FS7: You've Got a Decent Budget, So Which Lens Do You Get?

Joshua Milligan

Joshua Milligan

Well-known member
So I have a decent budget set aside for a zoom lens for my FS7 MK II. I already own a bunch of GM lenses in the 16-35 2.8, 24-70 2.8, 70-200 2.8, 100-400 4.5-5.6 as well as a Zeiss Batis 25 f/2 and a Zeiss Planar 50 1.4. Those lenses are great on my mirrorless cameras and they are ok on my FS7, but what I need now is one (or two) really good manual zoom lenses that produce a great image and that cover a decent range. I'm tired of using fly-by-wire lenses on my FS7 and I'm wanting to have a servo zoom. My intent is to use this lens (or lenses) for doc work, short films, events, commercials, corporate work and reality television (we do a variety of projects).

Here are the options I'm considering:

1) The Fujinon MK 18-55 & 50-135 set at $7,800

These are obviously beautiful lenses that are fast, fully manual and lightweight. Together they also cover a huge range. But, they require an aftermarket servo kit to have a power zoom and aftermarket servos like the Chrosziel Compact Zoom Control Kit have been known to short out the lanc port on the FS7 as well as the motor on the Chrosziel itself. The aftermarket servos also bring the cost of this set up much higher and they require you to use the FS7's handgrip which I'm not crazy about.

2) The Fujinon XK 20-120 Cabrio with the servo drive for $13,500

This is another beautiful lens that has a fantastic range that requires less lens changes, comes with an awesome servo grip that's very responsive, and the entire lens setup works equally well in both an ENG environment as well as in a more tradition film environment. The downsides are the price, the weight, the T/stop at 3.5, and the fact that I'm not entirely sure how well it works together with the FS7 (as in how ridiculous is it going to be to get power to the grip?). I also think that this lens will need a lens support even with the FS7II's stronger mount. My #1 concern with this lens though is definitely the weight and how it rigs up with the FS7. I don't want something that's a nightmare to use.

3) The Canon 18-80 & 70-200 Cine Servo Zooms for $9,600

These lenses are incredible to work with on the FS7II. You don't need a lens support to use them, they produce nice, warm images, together they cover the biggest range I'm considering, they have image stabilization, and they (currently) come with awesome servo grips that are very responsive & very fast, getting their power from the lens mount. Ergonomically speaking, these lenses are amazing to work with. The downsides are that they are slower at T4.4 and not all of their buttons work when adapted to the FS7.

4) The Sony 18-110 for $3,500

This lens makes sense with the FS7 (especially the MK II) because it's lightweight, cheap, covers a massive range, has image stabilization, has native autofocus, and it works quite seamlessly with the FS7, even providing in-camera corrections while still being almost fully manual. The downsides are that it's electronically parfocal, you have to use the FS7's handgrip instead of a lens handgrip like the Canon lenses have or the Fujinon Cabrio (which is not as comfortable to me) and it's slower at an f/4. Also, the servo is kind of a joke as it's slow and laggy.

5) The Fujinon MK 18-55 & 50-135 set with the Sony 18-110 at $11,300

This three lens combo gets you a pair of true, fast cine zooms as well as a run & gun ENG lens. With this set you could use the Sony for the run & gun work and the Fujinons for everything else. The downsides are the cost puts you not that far away from the Cabrio, you have to carry three lenses and the Fujinons would still need the aftermarket zoom motors when wanting to zoom electronically for certain shoots, like docs. You also have to use the FS7's handgrip for everything as none of these lenses have available grips.

I've worked with several of these lenses on my FS7II (expect for the Cabrio), but I cannot figure out the best route to go. If you were looking to go down one of these paths, which would you pick and why?
 
I've also spent a zillion hours on this exact question...

I ended up with the Sony 18-110 and the Sigma 18-35 & 50-100 T'2s.

The 18-110 is my go-to doc lens. It's a workhorse and gets the job done. 18mm is sufficiently wide, 110mm is sufficiently tight, and the IS is valuable. Great lens for the FS7II because you don't have to think too hard about when to use it; it just works. What it lacks in "character" it makes up for in overall usefulness.

I pair it with the Sigma 18-35 and 50-100 T/2's (PL mount) for my b-roll and interview work, and for more creative work when I'm not in run-and-gun mode. Amazing lenses; all metal, proper gearing for a follow focus, heavy enough to balance out handheld shakes, but not too heavy that they throw off the balance of the FS7. T/2 is also really nice when you need that extra kick of low light performance. Overall a really nice set of lenses to work with, and a highly useful aperture and focal length range.

I *didn't* buy the other lenses for these reasons:

Fuji 18-55 & 50-135: lots of plastic parts, and the focus throw is long enough that it's hard to use as a single operator. The fact that they are "lightweight" is a negative, because they don't have IS, so for handheld they are the worst of both worlds. Also, T/3 just isn't enough sometimes, so you'll need to carry faster primes anyway.

Cabrio 20-120. Straight up, 20mm isn't wide enough, so you still have to carry an extra wide lens. Add in a T/3.5 aperture, and this further reduces the usefulness of such an investment. To me the 20-120 is a compromise, which was not appealing to me. The 19-90 is much more appealing, but it doesn't seem to balance with the FS7 very well.

Canons: Well actually these are very fine lenses, and you'd be happy with them, but you'll still need some fast primes for lowlight work or for interviews.

I could see the Canon 18-80 paired with the Sigmas as a nice setup, but at that rate might as well just go for the Sony 18-110.

Tokina also makes some nice cine zooms that may be worthy of your consideration.
 
If you don't need a servo and can stretch your budget, I can highly recommend a set of used Angenieux Optimo DPs, 16-42 and 30-80. I have a pair and they work great on the FS7 with a simple PL Mount adapter, beautiful image and can be had for around 7000 these days.
 
I use the 18-110 on my FS7 for most of my documentary shooting. I got it the when it was first released. Its main drawback is that it is about 1 stop too slow. I often find that I am shooting on the edge of underexposure with it. On the other hand it is very sharp wide open, has a very useful zoom range and I have learned to do nice even slow zooms using the zoom slider on the lens. (I have never liked or used the handgrip that comes with the camera.) I have a series of fast primes and the sigma 18-35 but they only get used 10% of the time. Because the lens is so versatile I use it a lot.
 
That one stop is more than it looks on paper. To me at least it's a big step from F4 to F2.8.
 
Another vote for the Sigma zoom s..T2 is great.. breathing in the 50-100.. but minimum focus on the 18-35 is great for "getting arty ".. I have the CN7 17-120 but pretty much never use it since getting the Sigmas .. and the Tokina 11-16.. those 3 lenses are total under $15k.. and you have everything you need really .. for 99% of shoots.. and they look a lot more expensive than they are !!.. BS I know ..but it does have a client effect on corp shoots ..
 
Thanks for the replies. I'm kind of leaning right now toward option #5 which is the Fujinon MK set along with the Sony 18-110. I really am intrigued by the Fujinon 20-120, but I'm afraid it won't be a fun lens to work with on a daily basis thanks to its size and weight. I'm thinking with the two Fujinon MK lenses, I would enjoy their low T-stops as well as their weight while still having the 18-110 for run & gun work. It's not as comfortable to use as the Canon Cine Servo Zooms are, but I think it'll do.
 
I needed a broadcast type zoom lens and opted for a used Canon 17-120 over the new Fuji. It’s a great lens for most situations but beware the big zooms need lots of counterweight to balance properly on the shoulder.
 
For the options you've listed, I'd go Fuji 20-120, but that fits my style, being as my background is in broadcast/network. Personally, I own the Canon 17-120 and love it(besides having poor weight distribution), but you didn't list it as an option. I have a client with the 20-120 and I like it a lot better than I thought I would. Between the 20-120 and 17-120, I'd take the 17-120, though, obviously.

1) MK set. You have to change lenses to cover "the range" and they're still not super fast.
2) 20-120. Not as wide as I like on the back-end and PL only, but still decent range, servo zoom and good build. It's a good runner-up to the 17-120.
3) Canon compact servo's. EF only. Slow, no hard stops for focus and focus scale is in a hard to see window just like their still lenses. Have a client with the 70-200 and the focus ring is already sticking.
4) Never used it, so I can't speak authoritatively about it.
5) See 1 & 4.
 
I have the MK set, and I really really like owning and using them. The 18-55 gets primary play for sure, but when I swap over to the 50-135 I find the limit of 50 on the wide end to be inspiring (when it isn't annoying, in those moments yeah it sucks, that's lens change life though).

I also keep a Sony G 24-105 f4 for the times when I can't be doing lens changes and need some good range. Cheap enough, useful enough on the fs7 and finds additional use on my a7sii ...

Those are the big, 2019 players for me. I sold some other stuff I had but kept around a set of EF mount rokinon primes, a speed booster EF-E, a non optical EF-E, and a canon 16-35 2.8 - I chose the canon for its ability to be used full frame on the a7s with the non optical adapter and then to use the speed booster with it on the fs7 and fill in the missing "eng wide angle" gap left by having an 18mm be your widest. Sometimes you just need that crazy wide!


TL;DR

Fujinon MK Set 18-55,50-135 t2.9
Canon 16-35 2.8 with speed booster (effective 2.0 10-20mm)
Sony G 24-105 f4
Rokinon 24,35,50,85 T 1.5 EF mount.

Seems to me, like an affordable way to check off kind of most of the boxes I find myself needing to check off on various shoots. Obviously everyone has their own specific needs.... If I could sell it all and end up with a set of angeniux EZ zooms (15-40, 30-90 t2) - I probably would.
 
I love the Fujinons but I bought the 18-110 with the camera as a kit. I do not regret that lens in the least. But with a higher budget, I would certainly look at the Fujinons. Just my .02. Ultimately, hard to go really wrong.
 
nsoltz said:
I love the Fujinons but I bought the 18-110 with the camera as a kit. I do not regret that lens in the least. But with a higher budget, I would certainly look at the Fujinons. Just my .02. Ultimately, hard to go really wrong.
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Same... ended up getting both setups. The 18-110 for the fast stuff and the fujinons for the times where theres time to set up each shot.
 
Have number of lenses but the one that is getting most of the work on the FS7 is the workhorse 18-110. After a couple of years beating around the traps it hasn't failed. For the price it offers a decent range, it's parfocal, constant aperture, no CA and stabilized. It has an average servo that is handy sometimes for slow interview creeps. All in all not sexy but it does the job and keeps earning. If it died or got wrecked tomorrow I would buy another one straight away.

Chris Young

EDIT:

Just make sure you are running the latest firmware if running an SELP18110G as this fixed focus issues some users had. Can't do the upgrade from an FS7 MkI but can be done from a MKII or alternatively one of the A7 range. Aussie download below... but you should be able to find it in your neck of the woods wherever you are:)

https://www.sony.com.au/electronics/support/lenses-e-mount-lenses/selp18110g/downloads/00015308
 
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The 18-110 does look extremely versatile as a workhorse lens. I just wish there was a way to make the servo faster and more responsive. I'll probably do what legrevedotcom did and have both the 18-110 for the fast stuff and the Fujinons for the shots where I can take my time.
 
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Fuji 20-120: $13,500. Real lens. Real servos. Real professional build quality. Real parfocal performance. Manual mechanical everything. Good range(although the back-end is lacking a little) so the lens essentially never needs to come off(Speed, efficiency, convenience), unless you need super shallow DoF for an interview(but I shoot int's all the time with my 17-120). Constant T3.5.

Fuji 18-55 & 50-135: $7,800/pair. Light weight & small and budget friendly. Okay build-quality for owner/ops. But two lenses to cover the range and no servo's(have to go third party solution). Constant T2.9.

Sony 18-110: $3,500. Inexpensive/good bang for the buck. Light weight. Good range. Built-in Optical stabilization. Slowest aperture of the listed lenses. Fly-by-wire focus. Computer controlled/adjustable elements to maintain parfocal performance. Slow servo's. Reports of "out running" the adjustments the lens makes to maintain focus/parfocal performance. f/4 which probably equates to T4.4 or close to it.

If budget wasn't a concern, given only these three choices, I'd take the 20-120. Yes, it's $10K more than the Sony, but if you shoot things that require you to make almost instant adjustments, reframes, reliable & repeatable zooms, crash zooms, etc., it seems like the one to pick(I've used the 20-120 and the MK's-some). Yeah, you can buy several of each of the others for what one costs, but it's the better lens, especially from an operators point of view. Which is how I look at most of my purchases, since I'm going to be the one using it day-in and day-out. Even when we're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars, to me, that operational satisfaction takes precedents over money(within reason). Trust me, you'll forget about the money when you're in 'the sh!t' and you're cussing your equipment, because it's not performing the way that you want or need in the heat of battle or even in the mundane, when it's something you use day in or day out, everyday.
 
Run&Gun said:
Fuji 20-120: $13,500. Real lens. Real servos. Real professional build quality. Real parfocal performance. Manual mechanical everything. Good range(although the back-end is lacking a little) so the lens essentially never needs to come off(Speed, efficiency, convenience), unless you need super shallow DoF for an interview(but I shoot int's all the time with my 17-120). Constant T3.5.

Fuji 18-55 & 50-135: $7,800/pair. Light weight & small and budget friendly. Okay build-quality for owner/ops. But two lenses to cover the range and no servo's(have to go third party solution). Constant T2.9.

Sony 18-110: $3,500. Inexpensive/good bang for the buck. Light weight. Good range. Built-in Optical stabilization. Slowest aperture of the listed lenses. Fly-by-wire focus. Computer controlled/adjustable elements to maintain parfocal performance. Slow servo's. Reports of "out running" the adjustments the lens makes to maintain focus/parfocal performance. f/4 which probably equates to T4.4 or close to it.

If budget wasn't a concern, given only these three choices, I'd take the 20-120. Yes, it's $10K more than the Sony, but if you shoot things that require you to make almost instant adjustments, reframes, reliable & repeatable zooms, crash zooms, etc., it seems like the one to pick(I've used the 20-120 and the MK's-some). Yeah, you can buy several of each of the others for what one costs, but it's the better lens, especially from an operators point of view. Which is how I look at most of my purchases, since I'm going to be the one using it day-in and day-out. Even when we're talking about thousands and thousands of dollars, to me, that operational satisfaction takes precedents over money(within reason). Trust me, you'll forget about the money when you're in 'the sh!t' and you're cussing your equipment, because it's not performing the way that you want or need in the heat of battle or even in the mundane, when it's something you use day in or day out, everyday.
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Hey Run&Gun, thanks for your response. It’s not the price of the 20-120 that worries me, it’s the weight. I’m unsure of how I’ll like working with a 6.5 pound lens everyday.
 
Totally agree with R&G's comments other than R&G's experience with regard to focus issues. I have never had any focus issues with the 18-110 when in full manual hard stop mode. Totally repeatable focus pulls when using a decent focus demand. About the only time I use the fly-by-wire focus mode is for extreme close ups because that allows you to come down to about 18" which can be pretty useful at times.

If you go with the workhorse Sony 18-100 also consider this. I've used a colleagues one a number of times and been more than impressed with the results from it. Designed specifically for the 28-135 on the FS7 but works perfectly well on the 18-100. The 18-110 plus this Century Precision Optics 0.8 WA zoom thru converter comes to about $4.5k. What it does do is convert your 18-110 to a very, very usable 14.4-88mm. Especially love the 14.4 end. A very similar range to a Cabrio 19-90 but wider... The colleague I borrow it from calls it his poor man's Cabrio. Trying to temp myself into buying one.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/prod...wa_8xlc_95_8x_wide_angle_converter.html/specs

On the other hand if it's primarily HD you are shooting and you really want range and lens speed and 100% control over zoom, manual or fast smooth servo plus have constant aperture and parfocal performance even consider a good used B4 lens with an MTF B4 to S16 adapter with the servo/stop start cable. Today good B4 HD lenses can be had for around $3-4k. I've used this combo for with the FS7's center crop for many, many broadcast sporting events and no complaints from anyone. A broadcast B4 lens will drop to about F2.3 with the MTF's .7 of a stop light loss. A very workable solution. Is it true HD resolution? Yes it is. The S16 center crop on the FS7 pixel wise is 2178 x 1148 which equates to just on 2.5K which after a debayer loss of 20% gives you just on 2k which means you have a true 1920 x 1080 resolution. About $5k all up. This Mike Tappa video explains how it works, totally applies to its performance on the FS7.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B_-iYs7iegM&t=21s

Chris Young
 
cyvideo said:
Totally agree with R&G's comments other than R&G's experience with regard to focus issues. I have never had any focus issues with the 18-110 when in full manual hard stop mode. Totally repeatable focus pulls when using a decent focus demand. About the only time I use the fly-by-wire focus mode is for extreme close ups because that allows you to come down to about 18" which can be pretty useful at times.
Click to expand...

Was talking gear last weekend with a friend who owns an 18-110. His focus experience was that the first one he bought wasn't parfocal -- so he took it back immediately and tested the units in stock until he found one that was. He's happy with it now.
 
I'm very happy with my 18-110 but be beware of misadjusted lenses from Sony. I had 2 bad experiences:
First was a friends brand new lens I was evaluating and it was simply soft all through the range. Sent it back to Sony and they said it was fine and up to all specs. Friend demanded a different lens and that one was absolutely fine. Very odd.

Odder still was that mine got dropped on a rental and the front ring where the filter attaches was cracked. But the lens still functioned fine and was still sharp and parfocal. I researched it and found what looked like the right part which was only around $100 but i sent it to Sony for repair. Because its "E Mt" it went to Sony consumer repair in LA not Professional. It came back with a $750 bill. $100 for the part and $650 for a thorough recalibration of the electronics and optics in the lens. Unfortunately it was no longer parfocal and was way off!

I contacted the repair department and for a while they didn't even understand what I was talking about when I had to explain to them that the lens should be electronically parfocal. Anyway, I sent it back to them and it came back only slightly better. I did this again and it again came back only slightly improved but still noticeably off. Finally they sent me 2 lenses that were clearly used from "Borrow Lenses" and I picked one but indeed both of those were good. To Sony's credit they never questioned that I knew what i was talking about and stuck with me till I was satisfied.

In both cases Sony eventually did the right thing but didn't seem to understand their own lenses. I would caution that its very hard to detect whether the lens is parfocal because at f4 and 18mm everything tends to look sharp even on a 17" monitor. However if you look at a chart through the viewfinder at 4x and 8x with the red peaking on it will become very obvious.

Lenny Levy
 
How are people powering the servo grip on the 20-120 Fujinon when using a camera like the FS7? Can you power it with simply a FS7 battery that has D-Tap out? Or do you need V-Lock batteries to do it? If that's the case, then would it make more sense to get the 20-120 without the Servo grip and instead pick up the Chrosziel motor and use the FS7's handgrip to control the lens? The Chrosziel motor can be powered with a FS7 battery that has D-Tap ports and the overall cost would be about $2,000 less.

I'm also curious if the FS7II's newly designed locking E-mount can handle the weight of the Fujinon 20-120 without the need for lens support. It's definitely a stronger mount, but I'm not sure what's too much weight for it. I'd love to be able to run it without lens support so that I can keep my overall rig size to a minimum.
 
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