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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 :)

Lens recommendations for upcoming feature.

R

Ryan Brown

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So I've got a feature coming up. It's an indie drama with a gritty, organic feel to it. Mostly hand-held. Pretty much everything's in place now except my lenses. Looks like we're shooting Scarlet X, although a good friend just got his epic dragon yesterday and he may give us a good deal.

I'm going for a very organic, earthy tone and I want to find the right lenses for the look.

My frist choice is the Cooke S4's, but it's starting to look like it'll push me over budget and may not be an option. I found them for $800/week, which is a good deal, but I think that money could be better used hiring an extra hand in my grip department.

I was thinking about old Nikkor primes, as I've shot a couple small projects in the past on these lenses and really liked the way they performed. The lens flares, soft low-contrasty look, and especially the super creamy bokeh I got out of them is leaning me towards checking them out a little more in depth.

Are there any other sets out there that are known for the look I'm going for that I may have overlooked? How common are the nikon primes... will I be able to find a set pretty easily here in L.A.? I did a quick search yesterday and came up empty.

cheers
 
One of the most organic, and my personal favorite, lens sets out there are the Zeiss Contax. Incredibly small/lightweight which makes ideal for handheld work. They flare beautifully, have a rich vibrance to them, and frankly, are all that I shoot on now.
 
So many features have been shot on Zeiss Super-Speeds, you should look into them. Personally, if you are going to do a lot of close-focus critical focusing on actors while moving around handheld, you are going to want the longer rotation of cine lenses for focus-pulling -- with their better-marked scale on the barrel -- rather than still camera lenses. You should talk to your focus puller to see what they think. Contrast of a lens can be adjusted in post but it is a lot harder to fix focus problems.
 
The vintage Zeiss look is a fantastic way to go, whether via Super Speeds or Contax. The mechanics of Super Speeds are certainly a bonus. If you are looking to buy, Contax provide tremendous value, and the "Standard Primes", the slower 2.8 primes are TINY and ideal for flying on gimbal, etc (as Chris often does).

best
 
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I Have a nikkor 180mm in PL if you need it. It's moded from being a BNC-R lens it all works but the mod is not so nicely done so I'm willing to sell it cheep... Then you jus need to find the rest of the set. lol.
 
I think I am with David on this one and not for the sake of following a hero.

Put the salt in the stew after it goes on the camera drive, not before. You cannot take it back out if the stew is too poisonous to eat.

You also need good Nikons, not just any Nikons. For the sake of your focus puller's sanity, give him or her at least one geared professional lens for the close-ups and a follow-focus to move it even if it has to be on a PL-Nikon F adaptor. Stay out of the last available one-stop zone to wide-open with Nikons, especially if they are a mixed lot of slower and faster lenses. Add light to achieve this.

For your wides, find the best and sharpest Nikon lens you can. I find I drop out of an Alexa-shot movie into post-mortem mode when the "apparent" sharpness goes to hell on wide shots containing contrast and fine detail. If you have 4K, be not tempted to cripple it with lousy optics. You can do that anytime you like with HD.

Hopefully others will correct anything misleading in my comments above.
 
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Check out too the TLS Morpheus 80 200 which is Nikon glass theres a 24 70 and 14 24 to company the morpheus which will make a great lens set.
 
super baltars

super baltars

Give Super Baltars a look.
I shot b-unit on a music video with these lenses last fall and fell in love with the look. soft, subtle, organic, great for skin. the 18 vignettes a bit in 5k, but it's minor. hard to find, but great look IMO.

Here's the video:
http://vimeo.com/72972910

I think the producer rented them from Old School Cinema in LA...then drove em here to Wyoming.

cool,
trey
 
Cookes are the best, but arguably too "pretty."

I love the NIkkors for how terrible they are wide open, but what do you do for a fast wide angle? The 24mm f2 (which I recently have learned to adore for its wild character) is optically garbage and the 18mm is like f4 or something? If speed is not a concern they are fine if outfitted for video (gears, declicked, not used with adapters because those throw off infinity focus and shift floating elements out of alignment). Difficult to pull with. Soft wide open.

Huge super speed fan here, but they are very different from Cookes… though I have seen the two intercut. Dreadful coma wide open on some but very sharp yet slightly harsh… I adore them. I know others who hate them. I like their vibe… like a colder, meaner version of the Nikkors, same older, softer look but outrageous speed and center resolution and relatively tiny with a cool vintage feel. Well-behaved from f2.8 and more stopped down (tack sharp), a little crazy as they open up losing contrast but not resolution. The 18mm, 35mm, and 65mm macro are sick…

I do like the Nikkors (own a big kit of them if you're seriously looking to rent), but your first won't.

First few shots on my reel are Superspeeds rented from Rule in Boston. We used their TS3 Cine slow motion camera and needed the speed... 720fps at 640 ISO with only two small HMIs and natty light. (Rest is all still lenses.)
 
First generation Nikkors (F lenses, NOT Ai, AI-s, D's or G's) are organic, sharp, single coated and have between 180 and 270 degrees of focus barrel rotation, depending on the lens. The poor man's Baltar, if you will. PM me if you want to test, as I see you are in LA. Oh yeah, they cover 6K for Dragon, too.
 
Wow, lots of responses here. I'm going to go through every one, but I just got off set and half to be back in 8 hours. Last day of feature though, so please keep the comments coming and I'll post back on Monday
 
Ryan,

For a feature seriously consider anamorhpic. No other dollars spent on the production will match the value spent on using bent glass. For your organic look older cheaper Lomos will do the job. You will need to make that push to Epic though
 
No one named Cooke Mini S4 or Varotal zooms ?
If you look for Cooke look and can't afford S4, Minis are T2.8 but Cooke all the way!
And, if they're still far from your rental budget, use your muscles and try the not that light and tiny Cooke Cine Varotal zooms. You will get the best look. With the best propper mechanics for cine use.
It's your choice if tiny and light worth not using propper optics...
For still lenses with a nice look more like Pana Primos I'll choose Leicas over nikkors or contax, but again it's just a different look and a matter of taste
 
alejo taube said:
No one named Cooke Mini S4 or Varotal zooms ?
If you look for Cooke look and can't afford S4, Minis are T2.8 but Cooke all the way!
And, if they're still far from your rental budget, use your muscles and try the not that light and tiny Cooke Cine Varotal zooms. You will get the best look. With the best propper mechanics for cine use.
It's your choice if tiny and light worth not using propper optics...
For still lenses with a nice look more like Pana Primos I'll choose Leicas over nikkors or contax, but again it's just a different look and a matter of taste
Click to expand...

For repeatable mechanics, Cooke Mini S4's are certainly worth considering too. Likewise, I think the extra speed of Super's is a plus for them - if the OP could get some MK III Super Speeds, with great mechanics, that would give him both a great vintage look, the speed, and mechanics he is looking for. This would be an ideal rental option (as a set would run the OP $40-50k). On a budget for purchasing, great vintage primes would be worth a look (Leica, Contax, etc), with added bonus they cover all 6K Dragon formats.

Another great choice (for rental or purchse) could be a vintage Cooke zoom, too: a 20-100? 18-100? At T3 not super fast, but these have a great look and nice range to them too. Would rarely have to take it off the camera!
 
Handholding a Cooke 20-100 would not be thrilling for a very long period of time. Way too big and heavy.
Personally, I think you should consider renting a set of Schneider Xenar III's.
Why ? Because they are somewhere between a Cooke and a Zeiss, they open to T2 and most of all, not only is their bokeh stunning, but they don't breathe!
The latter is really important if you are pulling focus going handheld. They should be a lot cheaper than renting Cookes and I seriously think you should consider them.

After that, I definitely second the Contax Zeiss's, very close to Superspeed'es without the cat's eyed 3 bladed thing going on. I would then use a radio follow focus like a Redrock (or any number of other brands) which automatically calibrates to 270 degrees of rotation, no matter how small the actual throw of the lens is. This will allow your 1st AC to keep hands off the rig and do what he is there for, which is pulling focus!
 
Ryan Brown said:
My frist choice is the Cooke S4's, but it's starting to look like it'll push me over budget and may not be an option. I found them for $800/week, which is a good deal, but I think that money could be better used hiring an extra hand in my grip department.
Click to expand...

That is a smoking deal. I wouldn't overlook such a value if I were in your position, and I'd love to know where I can rent them for that rate myself.
 
+1 Zeiss Super Speeds. Great look, phenomenal technically, and small enough to make days of shooting handheld manageable.
 
David Carstens said:
That is a smoking deal. I wouldn't overlook such a value if I were in your position, and I'd love to know where I can rent them for that rate myself.
Click to expand...

+1

And if the S4s are too far out of budget, go for the S4 Minis (assuming you can find a proportionally amazing price). There's really no reason to go through the pain and difficulty of shooting stills glass when you have some budget for proper glass.
 
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