mercer

jcs, I assume that was a link to your work. It sounded good. Interesting green screen shots too. your Hollywood stock footage and Hooray for Hollywood interlude was funny. The narration sounded very nice. 

It sounds like you have a really nice set up. But for me, even wiring lavs and setting up wireless is too time consuming. However, I do like the beachtek slr mini. I may invest in that, in the future, for a bigger project. But for me, a one man crew, the easiest, best solution will be my go to every time.

Obviously, I understand, you will get better audio doing double sound, but is it really worth all the trouble involved? I am not a sound guy, I can't afford a sound guy, and I don't know any sound guys. 

I do know I can plug a mic into my camera, adjust the levels, and get a mic a couple feet away from an actor's mouth. A close up and usable audio all in one shot.

Cut. Next shot. 

I'm glad I paid less than 20 bucks for it. But like you said a lens is a tool. If I can get the aperture unstuck, it can make a nice little fx lens. 

You're never going to get professional sound no matter what you do, so why make it difficult? The majority of Hollywood movies are post dubbed, so just plug a good shotgun mic into a camera that has manual controls and get a lot of close ups for your dialog. Recording sound is a craft and it is offensive to the craftsman that have spent years honing their craft to think you can just plug a mic into a Tascam or Zoom and get pro sound because that's what real productions do.

On my pentax q7, it's a standard 46mm lens. 

Andy, I saw a video with this lens and the flares were fantastic. What is odd about it?

You have some nice lenses there. I am drooling over that Zeiss 20mm, but it is just out of my price range right now. My most expensive lens is a 20mm Takumar that I adore.  How do you like the 29mm Pentacon? I bought one earlier today from Germany for real cheap, but it has a stuck aperture... I figured for the price I'll tinker with it.

Yeah it does. I just looked at a video of that lens on a NEX. It looks beautiful. What kind of camera do you shoot with?

Here's a link to an article and a video of the Carl Zeiss Jena 50m 2.8 

http://www.vintagelensesforvideo.com/carl-zeiss-lens-50mm-2-8/

I know a little bit about vintage lenses, but by no means an expert, although I am obsessed with them.

When I bought my first DSLR, for video, I could barely afford the camera, let alone lenses. After briefly messing around with the kit lens, I quickly researched my other options...

And boy did I test out some lenses... Too many. I am great at buying lenses, not so great at selling them. 

While waiting for my 50mm Zeiss Jena to arrive I began searching for the 35mm flektogon, but that lens is out of my budget right now, I'll have to save up for that one. 

But while searching and researching, I learned about Pentacon lenses, which were the budget lens brand in Eastern Germany during the Cold War. While they are not as good as their Zeiss counterparts, they are cheap and have a lot of character, from the videos I've seen online. So of course I needed to test them out.  I picked up a 50mm 1.8 and a 29mm 2.8 for 60 bucks total. 

Anyway, if you want to mess with some vintage glass, the old Soviet options are reasonably priced and have a ton of character. I never owned a Helios, but people love them and you can get them dirt cheap. 

You really cannot go wrong with takumars. I have the fast 50. The fifty f2. The 35mm 3.5. And the 20mm 4.5. It's a very nice set of lenses. I also like Pentax M lenses and Minolta  lenses. All very nice. But if I had my dream set of lenses... Hmm... Maybe a set of old cinema 16mm lenses from Kern or Schneider, or obviously Zeiss. How about you?

I was chatting with the guy who filmed this footage yesterday, one of the reasons I did a Zeiss M42 search. I assume that's the flektogon variant... I will definitely keep my eye out for one of these. Absolutely stunning and I just love the 35mm focal length on crop sensor cameras. 

Thanks. 

Geoff, thanks for the input. The reason I love vintage glass is because of their flaws. They feel more organic and cinematic.

I didn't realize the D800 shoots 8k, I assume that's in photo mode only. I was also looking at the NX1, have seen some nice footage with that camera. The imagery has some weight to it, even when downsized to 1080p, which will probably be my workflow.

I also liked the look of the NX500 preproduction model at 2.5k but at 4k with no mic input, it just isn't the right camera for me.

To be honest I don't really need a new camera, I have an EOS-M that shoots nice 1080p footage at a respectable bitrate and a few nice sets of lenses that go beautifully with it and a NEX that just records with a vintage look, no matter what lens is on it.

But the current movie script I am working on may be better suited at 4k.

I have been asking a few people what their favorite lens on the NX1 is, what say you?

I have been interested in 2k or 4k video lately and I have been researching some of my options.

Right now, it seems like the gh4 gives the most bang for the buck, when you consider interchangeable lenses. There are some other options if you don't mind a fixed lens... Which I am also contemplating.

Being a lover of old, manual, vintage glass, I have read over the years that older glass barely has the resolving power for some of these newer sensors, and that's for 1080p. But I always took that with a grain of salt because I have also read that most 1080p cameras only use 5mp in their video functions, unless I misunderstood what I read, which is possible as I am not a tech head. Either way, 70's glass can resolve 1080p if it resolves well on 35mm film.

But, if any of this is true, regarding older lenses, is there a point with 4k, or higher, that these vintage lenses will actually hurt the iq capabilities of modern sensors?

So, I have found myself in a little bit of a quandary... I am at a point where I need to sell off some lenses and as I am going through my collection, deciding which lenses to keep and which to let go, I have rekindled my love of lenses.

So, of course I went to eBay to browse and searched some forums to learn.

Amidst my searches, I became reacquainted with the Zeiss Jena m42 lens. This was actually one of the first lenses I ever bought but I was desperately trying to build a set of lenses, so I never even tested this lens before selling it. Anyway, I came upon a good sample, and watched a few videos and I must say I am very impressed. The iq seems really nice, even wide open and it flares beautifully. I know it is a basic Tessar design but, from the videos I saw, there just seems to be something poetic about the lens.

So, needless to say, I bought the lens, it should be here in a few days.

Does anyone have experience with this lens and are there any recommendations on building a set of Jena lenses in the m42 mount?

It's just not very conducive to the run and gun spirit I want to incorporate into my projects. Anyway, thanks again. 

I've messed around with double system a little. It's a pain in the ass. I much prefer external mic with manual audio control. But you do get a better quality with the double system. 

I watched your video comparing the BMPC vs NX1 vs the LX100. At first glance I agreed with some of the comments regarding the LX100 being the best. It has a cinematic yet organic feel to the iq. But the BMPC just has a pure cinematic feel overall. As it should. 

But I must admit that part of me is interested in the fixed lens convenience of the LX100, or even better yet... The FZ1000. Sometimes I feel that people make filmmaking, on a microbudget level, way too complicated and "Hollywood" than it needs to be. To have the run and gun capabilities a camera like FZ1000 affords can be very freeing. But I am in love with lenses... So it's a dilemma.

For the BMPCC, I always liked the idea of c mounts. Small in size, a lot of options for shorter focal lengths, so you don't have to worry about a speedboosters. How is the audio quality on the BMPCC since the firmware update? Btw, sorry for all the questions. I really appreciate your help!

That's good to know. I have a Mac mini from 2011, but I have a brand new MacBook air that trumps the power and speed of my mini. 

Nice BMPCC video. The Konica looks awesome on it. I wanted in on that fire sale, but I hesitated, thinking they were just dumping inventory cause a new model was going to be out soon. I wish I just ordered it on the first day of the sale like I almost did. I already had a set of Cosmicar C Mounts that would have been perfect for it, for now they make great clips on my Pentax Q7. Do you like the 1080 prores image from the BMPCC better or worse than the Samsung 4K? And what's your favorite lens on the BMPCC?

I am sure this lens has been discussed here, but if anyone is looking for a nice little lens, which has a little bit of a cult following, due to it's unique iq, then you should check out the Konica AR 40mm 1.8 

It's tack sharp, with an almost indescribable character to the imagery. Like many, I am looking for lens sets to keep consistency with my footage, but I can't seem to find another Konica lens, in a different focal length that has similar iq characteristics.

But to be honest, at 40mm 1.8, you could probably make an entire movie with just that lens. You'd be moving back and forth a lot, but it's doable, especially on a full frame and possibly an aps-c. Of course, I've only used this lens on a crop sensor and I have no idea how this lens would fare on a full frame?

I didn't know prores lt could handle 4k. Interesting. You must be using a pretty powerful computer to edit 4k? Are you planning any narrative filmmaking with Samsung in 4k? 

BTW, those are some nice lenses you have. I had a dirty copy of that DS lens I ended up selling once I got an ML variant. I have been using Pentax and Minolta lenses lately with my EOS-M and I really love them. The old Takumars are real nice too, I have a Takumar 20mm 4.5, that you can pretty much walk around handheld with very little camera shake. 

I am currently toying with the idea of selling off some equipment, a barely used t2i, a couple point and shoots, and some lenses to fund a gh4 or something equivalent. I really like the idea of transcoding the footage down to 1080p 444 prores. Supposedly you can get a 10 bit color depth from the gh4. What is your workflow with the 4k? And to keep this reply relevant to the post, what sized sensor is the Samsung and what are your favorite lenses to use with that camera?

Yeah, that lens was sick. I was just telling a friend of mine that Kubrick's lens choices, and in some ways, creations, was the perfect marriage of craft and creativity. I loved how he used the nasa lens and then had zeiss make a wide angle attachment to go over it, I would imagine you would lose a stop of light, at least, so I guess that .7 f-stop lens was the perfect fit. 

Nice video. Amazing locations. To be honest, until recently I was not sold on 4k, but after digesting a bunch of videos, yours included, I can see the weight of the image, even when transcoded down... Maybe especially when downsampled. Really nice Jena lens too. How does the NX handle camera movement?

Hi, I am new here but I have been reading the posts on lenses and I think someone here may be able to help me. I have a Canon EOS-M, a NEX 3N and a Pentax Q7... And a t2i that I am going to sell soon since I stopped using it once I went mirrorless. I use all of my cameras for video only and I have a growing collection of lenses. One lens, in particular, a Canon FL 35mm 3.5 has my head scratching and I was hoping someone may have some history on this lens? It seems like it is a bridge lens between the FL lenses and FD lenses, since it has a rubber focus ring. I also have an older FL 50mm 1.8, with the older, metal, scalloped focus ring, but for some reason I am not getting a similar iq/look between the 2 lenses. Again, I assume the newer 35mm 3.5 has better coatings than the older 50mm 1.8, but I am not certain. The 35mm is stunning. I have a NOS sample and it is easily one of my favorite lenses. From wide open to closed down, the iq is beautiful, very filmic. Would I be better off going with an FD 50mm to match the look of these lenses, or is there also a bridge 50mm lens I am unaware of? Also how would this lens fare on some type of speed booster? Sorry about the long post, but thanks in advance for any insight you guys may have.