Epic & old glass

[John Marchant]

Love the bokeh in the woodland. And I love that Red's grain is (IMHO) a desirable grain in itself.

A couple of vintage glass / vintage subject images from today:

[Gunleik Groven]

WOW. Really lovely!

What glass?

[John Marchant]

Oops, I meant to say!

This is the Nikon Ai-S glass I searched out. My friend is a camera / lens tech at Nikon UK, and I had his help and advice selecting, modifying etc. All these are from the 50mm f1.2 at around f5.6.

It took me a couple of purchases before I got a really good one, they're very variable for bokeh quality and veiling flare. The bokeh is fairly smooth but distinctive, and the falloff is pleasant to my eye. Nice working depth for portraits and interviews, as it doesn't fall out of focus in a jarring way.

Negatives (or positives depending on mood) are some odd CA and fringing around highlights, and a general low-contrast feel, growing to washed out anywhere past f2.8 and totally dreamy / fuzzy at f1.2 . At 5.6 they're smooth without making everything feel like a dreamy wonderland.

[Gunleik Groven]

Blame your photograpic skills on your friend, that's right. Don't take any of the responsibility yourself!

Great stff and info!
Have grown kinda fond of highlight blooms this summer... :)

So is this reshoused into PL?

[John Marchant]

On Leitax EOS converters to use on our Ti Canon mount. Back focus is still an issue between the set, (24,35,50,85,105) despite attempts to correct... that needs another visit to the lens man, but doesn't matter for run and gun as long as I nudge the EPIC's backfocus to give me some wiggle room. Must get that attended to though.

Nikon made some very pleasing glass in the 80s, but it does fall short on ultimate sharpness and quality. I feel as though the maximum apertures are not really usable unless ghostly and soft is what's required. From 2.8 on they're comparable to most cine quality lenses for change in sharpness / vignetting etc. For technical patterned subjects and architecture they're not so hot either. Lovely for organic smooth natural stuff though. That 50's cadillac has just few enough sharp edges ;)

[Clint Lealos]

Some really amazing shots Gunleik and John! Learning lots from this thread so far, keep it coming :)

[Gunleik Groven]

Some really amazing shots Gunleik and John! Learning lots from this thread so far, keep it coming :)

Thanks Clint. Not really totally done with this thread yet, and the more people who add to it, the longer it will stay fresh... :)

Thanks!

[Gunleik Groven]

Think this is one of my favourites so far this summer...

18mm vignetting B-speed @ 5k

[Walter R]

Back when we first tried a SI2K (before our our first Red was delivered). One lens we found from the S16 users was an old Canon 15-150MM 2.8 zoom. I think these were originally made for old tube cameras and covered 1" sensors.

I recently dusted one off and put on a PL mount (amazingly easy to do). Here is a shot at 3KHD that shows vignetting at the edge. Not for features or when you need 5K obviously, but for doc work or other projects where you are willing to go to a lower res to maybe get some more depth of field for easier focusing I think it has possibilities.

Here is a quick shot of one of the key office staff, plus a shot of the lens with the PL mount on it (cheap adapter for going from Arri standard to PL), plus a shot of what it looks like before the mount was added and a shot of the C-mount piece that is unscrewed and removed before putting on the PL. As you can see it goes pretty deep behind the PL, but works just fine.

I think it is reasonably sharp and gives a bit of a vintage feel.

[junie reyes]

Wow they look really interesting! What lenses did u use on what post #s?