M Joel W

I see a lot of people on other forums putting together FD L sets and Leica R sets and such. As a result, they're overpriced now of course. But the 24mm FD L, 35mm Minolta, 50/55mm FD L, 85mm FD L is a popular set. I put a set of these together myself but can't afford to have them rehoused now. Apparently a lot of people have the opposite problem. ? I never cared that much for the Zeiss Compact Primes because the wides are so slow but on FF I think they are another story. I feel like Ultra Primes are at the level where any sharper and they're a bit too sharp for the the 2.8K Alexa already? I could see those being a nice choice on the 4K S35 Alexa but not taking off in popularity like the Cookes and K35s have recently. That is a good enough price I might go for it if you had a Mini; but for a Mini LF it seems questionable. Even when they cover, corners might be off. I always wondered why the CN-E series didn't command more respect. The Sumires look too heavy-handed in their "glow" effect but I like how Canon lenses look and the CN-E series looks like a nice stopgap between K35s and something sharper. I guess you'd need to install an EF mount then, of course. The 24mm through 85mm super speeds seems like a nice set up on full frame imo. What "look" do you like? Who are your clients? Are you renting out the lenses or is it a full service thing? I've talked with people who are more into music video narrative and fashion maybe going K35 (or FD for me as I can't afford K35) and for something more corporate going a little more modern. I can't afford to get near Signature Primes but I love the look. The Tokinas look great except they're huge and have a clean look that isn't for me. The Sigma Art lenses also fall under "a little boring" for me but I would take those over UPs just for the coverage. But I'd get old Nikkors over either – I just shoot as a hobby now and I like a REALLY vintage look. The new t2.4 Canon zooms look cool depending on how they render. There's a lot of budget options out there from Chinese manufacturers that might be fine, too. I guess I just wouldn't go with S35 glass on a full frame camera you spent that much on.

Wait did they really use a Helios 44-2 on The Batman?

Thanks, Michael. No worries. I think the window for editing a post is short, but that all makes sense. It's interesting to me that I prefer the green/magenta axial CA I associate with K35s to the blue/yellow axial CA I associate with Super Baltars. I love the texture of Cookes and Kinoptik and Schneider lenses too, which seem to have more "nisen bokeh" but a lot less axial CA. Even Zeiss standard speeds have less CA from what I have seen, if perhaps more than Cooke (with the Super Speeds there seems to be even more). I've read that Nikon's ED glass reduces axial CA so maybe that is the "expensive glass" they are referring to. I like what I have seen from the Signature primes a lot. The Otus line looks amazing with clean color but the bokeh a bit less "smooth?" Oddly, my lens preferences vary between digital capture and film.

What about shiny bead board if you're looking to get closer to 70IRE?

Oh, interesting. This is way over my head. What I meant is this kind of look from an image Dom posted, from the Cooke S2s: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IqwJOAAj7J8/UmDizrc4LXI/AAAAAAAAAn4/3AHWpx9-nYo/s1600/Pan+D+LO.jpg Where the color of the bokeh is really clean, but the outlines are overcorrected for spherical aberration. Compared with the K35s, which do have onion bokeh but also have a "smoother" bokeh but with magenta/green fringing? What is that called? Is it axial or lateral CA? Anyway I notice the K35s I think have green/magenta fringing whereas Super Baltars I think are more blue/yellow? At the very least I was comparing an old 35mm f1.4 Minolta design with the 35mm f1.4 Nikkor AIS and the Minolta had green/purple color fringing and the Nikon was blue/yellow. I assume an Otus or something would be clean. What lenses has Ian Neil designed? A bit embarrassed this is the first I've heard of him.

Do the Primos have no aspherical elements? The Cooke S8s might be the closest match. The S4 split green/magenta CA doesn't bother me that much (it seems to be a big issue with K35s too) but the S8s seem like the first lenses since the Primos that have the apochromatic color of say Cooke S2s or whatnot but without the nisen bokeh harshness or onion bokeh of aspherical designs. The Cooke 20-60mm zoom is also quite beautiful.

https://filmmakermagazine.com/97621-the-witch-dp-jarin-blaschkes-lens-tests-with-stills/#.YkH5gi-B2Zw

Kudos to whomever mentioned Slocombe, I love his work on Indiana Jones. Depth of field can be a shortcut toward drawing attention to a specific part of the frame: in a movie like Social Network condensing a 162-page script into 120 minutes you need all the help you can get and I've read Fincher's talkier dramas are often shot at t1.3. But there's something to the opposite approach, too.

How good are cinema scanners compared with, on one hand a drum scanner, on the other an Epson flatbed, or the middle ground, a Noritsu (which I figure is pretty similar to multi-pass Nikon 9000 or a bit worse)? Going back to the discussion of 85 filters elsewhere, Portra/Kodak Gold etc. is daylight balanced but still photo labs will compensate when they develop? I'm assuming that's at the printing stage/scan stage – is the process with printing lights and scanning to compensate for white balance similar with 135 C41 film vs ECN2? When still labs scan negatives do they apply color correction per-shot to compensate for white balance discrepancies or is there some sort of printing light equivalent/analogue compensation? Makes me sad I never got to develop anything in my bathtub. ?

Sky Captain and the World of tomorrow?

I spent some time thinking about this a year or two ago. I was inspired by Citizen Kane and Speed Racer and Werewolf: the Devil's Hound primarily is why I mention those examples. I think Speed Racer might be the Wachowskis' second best film to the Matrix. Not sure if that's a compliment for Speed Racer or a slight at the rest of their filmography, though, but I loved that movie and the story, style, and everything about it are a stark contrast (pun intended) to contemporary Marvel. It's weird and imperfect but I love it. I bought a 17-50mm f2.8 Tamron EF mount lens because it can stop down to f32, then I bought a doubler so I could stop it down to f64 at 34-100mm. The idea was to shoot the wides at hyperfocal distance then green screen the close ups in order to stack focus, focused once on the background and once on the subject. Then shooting any other foreground elements similarly so we could stack focus in post. If we had more budget motion control would be another option. It never happened – it felt too experimental and time-consuming given the material, but there's probably potential for a cool look here and maybe something to revisit as styles get more progressive in the future.

Speed Racer (parts of it), Werewolf: the Devil's Hound (Realizing why they both reminded me of Citizen Kane – style and the subversive anti-corporate messages.)

Thanks again. That makes a lot of sense.

Thank you. Embarrassed to admit I meant something like 81EF or LLD when I wrote 80A. But the difference between 85 and 85B was my biggest source of confusion. Why can using two filters create a problem? And thanks again – I should have looked some of this up but your patience and knowledge are invaluable.

Thanks, David. I have IRNDs already. I just meant between 80A, 85B, 85, etc. I don't really know the difference well enough to know what to pick if I could only choose one filter or which would be used in what circumstances.

I'd also read this about Lubezki and have seen some scans before correction; I believe they were a few stops overexposed. I get the impression there's a lot of sense behind what he's doing but it's evolved over time with synergy between labs, colorists, etc. Those stills look great btw. If I'm to buy one 4x4 filter for film should I go with 80A, 85B, 85?

Don't have much to add, but following out of curiosity. I've heard of bouncing lights into black wrap or shooting through black fabric before for similar scenarios. Seems like the opposite idea but maybe not?

Thank you, David. I've also considered stopping down the vintage lens to t8 or t11 if I can get enough light on the stage so that the optical characteristics will be intact but the "softness" can be added in post. Then shooting a reference at t2.3, which is where I anticipate I'll shoot most of the show. The lenses have horrible curvature of field and a lot of flare but very little CA. But the curvature of field is so intense on the 28mm cine-xenon it might be worth renting a Sigma Art. I recently worked on a show with some green screen second unit inserts that I noticed were shot on anamorphic lenses to match anamorphic plates and spherical lenses to match spherical plates. I guess the single coatings on the cine-xenons would be my concern, that there would be a green cast over the entire image. Of course, I could also just not over-expose the green screen. What do you expose your green screen at? 18% gray through a spot meter?

I'm planning to shoot something with very old lenses (1950s/1960s Schneider Cine-Xenons and Cinegon) and there is a lot of green screen work mixed in, too. Would it be smarter to rent Sigma Art lenses or Rokinon lenses or something for those days and then achieve a "vintage look" in post? Would it make sense to shoot briefly with both so I could re-recreate the look in comp? Thanks!

Hi, I'm looking for the Canon-brand Wide Angle Converter for the Scoopic M. Canon-branded only please. Primary reason is to use it on the Scoopic M. Secondary reason is I want to try putting it on a 24mm FD L and see if it turns into an 18mm t1.5 K35. ?

https://www.dropbox.com/s/nf2sm5pz4gjoz5r/IMG_1582 copy.jpg?dl=0 Recently serviced and not used since. Includes a few different plates. Really smooth tripod, but I need a larger one for my camera (Arri Alexa Plus and 300mm f2.0 Nikon). $700 plus shipping. Good deal I think.

Achromatic diopters are SOLD.

Panasonic EVA1 with 2X 64GB V90 SD Cards, 2X batteries, loupe: I bought this used and never really used it. I love the image from it. Not sure how many hours on it, but probably under 200. Missing the monitor shade, but I replaced it with a Kinotehnik loupe that cuts of the edge of the screen just a tiny bit. Includes two V90 cards from Angelbird. I'm sad to sell this camera, I feel it offers a tremendous value but I have no immediate use for it. Also throwing in some Wooden Camera AKS I never did much with. https://www.dropbox.com/s/5y3jmlk7h157nt7/IMG_1568.jpeg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/e190blbw5275gfd/IMG_1569.jpeg?dl=0 $2500 OBO. Schneider Series 9 Achromatic Diopters: I bought the wrong item. Don't know much about these. They're threaded. Nice case, VERY good condition. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ell93o9uj7ny7tn/IMG_1557.jpeg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/4tg9tqeujglyp85/IMG_1559.jpeg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/9wj69adz842eczh/IMG_1558.jpeg?dl=0 $200? OBO. Glidecam Tru Horizon: Better than the fals horizon. Excellent condition. https://www.dropbox.com/s/ltn95gko3w422v1/IMG_1556.jpeg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/pwzmvfsb6qzfsej/IMG_1555.jpeg?dl=0 $200 OBO. 135mm f2.0 FD in “user” condition: Sold this on eBay and had it returned. Mechanically it is good. But there are scratches on the paint and some deep scratches on the front element. However I did not find they had an effect on the image. YMMV. I thought there was no haze but I might see a hint of mild haze under the front element when it is hit at a certain angle, but I see something similar in virtually every FD lens I’ve used. If there’s internal dust it doesn’t show up in the bokeh. I found the optical performance good and very pretty. YMMV. https://www.dropbox.com/s/dd61b9i8iocrkf0/IMG_1513.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/wdhr7zg9z6zf5zd/IMG_1516.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/7gq2bwilpbu629i/IMG_1517.jpg?dl=0 $350 OBO. 25mm f2.8, 35mm f2.8, 50mm f1.8, 85mm f2.8, 135mm f4 Rollei Zeiss Lenses QBM Mount Real German Zeiss with great mix of performance and character. Similar to Contax and standard speeds optically (I’ve owned all three and compared them side-by-side), but with matching single coatings similar to Mk1 standard speeds and more of a consistent look imo than Contax. I love this set of lenses but own too many. Converts to EF mount nicely (I can include adapters). Nice condition. Focus is a bit stiff with all of these. Not too bad but not as smooth as my old Nikons or FD lenses. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6qfwxaj3z1ozo1g/IMG_1522.jpg?dl=0 https://www.dropbox.com/s/ghxf6rhpmikd1cm/IMG_1523.jpg?dl=0 $700! Crazy bargain.

The K3 is a bit of a mess – the lens has some fungus and something is collimated wrong along the way so that the image in the viewfinder is out of focus as you zoom out, but I am told by the last person who used it that it holds focus on film so they zoom in, focus, then zoom out. The gate looks a little rough and the loop formers have been removed (I think this might be necessary for an S16 conversion). Will take some pictures and PM you. Regardless, I know this isn't a good deal from my perspective but I bought both an LTR-X and K3 a year or two ago and haven't had time to use either! So I would gladly trade for a Nikon adapter and Arri bayonet adapter. (Lmk if you have any other AKS you don't need as I might be interested in those too.)

A year or two ago I believe I saw a few early XTR and late LTR packages sell for around $5k. Or in some cases less. There was a very basic XTR Prod package I think on LA craigslist for around $9k or $10k last year. I think it's more an issue of short supply rather than great demand. No one is in a rush to sell because it would be difficult to find another package down the line. So I think there's artificially low supply and it's kind of self-fulfilling. But at least to me that sounds like a reasonable price for an LTR package today. Maybe a bit more than that – but not much. If you want a K3 that was modified for S16 I have one that is in slightly dodgy condition that I'd let go of for next to nothing... and I know LA is full of rental S16 packages. And if anyone has an Aaton mount to Nikon mount adapter btw I'd be interested.... in fact I would trade the K3 for it.