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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 :)

Widest Lens for your Scarlet?

I sat on this decision for about two weeks and thought I'd share my thoughts as I've finally pulled the trigger on one of these ultrawides.

I have my fisheye situation well covered, but I certainly needed something wider in the rectilinear realm. Deciding on a zoom was both a troubling and rewarding concept. I was going to originally purchase a 10mm f/1.8 and mod it to EF, but I'll save that for another day as it grew to be expensive and the 10mm I sourced wasn't very sharp in the corners (didn't expect it to be).

All of the variable aperture zooms get thrown out of the equation for me. That's something I just really don't like in my day to day shooting techniques. I can't fathom shooting wide at f/4 and then punching in and not being able to match that f/4. I just don't like variable apertures zooms.

So that means I was mostly deciding between the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 and the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5.
Tough one. More light versus more range.

In this particular situation, that 2/3rds of a stop more light won out as I was receiving many more love letters about the Tokina and it's performance and build quality.

This works fine for me because on FF35 I really like the FOV of an 18mm prime. It's right at that breaking point where you can still put an actor near camera without turning them into a martian. The FOV of the the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm is around 17.6mm on FF35, so just a smidge wider. I'll wait on an 8mm, 9mm, or 10mm prime and I'll send some emails to see if I can trick somebody into making one for under $1500 next year. At that wide I would put those into the specialty lens category and I can wait for that extreme wide.

I have 14mm, 18mm, and 20mm primes that hit FOV sweet spots I like, but I'm hoping for a some faster primes in that range as well.
 
Hey Phil,

" The FOV of the the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm is around 17.6mm on FF35, so just a smidge wider. "

I dont' think the statement above is correct if you are suggesting the RED 18mm is only a little wider than the Tokina 11-16mm at 11mm. At 11mm the FOV is much, much wider.

The Tokina 11-16mm is a 35mm lens just like the RED 18mm. Given the same size sensor, the difference in FOV should remain the same...AFAIK : )
 
Correct, guess I could have been clearer. I'm not assuming the same sensor size. All I'm saying is that I like the look of 18mm on FF35 and 11mm on 4k Scarlet (1.6x) comes to around a 17.6mm FOV equivalent in relation to that larger format.

I was eating a sandwich. Typing and chewing. Not a good combo.
 
Ahhhh, I get it. You had me doubting everything I thought I knew about lenses and sensors...but no big deal. Haha!
 
Am I right in thinking that the Tokina 11-16mm won't be able to take advantage of scarlet's auto focusing functions because it doesn't have it's own motor?
 
Phil Holland said:
I sat on this decision for about two weeks and thought I'd share my thoughts as I've finally pulled the trigger on one of these ultrawides.

I have my fisheye situation well covered, but I certainly needed something wider in the rectilinear realm. Deciding on a zoom was both a troubling and rewarding concept. I was going to originally purchase a 10mm f/1.8 and mod it to EF, but I'll save that for another day as it grew to be expensive and the 10mm I sourced wasn't very sharp in the corners (didn't expect it to be).

All of the variable aperture zooms get thrown out of the equation for me. That's something I just really don't like in my day to day shooting techniques. I can't fathom shooting wide at f/4 and then punching in and not being able to match that f/4. I just don't like variable apertures zooms.

So that means I was mostly deciding between the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 and the Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5.
Tough one. More light versus more range.

In this particular situation, that 2/3rds of a stop more light won out as I was receiving many more love letters about the Tokina and it's performance and build quality.

This works fine for me because on FF35 I really like the FOV of an 18mm prime. It's right at that breaking point where you can still put an actor near camera without turning them into a martian. The FOV of the the Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 at 11mm is around 17.6mm on FF35, so just a smidge wider. I'll wait on an 8mm, 9mm, or 10mm prime and I'll send some emails to see if I can trick somebody into making one for under $1500 next year. At that wide I would put those into the specialty lens category and I can wait for that extreme wide.

I have 14mm, 18mm, and 20mm primes that hit FOV sweet spots I like, but I'm hoping for a some faster primes in that range as well.
Click to expand...

Sounds good. I'm thinking of getting the Tokina also, but am going to wait until I can either rent it or see some shots with 4k and 3k crop factors.
 
My Tokina 11-16 just arrived. Threw it on a 60D to get a feel for how the dof and lens will look on Scarlet. Blown away! Cant f'n wait!!!
 
Adam Johnson said:
My Tokina 11-16 just arrived. Threw it on a 60D to get a feel for how the dof and lens will look on Scarlet. Blown away! Cant f'n wait!!!
Click to expand...

I just got my Rokinon 85MM F1.4 fully manual to play with. Pretty surprised at it's quality for ~$270. Can't wait to try it on the Scarlet!
 
Adam Johnson said:
My Tokina 11-16 just arrived. Threw it on a 60D to get a feel for how the dof and lens will look on Scarlet. Blown away! Cant f'n wait!!!
Click to expand...

Kind of ironic - I am waiting for Fedex with mine right now; and will put it on my 60D as soon as it arrives. :smiley:
 
Phil Holland said:
If you are referring to the Sigma 8mm fisheye it vignettes on 5k and 4k. Their rectilinear zoom should cover 4k with no problem.
Click to expand...

I actually had a chance to try out the Sigma 8mm fish eye on an APS-C and in 3:2 the image circle slightly intersects the corner. In 16:9 4k it looks like there'll be no edge to the image circle and in 5k you'll get prettttty close to getting the full width of the image circle I think.
 
Phil Holland said:
Ultra Wides Available for Scarlet X in EF mount for 4k motion use as of November 2011.
Click to expand...

Adding to what Phil started -- A few of my opinions based on testing many of these lenses.

Rectilinear:

-Sigma 8-16mm f/4.5-5.6 -------- Amazingly sharp lens for the price and shooting 8mm on the R1/Scarlet is great. Slow yes -- but I prefer it to the Tokina 11-16mm just so I can get that extra 8-11mm coverage. And I can use it down to 11.5mm at 5K on my Epic without vignette. And 10mm at 5K IF you are OK with a little darkness in the corners.

-Tokina 11-16mm f/2.8 ----------- As everyone says: Very sharp and fast but only 11mm... A very good choice if 11-16mm is enough for you. I have the Sigma above and absolutely love it.

-Canon 10-22mm f/3.5-4.5 --------- OK IF you get a good one -- sharp and pretty good overall but both the Tokina's I tried were more even overall and sharp farther into the corners. Past time for Canon to make some new wide angle zooms and primes.

-Canon 14mm f/2.8L ----------------- Just too expensive for what it does for you. I think the Tokina is as good or even better...

-Sigma 12-24mm f/4.5-5.6 II ------ Interesting new FF lens that Covers 5K at 12mm – The is the new $949.00 (B&H) version NOT the old one. I have not tested this lens. The old version was pretty bad. I think I may have to try this lens since you will get clean 12mm on the Epic. For Scarlet/R1 I would stick with the Tokina 11-16mm.

All of the ones below -- Not good – Tested them all. Bad CA and not sharp at all approaching the corners & some were not even that sharp in the middle. Mostly old lens designs which I would avoid. Not worth it for 1mm. If you want wider than the Tokina 11-16mm get the Sigma 8-16mm.
-Sigma 10-20mm f/3.5
-Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6
-Tokina 12-24mm f/4


Fisheye:

-Vivitar 7mm F/3.5 Manual focus At $289.00 is so much cheaper than the others and it is very good for 4K, sort of looks like a FF Fisheye at 3K and it is really helpful shooting wide 2K as nothing else that can get that wide which you can also use above 2K. Fun for music videos but will not come out of the case very often.

Have not tested the others except for the 15mm which does not work that well as you have the distortion from being fisheye and you can get wider shots with one of the zoom lenses above. And all of these are really expensive compared to the Vivitar.

-Sigma 8mm f/3.5
-Sigma 10mm f/2.8
-Canon 8-15mm f/4L
-Tokina 10-17mm f/3.5-4.5
-Canon 15mm f/2.8
-Sigma 15mm f/2.8
-Sigma 4.5mm f/2.8 (Circular, not full frame, could be useful for 2k/1k)
 
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