Non Nikkor lenses

[Joe Carney]

Any opinions on non Nikkor lenses like Vivitar and others for the
Letus35 HD100? Both primes and zooms?

[Daniel Lipats]

I made an Minolta adapter for the letus35 from a lens cap. Works great.

You can find Minolta lenses very cheap.

[Jim Giberti]

Originally Posted by Joe Carney

Any opinions on non Nikkor lenses like Vivitar and others for the
Letus35 HD100? Both primes and zooms?

Stay away from zooms...you want primes with a 35mm adapter.
Zooms aren't fast enough to give you the "head room" you want with GG.
Nikon AIS primes are what you want and there's really no need to go to bargain glass when you can pick up a 50mm 1.4 AIS and a 35mm 2.0 for under $200 for the pair on ebay.

[Joe Carney]

Originally Posted by Jim Giberti

Stay away from zooms...you want primes with a 35mm adapter.
Zooms aren't fast enough to give you the "head room" you want with GG.
Nikon AIS primes are what you want and there's really no need to go to bargain glass when you can pick up a 50mm 1.4 AIS and a 35mm 2.0 for under $200 for the pair on ebay.

Thanks for the info, but what I meant was, there are other lens makers for the Nikon mount, like Vivater, Sigma...from what I've been reading you really want to get a 'set' of primes that came from the same glass and have the same coatings and such. A set of Nikkors are expensive. The newer zooms are getting better too. I would rather spend 8 to 10K on a good set of primes then piecemeal a kit together.

Or am I way off here? Is the mount on the LetusHD nikon or PL? Can I get it with PL?
Quyen?

[Jim Giberti]

Originally Posted by Joe Carney

Thanks for the info, but what I meant was, there are other lens makers for the Nikon mount, like Vivater, Sigma...from what I've been reading you really want to get a 'set' of primes that came from the same glass and have the same coatings and such. A set of Nikkors are expensive. The newer zooms are getting better too. I would rather spend 8 to 10K on a good set of primes then piecemeal a kit together.

Or am I way off here? Is the mount on the LetusHD nikon or PL? Can I get it with PL?
Quyen?

Again, stay away from zooms.
And there's no need to talk about Vivitars etc. Nikon AIS primes are the best built lenses with the level of smooth focus that you need for film making. More important, you don't need to talk any where near $8-10k.
I can put you together a set of excellent to mint Nikons tomorrow through ebay or for less than $1k.

The photography world is flooded with Nikon AIS glass from the last 40 years or more and any AI, AIS or even non-AIS Nikon/Nikoor primes will do as well as a $15k Zeiss Super Speed on the Letus.

I just built a second kit of Nikons for the Letus HD100 for $500 and every lens is like new.

I Have another set that I bought all new from B&H and it cost less than $2500, so the numbers being thrown around here aren't realistic.

Trust me, we were the first people to shoot professionally with the Mini35 and Nikons and I've got hundreds of hours of film making with them.

You want Nikon AIS primes and for the money it would make no sense at all to work with anything else - I've already done the tests and compared the best zooms and cine primes to the Nikons.

[Joe Carney]

Thanks. Though I seem to have bad luck searching Ebay, only found a couple lenses that I was interested in. Do I remember you or someone else posting what is considered a good kit for general shooting?

[Jim Giberti]

Originally Posted by Joe Carney

Thanks. Though I seem to have bad luck searching Ebay, only found a couple lenses that I was interested in. Do I remember you or someone else posting what is considered a good kit for general shooting?

I've posted it a couple of times...use that search feature <g>.

Here's the best setup you can get using actual focal lengths:

Nikon AIS, AI or even non-AI (but I really recommend the "newer" AI and AIS from the 80's on with the nice rubber focus rings vs the older non-AI)

These are the fastest available in each lens...going up one stop, from say the 24mm f/2.0 to the 24mm f/2.8 , will save a good deal in cost, but you really want all the extra speed you can get with these adapters so here's the best kit you can get using actual focal lengths (no magnification):

24mm f/2.8
24mm f/2.0
35mm f/1.4
50mm f/1.2
85mm f/1.4
105mm f/2.0

The 85mm 1,4 is one of the nicest pieces of glass ever made for 35mm still cameras, it's 72mm and feels and looks and focuses smooth like a cine prime...you want this lens for all your tight dramatic work, the contrast and bokeh are gorgeous.

The 50mm 1.2 or 1.4 are world class and another must as is the 35mm 1.4

You could easily shoot a film with these three lenses (lots have been shot with nothing more) and you could get the set of three for less than $2k brand new.

Add the 24 or 20mm (no need for both) and go make a movie for less than $2500, and using the best glass available.

[Joe Carney]

Thanks, so 24,35,50 and 85mm lenses for less than 2.5K.

When attached to the Letus you multiply by 1.9 to get actual focal length?

I"ve also read on a couple of Nikon forums that the newer AF-D lenses are AIS compatible.

No wide angle stuff? Or just use my 16x Fujinon for that?