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Good C-Mount lenses for S16 digital cameras


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Hey guys,

 

I just bought a used Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera (the original) and I was interested in turning this into a Bolex sort of camera. In order to do this and keeping the setup as light as possible, I'm looking for some good old vintage C-MOUNT cine lenses.

 

I love the look of the Angenieux, Cooke, but this is a bit hit or miss when it comes to flange distance to the sensor, even with an adapter that recedes like the one I have. I wanted to get some suggestions on good C-mount lenses to get a good filmic S16 look. I'm also looking for sharpness (as much as one can ask from vintage glass) and great color.

 

A few lenses I scouted:

Angenieux 20-80 Type L5

Angenieux 17.5-70

Cooke 25mm Ivotal

Cooke 20-100 Varotal

 

thanks

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The Cooke 20-100 Varotal is a huge, professional grade 35mm zoom, you won’t find one in C mount..

If you want sharpness, best avoid C mount zooms really. They can be OK but are usually from an era when primes were much better. Also you really need the flange depth to be spot on for a zoom to hold focus.

Switars are among the best C mount lenses for sharpness and contrast. I also really like Cooke Kinetals which came in C mount, but they are hard to find.

Any C mount prime lens by Kern or Cooke or Angenieux or Kinoptik or Schneider or a host of other brands could be decent, but I’ve found image quality with C mounts often depends on the condition. Wear to the focus threads, damaged coatings, decentered optics, etc can severely impact how well a lens performs, and because C mounts are so tiny, a small deviation can have a large impact. So in the end you probably need to just try out some lenses and see how they perform. Older lenses tend to have less contrast than newer ones, due to coating advances and changes in taste over time. Personally I would avoid TV or CCTV lenses, although some people seem to find good ones. They should be cheap at least, unlike many vintage C mounts nowadays that are crazily over-priced.

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Thanks Dom. I love Cooke Speed Panchros and I believe the Kinetals are close so a kinetal would be a great purchase. Most kinetals I find online are Arriflex which I believe can be adapted to mft via adaptor. There is one by metabones that it's a bit expensive but there's another one by fotodiox which is a lot cheaper. Do you know the difference? Algo, would this option add considerable size to my setup? 

 

Thanks

Tiago

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