HMC150 f/1.4 vs f/1.8 with Redrock M2e

[Jason LaBrie]

I recently purchased a HMC150 and love it! I'm looking into getting a Redrock M2e, but am unsure about which lenses to get. I love the Zeiss kit, but way too expensive. I was looking at the Nikon lenses as well.

Question #1) With the HMC150 (specifically), will I "really" notice a difference bewtween the f/1.4 and f/1.8 lenses? I do shoot indoors a lot with the iris open (HMC150 open = f/1.6 I believe). I realize that I will be losing a 1/2 stop of light with the 35mm adapter due to the flip module.

Question #2) What I don't understand is if the HMC150 lens is f/1.6 fully open, then how can I gain anything with a f/1.4 lens in front of it? It still has to pass through the stock camera lens anyway (which can only take f/1.6), right?

Question #3) Does Redrock have "follow focus rings" for the Nikon lenses? I only saw Zeiss rings on their website (unless I missed it).

Thank you in advance!

Jason

[James Chen]

Originally Posted by Jason LaBrie

Question #1) With the HMC150 (specifically), will I "really" notice a difference bewtween the f/1.4 and f/1.8 lenses? I do shoot indoors a lot with the iris open (HMC150 open = f/1.6 I believe). I realize that I will be losing a 1/2 stop of light with the 35mm adapter due to the flip module.

The f/1.4 lenses are generally sharper and vignette less. Light loss wise, not a huge difference, but the quality in lenses is very different.

You're going to be losing more than 1/2 stop due to the fact that you'll have to zoom way in to the ground glass. In practice, you'll be losing about 3-4 stops than if you shot default HMC.

Originally Posted by Jason LaBrie

Question #2) What I don't understand is if the HMC150 lens is f/1.6 fully open, then how can I gain anything with a f/1.4 lens in front of it? It still has to pass through the stock camera lens anyway (which can only take f/1.6), right?

You're not "gaining" anything, it's more of trying to minimize light loss. However you DO gain depth of field control with the iris, your biggest reason for getting an adapter. f/1.4 is very shallow (inches) if you want those type of shots.

Originally Posted by Jason LaBrie

Question #3) Does Redrock have "follow focus rings" for the Nikon lenses? I only saw Zeiss rings on their website (unless I missed it).

Yes, their size A gear I believe.

[Stuart Mottershead]

Originally Posted by Jason LaBrie

I recently purchased a HMC150 and love it! I'm looking into getting a Redrock M2e, but am unsure about which lenses to get. I love the Zeiss kit, but way too expensive. I was looking at the Nikon lenses as well.

Question #1) With the HMC150 (specifically), will I "really" notice a difference bewtween the f/1.4 and f/1.8 lenses? I do shoot indoors a lot with the iris open (HMC150 open = f/1.6 I believe). I realize that I will be losing a 1/2 stop of light with the 35mm adapter due to the flip module.

I get the impression that maybe you don't understand what depth of field is, and how factors such as aperture/iris and focal length affect it. Understanding this will provide an answer to your question.

[Simon Zimmer]

I am in the same boat so if you could explain it ("what depth of field is, and how factors such as aperture/iris and focal length affect it"), that would be great.

Thanks,

simon