mercer

I've often wondered about this lens, so I was happy to see your post. Your samples look great. Were you focusing as you were zooming because it looked like it held focus pretty well? Did you shoot this with one of the Fuji's film simulations, or did you grade this? Either way, the color looks nice!

As much as I don't want to discuss Covid-19 on a video site, I would like to ask my fellow forum members to not horde every single bit of soap and antibacterial hand sanitizer... Antibacterial soaps/hand sanitizer gel will not kill Covid-19 because it is a virus and not a bacteria. Hand washing with regular soap will have a more beneficial effect. With that said, when soap isn't available, hand sanitizer is an acceptable alternative but it will only have a lasting effect if everyone has access to it. So please don't be one of the assholes that are stocking up for the End of Days.

Unfortunately... a lot of men would remove that prefix. Although that small drive sounds pretty cool, raw storage doesn't scare me... I just don't want to deal with the cable and external anything if I don't have to.

Thanks Haha... so you either married a younger woman, or you're not as old as you let on. How do you find the 8 bit mode?

It seems like a pretty good match to me, especially considering the different codecs. The colors look good. Obviously, I'm only interested in raw video but it's good to see the compressed codec is robust. I look forward to it. Please test the internal 8 bit cdng. I'm interested in this mode for B&W and of course I wouldn't be mad at you if you tested the internal 12 bit 1080 cdng in 24p and 60p... conformed to 24p. And finally, if you don't mind, a test how the image reacts to different vintage and quality of lenses could be useful as well.

It looks like that Voigt 40mm and the F3 is a winning combo. What strength ProMist did you use? It looks gorgeous!

Sigma should post these on their website. Are these photos or video frames? Either way, they look like shots from a Hollywood movie. So... how do you like the FP? I've been patiently waiting your thoughts. Lol.

That's cool that it has its own raw tab with proper raw adjustments.

No problem, happy to help! Also Canon TV-16 c-mounts are really nice too as are the Zeiss Tevidons. The Cosmicar lenses, which are made by Pentax, are probably the cheapest. The 12.5 and 25mm are great little lenses and can be found for around $50 a piece. Kerns are a little more expensive but they are just gorgeous... mechanically and optically.

Interesting, I wonder why Tint defaults at 10 with the WB presets in the Raw Panel. It makes sense that it should be set to 0 for neutrality though.

I always liked Cosmicar, Fujinon, Kern Paillard and the Angeniuex 15mm I liked a lot as well. The key to c-mount lenses is knowing what size sensor/film the lens was originally designed for. Some c-mounts were made for security cameras and some were made for S16mm film. This will tell you if the lens will cover the sensor without vignetting. The other issue is learning which lenses will fit on a c-mount to M4/3 adapter without needing to be modified. Some are too wide at the base to screw all the way into the adapter. Some Cosmicar and Fujinon lenses need to be modified. With the Cosmicar lenses, look for ones that look kinda like old manual metal lenses with knurled grips. There are essentially two different ones... black ones that are f/1.9 and silver ones that are f/1.4. The f/1.9 lenses are fairly sharp wide open. Most Kern lenses will fit the adapters and so will the Angenieux. I've done a lot of research, so I probably know if a specific lens will work or not if you are unsure. Good luck, but be careful... c-mount lenses have a very unique look because you're using the entire surface of the glass, so the image is akin to using FF lenses on a FF camera. They can be very addictive.

Thanks, I'm still having a problem getting my grades to look consistent on different devices. Obviously, I know part of the issue is my MacBook Air's screen. But it's like a tint gets added. Weirdly, it even happens with B&W. So I usually end up tweaking the color accordingly until I find a happy medium. Since I'm still in production, none of these grades are necessarily a reflection of the final "look" of my film. When I get into post, I'll probably update my computer and my screen. Here's a B&W version of the shot...

So, I almost sold this lens again. As addictive as collecting lenses can be, the utilitarian approach can be just as addictive. Luckily, I came to my senses before the lens sold. Here's another shot from the 35mm 1.4 at f/2 that I processed with an Alexa conversion LUT...

I can't say for sure until I open up the lens, but it feels like something is inside the lens binding up the focus ring and not a limitation of the modification. If the guy who sold it to me was being honest, and Jim Buchanan did the mod, then it was most likely done properly and focuses to infinity. The Nikkor 35mm 1.4 AI-S is a pretty special lens in its own right. Wide open the images feel a little more chaotic than the smooth, dreamy character of the Minolta, but stopped down, the Nikon is a lot sharper and takes on a more "modern" feel. It also seems like Nikon's coatings are more effective than Minolta's were. Of course, this is based on Minolta MC lenses. The MD lenses tend to offer a slightly different look with better coatings.

Honestly, I forget... it's been a minute since I've read about modifying Minolta lenses. I think the biggest issue with the mods is that each lens Minolts built was mechanically different. With FD lenses, the internals were very similar but with Minolta, nothing was interchangeable... you have to dissect each lens and machine parts to make them work. Google Jim Buchanan, he is/was the guru of Minolta to EF mods. The 35mm 1.8 I have was supposedly modified by him, and I tried contacting him but never received a reply. I need to figure out why my copy won't focus past 4 feet, though because it's not only one of the best 35mm lenses... it's probably one of my all time favorite lenses.

I asked a similar question a few pages back. It seems the crop is a little more than the Micro... I think a 3x crop... so it's closer to 16mm... which opens up some possible c-mount 2/3" zoom lenses. That 2.6K resolution interests me a lot as well... downscaled to 2K, it could really have that "Alexa look."

It's a beautiful lens. Good luck with it... I hear it's one of the harder ones to modify.

They're referring to the 2x crop of the sensor compared to full frame. So with M4/3 you would need a 12-35mm lens to have the same field of view as a 24-70mm lens on full frame. You also have to double the aperture value... so an f/2.8 lens on M4/3 will act as an f/5.6 lens on full frame. If you're using native lenses it may not matter as much, but if you're adapting lenses, it can be difficult to get fast wide angle lenses.

Why can't you use Highlight Recovery with Alexa footage? I shoot ML Raw with a 5D3 and use Highlight Recovery in the Raw Tab. I assume it's because I'm interpreting the CDNGs as BM Film or Rec709? But if that's the case, couldn't you just transfer the Alexa footage to CDNGs, interpret as BM Film and then do a CST to LogC, with Luminance Mapping, and also use Highlight Recovery to utilize the full range + of LogC? Btw, I'll often use the WB presets to tweak any issues, or just to get uniformity between clips and it defaults to 10 Tint... should I be turning that to 0? As Shot, my tint is usually a little less than 10. Anyway, cool product. How does your PowerGrade handle shots that the Alexa would excel at, but the P4K/P6K would struggle with?

Interesting theory about the helicoid oil. As far as the comparison video... I preferred the Cooke for obvious reasons... color and field curvature that borders distortion on the Lomo. However, I do like how the frame comes alive on the tilt... but that was evident with both lenses.

@heart0less Not bad at all. I like how you let your shadows fall off into black while still pushing your highlights in your B&W shots.

I love Taks! I've had a couple copies of the 35mm f/2 and found it to be one of the most interesting lenses I've ever owned. It has a butt load of character... even if the 3.5 is probably a better lens overall. I still have the 3.5, a 50mm 1.4, 55mm 1.8 and a couple of the tiny, older Auto-Taks. Going forward, I want to test and build one of those cheaper sets of lenses... either finish off a Nikon set, the SMC Pentax, or SMC Takumars... or maybe all 3...

Nice shots... I should make it a rule on my posts that you can only post your own samples if they're worse than mine. Haha. Seriously though... it's a cool little lens and I would have paid double or triple for it an I would have been happy. Pentax-M lenses are amazing. Along with the Nikon 50mm Series E, the Pentax-M 50mm 1.7 was the first good lens I ever bought. I still have it in my closet somewhere. I should give that a test the next time I go out.

OH... I just figured you bought a used one within the past couple years... I didn't realize you were the OG Red One. So you're very familiar with Red and their products then. How did you... do you like the Red One? It's a club like any other. And when that club is elite... The same thing is happening with BM. Whenever people start referring to a personality they don't know, on a first name basis... there's a bit of a cult of personality involved.

Good to know, thanks! As I've said ad nauseum, I am happy with my current set up, but it's possible my next camera will be a proper cinema camera and it's obvious from your samples, the F3 is still more than capable of a relevant image. I figured from the snow on the ground that you weren't in Philly anymore. What a great resource though. Hopefully you can take advantage of it for your future films. Do you have any plans to make/direct your own films? Also since you have some Nikon lenses... have you ever used the Nikkor 20-35mm 2.8 D?