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I can't edit my post above: I see RX10's sensor is 1". 2.7 crop factor would make the lens 65-540mm f/7.5. I see no point. *** I have a feeling I will also be disappointed by A7S compatible decent lens prices but let's see what you have to say.

Oh, crap. A7S is actually 2500$, 1300$ was A7. :( Oh well, it still doesn't change much. I mean it does but I don't think I can give up on an FF body now. I'll wait or over-expend if I have to. I feel like I have progressed a lot since I created this topic and have looked at some guides and short films (not that I haven't seen any short films before), I feel like I can do a lot at the moment but I don't know when will I and rest of the conditions (one of the most important part is of course the location) be ready and when will my friend be available. *** @Michael, thanks for your input. I was thinking about zoom lenses yesterday, I was searching if I could find a fast enough lens for cheap. Something like an f/2.8 seemed compelling (since I will PROBABLY love the practicality) but then I remembered the existence of f/1.8 lenses and lower, on FF, for super cheap. Still unsure about quality of those but stil... This is the first time I'm hearing "fixed lens camera", that's a decent lens (if the camera is FF, which seems so) but not being able to go lower than f/2.8 is a big problem for me, as I suspect you will agree. It's at least a better solution than buying an APS-C with crappy lenses. I can consider it if I get desperate and feel like nothing is possible. :D *** The most confusing part is over for me, I am now much more comfortable with lenses. Except their practical qualities. But those aren't confusing. Now the only thing is to find a camera for my needs and buy whenever I can (which is a mystery). I am now looking for some fun DIY stuff along with a camera, I may start doing some things since they're cheap and I can always make use of them. And maybe I may get my hands on a camera if a magic happens and I'll have some stuff done already. I need to do something, anything, or I will implode to a black hole. :wacko: :lol: I am even considering shooting with my phone. As Matthew McCanoughey (If true) says with his magical voice: "You want to be a writer? Start writing. You want to be a filmmaker? Start shooting stuff on your phone right now." *** I just read this: "Don't sell the sigma!!! You can still use it in the a7s crop mode.. It will perform gloriously!" here. He is talking about "Sigma 18-35mm f1.8", which is 1000$ way over my league. What I don't understand is why it can work in crop mode? I do know A7S have a APS-C mode. Will the same thing happen If I try to use <200$ Nikon/Canon lenses? What lenses can I actually use on A7S at FF? What are the cheapest (<500$) good quality lenses I can use? An example can be a 50mm.

How about an example? Option 1: Panasonic GH4 (Body only) = $1500 Panasonic LEICA D SUMMILUX 25mm f/1.4 = $500 Olympus M.Zuiko 17mm f1.8 = $500 Total = $2500 Option 2: Sony A7S (Body only) = $1300 Nikon 50mm f/1.8D = $170 Nikon 35mm f/1.8G = $170 Total = $1640 It seems like those Nikon lenses can be used on A7S with adapters. And Panasonic and Olympus can't even match its f-stop. Not sure about the quality of lenses but I can't see them justifying the price. Or can they? The gap would open even more the more lenses are added. Am I in some terrible wrong here or are MFT solutions really, REALLY stupid? Oh and are speedboosters really 100$ on e-bay? How can they be so cheap when brand new ones are 600$, this is just a wonder really, even speedboosters can't justify above, unless there's something else. Also, I was meaning to ask, GH4 has a crop value of 2.3 when in recording. Is this only vertical? (Not sure if I phrased it correctly) If they have the same horizontal view I'm fine with it --which I assume should go even higher if a 2.35:1 recording is possible-- but if not, it is another huge problem.

Thanks to everyone I haven't replied so far, the only reason I haven't replied is I am filled with overwhelming questions and I need experience for some of them. I am reading and re-reading everything, nothing goes to waste. Quoting from some other forum; I can't see a way to decide between MFT and FF. :(

Based on my description of the project; Do you recommend zoom lenses? I know primes are sharper but it might be useful. Most recommend to have at least one zoom lens. How about two? For interior-only (at least for this project) how much should largest lens be? Are 18mm and 25mm enough for interior? Will I need 35mm or above? I plan some extreme close-ups for both characters and some objects but I'm not sure how it will all work out as the script isn't complete yet. How about a 18mm, 25mm and a 12-35mm? There will absolutely be lighting by the way, but all of the scenes will have to look low on light on the screen. Unless lighting becomes a problem to achieve this. Based on this what kind of f-stop should I aim for? Vintage lenses are one of the topics I had in mind but I never looked for it because there was so much else to work out. Seems like a good idea but will it have better IQ than a brand new zoom lens? And is GH4 really the best choice for this price range including lens costs? Any idea what kind of crew will I definitely need and what will the cost be for whole project? Anything else on any topic that can guide me is appreciated.

@David Mullen ASC, Thanks for explanation. I know 50mm isn't a magical number and I haven't even decided what type of lens I want but it's generally a suggested focal lenght for filming, along with 35mm. Can I ask why MFT lenses are called MFT lenses? Are you positive that all MFT lenses in the world would have a crop factor of 2x when put on a MFT camera? I have seen other people asking the same question, that if it would have 1x crop factor. So that's why I doubt. If we get this out of the way then I'll be sure to think based on 2x crop factor indefinitely. Just making sure, adapters can't have effect on crop factor, right? Moving onto speedboosters, do you think buying lenses with a speedbooster according to 1.3-1.4 crop factor for FF equivelent is better than buying a lens without a speedbooster according to 2 crop factor compared in price/performance aspect? I do know speedbooster drops f-stop one level but I am not sure about the price when all lenses are taken into consideration. @Freya, I am not familiar with any of them. The only reason I am interested in 50mm and 35mm (which is 25mm and 17-18mm for MFT) is that people are saying those are the lenses most often used in filmmaking. Unless there is such a thing as 1x crop factor for MFT. I already asked which lenses should I buy so I am open to anything. My only goal is to get the image I described in the OP I want for the story. I don't know what I need to shoot them so that's why I'm confused. After knowing what type of lenses I need and what are their prices I can decide whether to go for MFT or FF. I hope this is clear enough.

You're right. But what would you do? Would you buy 50mm lens for a MFT body to have the same look of 50mm FF body? Are you suggesting that I should buy a 50mm lens if I want a 50mm lens no matter the body? I've seen people are suggesting 25mm lens for 50mm FF equivelent. And if half the size of the look I want is what should I buy then comes the price issue. If average prices of 25mm lenses are more expensive than 50mm (which seems so) then I start to question my choice of camera. I may be ignorant of the essentials of the topic. Is there a video on YouTube you can direct me to understand the concept of the crop factor and related terms? I have read a lot about crop factor and I still am confused and haven't found a solution to my "problem". Excuse my ignorance.

Hi. I just joined in, glad to see such a place exists. I'm 24, started studying cinema this year, this may seem early but starting studyng has been one of the later stages for me, altough I don't have any live experience, I probably have learned more than I can learn in the future of my study so far. I still have a lot to learn -and learning everyday- technically but I believe I know what I want from the creative perspective. I have been writing down lots of ideas past few years, I planned one of my easier ideas as a starter point for my more ambitious ideas and I started turning it into a script a little while ago. I also have a friend (not studying cinema) who's working with me on this. He is similar to me, he has an eye for what's good and he can contribute to many parts of the process. After the script is complete we're planning to buy Panasonic Lumix GH4 for shooting it. I have some questions... Let me explain the project first. Story will take place interior-only, a one-room cabin, with a bathroom probably. It is dialogue heavy and it is psychological drama. There are no very fast action like fights. Runtime will probably be at least 30 minutes. We don't have a set length in our minds yet but 30 mins minimum is a safe deal. I want it to be as long as what's neccesary for the story. It can and probably will go above 30 mins, but won't most likely go below. We'll have a 1.5mins shooting for our cinematography final exams very soon and I'll have some experience from that. And we'll probably want to shoot at least one short film before the project or we'll at least have some experience with a camera to feel comfortable and try a few of the things we'd like to do before buying Lumix GH4 and doing more spendings. There will be two characters. I don't plan on using sunlight, I don't want a recognizable day/night cycle. There will of course be a tripod, we also plan to make a homemade steadycam and various types of camera sliders (one regular, one angular at least). I don't like long shots very much but we'll still probably have at least one long shot (not a too long one), but I am a fan of shots with camera movement. There will be no handheld cam altough I also like them I don't want my movie to look amateurish. I also like... "impossible" shots, I want shots that makes audience to think that how was that possible, e.g.: invisible cam against mirror, or scene through a mirror that's not recognizable at first, or camera movement that goes through walls, etc (this will either be made on post-production or we'll cut down some holes on walls -which will still be adjusted on post-production). I also want a surreal look at some parts, maybe a shot from ground, corner of the room and the ceiling is appearing as being pulled out from all 4 corners, this can also be done as a special effect but I'm not sure it it's better to do using a special (wide angle) lens. I also like extreme close-up to deliver emotion and the psychological element. I do like zoom-out movement and camera lift movement (not sure it this is the correct term, what I have in mind is perfectly usable interior) on certain moments. We'll also most likely have a dolly-zoom use. We'll use a blue color filter for probably all of the movie. We'll also probably want to darken corners of the picture, I'm not sure if this one should be used entire movie. Everything seemed perfect with Panasonic Lumix GH4 but when I looked into lenses it all turned upside down. Let me ask; LENS RELATED QUESTIONS: 1) Are there lenses (that are MFT lenses), say 50mm, are affected by crop factor 2? Or are all or some of MFT lenses' crop factor on MFT body crop factor is 1? Or are there no lens on the planet that can give you the mm what is written on it on an MFT body? (Please add source(s) when replying to this one if you can, because I want to be 100% sure) 2) Say, I bought a 50mm MFT lens, can I buy an adapter/speedbooster for it to act as a 50mm lens and not 100mm lens or more? If so, can I use this adapter (same brand if neccesary) on different sized lenses? Is buying such a thing financially viable or is it the best solution in the beginning? 3) If 2 is possible, will f-stop value change, if so what will f-stop value be? 4) If 1 and 2 are impossible, what are the pricing on a 25mm MFT (say f/1.8 or whatever you like) lens vs. a 50mm FF f/1.8 or so? I have seen Nikon 50mm f/1.8 lenses that are 100$. I haven't seen a cheap MFT equivelent of this. 5) After answering all of the questions above, can you tell me how many lenses will we need? And what type (mm, f-stop, prime/zoom/wide angle) of lenses? And what are the exact brand/models you suggest for us (price/performance)? I thought we'd probably need at least 3, but the lenses topic is the most confusing part for me so far. GENERAL QUESTIONS: 6) Are MFT cameras really best solution for low/no-budget filmmaking? Can you give me numbers for, say, "GH4+lenses" I need vs. "A7S+lenses I need"? One of the many reasons I chose GH4 is internal 4K recording. Even tough we'll probably convert it to 1080p and show it at 1080p everywhere unless 4K showing is possible, 4K offers better image quality even when downscaled to 1080p and it is more future-proof. 7) What f-stop should we go for? There will be lights, but it won't be a well-lit room in the story, is really low f-stops (say, below f/1.8) neccesary? Our budget is no/low-budget. I don't know what exactly the circumstances will be when we start shooting this but I don't want to compromise from the picture quality while not going over our heads. 8) What kind of people will we definitely need? Is lighting guy absolutely needed? Or a camera assistant? Our cinematography teacher in university mentioned this as a must but we are two people behind the camera despite we're inexperienced. What about sound assistant? Is there anything else that's a must? I assume make-up may be neccesary but I am not sure how exactly will the characters look like yet. I believe I can do editing, post production with some research, my friend can also help with post production, maybe do some small special effects, about the music part: I want no scene without music (score) and sound effects but of course these will have to be license-free. I have a vast interest on instrumental music so I believe I can find some things we can use. We can also ask for some permissions for some known works and hope to get positive answer from at least a few of them. I also have some pieces of music in my head, I can probably find a friend who will help me extract it and put it into a decent form. It may even be possible to find someone to do soundtrack but I don't know how viable this can be. I can find lighting and maybe some more stuff we can use from friends but I don't know for how long they can allow us to use. Since the script isn't complete, I haven't pursued this yet. But there are a few people willing for it. In fact if I can turn this into reality during my school years I believe I can find more help than I can think of. It is an ambitious project after all, despite the fact that it's my least ambitious idea. 9) What aspect ratio do you suggest for this? I am trying to choose between 16:9 or 2.35:1. 16:9 seems more natural for the story but 2.35:1 can show that we're serious business and it can feel like a "film" more easier. Does GH4 have a 2.35:1 AR recording option at all? 11) How much can all of this cost (only exclude actors fee from this). Any and every other insightful opinions/recommendations are much appreciated. Thanks for reading.