Help with Lenses

[Ed Araquel]

<<<-- Originally posted by Charles Papert :
To be annoyingly scientific, each stop represents a halving (or doubling) of light. 2.8 is 2 stops down from a 1.4, thus it allows 1/4 of the light transmission of a 1.4 stop. -->>>

Yup...forgot there was an f/2 in between 2.8 and 1.4 :)

And they call me a photographer...heh! :)

[Jim Giberti]

<<Does anyone have samples (screenshots or movies) of footage shot with Nikkon lenses. Will I notice a huge stylistic difference between these lenses and say Cooke cine lenses. Could someone who is happy with their lenses recommend the exact models you are using so that I can research/and or buy them? It looks like faster speed lenses are what I will need. Thanks for the info.
>>>

Hi Dan. I'm on the road right now, but could try and post a couple of stills from a hand held promo shoot using, I think, both 50mm and 85mm Nikons. I'm sure this has been asked before, but is there a way to post stills here?

[Dave Frank]

Actually everyone I will have a new mini35 adaptor and 4 new Nikon lenses in my hands by Thursday. I will post test shots ASAP!

[Josh Allen]

Dave...would you mind letting us know the specific Nikons you decided to buy? Thanks.

[Dave Frank]

I ended up getting:

Super Wide Angle AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D AF
Wide Angle 35mm f/1.4 AIS MF
Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF
Telephoto 85mm f/1.4 AIS MF

[Jim Giberti]

<<Dave...would you mind letting us know the specific Nikons you decided to buy? Thanks.>>

Josh, you should do a quick search for Nikon Lenses in this forum. I believe I'm pretty much the first person that put together a Nikon setup with the Mini35 working with Guy at ZGC to deal with any potential issues with vignetting and speed re spinning glass.

I've shot a good deal of commercial and documentary work witht he setup over the past couple of years and wrote a pretty comprehensive overview of my lens set, speeds etc.

[Jim Giberti]

<<Super Wide Angle AF Nikkor 20mm f/2.8D AF
Wide Angle 35mm f/1.4 AIS MF
Nikon AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4D AF
Telephoto 85mm f/1.4 AIS MF>>

Another note....get the fastest AIS lenses you can. That would basically be the 1.4 35m and 85mm AIS and the 1.2 50mm AIS. Do not get AF lenses. The focus gearing is too rough for any critical work, and as Charles will tell you, it's more than diffcult enough to work without a follow focus and accurate distance markings that you would with a cine setup.

Again...AIS lenses only, no AF lenses. The 85mm 1.4 is a beautiful piece of glass, and the 1.2 to 1.4 speeds work fine witht the P&S. Going up and down the ladder, the 24mm is slower but still works well. I also use a 125mm and a really noce 180mm 2.8. THe longer and slower the lens, the more care you need to take with the "spin factor", but that becomes second nature after shooting for a while.

Also...don't even think about using this setup wiithout the hi res B&W viewfinder. You cannot judge focus using the crappy (sorry but it is) color VF that comes stock with the XL1.

So...only manual focus AIS Nikons and only the Fu-1000 B&W VF.

[Dan McCain]

What is the spin factor and why does the P+S rotate, is this for grain??? What happens if you dont turn it on?

[Dave Frank]

If you don't turn it on, you can see the grain from the ground glass inside the adaptor. The spinning is so the grain moves fast enough not so be visible.

[Charles Papert]

The current version (4th generation) Mini35 uses an oscillating ground glass rather than spinning, and it can be used with a deeper f-stop than the earlier versions.

[Jim Giberti]

<<The current version (4th generation) Mini35 uses an oscillating ground glass rather than spinning, and it can be used with a deeper f-stop than the earlier versions.>>

How far have you pushed that without problem Charles...of course light and focal length being relative? With the version 3, I do try and get closer to the lens' "sweet spot" and will shoot up to 4.0 in a normal or wide lens, but pretty much stay around 2.0 if I'm shooting anything longer than 50mm...for the most part...nothing is absolute.

[Charles Papert]

I've gotten up to an 11 in testing with the 400 series (we haven't had to shoot at that aperture yet), which is great. A lot depends on the subject being photographed, whether the grain will show up or not (midtone skies usually a giveaway).

With the previous version, I've pushed it to 5.6 at a pinch, on shots with lots of movement.

On the Seinfeld shorts, we had to do a shot with a 300mm plus extender, and for some reason the groundglass was showing up in a big way even wide open. I forgot the details (I guess I'd have to go look at my article again!) but it was a bit baffling.

[Josh Allen]

Thanks Jim...I am off to conduct that search now :)

[Elmar Tewes]

someone knows something about that nikon lense ? i heard it is switchable from auto to total manual control. or i missunderstood something ?

http://www.nikonusa.com/template.php...ductNr=1960NAS

[Dave Frank]

Well guys I just got all my new stuff today and hooked it up. Here are some pictures:

http://www.yvyears.com/crap/mini35.html

I will be doing test shots mostly on Friday, so by Friday night I will have it up on the net for ya'll to see!