Is it possible to pull focus on a lens while crash zooming?

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. If I can't zoom, then I can't zoom, and I will just get a telephoto lens for other shots, besides zoom shots then :).

I thought about getting an older lenses before and tried one out, but it had a much softer look to it. The person at the camera store, told me that older lenses have softer looks to them, and if I want a telephoto lens that is sharp in order to match, they said that I need a modern telephoto to match the other modern lenses I will be using.

Do you think that's true though, and that older lenses perhaps just look too different? There is one on sale though that is used that is the Sigma 150-500 so maybe that one will match modern lenses perhaps?

[Brian Drysdale]

Older lenses are much in demand because of their look, the latest lenses being regarded as too clinical by many and the older lenses have a more interesting look on the digital cameras. However, you do need to ensure your lenses match, so you can't mix old and new lenses unless they have the same characteristics. Cooke are now manufacturing new versions of their Panchro lenses.

https://www.cookeoptics.com/l/panchro-classic.html

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks, that's what I was told before, not to mix old and new. So I get an older telephoto lens, but also want wide and medium lenses, then I should get older ones of those as well. Or otherwise I would get all new. If Rokinons are good, is there any telephoto lens that is new that operates like Rokinon for pulling focus, but also has the same quality looking match?

Or I can stick to getting all old lenses if that's better or those Cooke ones.

[Brian Drysdale]

The Cooke lenses are well out of your price range, even old ones will be out of it these days. There's a big demand for them.

Regarding vintage lenses, I would look online for the different characteristic of various lenses, it's a personal choice. I know someone bought a budget 1970s lens from ebay for £5 and liked the images it produced on a BlavkMagic camera.

An older high quality telephoto should hold up pretty well with the Rokinon. It's a matter of matching the contrast and colour as much as possible.

[Josh Bass]

Part of that comes down to the visual style you’re after...what do you want the final product to look like? Do you want a softer look, a razor sharp look? Does it matter to you? That will narrow down your possible choices.

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. Whether or not I want a soft or razor sharp look depends on certain factors. One filmmaker I know told me that with the softer look, you can actually get away with more, such as say, prop guns being made out of rubber, as oppose to needing them being made out of real metal with razor sharp modern lenses, cause then with the sharp ones, you can tell if it's rubber or not.

Is that true though, that softer lenses are better for more flexibility with prop realism?

[Brian Drysdale]

I wouldn't confuse "soft" too much, the lenses are not that soft, it depends on the quality of your rubber props. Poor props will still look like rubber, high end feature films still use "rubber" props for fights etc.

The lens choice is aesthetic and about how you want the film to look overall. Basing it just on your rubber props is pretty utilitarian.

[Ryan Elder]

Yeah that's true. Well I am not sure which look would be best. By soft are we talking like the softness of an 80s movie more so?

[Brian Drysdale]

No, it's to give a more "organic" look to a digital image. How soft a 80s film looks will depend on the film, they're different and have differing lens filtration .

If you want that look you should shoot on film.

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks, it's kind of tough decide on a look vs. the price what I can afford. Is there any lenses around 300mm that are around a similar range of price a Rokinon, that I perhaps am missing?

[Brian Drysdale]

Look on eBay, you may used early Canon 300mm f2.8 lenses there, these are professional lenses and should hold up pretty well with a Rokinon (it probably out performs them) However, a used Canon 300mm f4L may be a better bet on the price,

I would use google to see comments and reviews of these lenses,

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. I tried looking for Canon before but it seemed all the lenses so far that could connect to a modern adapter are fly-by-wire, unless older ones that are not fly-by-wire can also connect to an adapter as well. I can keep looking.

As for the zoom shot I wanted before, I thought maybe I could just cut it instead. I could show a close up of the main character look through the door window, and then cut to a about 50 or more feet away, and show the people waiting to ambush him.

But I am worried this will be jarring to the audience, if I cut instead of zoom. When I cut to the 50 or more feet away of the men waiting to ambush, the audience might be thinking "what, were are we now? where is the main character all of a sudden. Is there a window in the background far away from everyone? Is he looking through that window?"

So I am wondering if cutting to such a far away point of view all of a sudden, will cause the audience to loose their sense of direction of I cut, as oppose to a zoom back.

[Brian Drysdale]

I suspect you'll have to work on the shot in your own mind, forums can only go so far.

Regarding the lens, the mounting system will be a restricting factor. Some camera mounts give you a wide range of options through adapters, mirrorless cameras from say Sony offer advantages in this.

[Ryan Elder]

Okay thanks. I tried mounting my current lens on other cameras, with adapters cause I want a telephoto, I can mount from camera to camera, depending on what the cinematographer has. I tried with an electronic adapter that feeds power to the lens.

I noticed that the fly-by-wire focus still works, with an adapter, on another camera. However, the F-stops do not work. It just says "F--", instead of having actual F-stops. So if I were to get an all mechanical focus ring, what's the point of an electronic adapter, if the aperture doesn't even work with it?

[Pete Cofrancesco]

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/explora...2855/KBID/3801