FS: Cine-nikkor 25mm f1.8, c-mount

[montani]

Hi, posting this here for now as ebay does not load my photos. Super sharp and rare 25mm f1.8 cine-nikkor, for 450$ with free shipping worldwide. Sample photo is straight jpeg from nikon v2 just resized for web. Minty condition.

[montani]

cannot seem to post my sample photo.  any tips how?

[DIGICHombre]

How did you like this lens? Reviews online are few.

[mercer]

17 minutes ago, DIGICHombre said:

How did you like this lens? Reviews online are few.

Just bought this lens a couple months ago. I ended up with a not as described version... it had fungus, so I sent it back to Japan, but it seemed really nice. I threw it on the GX85 and it had a nice low contrast when wide open, but still sharp, and it stopped down nicely adding just the right amount of contrast and sharpness to soften that 4K image. The build quality is exceptional. For $200 or less, I'd say it's a good lens if you're into vintage c-mounts. 

[DIGICHombre]

Thanks Mercer for your valuable opinion. Looking into vintage lenses for the BMMCC, which are few and far between, as well as a whole new ballgame as I'm new to 16mm, Super 16, and C-mount lenses.

[mercer]

1 hour ago, DIGICHombre said:

Thanks Mercer for your valuable opinion. Looking into vintage lenses for the BMMCC, which are few and far between, as well as a whole new ballgame as I'm new to 16mm, Super 16, and C-mount lenses.

No problem, I had the BMMCC and I tried a few c mounts with it.

My favorites were the Bell + Howell Angenieux lenses. I have the 10mm and 15mm. And I have a really cool Czech lens called a Meopta. They made a 12, 20, 40 and 80mm. I have the 20mm and it is a sweet little lens... especially since I won it for 5 bucks on eBay.

I also used some Cosmicar c-mounts which were made by Pentax. The f/1.9 versions fit c-mount adapters without modification.

And finally I used Fujinon C-mounts and they were probably the most similar to modern day optics. They have a cool mixture of vintage and modern look to them. Some people have compared them to Zeiss lenses. However most of them need some sort of modification to fit in the c-mount adapters. Some of them can be modified simply enough, some need to have metal shaved away to fit. The 12.5mm fits specifically into a Fotasy brand c-mount to m4/3 adapter.

The other issues to be aware of is that most vintage c-mounts use uncommon filter diameters, so if you are using a specific diameter for IR Cut and ND, be prepared to buy some step up rings.

Oh yeah, also check out Kerns, they are lovely with the Micro cam.

And to see some video examples with vintage S16mm lenses on the Pocket cam go over to vintage lenses for video .com . The Krasnogorsks seem to work beautifully with it.

And there are a lot of old Arri mount S16 lenses that look like a lot of fun. 

Sorry for the rambling but I spent a lot of time researching this last year and not many people to discuss it with.

I'm no expert, but if you have any questions feel free to PM me or reply here. Good luck. Oh yeah and full disclosure... I am selling my two Angenieux lenses on eBay... not because I don't like them but I don't have a camera to use them with and probably won't for a while. 

[DIGICHombre]

Thanks Mercer, this is all very helpful. It's good you know all of this, because it has been hell trying to find any information on it myself. 

I'm basically attempting to track down compatible [and decently regarded] lenses on eBay using this list as a reference: 

I started my research for lenses on Alan's site. The Kiev or Krasnogorsk mount lenses seem the most economical (aside from the fact that according to his articles mounts can be tricky and/or expensive in addition) as a kit. The widest lens of the kit the Mir-11mm some say vignettes too much, or is too soft/blurry/etc. Most likely I would just want the Vega 7 20mm. The long lens doesn't make sense because I have quite a collection of full frame lenses I could easily modify if I wanted the super tele focal length. But I've read mixed reviews of the Vega 7 so don't really know what to trust. I like lenses with some 'character' and won't mind a little imperfections here or there (as an owner of Helios, Super Tak, mamiya, kowa, voigtlander lenses I understand vintage) but can't tell if the Kievs are just junk or pleasing/forgiving junk. 

I've seen a fair amount of decent examples of Schneider Kreuznach Cinegons but there seems to be a whole lot of different types, either old or new in C mount or Arriflex. 

Then there's a really sweet couple of Cooke Kinetal's a (17.5mm and 25mm) which look drop dead gorgeous, but the price of the lens, and the arriflex std mount is painful.

I also looked at a Cosmicar/Taylor Hobson 25mm C mount, which looks (from the outside) almost exactly like a more expensive Angenieux. And most recently found these purportedly "very rare" cine nikkors which sound too good to almost be true and get mostly positive reviews of the few I've found.

My main problem is I want to experiment with this BMMCC without having to re-stock a full set of lenses. Ideally a semi-wide and a normal 50ish equivalent. 

I toyed with speedboosters but, again, $$$ for the legit .58x version and even then, a significant crop. Cheaper chinese .71x versions just don't seem worth it. Vintage & inexpensive super wide angle s35/FF lenses are few and far between. 

I ALSO have a Kowa 1.5x anamorphic I want to use on this camera, which is another consideration when purchasing focal lengths for this camera. The widest taking lens I can go on a FF is 58mm + vignette, ideally 75mm + no vignette. So if my math is correct I'd need a 25mm super 16 lens at the minimum to pair with the anamorphic (due to the 2.88x crop factor). I'm hypothesizing here because, as far as I can tell, no public examples exist, and I don't yet have the camera to play around.

Out of curiosity 2 questions: How did you like the BMMCC? I know it's a pain in the ass from the get go, ie the buttons, menu, iso, etc. etc. But worth the 13 stops dynamic range, 4:2:2 color space, Raw DNG? 

Got links to those Angenieux lenses you're selling? 

[mercer]

Well you have been doing your research. Good on you. I only have a minute, I'll reply more in length later...

Have you looked at any videos with the Meteor lens... I think it's a 16-69mm. It won't give you the semi-wide but it's a good one lens system if you want that 70s film look. See below for a video I found online when I was looking to get one... I love that look

I had a love hate relationship with the Micro. At the time, and now, I'm forced to work on no budget, run and gun narratives. I write, shoot, direct and edit them. Well I am doing that now, finally. Anyway the Micro drew too much attention, so it wasn't good for my purposes, but I loved the images it produced. Since then I've used a 50D, a Pocket, another Pocket and now I have finally settled on a 5D3. I liked the Micro image better than the Pocket, it seems slightly different, but I prefer the form factor of the Pocket and I prefer everything about the 5D3 over the two... except I can't use an old c-mounts with it.