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Nikon Pro AIS

S

SpencerF

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Hello i can have some Nikon Pro AIS (24mm 2.8 ; 35mn 2 ; 50mm 1.4 ; 85mm 2 ; 105mm 2.5 ; 135mm 2.8; 200mm 4)
i was wondering if the quality is good enough for using them with the REDONE or if i should rent some better lenses.
thanks for your help
S.
 
SpencerF said:
Hello i can have some Nikon Pro AIS (24mm 2.8 ; 35mn 2 ; 50mm 1.4 ; 85mm 2 ; 105mm 2.5 ; 135mm 2.8; 200mm 4)
i was wondering if the quality is good enough for using them with the REDONE or if i should rent some better lenses.
thanks for your help
S.
Click to expand...

Those lenses will look wonderful on your Red One. The 50mm 1.4 and the 105 mm 2.5 (if it's the same version I have) will just blow you away with their image quality. The only reason to rent lenses would be for the happiness of your focus puller (assuming you have one) if he/she is unable to deal with the "non-standard" rotation direction of the nikkors. Personally, I find all those other lenses to be a bit backward, but that's just me.
 
I have done a lot of work with the Nikon AIS lenses. My clients have always been really happy with the images.
 
+1 I shoot with Nikon AIS primes all the time and did when I shot on 35mm film. I had a Nikon hard front on my Arri. BTW, do not pass go, use OPTITEK's PROLOCK Nikon mount. OPTITEK is a REDUSER sponsor here and Jacek is great!
 
D Fuller said:
. Personally, I find all those other lenses to be a bit backward, but that's just me.
Click to expand...

Reverse mounting is my only aggravation when I switched to a D7000 a few months ago. Didn't anyone tell Nikon it's "...righty tighty left loosey" ? :-)

It's like driving in grand cayman - at first you are so aware of it it is easy to remember but after a few days you don't concentrate and your sense memory takes over and then you are just confused. I was using a Nikon to Canon adapter on a canon to 4/3 adapter to a GH1 last weekend and it took about two minutes of lens mount "stammering" to finally get it off.
 
We loved the look of the Nikon glass! Just a great, great look. We particularly loved the 50mm f1.4 and the 85mm f1.4. The 85 may be one of the great SLR lenses in history. It's really that good.

We have since switched to the Birger mount and use Canon L-series primes. The look is extremely similar, but the ability to wirelessly control focus with the Impero control is a huge plus for us. And you can make the focus turn either way you want. :-)

The focus puller issue is very real, but if you are using your RED One yourself, you won't believe the production value you can achieve for such a low amount of money using those old AIS Nikon lenses.

Stephen
 
I agree with Stephen. In fact I know shoot with my Nikon AIS primes all the time. The 35mm f1.4 is another amazing lens. In fact you can shoot a whole film with the right planning with just the f1.4 trio of 35, 50, 85. I used to intercut the Nikon glass with Panavision Cooke lenses all the time when I was shooting Panavision 35mm regularly for TV commercial work. Now I just shoot RED MX :–)
 
I own 16mm f2.8, 24mm f2.0, 35mm f1.4, 50mm f1.2, 55mm Macro, 85mm f1.4, 17-35mm f2.8 and The Beast 28-70mm f2.8. Great lenses for money-quite fast.
Now can i buy 2 Angenieux 16-42 and 30-70 PLS?
 
Richard is dead on the money. You certainly can shoot an entire feature with the 35, the 50, and the 85. Heck. In the case of our first film, "Works in Progress," over 90 percent of all shots were made with just those three lenses (although we were not wild about the 35). Maybe even more. With our second film, we used Canon L-series glass (28, 35, 50, and 85) for probably 95% of all shots. The only times we went wider were for interior car shots. The only times we went longer were for super close-ups using the 100mm macro. I think we pulled out our 200 f2.8 maybe once.

We recommend super fast primes to all folks doing low-budget indie work for the simple reason that zooms are so slow and you'll need a huge light kit just to avoid drifting into noise. With the super fast primes (1.4s and 1.2s) you can shoot in the dimmest light (candle light, for example), and still get a usable exposure and save a ton of money, too. Use all the money you saved on production design and getting the best possible actors.

What do you give up image-wise? Almost nothing. You get a bit more breathing with some SLR lenses, and it might be difficult for your focus puller (as noted above), but that's it. The image-quality of the great SLR lenses is just absolutely first-rate. The high production volumes of these lenses are your best friend!

Stephen
 
Yes,
But would not like to use photo lenses for feature ....
For that give me Angie anytime.
Has anybody tested Schneider-Xenars yet? The have gone Up to $30,000 per set!
 
Jiri Vrozina said:
Yes,
But would not like to use photo lenses for feature ....
For that give me Angie anytime.
Has anybody tested Schneider-Xenars yet? The have gone Up to $30,000 per set!
Click to expand...

Which is exactly why, Mr. Vrozina, we use Canon/Nikon SLR lenses for ours.

:-)

Stephen
 
The nicest films and the great cinematographers shoot with 3 lenses or maybe 2 to keep cositency trought the whole film. Using too many lenses looks horrible, in my personal and humble opinion. But if you wants a nice range use 17-35mm 2.8, 28mm-80mm 2.8, 80mm-200mm zooms. Those zoom are terrific for what they are: zooms. Little depth of filed at 1.2 is thought for film specially action scenes and moving scenes, so the solution is not a fast lens as you mentioned, but a bigger iso.
 
silverculture said:
The nicest films and the great cinematographers shoot with 3 lenses or maybe 2 to keep cositency trought the whole film. Using too many lenses looks horrible, in my personal and humble opinion. But if you wants a nice range use 17-35mm 2.8, 28mm-80mm 2.8, 80mm-200mm zooms. Those zoom are terrific for what they are: zooms. Little depth of filed at 1.2 is thought for film specially action scenes and moving scenes, so the solution is not a fast lens as you mentioned, but a bigger iso.
Click to expand...

That is exactly the set I use all the time (along with a Canon 150-600 Nikon mount) I shoot nature and outdoors, so 4/5.6 is fine. I found those modern zooms, used as variable primes, look better that the old AIS primes. There's a clarity about the newer lenses that I personally prefer, which is why I'm anxiously waiting for iris control on the Epic to use my new 35 1.4 G, which is truly sick on DSLR tests.
 
silverculture said:
The nicest films and the great cinematographers shoot with 3 lenses or maybe 2 to keep cositency trought the whole film. Using too many lenses looks horrible, in my personal and humble opinion.
Click to expand...

Damn, you mean the whole masterprime serie is useless ? :)
Your sentence doesn't match your own zooms set...

You can shoot a movie with 2 or 3 lenses. It doesn't mean you're great if you decide to do it that way. It's good to have some favorite lenses though.

I think you mean that intercut too wide and too close with too long and too blurred is not ideal for creating an consistent identity.
Wide angle distorsion create a special kind of mood, a cool wide angle effect and if you decide to use it, you may have to use it all along the movie. That cool effect is sometime a way to artificially create cinematic language...
on the other hand, telephone wide open are sometime used to create an artificially i'm an indie intelligent-artist style and my charaacters looks at the infinity in themselves. We see that a lot these days. Not ideal to my taste (it depend on the story though). I would like to see a movie with a story which authorized that kind of leap jump between lenses. a movie with a 14, 18, 85 and a 100. Ö

Moreover, you always cheat with distance, aperture, and production design to be able to shoot with all the lenses you rented. Well at least, I am.
When I rent a 10 lenses set, I wanna use them all. And if you can recognize the lens when watching the movie, more than really wide, wide, normal, telephoto, super telephoto, you are really good.

__

The Nikon AIS are excellent lenses. Well not all of them, but 24f2.8 35 F2. 50 f1.2 85 g1.4 105 f1.8 are excellent
 
I own the 50mm AI 1.2 and the 35mm 1.4 AIS. I really wonder if those lenses would be ok on Epic for 2k film out. I usually use them on the 5D for video use. I see a lot of Coma, CA and softness wide open. Closing to about F2 is getting better. Wondering about those lenses when comparing to RPP or UP @ t2?

Size matters... ergonomic wise, so I would love to use them on Epic... one day.

Thanks.

Pat
 
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