Best SLR Mount.

[Matthew Buick]

I'm currently looking for a 35mm SLR on eBay. Each different manufacturer seems to use a different mount. Is there any mount with a particularly wide range of lenses to match?

 

Thanks.

[Chris Keth]

Nikons film stuff is/was quite nice and is reasonably priced. The advantage heres is that you can get Redrock adapters in nikon mount if you wanted to sometime.

 

I have all old minolta stuff and I love it. Lenses are cheaper than nikon and I generally can't see any difference in quality.

[Paul Bruening]

Most all SLRs in the last twenty years or so have decent mounts. Nikon seems to have held the cross-over-to-cinema mount dominance for thirty to forty years. Nikon lenses are still quite obtainable used. They dumped their new lens manufacturing around a year ago. Leica is making new lenses in a Nikon mount, though.

[Daniel Smith]

Canon have the widest range. Bare in mind you can also use Sigma or Tamron lenses as well, provided they are EF fit. They are generally a bit cheaper, but not necessarily worse. (I actually prefer some of the Sigma lenses, ie. the 10-20mm)

 

I personally don?t like Nikons range. What they have got are awesome though.

[Adrian Sierkowski]

I'm all for Nikon glass and cameras, but for a purely aesthetic reason (i like the shutter sound or a Nikon more), and yes, you can get some pretty fast aperture lenses for under $50 (i'm thinking a used e series 50mm F1.8) or go all out for one of their many newer F1.2 lenses.

[David Auner aac]

I'm all for Nikon glass and cameras, but for a purely aesthetic reason (i like the shutter sound or a Nikon more), and yes, you can get some pretty fast aperture lenses for under $50 (i'm thinking a used e series 50mm F1.8) or go all out for one of their many newer F1.2 lenses.

 

Adrian, wait a second: what do you mean by many newer F1.2 lenses? There were only 2 F.1.2 lenses in Nikon line up ever: the 58/1.2 Noct Nikkor and a 50/1.2 Nikkor. Neither are available new AFAIK.

 

Matthew, go for Nikon. That way you'll be able to use almost all lenses produced over the last 50 years or so on the same camera. Canon had three different lens mounts over the same time. The Nikons might have changed a bit, but not that much!

 

Cheers, Dave

[Adrian Sierkowski]

I was thinking of the 50mm F1.2. According to BH they have them as new imported:

 

 

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/3697..._f_1_2_AIS.html

Edited August 31, 2007 by Adrian Sierkowski

[David Auner aac]

Ok. I guessing you meant the 50/1.2. But I really don't know whether it's still being produced or whether they're just selling off old stock. It's really a shame that they don't do more 1.4 and 1.8 lenses these days. Pretty much all they design now are cheap G DX 3.5+ lenses!

 

Cheers, Dave

[Adrian Sierkowski]

I miss the old Nikon E Series F1.8 personally. I picked up a F1.4 50mm and it just doesn't feel the same to me :(

 

Any lines on a good manual focus zoom?

[David Auner aac]

I miss the old Nikon E Series F1.8 personally. I picked up a F1.4 50mm and it just doesn't feel the same to me :(

 

Any lines on a good manual focus zoom?

 

The 50/1.4 is a nice lens. A little heavier than the E 1.8 but optically superior AFAIK. What focal length zoom are you looking for? My zooms are all AF, I personally like primes, most of these are MF for budget reasons.

 

Cheers, Dave

[Adrian Sierkowski]

nothing too telephoto, but probably something from around a 35~70mm just for some wiggle room in composing when moving in and out isn't possible. I like the discipline of primes, normally have my 50mm and a 135 Nikons but figured a zoom could be pretty useful. I'm just saddened that most of the ones I find on BH are F3.5/4s when i'd really like a 2.8 for that ambient light shooting which I often do.

What other brands, besides the nikons/ziess would be best do you think?

[Matthew Buick]

Thanks, I'll think I'll go with a Nikon. Does anyone know a good model of SLR with no automatic functions. I'd also like one that can unsqueeze anamorphic, if possble. I'd like to treat this camera as much as possible like a 35mm movie camera.

[Daniel Smith]

I own a Nikon FM2, all manual. And I think there's one on eBay with two lenses at a good price.

 

The FM3a is also nice but a bit pricey.

[Paul Bruening]

I love my FM2.

[David Auner aac]

nothing too telephoto, but probably something from around a 35~70mm just for some wiggle room in composing when moving in and out isn't possible. I like the discipline of primes, normally have my 50mm and a 135 Nikons but figured a zoom could be pretty useful. I'm just saddened that most of the ones I find on BH are F3.5/4s when i'd really like a 2.8 for that ambient light shooting which I often do.

What other brands, besides the nikons/ziess would be best do you think?

 

Adrian, remind me to check my Nikon bible next week. I could tell which zoom to look out for in that range. I have a lot of experience with the new 2.8 AF-S zooms (17-35,28-80,80-200) these are really great glass!

 

As for older manual lenses the Nikkors were really good, some highly sought after now, e.g. the 180/2.8 or the 105/2.5 AI/AI-S (which I was lucky to get for 150 and 130 euro respectively). From other manufacturers you just wouldn't get the same consistent quality. My grandpa had a 24mm Vivitar which he swore by, it seemed like a nice piece of glass, will have to test it some time. Back in the 70s Tamron and Tokina didn't build lenses as well as nowadays I think, but I have not tried these. Because I intend to use my MF Nikon lenses as a prime set for a DOF adapter, I stick with Nikkors.

And the newer Zeiss lenses for Nikon F mount seemed rather finicky to me. There are some reviews on the web on these. Not really in their favor either. And they are out of my budget anyways. I'd rather get a set of Zeiss T2.1 primes for my Eclair than two Zeiss F for my Nikon!

 

Matthew, I can also recommend the FM2. But an FM will also serve you well as will an F2 if you find a nice one. The FE is also nice and small, but needs a battery to operate all shutter speeds (but you still have a speed of 1/90s w/o power). Another really great camera is the F3, which also requires power, but has an excellent built in meter. We have often used it in lieu of a spot meter when using a large format camera. You should look out for some kind of photographica bazar or something. I sntached some great deals there.

 

As for unsqueezing anamorphic I doubt that there is any standard accessory or camera that will do that. What kind anamorphic of lenses would you mount on it anyway? And if you do, frame like the old folks did when anamorphic first came out! Unsqueeze in yer mind. You can do it! :D

 

Good luck with your purchase!

 

Cheers, Dave

Edited September 1, 2007 by David Auner

[Matthew Buick]

As for unsqueezing anamorphic I doubt that there is any standard accessory or camera that will do that. What kind anamorphic of lenses would you mount on it anyway? And if you do, frame like the old folks did when anamorphic first came out! Unsqueeze in yer mind. You can do it! :D

 

Good luck with your purchase!

 

Cheers, Dave

 

I wanted to unsqeeze 2:35:1. But I guess I'll do it the old way, then I'll learn more.

 

Did Nikon ever make an anamorphic?

[David Auner aac]

I wanted to unsqeeze 2:35:1. But I guess I'll do it the old way, then I'll learn more.

 

Did Nikon ever make an anamorphic?

 

Not that I know of.

 

Cheers, Dave

[Matthew Buick]

Oh, would you perhaps know of another manufacturer?

 

Best Regards.

[Guest Trevor Swaim]

Oh, would you perhaps know of another manufacturer?

 

Best Regards.

To my knowledge no one ever made an animorphic lens for 35mm SLRs... maybe a "trick lens but

[Michael Nash]

Forget anamorphic with stills; that's a "cinema" thing...

 

Even if there was an anamorphic lens made in Nikon mount, no still camera is going to have an anamorphic "unsqueeze" viewfinder (again, a cinema thing). There's only so much you can expect from a stills camera to replicate motion picture shooting, and anamorphic isn't part of it...

[Adrian Sierkowski]

Dave,

thanks for the tip, I will definitively be on the lookout for what you mentioned.

[Marc Alucard]

If you want to shoot "scope" stills check out the Hasselblad Xpan system or the Fuji version of the same.

 

They are pricey but they use a 24 x 65mm negative format.

 

They aren't SLRs but rangefinders.

 

Or buy a cheap 6x6 TLR and crop.

[Nico Hardy]

There's an old anamorphic lens that came in nikon F mount, the ISCORAMA.

There's no way to unsqueeze the viewfinder and takes some practise to use (focusing is a real pain).

 

Not super sharp, not very contrasty, but it the only game in town and fun to use.

 

Here's sample, 2 extras waiting to go on set...

 

Cheers,

Nico

[Marc Alucard]

There's an old anamorphic lens that came in nikon F mount, the ISCORAMA.

There's no way to unsqueeze the viewfinder and takes some practise to use (focusing is a real pain).

 

Not super sharp, not very contrasty, but it the only game in town and fun to use.

 

Here's sample, 2 extras waiting to go on set...

 

Cheers,

Nico

 

How do you print or digitize the Iscorama images to view them when you use it on a Nikon?

 

I have seen scope projection, or combo camera lenses before but I didn't know how to get prints without a digital unsqueeze.

Cheers,

Marc

[Nico Hardy]

I haven't used in a film camera for unsqueeze, I has actually using it compressed.

When I need it as a "proper" scope lens, I use a canon 5D and stretch it in PS.

 

Also interesting to use in a Pro35 adapter, but very hard to use as a film lens. Focusing is for static situations only.