This post is part of a series of upcoming reviews of camera-lens mounts and their pros and cons. Quite possibly the most common camera-lens mount on the market today is the Canon EF and EF-S mount. Introduced in 1987 and updated in 2003, the EF-S mount added several features that improved on the original FD Mount including focus motors placed inside the lens to enable auto-focus. Step forward 2.5 decades and the Canon EF and EF-S mount are the reigning champion of still photography and quickly gaining popularity in the world of cinema. For the sake of simplicity, I’ll simply refer to the Canon mount as EF instead of EF or EF-S. If you need more clarification on the difference between EF and EF-S, google it. 😉
Photo by Phil Holland @ Salt Test II Duclos Lenses
In a recent post I declared that it’s better to invest in glass than in cameras since new cameras come out every few months. I wasn’t just saying that to get people to buy glass, I meant it. Just this year there have been at least half a dozen cameras released or announced, if not more. With more cameras there comes more choices for lenses. Wether it’s a BlackMagic camera with it’s mighty little crop sensor or the new 5DMk14B-R whatevermagig. Lenses will always be required for cinema and in todays economy it’s all about compromise. So where do you compromise and what lenses make the most sense for you? Continue reading “More Lens Options Than Ever”→
Olympus has suffered a lot of bad press recently with the outbreak of bad corporate decisions and “fee payment” coverups. I’m not one to speculate about international corporate scandal, for several reasons; I don’t have all the facts, and I don’t care. As long as Olympus continues to crank out quality products, I’ll continue to buy them. I’ve owned several Olympus cameras several of which were the PEN line of cameras. I fell in love with the Micro Four-Thirds (M4/3) system, shared by Olympus and Panasonic, right around the time the Panasonic AF-100 became popular with its’ modest sensor and versatile lens mount options. The M4/3 system is extremely flexible in that adapters can be used for just about any lens mount. From Leica R to Arri PL mount, almost any lens can be mounted to a M4/3 camera with little to no hassle. Other than the vast array of lens options I really appreciate the inherent compactness of almost all of the M4/3 cameras. Wether it’s the relatively miniature Panasonic AF-100, or a pocketable PEN camera, I can’t get enough of the M4/3 system. My introduction to the PEN line was rather careless. I never thought I would adopt such a fledgling standard and grow to prefer it over other systems that have been around for decades. A little background on my E-PL1: It was purchased as a test mule for lens evaluation when it first came out. I knew that I could mount all of the cinema glass I was servicing and testing to it and thought it would be useful for real world image testing. The small sensor wasn’t a big deal since  I was only looking for basic center image test results. The camera did indeed provide vital test results but eventually we moved onto larger sensor cameras for test mules in order to evaluate frame coverage and edge illumination falloff more often. The E-PL1 was retired to my bench where I occasionally snapped photos of interesting subjects for use on my twitter or blog. At this time, I regularly used, and still do, a Nikon D700 with an arsenal of lenses for my hobbyist shooting around town and on vacation.Continue reading “PEN EP3 FTW LOL”→
So I’ve decided to start posting more content here on MatthewDuclos.com  that I would normally reserve for the Duclos Lenses Facebook Fan Page or Twitter etc. Most of the posts will be short blips, either photos or quick little videos, just quick, simple content. For starters here is a rather comical, yet surprisingly effective use of a Zeiss/Arri Master Prime on a Sony FS100 with Hot Rod Cameras PL mount. The Sony FS100 costs about $6,000. …Pocket change compared to the $25,000 price tag of the 14mm Master Prime. The lens costs more than four times as much as the camera. But it looks awesome! I didn’t record any footage but I will eventually. I was just trying out the Hot Rod Cameras mount adapter and it worked like a charm. Now… Enjoy the magnificent potential.
Sony is just starting to roll out their anticipated F3 camera. A Super 35 sized sensor in a mall, lightweight package. I try to stick to knowing a lot about lenses so you can hear more about the camera from Jason Wingrove’s real world take. But I will tell you all about your lens options when shooting with an F3. I’ll start with the most logical…
The camera comes with a PL mount. PL mount is the standard mount used by just about every non-panavision camera in the motion picture industry. This means that you have a slew of premium cinema lenses at your disposal and that’s how it should be. However, if you are on a budget and can’t afford an Angenieux 24-290mm Optimo then there are a few other options available. I know there are quite a few people making the jump to an F3 from a DSLR like a 5D MkII or a 7D and probably have some Nikon lenses or Leica lenses that you adapted to use on your Canon. Those are still great lenses and will perform just fine on an F3. Of course this is all under the assumption that real cine lenses aren’t an option. I want to make sure that is very clear from the beginning. There is no replacement for cine lenses like Zeiss, Angenieux, Cooke, etc. But there are many options out there for alternative lenses. A favorite of the DSLR revolution has been the Zeiss ZF lenses. They use great glass with advanced coatings and fully manual mechanics. If you don’t know why these still lenses are well suited for motion picture, read through Still Vs. Cine. Your set of Zeiss ZF lenses is sitting around gathering dust because you purchased a PL mount camera. No worries. There is a company called MTF Services that is making a kit to change your F3 to Nikon mount. I haven’t dealt with them personally but the mount looks decent. Now you can use your Zeiss ZF lenses as well as any other Nikon mount lens in your arsenal. The other common route the DSLR community has chosen is Leica’s R series lenses. The selection of prime lenses is great and the glass is simply stunning. Unfortunately there isn’t a Leica mount available for the F3 as far as I know. But there is a Leica to Nikon adaptor for Leica lenses that would solve the problem with the same kit from MTF Services. Yes, you’re converting your Leica mount to Nikon and your Sony mount to Nikon but everything is solid and as long as you take care of your equipment and have it checked frequently, you should be able to maintain the proper flange depth. The benefit to using still photo lenses with a camera like the Sony F3 is their size and weight. There are usually two major components on a hand held rig; the camera and the lens… The Sony F3 is already light enough for what it is. Choosing an appropriate lens makes all the difference in portability and ease of use. If you want to ditch the stills lenses and go for the more professional application, take a look at other sets of prime lenses.
Cooke Panchro
Cooke recently released their Cooke Panchros, a throwback to their original Cooke Speed Panchros that were very common back in the 1930’s and are still well known today. Cooke went on to make other great lenses like the S-4s and now the 5is. These were top notch cinema lenses. But they left behind all of the smaller productions that couldn’t afford a set of premium lenses. They filled the gap with their new Panchro lenses. A bit slow in the aperture at T2.8 but acceptable to say the least. The whole set is matched in speed and color reproduction. Small and compact compared to todays standards, the Panchros should do just fine for almost any application other than low-light. If you’re thinking about using Cooke Panchros but think they will be too slow because of low light, then your grip dept. isn’t doing their job.
Sony PL mount primes. 35, 50, 85mm
You might be asking “What about the PL mount primes that Canon is offering with the camera?”… Sony is offering three PL mount prime lenses (35,50,85mm) for an additional $6,500 (I think) that would work just fine on the F3. I haven’t had a chance to formally test these Sony primes but I’ve handled and used the 35mm on an F3 and I believe they will leave a lot to be desired for professionals. Think of it as the kit lens that comes with a DSRL. It gets the job done… But you can do better. I’ll reserve my final judgment for when I can put the Sony PL lenses through their paces and see what they can really do in a proper test environment as well as real work application. Who knows, they may surprise me. I can go on and on about all the cool PL mount primes you can now use with a Sony F3 but that would take several pages of writing that I simply don’t have the will to write. I’ll finish by going over one other option that I think suits the Sony F3 very well.
Angenieux Rouge zoom lens.
Angenieux makes an excellent line of lenses they call Optimo. This line includes their amazing 24-290mm, 17-80mm, 28-76mm, and 15-40mm. All of these lenses set the standard for cinema zooms over the past decade and truly are works of art. Angenieux set the bar so high they left the little guys at the bottom and needed to do something to put their glass in the hands of the creative newcomers. Along came their Rouge series. Originally aimed at those using a RED camera since they were digital only lenses. This meant they can’t be used on a reflex mirror camera since the rear element sticks too far into the camera body. The Rouge series consists of two lenses that are direct descendants of their Optimo parents, the 30-80mm and the 16-42mm. Distinguished by their protruding rear element and signature red rubber grips, the Rouge lenses perform just as well as their pricier counterparts, at a fraction of the cost. A good option, maybe one of the best options for a lightweight, professional cinema zoom lens… In the world.
I say database… But it’s really just a list trying to sound official.
So basically, RED has given the world a great deal of technology at a great price. But they also induced many a headache with different sensor sizes, resolutions, specs, and names. To make things a little easier, I’m compiling a list of lenses that pass through the shop and recording their image circle, or the diameter that they will cover without vignetting. This list will simply show you what the lenses are capable of. Feel free to comment on this post if you see any discrepancies or want a specific lens added. I want this to be as accurate as possible. Also note that the sensor/format sizes are generalized. There are a ton of different industry standards. There are several dozen formats that fall under 4 perf 35mm film alone. Continue reading “Lens Image Circle Database”→
