someone in a different post mentioned they were shooting with a nikon 28mm f1.2 lens. I thought 28mm lenses only went as fast as f2.8? If such a lens exists? Where can one find it and purchase it and for how much?!

Make that 2, I would like one also.

sounds impossible or expensive.

Okay, but why would you want to use any super wide on a Letus. Won't you be giving up most of the shallow depth of field you were willing to make sacrifices for to use the Letus in the the first place ?

not necessarily.
A wide shot where there are forground/middle ground elements is quite beautiful ( I would recommend an External HD monitor for focus).

The reason isn't just the DOF, it's also to match the rest of the footage.
I have been having a hard time mixing the Letus with the stock Canon XL-H1 footage and was asked by my last director to abandon the stock lens for a wide 35mm. We ended using a 16mm (which is a little fish eye for my taste) but showed me the Value.
I am still wrestling with this idea -
I think a 20mm 1.4 or 2.8 would be great!

in this (Highly Compressed) clip, the scene with the guy in the white jacket/ the girls eating ice cream/ & the girls in the street are all shot with the 16mm lens:
http://www.realm.cc/upload/benton/G_soren.mov

again there is a little too much curvature with 16mm going on for my taste-
The close ups are mostly 85mm and the rest 50mm
J

Sigma make a f1.8 28mm lens for Nikon mount.

I don't think you will find a f1.2 28mm Nikon mount lens or a f1.2 20mm Nikon mount lens.

The f1.8 28mm I have is secondhand and has had some abuse but the glass is good.

The wide lenses seem to require more careful attention to backfocus for best resolution.


Why use wide lenses?


1. Matching the look. - Easier than intercutting direct-to-camera* wides.

2. With some camcorders you can go fractionally wider than d-to-c*.

3. For the same field of view, the perspective effect seems more film like.

4. With ultra-wides, motion toward or away is accentuated (visual effect).


Accentuation of course occurs with wide direct-to-camera but seems more convincing when combined with 35mm film field of view. ie., like conveying POV of victim thrashing through heavy undergrowth in attempt to get away from forest monster.

The 12mm end of a Nikon digital 12-24mm f4 zoom onto a 28mm groundglass frame works quite well in this situation but doesn't perform well in high contrast backlit open areas because of the tighter wide aperture.

Just make sure you protect film camera ultrawide lenses from damage if you do this exercise as the front glass protrudes and is very vulnerable.

I've only heard of a 28mm 2.0 lens, never actually seen one though.

I own a sigma 20 1.8 and have used it on the letus. Not the sharpest lens in the world (esp. wide open), but it makes for some really interesting perspectives. I could post a screenshot later on.

it exists, it´s the 28mm / 1.2 L FD Lens from Canon, from this famous L - series also a 50mm and a 85mm f1.2 is available. EBAY pricing is approx. 400 - 700 EUR per Lens . (L Lens are some of the best Lens ever build, Quality is like the best Zeiss Lenses). They are rare, so always stay tuned.
But it is VERY hard to get a proper focus on also slightly Moving Objects on this aperture.

here you can see a 85mm 1.2:
(no other L available currently )

http://cgi.ebay.de/Canon-Objektik-LENS-FD-85mm-1-1-2-L_W0QQitemZ200014042628QQihZ010QQcategoryZ80407QQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

I own a sigma 20 1.8 and have used it on the letus. Not the sharpest lens in the world (esp. wide open), but it makes for some really interesting perspectives. I could post a screenshot later on.
go! go! that is the thing i want to see. Some preventive questions as well: How bad is vignetting? And how big area You use on gg? In other words do You get all the FOV with letus as with photocamera?

Yes, I own a Sigma 28mm F1.8, Canon FD mount. There is footage on my site shot with it using the SGpro. I actually got a great deal on ebay, it was boxed, brand new and I got it for £25!

thanks Wayne. It's little offtopic here but what framesize You're using in sgpro? 24x36?

Frank, its a little bigger to compensate for overscan.

then this footage with Sigma is awesome!!!

I have 0.45x linear wide converter on my 55mm f1.2 that makes it almost 24mm.

OT: Modern wideangles and even ultra wides almost doesn`t vignette.
My favorite outdoor lens at the moment is Tokina 19-35mm f4 as such aperture quarantees quality bokeh and it is quite cheap also ($130).
I also have Sigma 28mm f1.8 Aspheric DG that doesn`t seem soft to me.

If anybody tells that SLR lens are soft wide open then that corresponds to actual film or sensor resolution as any ground glass or focusing screen has times and times less resolution than film or imaging sensor of (D)SLR not to mention that even at 1080p one cann`t get close to 35mm still photography film resolution.

I still havent got our prototype back from anodizing and it seems it will take another week before I can post any footage.

Regs,
T

How the lens behaves to film is pretty much how it behaves to the groundglass. The groundglass tends to spill points of detail a little more than film. A really sharp lens image is going to look good. A softer image may look a little softer than it would appear on film.

The best of my lenses is the 85mm f1.8 Nikon autofocus, then the 28mm f1.8 Sigma autofocus, then the 20mm f1.8 Sigma autofocus. The worst one but also the oldest and most worn out is the 50mm f1.8 Nikon manual.