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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Best "cheap" Canon lens for Scarlet?

Doing a lot of shooting at 6K are you?

I'm not a big fan of Canon EF mechanics for video work.
Might I suggest used Zeiss Contax lenses which are fully manual and can be adapted to EF mount.
 
I too recommend the Contax Zeiss, I have a 85mm and a 50mm f1.4. Both of a standard equal I think to CP2's. They might even have the same glass. The 50mm I bought for about 400 dollars and the 85mm about 600 dollars. Absolute bargain. Plenty on Ebay.
 
I was looking for a cheap all around prime that will be my "throw it in the bag" lens for casual and not so casual shooting.

I got Canon 28mm 1.8, here's why.

1) Focal length. It's 28mm, when you take into account Scarlet's crop factor you get a nice 44.8mm FOV with this lens. 50mm lenses are not wide enough for me on Scarlet. And because you get FOV closer to 80mm with 50mm primes you can say "hello" to a lot of shaky footage when shooting handheld.

2) Aperture. It's 1.8. There are times when you don't have a lighting truck accompanying you and don't even have a LED light panel, so 1.8 allows you to get decent images in situations where f4 or even f2.8 would result in a sea of noise.

3) Autofocus. Yes, it's not perfect yet, but it works and works well. I like to make a Sidehandle/Outrigger handle run'n'gun config, holding the camera with both hands and half-pressing the REC button on Sidehandle for focusing (shot a rock concert this way a couple of days ago). The fact that this lens has one of the fastest focusing motors in Canon line doesn't hurt either.

4) It's cheap. I think it's a bit less than $500 new. I don't know any other lens that can do all the above for less money.

5) It's light. The lens weights a tiny bit more than a single Redvolt.

6) Mechanics. To my surprise it is solidly built and the focus ring (if you would like to use it manually) is not as bad as on L-series lenses, where you almost can't tell when the ring is spinning "effectively" and when it reaches its "non effective" point if you don't look on the focus scale. On this lens you can clearly feel the "stops", though they are not hard stops as on Zeiss glass.

7) Full frame. I wasn't thinking as far as shooting 6K (and let's face it — probability of Scarlet users getting 6K at 24fps is close to 0%), but this lens is designed for full frame sensor cameras, so it will cover Dragon 6K sensor without any problems.

As always with still glass you have to try several versions of the lens before you buy. When I was at a store I asked for two 28mm lenses and one was sharper that the other.

P.S.: I figured a way to even use this lens as a "digital zoom" when shooting for web, when your final product won't be larger than 1080p.

[Captain Obvious to the rescue!]

Just switch between 4K, 3K, 2K and now 1K. It's wide enough at 4K and narrow enough in 2K modes.
 
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Demetri Zuev said:
I was looking for a cheap all around prime that will be my "throw it in the bag" lens for casual and not so casual shooting.

I got Canon 28mm 1.8, here's why.

...

Just switch between 4K, 3K, 2K and now 1K. It's wide enough at 4K and narrow enough in 2K modes.
Click to expand...

I've been doing the same switching and was glad I had an adjustable Canon lens to roughly match the crop when I switched to 3K or 2K - I'm concerned a prime lens would be too limiting or require me to move farther back from the subject which sometimes isn't easy or possible. Practically speaking, have you not found that to be an issue?
 
Kevin Burg said:
I've been doing the same switching and was glad I had an adjustable Canon lens to roughly match the crop when I switched to 3K or 2K - I'm concerned a prime lens would be too limiting or require me to move farther back from the subject which sometimes isn't easy or possible. Practically speaking, have you not found that to be an issue?
Click to expand...

Kevin, it may be an issue when you want to maintain the same composition of a shot, when switching between different resolutions (for instance when you want to shot an object in 4K and then shoot the same object with the same framing in 2K at 60fps). In this case — yes, you will have to move back from your subject and I'd rather use a zoom lens for this situations.

My point is more applicable to those situations, when you need to get a tighter shot and can't physically move closer to the subject. For instance, while I was shooting a rock show I mentioned in my previous post I often would find myself in front of the stage in a press-zone, unable to get on stage and close to a drummer. I switched to 2K and it worked as a digital zoom, so I could get closer to the drummer in my shot, without getting closer to him physically, which was imposible.

I know that you can do the same with a zoom lens, but you're loosing 2 to 3 stops of light, cause 99% of zooms are f2.8/T2.9, and in this case I needed those stops.
 
I've been pretty happy with my Canon EF-S 17-55mm f/2.8 IS as an all-around throw it in the bag lens. The only problem with it is that it vignettes heavily at 5K. You might want to look into a used Canon 16-35mm L.
 
+1 - Canon 28mm 1.8 - this lens lives on my scarlet.

Edit: I used to have the Sigma 30mm F1.4, about the same price as the canon 28 1.8.
I sold it because the autofocus was dreadful for taking photos on a DSLR.
But now that I am strictly Scarlet, I may sell my canon 28 and re-buy the Sigma.

Here's why:

1. Sigma shows no distortion whatsoever, canon 28mm does
2. Sigma's 1.4 aperature really makes a big difference in low-light over a 1.8 (at least on my tests)
3. Sigma 30 works as a wide angle, also works for portraits

If you get a used Sigma 30mm for $400 on amazon, and a canon 50mm 1.8 for $100
you are covered for the time being on the Scarlet.

My 2 cents.
 
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Rokinon:

attachment.php


85mm in this case. I love this image... some may not like the grade, I think it suits the subject.

Mike
 
A lot of EF-S lenses being mentioned, but I don't think those will cover a ~1.2x crop of 6k sensor (I'm assuming you want to use this with Dragon eventually). EF-S lenses will even struggle to cover the 1.3x crop of the MX at 5k. (The Tokina 11-16 only works from 13-16 without vignetting on APS-H/1.3x and only 15-16 on FF35).

You can't go wrong with older Zeiss, and those will cover FF35 ("1x" crop). Also, anything higher than 50mm usually looks immaculate. I have yet to see an 85mm lens (Nikkor, Canon, Rokinon, Zeiss) that looks like crap. It's arguably my favourite focal length and it looks even better on an FF35/1.3x sensors.
 
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Mike 'Fireman' Ross said:
Rokinon:

attachment.php


85mm in this case. I love this image... some may not like the grade, I think it suits the subject.

Mike
Click to expand...

+1
And you can get the 14mm, 24mm, 35mm, 85mm. All 1.4 except for the 2.8 14mm. The whole kit for 1.9k.
Nice lenses, nice mechanics.
 
I'm a huge proponent of Contax glass (full disclosure, I own over 20 of them).

A very affordable starter kit is:

18 f4 - $700
28 2.8 - $400
35 2.8 - $350
50 1.4 - $400
85 1.4 - $700 (or 85 2.8 $400)
135 2.8 - $300
180 2.8 - $400

Advantages:

1) These are the designs that all ZF/ZE/CP2's are based on. They are RAZOR SHARP. These are Zeiss's orginal SLR lens designs from the 70's/80's that they kept making until 2005. Anyone who tells you that ZE/ZF/CPs are sharper are WRONG. Even now, a lot of these can outperform Canon L glass. The improvements over the past decade have mostly been in speed, I'm guessing distortion, and the coatings (handle flare "better").

2) The cinema mechanics are the same as LEICA R's - ie, they the aperture and focus turn the "right way". (ZF's are NIKON, and go the wrong way. And ZE's are CANON, and have no aperture ring at all)

3) They have the same OLDER T* coating as Super Speeds, Hasselblads, etc. I LOVE this older coating, and I think it looks fantastic on digital. The newer coating on ZE/ZF/CP2 I think were optomized for digital, but for me...personally...something got lost in translation.

4) To that point, I love how these flare. Looks awesome.

5) To give you a sense of history, the Contax Zeiss lenses were in direct competition with Leica R's, both price and quality wise.

6) Because the Contax line lasted so long (30 years), there are almost 40 different lenses that they made, including primes and zooms. (The ZF/ZE designs are just a cherry picked sample from these). Meaning...you can get more unusual focal lengths than are available in ZE/ZF - like a 16mm fisheye, a 135 f2, a 180, a 300, a 500 Mirror, and some amazing zooms to boot. The 28-85 is AMAZING. Truly.

7) Mechanics are superb, and almost all of them have gorgeous focus throws. Makes them perfect candidates for CINEMODDING at Duclos.

8) They are affordable, but prices are rising FAST. They are often 1/2 the price of ZE/ZF's and many Leica R's. However...the word is out...and prices are dramatically every time I look.


Disadvantages

1) They aren't Leica R's, which are all the rage.

2) A lot of them are a bit small, so they don't have the beefiness of PL glass.

3) Wide open, some of the 1.4's are a bit "dreamy soft" which is pretty common for 1.4 glass, but some people hate this. I'm quite fond of the look, personally.

4) They are a bit hard to collect.

5) No one gives a crap about them yet, people look at them as "old" ZF/ZE's and so they overlook them, even though they are often half price and for cinema...for all the mechanical reasons I stated above...they are BETTER.

6) These are, for all intenstive purposes, "poor man's" SUPER SPEEDS, but again...no one gives a shit, so good luck renting them. One day, once everyone is bored of the Leica R's, these will become the rage, but until everyone wises up, take advantage and buy some. TRUST ME.
 
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Miles Heckendorn said:
Nick,

Just out of curiosity, what kind of mount are you using for the Contax/Scarlet?
Click to expand...

I use CY/EOS adapters on all my lenses. You can also Leitax them with permanent EOS mounts. Or you can use the ALL STAR mount to seamlessly shift between PL glass and various still mounts, including C/Y. We just bought the ALL STAR and will be testing it out soon.

Hope this helps.
 
Nick Morrison said:
I use CY/EOS adapters on all my lenses. You can also Leitax them with permanent EOS mounts. Or you can use the ALL STAR mount to seamlessly shift between PL glass and various still mounts, including C/Y. We just bought the ALL STAR and will be testing it out soon.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Very helpful info.
 
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