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Full frame lenses on 16


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I’m collecting a couple lenses for shooting 16 (regular 16 for right now, might end up with super 16 though), most likely with an Eclair NPR. I know there are plenty of lens that have been designed specifically for 16, and those are really the only option for anything really wide and fast, but how about using full frame lenses? For a normal or somewhat telephoto-equivalent FF lens like a modern Zeiss 28mm, will it be sharp having its image circle limited to 16? Or will a lens designed for 16 in particular always be the sharper option? Any tests online?

I don’t have the budget for nice modern super 16 lenses, so I can either get modern FF lenses (except for one or two old 16 lenses to over the wide end), or I can get exclusively older 16 lenses. Essentially it boils down to, which is sharper on 16mm: a Zeiss CP.2 or a c-mount Angenieux?

New to these forums and 16mm, so thanks for the advice in advance. 

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I think you'd get better results with a modern full frame cine lens like a CP.2 than a vintage C mount made for 16mm. Not just the optics and coatings, but having good solid focus mechanics that allow you to make fine focus adjustments and read distance marks can really help.

If you were just using a full frame stills lens, with a tiny focus throw and unreliable marks, you might be worse off, but you'd probably still find the contrast of a modern lens better than a lot of older C mounts.  

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Unfortunately, your lens options are limited by the mount of the camera. Most, if not all, 16mm cameras are not designed for modern mounts (like EF, Nikon, E, MFT, etc). You'll find a plethora of adapters for old mounts to modern mounts (ie: C-mount to E-Mount, ARRI S to Nikon, etc), however it's rare and expensive to find mounts going the other direction. (There's also the tricky issue of focal flange distance, curses!)

If you find a way to mount modern lenses to your 16mm camera (ie: PL), then you'll be good! Dom is right, CP.2's are excellent, but so are Canon Cine Primes, Sigma Art, etc. As long as you get the PL version, you'll have tons of great options.

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In my opinion, the smaller the format, the smaller your image circle should be. Your wasting light when projecting a large image circle on a small format. It's easier to get ridiculously fast apertures on smaller formats because the lens is focusing to a small image circle. For example, modern MFT Voigtlanders can go as wide as F0.9! You'll get that full frame depth of field in a much more compact form. ?

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Thanks for the help, definitely seems smart to go more modern and then pick up a few vintage for the wide end. Luckily there seems to be a lot of adapters to c-mount (the flange distance of a c-mount camera is quite small, especially compared to Arri std/Aaton mounts). I was thinking when looking at some of the vintage lenses, how in the world are those scant focus markings supposed to be helpful, so that’s definitely an advantage of modern glass it seems. 

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