mercer

Yeah I think curvature is a big flaw in wide angle that adds some character. The Zeiss Hollywood and even the newer Classic model suffers severely from it but it’s also what adds that 3D Pop. The T coating is nice but in some ways they may have perfected it too much. I found it almost impossible to get any flare with their newer lenses. I have pretty much given up on them, though. The money they cost compared to Nikkors just don’t justify it. Of course, Nikkors tend to be warmer but that’s an easy enough of a fix. I still have one more to test though... the 35mm f/2. If it’s amazing, I may keep that as a one lens Zeiss option... Or I may sell everything and go back to just my Canon 28mm 1.8... That lens is a notoriously good lens... especially the Japanese market version. I believe a lot of Anamorphic shooters use the 50mm 1.8 as their taking lens... partly due to quality and I believe because the front element is so close to the front of the lens.

That’s a good point. I’ve already forgotten about wides on a crop sensor. On FF, 2.8 or even an f/4 can give reasonable separation and bokeh. As far as ultra wide angles, why not look into a zoom... Tokina makes a few... or even a Rokinon 14mm? Yeah, that does suck. I really don’t like this triumvirate between Panny, Leica and Sigma. I was hoping Sigma would eventually make a video centric camera but the likelihood has dropped now that they’ve joined forces. I think Panny probably had to make a deal with the devil to get Leica to go along with their FF plans. To back pedal a sec... that shot of yours looks pretty amazing in FF. I love the background separation... minus the aspect ratio difference, this reminds me of old VistaVision films. Hmm... @BTM_Pix

Yeah that is quite noticeable... But since I shoot 2:35 with my 5D3, it could just work... This could just work. I actually like the vignetting and imagine it would be great in a b&w noir. And yeah, it’s pretty sharp. At more than half the price of the 35mm 1.4... this definitely is an option. Thanks for running the test for me! I wonder how well it would match with their 50mm...

@BTM_Pix here are some shots I found online from it... https://www.fredmiranda.com/forum/topic/1541382

I remember those shots... they’re beautiful. I wish I had half of your talent! When I read that that lens covers the FF sensor of the 5D3; I became instantly intrigued... there’s a slight vignette but I often add one anyway with fast wide angle lenses... my lazy exposure cheat. Please do! Of course, now I have to go take new shots so I can try and make it a fair comparison... maybe I should just send you the Nikkor. Ha.

I agree. The 18-35mm is a beautiful lens and if I was shooting S35, I’d own one. Honestly though, I’d never use a speedbooster with S35. Super 35 has such a rich cinematic history that I don’t really see the need to deviate from it. With that being said, Nikkors are awesome lenses and are the cheapest path to a “cinematic” image IMO. Even the Series E lenses aren’t bad. In fact, the 50mm and 100mm Series E lenses are downright excellent. For me, I’ve learned that I only really use 3 focal lengths... 28mm, 35mm and 50mm in FF terms... so I’m trying to build One/Two lens sets by a few different lens makers to give me some options for the upcoming slate of films I’m shooting over the next year.

Thanks for the link. Honestly, I found it to be a wash with no clear winner between the two. If I had to pick one, I think I preferred the Canon. So far on Flickr, there’s hundreds of pages and I’m only a dozen in, Canon is clearly better in my opinion. With that being said, I don’t know if I can justify the cost of the Canon when the f/2 is half the price and affords me IS. Thw Sigma is interesting me. I recently contacted the fella that made that ML Raw video I posted a while back... the one at the WW2 re-enactment and he said the lion share of that video was shot with the Sigma Art 50mm 1.4. So, I am contemplating trying the older EX version and then possibly getting the 30mm 1.4... or testing the 30mm 1.4 first and then later on picking up the 50mm. Also, I paid so little for the Nikkor 35mm 1.4, it doesn’t make much sense for me to sell it... especially since I like it so much...

Haha, I can’t seem to get away from concert photos on Flickr. That sample from the 35mm looks great. I’m gonna keep a look out for one. I prefer 35mm lenses over 28mm but I can only justify so many... right now I have the Canon 35mm and the Nikkor 35mm 1.4. I’m thinking about upgrading my Canon to the 35mm 1.4 L if I can find one for a reasonable price. That lens seems to be on a different level. If I do find one, I’m going to sell the Nikkor 35mm 1.4 and then maybe build a small “D” set or a set of ai-s f/2 lenses.

Sorry for all the posts but today was my weekly opportunity to look at some footage and do some color massacre... lol. So here’s another shot from my Nikkor 28mm f/2 lens test...

Well, we both know the more fun option there. It’s funny though... when I used to shoot 4K, lenses didn’t seem to matter as much... everything was sharp... but now that I’ve been shooting Raw, I notice a huge difference between lenses. So far, it seems the newer Canon lenses are the sharpest, but they lack the character of my vintage lenses. The Zeiss classics I’ve tried seem to be an okay mix but they’re not really that fun to shoot with. I’m hoping to be happy enough with my Nikkors... they are such a joy to shoot with. I may have made a mistake in my processing... I dropped the default sharpening in the Resolve Raw Panel from 10 to 5. I kinda remember reading somewhere that the default is 10 for a specific reason... I was looking at the 35mm f/2 D on Flickr and it seemed a lot sharper and modern than the ai-s lenses but I assume the mechanics aren’t nearly as nice. Btw, I keep trying to find a reason to sell my Canon FD 50mm 1.2 L but I just love the lens and I understand why it’s considered one of the best manual 50mm lenses ever made.

@BTM_Pix I like the lens, but I’m not sure. I’m looking for something sharp but with some character... Do you know if the Nikkor D lenses are a lot more sharper than the ai/ai-s lenses?

Please do, I’d love to see Brighton, or wherever, from the view of a Leica... or maybe a Micro? Here’s another one from the Nikkor 28mm f/2...

Hah... how much does the 28mm go for there? It’s definitely not cheap but it isn’t too bad... I think I paid $175 for my mint copy HC version. Speaking of...

It’s actually the “K” non-ai version. I’m sure one of you guys could really make her sing. Btw, @BTM_Pix ... I don’t know what camera you ended up with there... but damn... you’re gonna give everybody a run for their money.

Here’s a frame from one of the cheapest lenses around... Nikkor 50mm f/2. The lens is fairly sharp and contrasty wide open but since this is was a wide angle shot, I stopped it down to f/2.8...

How many ML Raw shooters use LUTs to correct/grade their footage? My process has always been to run the footage through Resolve as BM Film Log to ProRes which I grade and edit in FCPX. In FCPX inspector panel, there’s an option to use a “Camera LUT” so while I was looking at some clips this morning, I tried the Arri LogC Camera LUT and it seems to work okay on some footage but since the exposure wasn’t intended for the LUT, it went wonky sometimes. Here’s a frame where it seems to have worked... As a reference, here is another frame from the same clip that I did without any LUT. I probably could have boosted the image more in hindsight... I guess I’m just curious if there is a simple way to expose for a LUT without having a monitor LUT available while shooting?

This should be an interesting challenge. I have a feeling that the person who finds and uses a 4K camera will do well with the members vote... even if BTM’s Flip Video footage is way more cinematic... resolution will go a long way and probably result in arguments regarding cinematic and mojo being made up phrases because they aren’t quantifiable.

Why not?

I think you can use any camera that currently sells for less than $200. But remember, if you come in last, the rules state you have to send the camera to the winner. So, if you’re willing to risk your camera, then go for it. If anything, that rule should inspire people to use the cheapest camera they can find, IMO.

Yup, same. With the 5D3, I get well over an hour... probably closer to an hour and a half. As usual, original Canon batteries last longer than third party. I haven’t shot Raw 60p yet. I am using an experimental build so I could give it a try but to be honest, it’s kind of a pain because you have to change a few settings in the menus to do it. With the regular nightly builds, I shot 48p 720p and I thought it looked great for the few times I’d need it.

Yes, CF cards. But what’s great about the 5D3 is that you load ML onto the SD card and record onto the CF, so you don’t have to have a copy of ML on every card you use like with other ML capable cameras.

Yeah, the waveforms seem slightly different between Resolve and FCPX. But yes, I have to trust the waveforms more I guess. Thanks.

With 14bit uncompressed Raw, I get about 12 minutes on a 64GB card. With the 14bit Lossless, it seems to be double but I haven’t used it enough to fill a card. The difference in quality between uncompressed and lossless seems negligible.

Thanks, one of the issues with the MacBook Air, is that it doesn’t have a 179 degree screen, so how I sit, or how much I have it open effects the look of the footage. It can make contrast hard to judge. It’s an EDMIKA Mount... basically the FD Mount is removed and replaced with a custom mount that’s designed to make up the difference in flange distance between the FD and EF Mount. I had the mod done by Simmod and had them declick the aperture and do a basic maintenance but they use the same kit you could buy directly from EDMIKA. The mod looks pretty simple, although I am mechanically minded. I just didn’t feel like messing with it since I wanted the lens declicked and relubed.

A couple shots from the Canon FD 50mm 1.2 L that I had modified to EF mount. The more I use the lens, the more I like it. I’m still flying blind with my MacBook Air. I am pretty set with lenses, so now I need to decide on a monitor/computer. Since these are all color tests just to look at the footage, I have time to make a decision before editing begins. I looked at some of my previous frames on my friend’s phone and they had a greenish tint that I’m not seeing on my computer and phone... I haven’t checked these, but I assume they aren’t exactly what I’m seeing... ugh.