What lenses should I buy for my Sony EX1 and Letus Extreme?

[Michael Palmer]

“Can anyone give me advice on what range of lens I should get to suit my filmmaking needs?”

You’ll need to learn what lenses work best for you.

I have the Red Rock Encore and I have collected several Nikon lenses. Most of my prime lenses are fairly fast and range from 18mm – 85mm.

Good Luck
Michael Palmer

[Brent Dunn]

I prefer Cannon L-Series and Zeiss Prime Lenses. If you have unlimited budget.

Get fast glass 1.2 – 1.4

25, 50, 80, 100, 200 Should cover most ranges. I also have a 25 Macro, but if you’re using it for film shoots, it won’t probably be something you’ll need.

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1, V1U
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro Tower, Quad Core,
with Final Cut Studio

HP i7 Quad laptop
Adobe CS-5 Production Suite

[Phil Meachem]

Many thanks, I have heard a lot about Nikon lenses. I shall look into them more, cheers.

Phil Meachem
Divided Productions

Divided Productions: “Passionate, Dedicated and Determined”

[Tom David]

Also consider the extra spend to purchase the Letus Ultimate. The results are much crisper and you won’t be disappointed down the track as you start to learn the pros and cons of using these adaptors.

If you are sticking with the extreme, then the Nikon lens would be fine – many of my colleagues have equivalent adaptors to the Extreme, and therefore purchase cheaper lens to run on these as there’s no point running expensive primes (ie Zeiss) on the cheap adaptors (its the same as you wouldn’t buy a blu-ray player for your old non-HD tv). There are vignetting and softening around the edges problems, but that is acceptable for them.

If you are going for the spend on the Ultimate, then definitely push the budget to get Carl Zeiss primes. As well as being a great picture, sharp etc etc, the most important factor for me purchasing them was their marketability to other DOP who are familiar with top end gear, and dabbling with this adaptor technology. Because they were happy with the brand, they would hire my kits over guys packing Nikon and other SLR lens brands.

Hope that helps – to see my equipment combo, visit https://tomdavid.com.au/tom_equipment.html

Good luck, Tom.

Cheers,
Tom

Camera Operator – Editor – Motion Graphics
(https://www.tomdavid.com.au)