Beginner 35mm lens choices

[kaos1000]

Mr. Mullen,
After a week or so of pulling my hair out, I finally have a functional home made 35mm adapter. My adapter is built to hold "Nikon F" style lenses.

I have been experimenting with a 50mm and would like to purchase a couple more to use on close-ups and zoom capability.

Someone recommended an 80mm for close-ups and a 28mm-70mm for zoom.

Could you recommend some options and things to think about here?.....

Depth of field is so new to me

thanks,


kaos

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Sounds like a good start. You'll quickly find out if that's enough focal length options. You may eventually want something longer than 80mm or wider than 28mm, but that depends on your tastes.

Besides getting a mattebox & filters, you may test to see if you're OK with pulling focus right on the barrel or need a follow-focus device. Remember that 35mm depth of field requires careful focusing, especially to follow moving subjects.

You may want some Close-Up Diopters in order to do macro shots, unless your zoom does macro focusing.

 

[akmeister]

Mr. Mullen,

Would you recommend a young cinematographer purchasing 35mm lenses? I've heard mixed things from mixed people. So far I have relied primarily on rental and school gear and haven't come across any major pitfalls. I do like to check out the same lenses, etc. as I've come to know them, but sometimes this is not always an option. I'm wondering if slowly purchasing a set of primes is a good choice or not, especially when things are leaning toward HD more and more. It seems like there is always something that comes along, and film seems to stick through it all, so it might be wise to invest in some lenses. They are a major purchase, but it might be worth it. It seems like a better choice than buying a camera body. With 35 lenses they can work with S16, and 35 so it seems like the right idea. A camera body seems like something that can always be rented without having to "know" the camera, like "knowing" your lenses. What are your thoughts on this? Do you have a set of lenses you like to use, or does it matter as much?

Thanks for any advice,

Aaron

 

[David Mullen ASC]

I've always been a renter, not an owner. I own a Super-8 camera and three light meters, one 35mm Nikon still camera with two lenses and one point & shoot Canon digital still camera. That's it.

Good 35mm cine lenses are incredibly expensive, beyond my income to consider buying.

IF you work all the time (and thus can accurately guess how long an investment will take to pay off), it may make sense to own some equipment to rent to the production.

Most people would start small with a set of filters. Then maybe special gear that you find useful -- could be anything, like an Arri VariCon or certain unusual old lenses, or even an odd camera. Or special lighting units. Something outside of the basic camera & lens package you always can rent anywhere. After that, some may consider owning a complete package of some sort.

I tend to rent from Panavision anyway, so owning a set of PL-mount Cooke S4's, for example, would be problematic.

I believe in the importance of good lenses, but I also don't think the quality differences between Cooke S4's, Zeiss Ultra Primes, or Panavision Primos matter too much -- they are all great glass and I can make any of them work for me. Something like the new T/1.4 Zeiss Master Primes are different because there isn't a similar Cooke or Primo version.

 

[Agenda Productions]

No equipment? How did you get so good?

No equipment? How did you get so good?

Hi David,

I have been reading a lot of your posts from Cinematogrpahy.com and learning so much but i was reading here that you dont own any of your own equipment and it makes me wonder how you got your foot in the door in the industry.

I mean, if you didnt have a camera to practice with or your own lights and gels to experiment with how did you becomes so good at what you do?. Surely you worked on shoots learning the gift but what about before film shoots???...

I ask this because i am in second year of film in Melbourne with a great focus on Cinematography and want to take a loan out for a XL2, basic lighting and Gels to practice as much as possible, there is only so many student film shoots i can jump on camera with without the right equipment to then jump into the real world. I think what i'm asking is how you go in the industry and gained the knowledge that you have.


Regards James Brown.

 

[David Mullen ASC]

Super-8!

I must have shot a dozen or so Super-8 movies, each more elaborate than the last. By the time I finally went to film school, my Super-8 films were pretty sophisticated - I was shooting in b&w reversal, had film noir lighting (using only a few lights), tilted angles, Russsian montage editing style, dolly moves (I built a small dolly), macro photography and time-lapse photography, etc. I was determined to make my little Super-8 movies look like "real" movies.

After about a decade of Super-8, I started to shoot a little 16mm for some cheap Karaoke music videos (someone had seen my Super-8 shorts and wanted some b&w Super-8 footage for a video, then I convinced them to let me shoot in 16mm, so I ran out and learned how to load an Arri-S.)

When I got to film school, people were blown away but what I could do in Super-8 that I got asked to shoot people's 16mm student thesis projects. By the time I left three years later, I must have shot eighteen or so 16mm projects and one short in 35mm. I was mostly using the school's 16mm Eclair NPR's and Arri-S cameras, but the last few were using an Aaton from Panavision's New Filmmakers Program.

Then a fellow student got to make a 35mm short film for Universal Studios as part of a Hispanic Filmmakers Fund, with donated gear and stock, and he asked me to shoot that.

After graduation in 1991, I shot low-budget features, 30 to date, most in 35mm, one in Super-16, and eight in 24P HD. The budgets have been going up lately.

---

Besides the shooting experience, I've always been an avid reader. When I was at UCLA as an English Lit major, I would sit in the library and read filmmaking books. I read every issue of American Cinematographer back to the 1920's. And then reread many of them. So even though I was only shooting in Super-8, I was keeping up on 16mm and 35mm shooting techniques.

The truth is that if you want to be a DP, lighting, composition, movement, and editing (i.e. visual storytelling) are the most important skills over camera technology. If you learn to light well, the technical stuff is easy to learn.

 

[Agenda Productions]

Thanking you

Thanking you

Thanks for the insight David, how can there be any better advice then from a professional that was once in my shoes with a passion to film.

thanks again and i look forward to reading more of your posts from this and also cinematography.com as they have been so helpful.

Regards James.