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DOF and lensess QUESTION
hello all,
im a trying to learn about lenses and cameras and while learning i came up to an offer that seemed pretty good so i wanted to make sure if it would work. I got an offer to buy Mamiya sekor c lens. here is the description. its a mamiya sekor C 45 mm 2.8
i was wondering could i attach this lens to a DOF adaptor and atach the adaptor to a video camera? if so how? and if not why not and is there any equipment i have to buy? and in general how would i know what lenses to buy for a DOF adaptor. the adaptor that i have is Letus 35 extreme. its
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2 Replies
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[Bipop Upreti] “could i attach this lens to a DOF adaptor and atach the adaptor to a video camera?”
Well, I guess you could use that lens with a DoF converer, at least in theory. But I personally wouldn’t, for a number of reasons…
* It’s a medium format lens. I.e., it covers the area of a medium-format film frame. It’s overkill. You only need to cover a 35mm film frame, which is much smaller.
* I’m not really familiar with the Mamiya lens mount, but I’ll bet a dollar that mount is not one that is available for the DoF adpapter. Most DoF adapters will have PL mounts (for real cine lenses) or Canon or Nikon mounts for SLR lenses. You’d have to have an adapter to convert the Mamiya to whatever mount your DoF adapter takes (if such an adapter exists), or have the lens re-mounted, which probably wouldn’t cost quite as much as they are asking for that lens in the first place, but close.
* That lens is pretty slow, at f2.8. DoF adapters like really fast lenses, because the adapter itself eats up a fair bit of light. The f2.8 lens would be fine for daytime exteriors, but would not be all that useful indoors… unless you have a really powerful lighting package (when using a DoF converter you don’t want to have to kick up the camera’s gain unless absolutely necesary). And I mean really powerful… HMIs and such. Superspeed lenses (f1.4 or faster) are really what works best with DoF adapters.
* And lastly, for what you would be getting and for what you would be using it for, the price isn’t that great. For the same $250 you could get a decent 35mm SLR lens that is faster and already with a mount that will work on the adapter.
I’d take that same money and see what you can find in the way of decent (and faster) Canon or Nikkor lenses.
[Bipop Upreti] “in general how would i know what lenses to buy for a DOF adaptor.”
It just depends on what you need to shoot, and what kind of shots you like to get. That 45mm lens is pretty wide for medium format, but for 35mm that is just about “normal.” In the 35mm format a 50mm lens is considered a normal mid-range lens. You’d likely want a vareity of primes in different focal lenghts. The primes I normally travel with are 8mm, 18mm, 35mm, 50mm, 80mm, and 200mm. I’m really desparately in need of another medium-longish lens, something in the 120mm neighborhood. I also have a 37-140mm zoom, but zooms are tricky with DoF converters… because most zoom lenses are quite slow… a lot slower than fast primes. Reasonably fast zooms are available, but a real cine lens that has a decent zoom range and is fast is going to be expensive… we’re talking in the quite-a-few-thousands-of-dollars range. Zoom lenses can be useful with a DoF converter, but mostly for daytime exteriors or in well-lit interiors where you have a pretty darn bright lighting plot.
T2
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Todd Terry
Creative Director
Fantastic Plastic Entertainment, Inc.
fantasticplastic.com
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[Bipop Upreti] “and in general how would i know what lenses to buy for a DOF adaptor. the adaptor that i have is Letus 35 extreme.”
Hi Bipop,
I have a Letus 35 Extreme with a Nikon mount and here are the lenses I use:
Nikkor 35mm f2
Nikkor 50mm f1.4
Nikkor 85mm f2These all work great with the Letus Extreme. I got one online and the others at a local camera repair shop. As I recall, prices were in the $150––$200 range.
Jason Jenkins
Flowmotion Media
Video production… with style!
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