Zoom Lenses for S35

Thomas Worth · April 29, 2008

I have a short I am working on and was wondering if anyone could give me some zoom lens advice. It'll be shot S35 (24.9mm x 16.0mm), so it needs to cover that size. The aesthetic I'm going for calls for longer focal lengths, somewhere in the 200mm range. Unfortunately my longest prime is 75mm, so I'm going to have to rent.

Normally I wouldn't use a zoom, but the fact that it's day exterior and I need to shoot quickly make the zoom look more attractive.

Another thing is that I will probably shoot some stuff handheld, so weight may be a consideration.

I'm mainly concerned with the longer end of the zoom. I have some wide primes I could use if need be, so getting really wide isn't that big of a deal.

I'd like to stay under T4. I want extremely shallow DOF. I'll most likely shoot 5201, if that makes a difference. I doubt I'll use any filters other than ND.

Michael Nash · April 29, 2008

Let's see -- long focal length, light weight, and fast. Hmmm... not asking for much, are you? ;)

For that speed and focal length range I'd suggest the Angenieux Optimo 24-290mm. But think twice about doing handheld with it. At least twice.

Are you really going to be doing 200mm handheld, or will you have time to switch to a shorter/lighter zoom for the handheld stuff? Not too many zoom choices that cover the 200mm range. In addition to weight and speed, pay attention to minimum focus on your candidates also. For primes look into the Nikkor 200mm.

Thomas Worth · April 29, 2008

Are you really going to be doing 200mm handheld, or will you have time to switch to a shorter/lighter zoom for the handheld stuff? Not too many zoom choices that cover the 200mm range. In addition to weight and speed, pay attention to minimum focus on your candidates also. For primes look into the Nikkor 200mm.

Thanks for the info. I may just go the 200mm route after all, since the zooms that span the range I want are just too big and heavy.

Here's an image of a 200mm Nikkor I found online. Is this the lens you're talking about?

Max Jacoby · April 29, 2008

Pretty much all telephoto lenses of 200mm and above are basically rehoused stills lenses, so the focus scales won't be too good. The one exception is the Cooke S4 300mm T2.8 lens. Otherwise the Cooke S4 180mm and 180mm Ultra Prime come to mind as also having good focus scales and being smaller than these converted stills lenses.

chuck colburn · April 29, 2008

One nice thing about those fast 200's is when combined with a 1.4x extender you get a 280mm f2.8 and when used with a 2x you get a 400mm f4 and it all fits in one case.

Michael Nash · April 29, 2008

Thanks for the info. I may just go the 200mm route after all, since the zooms that span the range I want are just too big and heavy.

Here's an image of a 200mm Nikkor I found online. Is this the lens you're talking about?

Honestly it's been several years since I've used it, so I really don't recall. It's the only T2.0 Nikkor 200mm that most LA rental houses have.