Follow focus alternatives

Brian Brown · April 5th, 2011, 11:14 AM

Luke, that's good to know. I guess that there's few good, cheap (and fast) vintage wides out there, because 35mm/full-frame wide is a whole lot different that wide on a crop-sensor cam.

I'll probably invest in the Tokina 11-16/2.8 at some point. By all accounts it's just a fabulous lens.

I find that I need either a super-wide lens (for b-roll & exteriors) OR a medium tele (for interviews) for ~95% of the productions I shoot. If I get into a tight room, I'll slap on a nifty-fifty for an interview, but the EF 85/1.8 is on maybe 80% of the time.

Luke Gates · April 7th, 2011, 12:48 AM

Here you are Brian. First two clips are noisy, not white balanced, just threw the cam on the tripod for a comparison. Obviously the difference between the two is significant, but amazingly so when you do a side by side comparison. At 1.4 keeping focus on my dog walking toward me is tough, but you can see its sharpness wide open at 38-39 seconds in. Pause it and you will see his head/face is damn sharp but view down to only his shoulders and its already blurring. There are also other random moments of in focus seconds good enough to get an understanding of how sharp it is wide open. I can get better video if you desire.

Brian Brown · April 7th, 2011, 08:32 AM

Thanks for that, Luke. The first clips were too dark to make a meaningful comparison, but I don't doubt the Pentax is much sharper. The dog clip indeed shows how sharp it is wide open. Very impressive. And I LOVE the shallow-DOF look, that's not anywhere close with the Tamron @ 2.8 or even 3.2 (to get some sharpness back).

Speaking of "nifty-fifties", I am amazed at just how sharp the little $99 plastic EF 50/1.8 is. It's a junk lens for video, due to the focus wheel being the width of a dime and at the end of the lens, but it's nice, sharp, and contrasty, even wide open.

Luke Gates · April 7th, 2011, 09:22 AM

Yeah the first two clips were taken in almost complete darkness just to give you an idea how the 1.4 compares to the tamron at 2.8, not to exemplify its sharpness. And I agree about the canon f1.8, which you may want to check, I haven't seen it for $99 in years, is sharp. I owned one, until I started shooting video and off to ebay it went. I just want to spread the wealth and let everyone know that for $150 you can get a mint pentax compared to the $129 for the canon and its worlds better. Maybe not worlds better optically, although I highly prefer the Pentaxs images and 1/2 stop is always nice, but the construction and wonderful focus puts them in a different class.

April 5th, 2011, 11:14 AM	#16
Brian Brown Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Estes Park, CO USA Posts: 426	Re: Follow focus alternatives Luke, that's good to know. I guess that there's few good, cheap (and fast) vintage wides out there, because 35mm/full-frame wide is a whole lot different that wide on a crop-sensor cam. I'll probably invest in the Tokina 11-16/2.8 at some point. By all accounts it's just a fabulous lens. I find that I need either a super-wide lens (for b-roll & exteriors) OR a medium tele (for interviews) for ~95% of the productions I shoot. If I get into a tight room, I'll slap on a nifty-fifty for an interview, but the EF 85/1.8 is on maybe 80% of the time.

April 7th, 2011, 12:48 AM	#17
Luke Gates Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: new jersey Posts: 151	Re: Follow focus alternatives Here you are Brian. First two clips are noisy, not white balanced, just threw the cam on the tripod for a comparison. Obviously the difference between the two is significant, but amazingly so when you do a side by side comparison. At 1.4 keeping focus on my dog walking toward me is tough, but you can see its sharpness wide open at 38-39 seconds in. Pause it and you will see his head/face is damn sharp but view down to only his shoulders and its already blurring. There are also other random moments of in focus seconds good enough to get an understanding of how sharp it is wide open. I can get better video if you desire. Tamron 17-50 f2.8 vs SMC Pentax-a 50mm f1.4 on Vimeo

April 7th, 2011, 08:32 AM	#18
Brian Brown Major Player Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: Estes Park, CO USA Posts: 426	Re: Follow focus alternatives Thanks for that, Luke. The first clips were too dark to make a meaningful comparison, but I don't doubt the Pentax is much sharper. The dog clip indeed shows how sharp it is wide open. Very impressive. And I LOVE the shallow-DOF look, that's not anywhere close with the Tamron @ 2.8 or even 3.2 (to get some sharpness back). Speaking of "nifty-fifties", I am amazed at just how sharp the little $99 plastic EF 50/1.8 is. It's a junk lens for video, due to the focus wheel being the width of a dime and at the end of the lens, but it's nice, sharp, and contrasty, even wide open.

April 7th, 2011, 09:22 AM	#19
Luke Gates Regular Crew Join Date: Feb 2003 Location: new jersey Posts: 151	Re: Follow focus alternatives Yeah the first two clips were taken in almost complete darkness just to give you an idea how the 1.4 compares to the tamron at 2.8, not to exemplify its sharpness. And I agree about the canon f1.8, which you may want to check, I haven't seen it for $99 in years, is sharp. I owned one, until I started shooting video and off to ebay it went. I just want to spread the wealth and let everyone know that for $150 you can get a mint pentax compared to the $129 for the canon and its worlds better. Maybe not worlds better optically, although I highly prefer the Pentaxs images and 1/2 stop is always nice, but the construction and wonderful focus puts them in a different class.