Lens and Colours
 

Would the 16 - 35mm Canon produce better colours then the 24-70mm? I currently use the 24-70 on my glidecam but have seen so much footage with the 16-35mm and the colours just seem amazing.

Re: Lens and Colours
 

I have used the Canon 16-35mm F/2.8L on my Glidecam & also use the Canon 24-70mm F/2.8L but would hate to use that on the Glidecam as it weighs a ton. I don't think there is much difference in look & colour between different Canon 'L' lenses.

I am currently using a Samyang 14mm F/2.8 on my Glidecam with great results. Having such a wide lens means that it is very forgiving on the Glidecam as the wider the lens the smoother the apparent movement. With such a wide lens even when used wide open in low light the deep DoF makes it very easy to keep your subject in focus.

Re: Lens and Colours
 

Tariq. I'm not sure that there are "better" colors. Can you explain what you mean? I think the variables are so wide with camera settings and editing that it would be impossible to tell if a different look was due to the lens.
Bill

Re: Lens and Colours
 

speaking of composition, most of the time wide shot of the sky will look "better", but for the look itself i'd recommend to use polarizer or/and grad nd filters.

Re: Lens and Colours
 

How would you compare the Samyang 14mm to the 16-35?

Re: Lens and Colours
 

I have both the 16-35 and 24-70. Virtually no difference in quality. On the 5D mk3 the 16-35 vignettes a bit on the wide end but color-wisw they are the same.

Re: Lens and Colours
 

Currently I have the Glidecam set up with my 5D2 & the Samyang 14mm & don't use either the lens or camera for anything else. The Samyang is 1/4 of the price of the 16-35mm & the image is OK probably not as sharp as the 16-35mm but good enough & I don't see any bad barrel distortion or chromatic aberration. It would be a waste to leave the 16-35mm permanently on the Glidecam. I would love to own the Canon 14mm F/2.8L but at around 6x the price of the Samyang I simply cannot justify it.

Re: Lens and Colours
 

Tariq.
The use of different lenses would make no noticeable difference to your footage. The amazing colours you see on others footage is down to the camerman, his composition, exposure, colour balance and post work. There are very few quick fixes in this game. I just shot a promo for a game farm, used a GH2 with stock lens for 90% of the footage used. I could have used the OLy lens, I doubt very much that the client or myself would have noticed any earth shattering difference.

Re: Lens and Colours
 

I don't agree with Colin. Different lenses do give a different look. Many people sing the praises of using vintage Nikon or Minolta lenses on their Canon DSLRs for just that reason. Personally I prefer modern lenses with autofocus & apart from the Samyang 14mm F/2.8 manual lens that I have all the others are all Canon & all 'L' lenses apart from two (100mm F/2.8 IS Macro & 17-55 F/2.8 EF-S).

Proper cinematographers will prefer Cooke or Zeiss or Angenieux just because of the different colour & look that these different lenses give.