Old lenses on a digital camcorder

[Willem Van den Broeck]

Hello everyone,

 

 

I'm a young amateur cinematographer (just started) and I've been looking on the internet a lot for info on good, but inexpensive lenses for a nice film look with the Canon HV20. I don't know where to start, hence i ask you here for some advice on lenses that give shallow DOF and also a wide angle for landscapes and scenery.

 

At the moment I have an old Optivaron F1.8 6-66mm (Schneider-Kreuznach), that still sits on a Beaulieu Super 8 camera (that belonged to my grandfather) and a 55mm f3.5/4.5 35-135mm Minolta zoom lens for still photography.

 

Does anyone know whether these lenses are useable for my purpose?

 

I've been searching a lot on the Brevis Cinevate site and also at P+S Technik (mini35). Fact is that i don't know whether it is a good idea to use the Optivaron and Minolta lenses (or whether they even fit on the Brevis!) for a shallow DOP classy film look.

 

If I can't use these, would it be wise to look for cheap (around 100?) photography lenses (like Nikkor or EOS) to use with the Brevis + HV20?

 

Bottom line is that I need some info on where to start looking for an inexpensive, yet classy film look on digital HD (probably what everyone wants). From what i've read so far, the lenses seem to make most of the difference, where 24p (25p) is already available on the HV20 (and i already know how to bypass the HDV compression using HDMI).

I've also seen demos on the Brevis site and they look incredible.

 

Thanks for any help.

 

Willem