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wide angle


Matt Grover

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Had a quick look around, but haven't found the right thread so..

 

What are people doing for the wider end of things on the BMCC & more specifically the BMPCC (which is what I have), the whole 2.6x (?) sensor crop takes a lot of flack online, so for the users out there, a) are any of you finding it that much of an issue? b) What's your goto wide angle lens?

 

Cheers

 

Matt

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10mm Bolex lens, though that leaves some to be desired in sharpness and vignettes a little. Try the new Metabones Speedbooster. It takes the effective crop factor to ~1.7, so approximately APS-C or Super 35mm. It adapts to Nikon lenses, I tested it with a vintage one and it was spectacular. Give you over a stop more light, and we were shooting at 400ISO and f/3.5 (plus the extra light from the booster) using a single lightbulb in the center of a room. I'm assuming adapting it further would be possible using something that'll adapt your current lenses to Nikon.

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Hi.

 

I've also bought the pocket for my low-budget shootings.

 

Indeed, zeiss superspeed, or illumina serie are the very best option, has will be any S16mm lens. Some lenses from 16mm arri standard, kinoptik, cooke are ok to be used, but first; do tests.

 

For other (cheapest) option, you got to pick a solution from the several proposed, metabones released a speedbooster specialy made for bmpc, adapting nikon lenses. Combining whit the sigma 18-35 t1,8 or Tokina 11-16 t2,8 is a good way to have modern lens (but still photo lens).

 

C-mount... if using those old lenses prepare yourself to vignet, soft (or softer) image, loss of resolution and luminosity to the edges and quiet impossible to adapt any kind of follow focus.Still, there are some descent lenses out there, but finding the right one is quiet a chalenge. The cosmicar 6,5mm, kowa 6mm are know to be ok wide-angles on the bmpc. I've got a 13mm Som Berthiot and a switar 16mm that have no problems. Take a look at this page: http://www.pekelharing.com/lens-tests/ you can find really plenty of tests on youtube and vimeo from all kind of GH3 and blackmagic users.

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Not really. My goto is a 9.5mm Zeiss super speed on my pocket camera-- but that's beyond most people. Sigma makes an 8~16 zoom which'll cover you nicely for both cameras as far as I know.

 

No, Can't really spare the change on a set of Super Speeds at the mo ;) I've known about the Sigma 8-16 for a while, it's a nice lens, no manual iris though on either Canon or Nikon models I thought, thus problematic for the BMPCC without some crazy active adapter??

 

 

 

10mm Bolex lens, though that leaves some to be desired in sharpness and vignettes a little. Try the new Metabones Speedbooster. It takes the effective crop factor to ~1.7, so approximately APS-C or Super 35mm. It adapts to Nikon lenses, I tested it with a vintage one and it was spectacular. Give you over a stop more light, and we were shooting at 400ISO and f/3.5 (plus the extra light from the booster) using a single lightbulb in the center of a room. I'm assuming adapting it further would be possible using something that'll adapt your current lenses to Nikon.

 

I've looked at the SpeedBoosters, they're certainly interesting, a few hundred quids worth, not just at the moment though. Only thing with the SpeedBoosters that gets confusing is the "more light" side of things, the way I see it, you're not "gaining" any light, you're just not losing as much from the crop (and thus smaller aperture) if you use the SpeedBooster, no?

 

 

C-mount... if using those old lenses prepare yourself to vignet, soft (or softer) image, loss of resolution and luminosity to the edges and quiet impossible to adapt any kind of follow focus.Still, there are some descent lenses out there, but finding the right one is quiet a chalenge. The cosmicar 6,5mm, kowa 6mm are know to be ok wide-angles on the bmpc. I've got a 13mm Som Berthiot and a switar 16mm that have no problems. Take a look at this page: http://www.pekelharing.com/lens-tests/ you can find really plenty of tests on youtube and vimeo from all kind of GH3 and blackmagic users.

 

Apart from my existing Nikon mount primes from my 7D kit that I'm using, I bought a couple of old Canon TV Zooms on ebay, both c-mount, 18-108 f2.5 and 17-102 f2, annoyingly, the former being the better lens, just need to get it serviced and get the crap in it cleaned out. the 17-102 is shockingly bad image wise, both cover the sensor fine with (from what I've seen so far), not a major vignette issue.

 

But could still be doing with a tad wider. Any thoughts on the Lumix 7-14mm anyone? (aside from not being a cine lens) I'm gonna hire one in for a bit sometime soon.

 

 

My goto wide angle on the BMPCC is the Kinoptik Tegea 5.7mm. Love it

 

A quick google and

nice FoV from it, ebay search came up over $1000 for the couple on there, tad over my price range at the mo, but looks really nice!
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I've looked at the SpeedBoosters, they're certainly interesting, a few hundred quids worth, not just at the moment though. Only thing with the SpeedBoosters that gets confusing is the "more light" side of things, the way I see it, you're not "gaining" any light, you're just not losing as much from the crop (and thus smaller aperture) if you use the SpeedBooster, no?

 

I'm not certain about the specifics, but the way i look at is it the glass element allows you to use more of the large lenses. Instead of taking the center "crop" from the lens, you're taking a larger "crop" that is equivalent to how much a 35mm film camera would see. So yes, you gain more light because you're using more of the lens and, to put it simply, putting more picture on the sensor. I'm not really a fan of the Speedboost part of it, at least on the wide end of things. If someone is using it so they can shoot at f/.74 like Kubrick, they're doing it wrong. Unless for specific effect, or absolute emergency, shooting that wide just ends up with a pissed off AC and tons of takes. It's greatest use is that you can stick an f/3.5 zoom on it and gain back over 1 stop, getting it pretty close to a f/2 I believe. I was testing one such zoom on my friend's BMPCC and we were blown away how shallow the DoF was and how bright the image was at 400ISO with the single bulb in his room. The lens was also a macro, and we got some insanely shallow DoFs using that.

 

EDIT: I haven't looked into this hardly at all, but what about a wide angle adapter that goes in front of the lens? I have an old screw on one from my handycam days and I was thinking about trying to get step down rings to fit it on a 10mm Bolex lens. I'm not sure if anyone makes them in good quality, the only professional one I've seen has been the Aspheron, which goes for over $3000 and is made to specifically work with the Zeiss 9.5 distagon.

Edited by Will Barber
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WA adapter tends to kill light and they generally aren't optically very good. I played 'round with that on my GH2 when I had it and it just didn't work very well. tons of CA, focus acting strangely, and dimmer images.

I think the sigma in Nikon is manual-- but I"m not 100% on that. I know on Canon it's not.

 

Speedbooster isn't bad on the pocket, just expensive and weighty.

 

Have you looked into the Rokinon cine-primes? They're not the best lenses, but they're not the worst either, and for the price they are hard to beat.

 

Also apparently C mount 1" lenses will work as well. There are many made for CCTV cameras which are acceptable.

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WA adapter tends to kill light and they generally aren't optically very good. I played 'round with that on my GH2 when I had it and it just didn't work very well. tons of CA, focus acting strangely, and dimmer images.

I think the sigma in Nikon is manual-- but I"m not 100% on that. I know on Canon it's not.

 

Speedbooster isn't bad on the pocket, just expensive and weighty.

 

Have you looked into the Rokinon cine-primes? They're not the best lenses, but they're not the worst either, and for the price they are hard to beat.

 

Also apparently C mount 1" lenses will work as well. There are many made for CCTV cameras which are acceptable.

I'm pretty sure the Sigma is manual, my friend who owns the BMPCC just ordered one. It'll probably be our go-to lens, in addition to the 50mm 1.4 and whatever other prime comes with our D800 kits at school.

Why would you say it's weighty? You could put a 9" monitor and an Optimo on that camera and still come out ahead in the weight game. I actually think the Blackmagic pocket is too light. I'm gonna be strapping on matteboxes and anything else I can get my hands on just to add a little heft to my shoulder rig. Still beats the hell out of an HPX500, which is pretty much hell after 3 periods of hockey, and that's not even a heavy camera. But I'll gladly take a well weighted and balanced 20lb rig over a barebones BMPCC on my shoulder mount.

 

I also second looking at the Rokinons, they look great on the GH3, I see no reason why they wouldn't be as good or better on the BMPCC.

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I mean it's an extra piece of weight in the front, and let's be serious here, I doubt many people who use it will be counter-weighting it with an gold or v-mount like a sensible person which is really necessary when putting on MBs. my 4x4 gives enough trouble to my oconnor head unless i make sure to put some kind of weight on the back of the thing.

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Guest Owen Parker

"nice FoV from it, ebay search came up over $1000 for the couple on there, tad over my price range at the mo, but looks really nice!"

 

If you are not in a hurry they pop up fairly regularly. I have bought two in the last year for less than £350 ($600).

You get a hell of a lens for that but be warned it is a lot of glass to hang off the front of a BMPCC so I recommend an adapter with a tripod mount.

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I'm pretty sure the Sigma is manual, my friend who owns the BMPCC just ordered one. It'll probably be our go-to lens, in addition to the 50mm 1.4 and whatever other prime comes with our D800 kits at school.

 

I took a look at the 18-35 sigma t1,8 in a sellers shop, it's a really beautifull glass, but no manual iris and the focus ring runs whithout end all around. The adaptors from mft to nikon have a ring that able to adjust manualy the iris, same for metabone SB.

For what i know, there is no active mft to active nikon adaptor

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The Rokinon 8mm is the widest lens I shoot with and it works ok for those few times you need a super wide angle lens.

 

I find the 14mm prime to work much better as an all-around lens, they even make a 12mm... which I didn't buy.

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  • 3 months later...

Yet to try out the Samyang 8mm, but picked up an Olympus 9mm Fisheye Body-Cap lens the other day, impulse purchase, no where near up to standards of more expensive lenses (this was £89), not too bad for what it is, will be handy for some stuff.

 

https://vimeo.com/94332774

 

(must read how to embed! even though it seems I've embedded a video before!!)

Edited by Matt Grover
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The Metabones adapter will get you closer to the "regular" angle of view a lens in Nikon mount. The 17-35 Nikkor 2.8 is a great option on that camera with the adapter. It opens up a world of Nikon lenses if you're so inclined.

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I took a look at the 18-35 sigma t1,8 in a sellers shop, it's a really beautifull glass, but no manual iris and the focus ring runs whithout end all around. The adaptors from mft to nikon have a ring that able to adjust manualy the iris, same for metabone SB.

For what i know, there is no active mft to active nikon adaptor

 

I'm aware, which means if you need to adjust to an exact stop you're going to have to do some math. I don't like adjusting aperture digitally, I prefer a ring, even if it doesnt exactly mark the stop.

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  • 2 months later...
  • 9 months later...

Yet to try out the Samyang 8mm, but picked up an Olympus 9mm Fisheye Body-Cap lens the other day, impulse purchase, no where near up to standards of more expensive lenses (this was £89), not too bad for what it is, will be handy for some stuff.

 

https://vimeo.com/94332774

 

(must read how to embed! even though it seems I've embedded a video before!!)

 

I have acquired too the Body Cap Lens 9mm (Olympus). For the price is really worth :D

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  • 3 weeks later...

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