8 are pretty rare. And then 50mm and higher there's nothing faster than f1.4. Does this sound right or should I just wait longer for those faster lenses to show up?

If so, it seems to me I'd need to go Nikon for under 50mm to get the aperture I want. Then have Canons for 50mm and above. I don't have a lot of experience with mixing lenses. Should I have issues getting the look to match?
 
D'oh. Should've expected that talk was on S35.

The FD lenses should have a 35/2 and a 24/1.4L. The 24/1.4 won't be cheap though. See: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/companies/canon/fdresources/fdlenses/index.htm

Still photography lenses rarely have lenses faster than f/1.4. Off the top of my head I can think of the few 50mm f/0.95 range finder glass, the Canon EF 50/1.0L, the 85/1.2L, various old Canon 50/1.2, Nikkor 50/1.2, Nikkor-Noct 58/1.2, the new Voightlander Nokton 50/1.1.
 
Martti Ekstrand said:
This wiki article has a list of all FD lenses so you know what you can look for.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canon_FD_lens_mount
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Excellent link! Wikipedia rules!

yslee said:
The FD lenses should have a 35/2 and a 24/1.4L. The 24/1.4 won't be cheap though. See: http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography...nses/index.htm

Still photography lenses rarely have lenses faster than f/1.4. Off the top of my head I can think of the few 50mm f/0.95 range finder glass, the Canon EF 50/1.0L, the 85/1.2L, various old Canon 50/1.2, Nikkor 50/1.2, Nikkor-Noct 58/1.2, the new Voightlander Nokton 50/1.1.
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Thanks! I'll take a look at those. Any opinions on the Nikkor 50/1.2 vs Canon 50/1.4?
 
Yeah. Lol sorry. My bad.

Don't forget the leica f1s and f2s. Also the contax zeiss 85/1.2 and the rokkor 50 1.2s.

Ideally I'd like to have a 24 to 30mm 1.2 myself.
 
I think budget is keeping me away from the Contax Zeiss, and especially away from the Leica. No Rokkor lenses on eBay that I could see. Seems like it's Nikon and Canon for me. If I could I'd just get a set of Zeiss ZF's but that's definitely not in the cards.

Any issues with shooting Nikon wide and Canon normal to tele in the same scene?
 
Mike@AF said:
I think budget is keeping me away from the Contax Zeiss, and especially away from the Leica. No Rokkor lenses on eBay that I could see. Seems like it's Nikon and Canon for me. If I could I'd just get a set of Zeiss ZF's but that's definitely not in the cards.

Any issues with shooting Nikon wide and Canon normal to tele in the same scene?
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Admittedly I was hawk eyeing the infAmous 58/1.2 rokkor and the 50/1.2

didn't get the 58 but got the 50.
 
After going through the Nikon and Canon offerings, here's where I'm at now:

Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 SSC or Sigma 20mm f/1.8
Canon FD 24mm f/1.4 SSC or Nikon 24mm f/2
Canon FD 35mm f/2 SSC or Nikon 35mm f/1.4
Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 SSC or Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Canon FD 85mm f/1.8 SSC

This combination would give me FOV of ~40mm, ~48mm, ~70mm, ~100mm, and ~170mm. So it looks like with these choices I'll go over my hopeful budget. It's probably worth it though.

I saw the Sigma 20mm listed, but know nothing about it. Does anyone have any opinions on that lens?

Any opinions on the performance of the Canon vs Nikon at 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm?

Would a 28mm be a better choice than a 24mm?

How big a difference would there be between SSC lenses and non-SSC lenses for video?
 
Kholi said:
Admittedly I was hawk eyeing the infAmous 58/1.2 rokkor and the 50/1.2

didn't get the 58 but got the 50.
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There's plenty of Rokkor 50mm 1.4 but no 1.2. Big difference? How does the 1.2 and 1.4 compare to the Canon or Nikon 1.4?
 
Mike@AF said:
After going through the Nikon and Canon offerings, here's where I'm at now:

Canon FD 20mm f/2.8 SSC or Sigma 20mm f/1.8
Canon FD 24mm f/1.4 SSC or Nikon 24mm f/2
Canon FD 35mm f/2 SSC or Nikon 35mm f/1.4
Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 SSC or Nikon 50mm f/1.4
Canon FD 85mm f/1.8 SSC

This combination would give me FOV of ~40mm, ~48mm, ~70mm, ~100mm, and ~170mm. So it looks like with these choices I'll go over my hopeful budget. It's probably worth it though.

I saw the Sigma 20mm listed, but know nothing about it. Does anyone have any opinions on that lens?

Any opinions on the performance of the Canon vs Nikon at 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm?

Would a 28mm be a better choice than a 24mm?

How big a difference would there be between SSC lenses and non-SSC lenses for video?
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Sigma 20/1.8's all over the place. They're about 400 - 500. I actually missed one going for less, I feel stupid for not pulling the trigger.

There's also a 24 and 28, the 28/1.8 is what I'm going after next and probably the 30/1.4 just for testing.

Here's my thought on your lens selection: If you're getting a 20, the next step up is a 28 or 35. Take the money from the 24 and buy a fast(er) 28 or 35. 50mm is okay in this situation.
 
Kholi said:
Sigma 20/1.8's all over the place. They're about 400 - 500. I actually missed one going for less, I feel stupid for not pulling the trigger.

There's also a 24 and 28, the 28/1.8 is what I'm going after next and probably the 30/1.4 just for testing.

Here's my thought on your lens selection: If you're getting a 20, the next step up is a 28 or 35. Take the money from the 24 and buy a fast(er) 28 or 35. 50mm is okay in this situation.
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So the Sigma is good? How does it compare to the Canon 20? I like the idea of the Sigma because of the 1.8, but I want to make sure it's a good lens.

Then I need to decide between Canon or Nikon glass for the 28, 35, and 50.

EDIT: Actually, looking at the 28 offerings from Canon and Nikon, I think I'll cut the difference and go with 24, 35, 50, 85. The 24 is faster than the 20 and the 28.

2nd EDIT: Well, here's what I'm going for.

Sigma 20mm f/1.8
Canon FD 24mm f/1.4 SSC
Nikon 35mm f/1.4
Canon FD 50mm f/1.4 SSC
Canon FD 85mm f/1.8 SSC

I'll get the 20 and the 24. I'd like the option of having the 20/1.8 just in case I'm in a situation where I need the wide focal length and can't or don't want to light as much. Could be good for a night time indoor shoot and I have a film I want to shoot that calls for some interesting dark indoor shooting. I figure better safe than sorry. If I end up not needing it I'll sell it. If I end up needing a 28 then I'll get one of those later.

If anyone has any additional input I'm all ears. Thanks for the help!
 
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The sigmas and romkors have really good reputations. I can't deny that's probably due to price as well but I've seen flickr pages with really nice lowlight examples. I'm excited to try them with the gh1 and mkii.

Your lens selection is looking like the standard cineprime package. That's the way to go for sure.

Which Kurosawa film was shot with only two lenses again? Can't remember.
 
FWIW the main reason I ended up getting Canon FDs is that the 2nd hand market here in Sweden is sucked bone dry of Nikons since last year - guess 5DmkII owners got their dirty mittens on all of them before the manual firmware release. If I could find that FD 24mm f/1.4 I'd be a very happy camper. The Sigma 20mm f/1.8 sounds like a very good option on the wide end.
 
Sigma has mediocre to good optics (I have one of their teles) but the build quality can be questionable regardless of optics. The Zen finish has a reputation of peeling.

Actually the Voigtlander 50/1.1 might be interesting. Maybe I'll see if I can get an adapter and play with my friend's copy. Hah!
 
Good luck trying to find a canon 24mm f/1.4 very rare these days... I think the sigma 20mm will have vignetting because the 24mm from what I've found on the G1 forums has slight vignetting. Will test in September when my gh1 comes in :(
 
I've noticed using a Letus with either HVX, Z7U or EX3 that Nikon and Canon primes have much more of a different look than when you run film behind either of the two's respective cameras. Videos online from Nikkor and FD on the GH1 seem to be almost as drastic as the a formentioned video cameras. I'm seeing Canons as an all purpose, crisp good lens. Nikons are giving a marbled, western-y, low contrast vibe. On our show we've opted for Canon only, but I wanted to see if any y'all have noticed any characteristics between the two.....
 
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