Steadicam lens for BMPCC

[Alexandru Cristescu]

Hello all, just wondering if anyone has a good lens recommendation for flying the black magic pocket cinema camera. I've been debating between the rokinon 8mm cine lens and the sigma 8-16. I would be using it with a metabones nikon adaptor. So far both those lenses come under in price compared to the panasonic 7-14 . Also the panasonic lens would be useless with a speed booster down the line. Any experience with these lenses? Parafocal? ability to use nd filters? all lenses have a protruding front element. Am I missing any other good lenses? The Tokina 11-16 might not be wide enough but still an option, easy to use an nd. Thanks!

[Chris Joy]

Olympus 9-18 takes filters, its cheaper than the Panny, and smaller/lighter than most adapted lenses. I have a modded Steadicam Smoothie that I use and I'm thinking about the 9-18 or an 8mm Samyang.

[Craig Seeman]

I don't have an answer but I'm looking at similar use.
Consider, can your steady device handle the weight of camera plus Speed Boost plus Lens.
Are you OK with the potential distortion of a very wide lens?
Do you need filter thread on the lens for ND or Variable ND and possibly IR filter?
Do you need a zoom?

While MFT lens would likely be lighter it'd be 2.88 crop factor whereas Nikon mount with Speed Boost would be just over 2 (.71 x 2.88).

For MFT Olympus 12mm f2 might work. That would be about 35mm Full Frame though. Lens is under 5 oz.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/805167-REG/Olympus_V311020SU000_M_Zuiko_Digital_ED.html

Kowa 6mm f/1.8 C-Mount would be interesting. It would be about 17mm Full Frame. No Filter thread. C-Mount adaptor is light and lens is something like 8 oz
Examples someone shot

KOWA LM6HC Test 2 on BlackMagic Pocket (outdoor, flying, low light) on Vimeo

and

KOWA LM6HC 6mm Test on BlackMagic Pocket on Vimeo

as you can see there's some distortion. It doesn't have filter thread I believe.

The Sigma 8-16 doesn't have a filter thread. About 1/1/4 lbs plus weight of Speed Booster.

The Panasonic 7-14 doesn't have filter thread, would be about 20mm. weighs about 11 oz though.

The Tokina 11-16 does have filter thread. At 2.8 it's reasonably fast although you may not want to risk a shallow DOF of course on stabilizer but the lens might be a reasonable wide zoom for other uses as well (22mm with speed booster). It's weighs about a 1 1/4 lbs.

Rokinon and Samyang have 7.5mm MFT lenses along with Bower but again there's the issue of fisheye and lack of filter thread.
Mirrorless System Lenses | B&H Photo Video

[Alexandru Cristescu]

Thanks guys, you pretty much summed up all the options there Craig. I haven't considered any C-mounts as for me the potential use for the future seem limited given the sensor coverage they provide. I'm thinking the tokina11-16 in a nikon mount with the speed booster might work best for me. Its wide enough and allows for filters which are a big plus for me since I shoot a lot of outdoors. I would have to shoot the sigma 8-16 at an unfavorable fstop, around 22 which would probably not look too good. Unless a matte box with nds is used??? Would probably vignette?

[Craig Seeman]

I'm thinking of long term use of the lenses as well. Good glass is an investment which would outlive the camera's value.

Matte box might be pretty awkward on a Steadicam or any other stabilizer. ;)