Chris Leutger

Years later and I'm still shooting on the BMPCC 2K. Last night I ran across an old external hard drive and found a folder full of tests that I shot for the local film org. They had received a donation of a bunch of C mount lenses and asked me to test them on the BMPCC, which I did. Looking at the tests last night made me kick myself. @tom lombardWhile there was no Kern zoom, there was a Switar and other similar lenses. The footage looked fine. Sure, a little soft, and not the highest in resolution, blah, blah, blah. But for those of us that have stuck with the BMPCC as opposed to the latest 50K digital whatever, it was solid image making. Nice colors, good looking stuff. And most of all cheap. It made me think of what Tyler said at the beginning of this thread and thought I would add here as educational. You don't need all that stuff that the internet wants to sell you. It seems so sexy when you read about it and see all these videos on youtube, but it's not necessary. Currently, I'm shooting almost everything with the Contax 18mm or the Contax 28mm. I didn't need a "cine set" just something wide enough and something a little longer. I could have bought 2 Rokinons, or SLR Magic's or whatever in the beginning. Until I needed something else. After seeing the files I'm pulling out the C mount stuff that I have and going to take 'em for a spin.

I've had varying luck with C mount lenses and coverage. Tried tons of old lenses. I have a set of Meopta lenses, but the barrel jammed up on one of them and that's when I started using my Pentax k mount lenses. I spent a couple years renting this and trying that. Finally decided that I wanted something sharp, but not clinical and I wanted a set to standardize on ND filters, rods/follow-focus, etc. Bought a CY 50 1.4 and then started building the rest of the set. This was ongoing around the time Veydra disappeared from the market and just as Meike started putting out their lenses. I rented Veydra a long time ago and liked them, but I'm happier with the rendition from the CY lenses. Haven't tried Meike but I'm almost done at this point. Want to focus on filming. The big decision now is whether to buy another P2K as backup or hope that the BM 12K sensor tech trickles down into the Pocket line.

Neither. I ended up buying a set of Contax CY lenses and having them cine-modded by Duclos and put in EF mount. Then I bought the OG Metabones adapter. These lenses look great. I also got the Blackmagic VideoAssist 12G 5" as a monitor and that makes focusing, etc. much easier as well. Since I mostly record ProRes HQ I record direct to monitor. If I want to record cDNG then I record on the Pocket. I can't seem to convince myself to move to the new Pocket cameras with that Sony sensor. I feel the Fairchild sensor in the P2K is something special even with it's flaws.

The battery issue. When we buy used cameras, the power can be not so standard in what the previous owner's approach was. Often needing replacement or modification or re-celling or whatever. There are those people with that sort of knowledge and experience to know what that stuff is and how it works (like Heikki), and those of us that want to buy a standard black box with a cord that plugs into the camera and make it go now. I'm in the latter category. They used to offer 16mm film classes here in Seattle (NWFF) which is one of reasons I bought it. Then they quit offering them.

The battery scenario is where I gave up on my ACL. Recharging the re-celled Eclair battery doesn't seem to be working anymore and I'm not one to measure, solder, create, etc. It would be awesome if we could figure out a battery that could be plugged in.

What about something like this? ACL Battery on ebay

The lens won't cover that MFT sensor size. It worked on the original BM Pocket (which I still shoot with) because it was a smaller Super 16 sensor. That lens was a 16mm lens that actually covered S16.

Do you use the 18-35 with a Speedbooster? I've been curious about the Sigma but I'm not interested in dropping money on a Metabones for my BMPCC.

Even with a booster that's not going to get me that wide and a Metabones ain't that cheap. But perhaps I should look on ebay and see what's what there for a cheaper speed booster. I don't have to commit to anything now. Mainly was wondering what people thought about mixing and matching Tokina with Veydra. But now I'll rent 'em all......let footage sort 'em out....

I just want a wide angle lens which is impossible with 35mm still lenses. If Metabones made a Pentax to BMPCC focal reducer I might try that....but the cheaper ones I've read about have horrible performance and my Pentax 28mm still wouldn't be equivalent. But the Tokina didn't wow me so I figured I may as well try the others.

I found somewhere that has Rokinons for rent! So I'll be trying those out next.

There was a video...somewhere...(of the many I saw) where the 24 looked noticeably softer than the 16mm or the 35mm. Various comments on boards about that one being the weak link. Just enough to make me shy of that. If I could rent it I would. The local camera shop has Veydras and Xeen's for rent. I might try the Veydras next since they're the cheapest thing going. I rented the Tokina and took it out today. I love the focal range on the BMPCC and the general handling. But when I got home I could see that I had problems nailing focus. I was shooting with my Pentax still lenses as well today, and don't seem to have a problem focusing with those. Tried with and without focus peaking while I was out since I was having a hard time dialing it in. Not sure what to make of that. Anything at a distance was more problematic than close. I'm using a Zacuto attached to the screen for viewing. I would think it's me if it weren't for the fact that I don't have that problem with the Pentax's. Also the Tokina is in MFT mount while the Pentax is obviously on an adapter so that rules out adapter issues. Gonna take the Tokina out for another go round tomorrow. See if I can dial it in better. Robin - I see the Optars on ebay but they're more expensive than the Veydras. Are they supposed to be better? Someone told me to check out SLR Magic since they're in the cheaper end of things....

Thanks! I thought about the Rokinon's but I've read lots of bad things about the 24 and not been excited about what I've seen on the web though I know that mileage may vary on Vimeo or youtube vids. Since the Tokina is half off at BH I liked that since that makes it affordable. I wouldn't buy it at full price. I'm going to rent the Tokina this weekend and see what I think about the lens and that focal length. They also rent Veydra's there so that might be a next rental to see where that goes. No Rokinons other than the Xeen's available locally for rental. Thanks for the info.

God, I hate to start a 'help me with lens choice' thread but I've reached a limit. I've been shooting with a BMPCC for about three (four?) years. Background: I'd started with some vintage 16mm glass which was okay but had some issues. Tried an Angenieux 15-150mm that seems softer on the files than it looks on the screen. Tried some Panny's but my camera doesn't seem to want to autofocus. Everything looked a little soft anyway. I'm mainly a still photographer so I've been traveling with 4x5, BMPCC, Hasselblad and a Pentax K1000 (35mm). I tried using a Pentax 35mm zoom (35-70mm) with the BMPCC and turned off focus peaking and I finally started getting images I liked. The problem is that once I started wanting to shoot more cinematically (less of the same kind of stuff that I shoot with my still cameras) that crop factor became a problem. I started to fish about for a vintage (i.e. cheap) solution but decided to look into something better for the camera. As someone pointed out, with the BMPCC you don't need vintage glass filtering for the overly sharpened digital look. I would characterize my work as documentary in the way that Chris Marker (without the voiceover) is. Landscapes, cityscapes, noirish warehouses and burned out homes. No characters, ambient location sound only. Question: I see that Tokina makes a 11-16mm cine-zoom that would be pretty wide for me and it's appealing because it's currently on sale. The thing is what do I match that with? I want a manual cine lens and not an AF lens. I can't find a longer zoom that fits my budget but thought perhaps perhaps a Veydra prime to go a little longer perhaps the 25mm. That's under 2k for a start. I figure I can get a longer prime down the road if necessary. I prefer zooms because I hate futzing with extra equipment when I'm out and about because of time constraints but 2-3 lenses doesn't seem bad. Does that sound reasonable? Thank you.

That's too bad. Valiant effort though! I haven't figured out my battery situation. I should just sell the camera as these days I'm doing all my shooting with the BMPCC.....

I had a friend buy one of these "faux Arri" lights for his indie video project and I warned him against them. He told me that it fried on his second shoot. Now with the blackened hole near the power cord at the rear he's realizing that I was right. I told him that B&H has plenty of cheaper lights you can buy but these "looked like Arri's" so he got them so he could look cool. I bought a pair of Impact 300's for a photography lighting class several years ago and now I use those with a couple of used Arri 300's and it's all good. We're students so just hacking around figuring it but I figure at the very least the cheap gear from established vendors is safe.

He wouldn't be the first person to sell a product that was produced by another manufacturer and rebadged as their own. But there probably is something sinister, nefarious even about it. Perhaps Valerian is a super villain and is going to use his extensive 16MM film monies to take over the world and destroy all the digital cameras on the planet and force everyone to learn how to use a light meter.....

Many of them work on the Black Magic Pocket with either no or slight vignetting and these lenses cover perfectly on the Digital Bolex. They have aesthetic qualities that differentiate them from modern digital lenses. I have a couple. Of course I can also use them on my Eclair. Which is why you see more and more film Bolex's showing up on ebay with no lenses on them.....I was showing my BM Pocket to someone at a local film school and they were trying some Bolex lenses on it since they have all these old lenses laying around because very few people rent or use the cameras anymore......

Sorry, I apologize. Mainly I think for starting a business, as Bill pointed out above, that there are certain modes that would be preferable to get people to take it seriously. That said, I'm happy to support people who are trying to keep analog alive.

Though the general goofiness of your presentation makes me leery of the possibility of this whole thing I'll bite: 1. Yes 2. 100/200 3. 1 4. 1 5. Depends on what the chemicals are. I'm glad that Gregg brought up the questions that he did because I think he's right to put the general concerns many of us will have out there.

That's a wrap. Now with 17 days to go we'll see how much they get. This is a good sign to them that there is interest and notice of what they're doing.

Goro, thanks for bringing this up, John, thanks for the link. I'm going down to LA in a couple weeks and will likely follow up with some shooting of my own from that bridge. Though I do go down frequently I'm usually around the 1st and Grand area (MOCA and Dorothy Chandler) so I'm not super fluent on where some areas are but this will get me exploring.....I'll be shooting with a Black Magic Pocket so I'll definitely be looking non-pro. I have gotten hassled shooting with my 4x5 downtown because they think it's a video camera.....

I did the movie pack of one Super 8 and one 16mm......glad to see that these guys should make it pretty easily.....

Derrek - I jumped from 35mm to 4x5 so I hear you on quality increase. But I don't want to take on the added expense of camera, film etc for 35. I figure after shooting 16 for awhile I may move on up though. I need to figure out where this will fit in my overall artistic practice. I'm waiting for battery packs to get recelled then should start shooting soon. I got an Angenieux 15-150mm for my starter lens because it covers S16. In a lot of movies I've seen news guys shooting Eclairs etc using long zoom lenses......

I bought a super 16 camera for the same reason, the cost of processing/scanning is cheaper overall than Super 8. Because I've seen many high quality movie shot with the format (Greenaway and Aronofsky) I figured 16mm was the sweet spot between cost, quality and weight....