I really liked the Contax, but got the FDs as they were cheaper to get as a set (I also didn't buy the L series FD that were more akin to the K35 look, that's too expensive too). But my dream would be a set of cine rehoused mamiya 645 lenses with the optional "speedbooster".
Zeiss Contax RF, Robot and Exakta from 1935-40 and 1946-49 are my favorites -Especially: Biogon35/2.8, Biotar 40/2, Sonnar 50/1.5, Biotar 58/2 (as the Helios 4-22 is a copy of), Biotar 75/1.5, Sonnar 85/2 and 135/4. Zeiss made some of the same lenses in many different mounts. They have less spherical distortion and artifacts than many modern lenses, and the colors are fantastic. I also have some Contarex lenses, they can definitely be recommended, but have become very expensive. For a more modern look I use Zeiss C/Y, Pentax K, and Leica R lenses from 1970. They all have great color and sharpness. I have been acquiring my vintage lenses for the last 25+ years and using them for professional jobs, the customers like the look.
It is crazy that we have the same cameras and lenses. I'm in love with the Contax and those 2 Soviet lenses, especially the Helios. Keep sharing your content Florent!
For the past 3 months I've been diving into the vintage lens world. My collection is now 11 deep. A mixture of KMZ Soviet, Konica, Super Takumar, Contax Zeiss and Minolta. Been really taking my time to test each lens. It's honestly made me fallen in love with photography and cinematography again. Pretty hard to put a favorite in my collection but I'd have to say the Minolta RF Rokkor-X 250mm f5.6 has pushed my photography farther than any tool before.
I've been a film photographer since the early seventies. About 6 or 7 years ago I got into digital videography and have used nothing but my legacy Nikon glass, as well as some Russian M42 mount lenses. I couldn't imagine using anything else. I hate autofocus, focus by wire, and the unnaturally sharp look of most modern glass.
I can totally understand! I think AF and modern lenses are still extremely useful but it is hard to beat the shooting experience and look from vintage glass.
Love vintage lenses, so pumped you did a video dedicated to them! Have you looked into the close-focus mod for your Mir-1B 37mm f/2.8? It's very easy to do and worthwhile to allow it to focus a lot closer!
Awesome update on your vintage lens, I bought the Carl Zeiss 28mm and 35mm because I came across your footage on them. also how did you build that rig in 7:01 looks great, could you post a photo of it on your story or make a video about it? Is that the rs2 or s3 your using?
That's the rig I did for the DJI Focus Pro, feel free to watch the video I posted recently as it is mainly DJI components from the Focus Pro Combo with the RS4 Pro :).
Hey, thanks!! I chose 77mm because I already had a lot of lenses with that filter thread size and most importantly a lot of filters ☺️ Plus it’s also not huge compared to the original thread size.
Love your vid on this. I would like to ask about your experience in putting a seamless focus gear onto those vintage lenses, how do you fix them firmly in place? With certain kind of tape or glue to keep them from sliding? I have a set of nFD lenses, but haven't really made up my mind on making the gears on them permanent yet.
Thanks!! I bought the right size on eBay for super cheap years ago. They kinda slide on, tight and secure. No glue or anything. You can buy the exact size to the mm and there are charts to help you find the one for your lens :)
@@OfTwoLands I bought the ones from smallrig, they are supposed to fit exactly, but they seem to be slightly elastic, so mine slides and don’t stay firmly in place.
Hey, the one that I have doesn't but maybe you can add it later as I know tilta have a bunch of accessories. I just have the bare minimum kit, Just the cage.
We recently purchased some takumar vintage lenses and neogray films to shoot a short video of Siguniang Mountain. We will use these vintage lenses later. hope I can shoot high-quality works like you.
My experience is substantially similar to yours, I started with the Canon FD (I still own the 28mm 2.8 and the 35-70) and then moved on to the Contax Zeiss which I had modified by a laboratory in Paris (and also the first job I shot with these lenses was in France). I built my set around the Distagon 28mm 2.8 which I consider a great lens, very flexible on S35 and APS-C sensors. Still, sometimes I feel the lack of a 'wider' wide angle but the 18mm f4 is a little too pricey for me at the moment and for this reason, I am also considering the Yashica ML 21mm 3.5 which has a color rendering similar to the Zeiss Contax. I'm also thinking of buying a cheap Pentax-M lens to learn how to de-click the aperture ring and maybe in the future build an entire 'spare' set and cine-mod by myself
Thanks for sharing your story mate! I love the 28mm as well, near perfect :). I have looked into the Pentax but went with the others, so many choices haha!
Nice video. I just ordered the BMCC6K and am looking into the best adapter for my Contax glass (EF mount by Duclos.) You could probably do a whole video on adapters! Glad you mentioned the Helios and showed some footage. I'd had the same dilemma as you, that the 58mm was too long, but now that I'm getting into FF, I can justify getting one!
@@OfTwoLands Thanks! I ordered one instead of the Sigma. I realized that for the Contax glass I don't need the electronics. I guess for gyro data I just enter that manually.
Mirrorless cameras have opened up so many possibilities for lens choices. I've been building a set of vintage Nikkors and I absolutely love them! All of my lenses, apart from the 50 are f2 and the build quality is great! These paired with my S5 are incredible and ill be shooting all projects on them for the foreseeable future.
Great stuff! I love how you explained all this. I do have a question about the Helios- are all Helios 58mm? That's all I seem to see when people speak of the Helios. Is there a 35mm option or lens that would compliment a wider angle to the 58mm Helios? Thank you for sharing such an awesome video!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!! Helios can come in different focal length but the 58 is the most famous one. The 85mm is known as well. I don't think there is a wider one than 50 but I could be wrong. Most people, myself included, opted for the Mir 37mm which shared a lot of the similarities of the Helios 58 :)
Vintage glass has been somewhat of a game changer for me filmmaking wise 👏 👏 I got to a point where I had only wanted to shoot anamorphic, couldn't really imagine being captivated by spherical lenses anymore etc. But then the Canon FDs, the Helios with the swirl bokeh, etc. just have something special to them 👏 Your channel has been a big help in showing how good the vintage lenses (and the bmpcc's) can be 👍 🙏
I owned Minolta MD MC, Contax Zeiss, Helios - Mir, Mamiya 645. First, it s cheap. Second, characteristics look. You should try on the M645, its really details, sharp, close focus distance. Hope someday you travel to Vietnam, i will show you :D And by the way, i ve just owned FF6k :D
When I first started to collect vintage lenses the cream of vintage glass Leica was already too expensive. Then came Contax and FD, prices began creeping up. But I wanted great glass, so I bought a set of Rollei HFT, for a fraction of the price. Then slowly I picked up other brands, Takumar, Canon FD, Minolta nMD, Pentax K, Chinon”tapered “ etc”.
You need to fully stress how addictive the hunt for vintage lenses is, especially for newbies. I bought my first camera at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Innocently watched a few videos on vintage glasses, and three years later I ended up with four boxes of vintage lenses. From the CZJ flektogon & Pancolar, Super Takumars, Canon FDs, Helios 44s, both early and later versions, Mir, Contax. I don’t even know what to do with all of them at the moment. Looking at eBay now, I guess I’ll have to hang onto them for a little longer. The prices are just skyrocketing like hell.
Pressé de voir ce que tu vas faire avec le Mir 1b 😊. De mon côté, je dois en avoir facilement 150 (voir plus 😅) objectifs vintage, je suis un peu obsédé je crois lol
The Canon FDs are probably a good option since you can go wide :). There are other wider lenses than the Helios too when it comes to Soviet ones like 20 and 37mm.
The full frame 6K just dropped to $1600 😳. I have an S5II and the lack of AF when shooting solo is an issue, but at this price it just seems like a must buy.
I get that the distinct look is unique but you never use auto focus lenses? Aren't you tempted by the eyeAF technology? As I'm documenting my family and work life, I think AF has saved me a lot of time at the expense of creativity of course.
I do use standard Canon Zoom lenses quite a lot actually and I have used AF in the past for years and multiple projects! I think it is super useful but not necessary in my case. Now that I also have the DJI Focus Pro it changes things for me :). If BM had AF in their cameras I would use it for sure.
I have the impression that the popularity of vintage lenses has already passed, and they are starting to lose their value significantly. What are your thoughts on this?
Your right - it's addictive haha - I tested about 30 vintage lenses before deciding on my kit. ruclips.net/video/Wv_f2rk5EUI/видео.htmlsi=vsFzaYmG3zmsMnEs You'll need to get into vintage zooms - I actually prefer them to primes. If you like the helios, I highly recommend the Zoomar 😃
@@antiplouc Haha lie? What are you on about? You’re probably the type of person that can watch a mindless vlog for 30mins but can’t handle more than 5mins of actually information :). Feel free to leave for something else. Crazy that people have time to leave comments like yours 😅
@@OfTwoLandsYou don't know the "type of person" I am It's the opposite actually. You are wasting people's time by making 10 minutes video that should last 1 minute. You ramble useless pseudo poetic sentences for minutes and never get to any valuable information. You could have stated the same exact information in less than a minute. Now stop reacting with ego and improve your content. I'm here to learn something, not to hear you talking while liking the sound of your own voice.
Here are 10 reasons for filmmakers to invest in vintage lenses.
Which vintage lens is your favourite?
Cheers,
Flo
I really love this video I shot music video which vintage glasses will you recommend to use on 6kff ❤
Florent, are the MIR 37 and HELIOS 44-2 color-matched? Do they "look" the same or do you have to match them in post?
I really liked the Contax, but got the FDs as they were cheaper to get as a set (I also didn't buy the L series FD that were more akin to the K35 look, that's too expensive too). But my dream would be a set of cine rehoused mamiya 645 lenses with the optional "speedbooster".
I love LOMO OKS standard speeds most of all.
Already ordered the Helios 4-22 from your tests (and some follow-up research). Can’t wait to learn about these over time!:)
Congrats!! Such a great lens :)
Zeiss Contax RF, Robot and Exakta from 1935-40 and 1946-49 are my favorites -Especially: Biogon35/2.8, Biotar 40/2, Sonnar 50/1.5, Biotar 58/2 (as the Helios 4-22 is a copy of), Biotar 75/1.5, Sonnar 85/2 and 135/4. Zeiss made some of the same lenses in many different mounts. They have less spherical distortion and artifacts than many modern lenses, and the colors are fantastic. I also have some Contarex lenses, they can definitely be recommended, but have become very expensive. For a more modern look I use Zeiss C/Y, Pentax K, and Leica R lenses from 1970. They all have great color and sharpness. I have been acquiring my vintage lenses for the last 25+ years and using them for professional jobs, the customers like the look.
Thanks for sharing your history and thoughts, you seem to have loads of experience when it comes to vintage glass! First time I heard about Exakta :).
Okc (eg. Okc 1-40-1) / Po ( eg. Po3-3m) / kmz (eg helios 44 2)/ minolta (58mm 1.2)/ zeiss jena (flektagon 35mm 2 4)/ voigtländer (nokton skoparex...)/ meyer optic / pentacon (80mm 1.8)/ konika (40mm f1.8), etc ..
Helios 44-2 is the one, got mine recently and have fell in love with shooting again. Great vid!
Thank you!! Love that lens so much :)
Great video fam!
Thank you mate!
It is crazy that we have the same cameras and lenses. I'm in love with the Contax and those 2 Soviet lenses, especially the Helios. Keep sharing your content Florent!
Thank you mate, great lenses to pair with the BM cameras 🎥😍
For the past 3 months I've been diving into the vintage lens world. My collection is now 11 deep. A mixture of KMZ Soviet, Konica, Super Takumar, Contax Zeiss and Minolta. Been really taking my time to test each lens. It's honestly made me fallen in love with photography and cinematography again. Pretty hard to put a favorite in my collection but I'd have to say the Minolta RF Rokkor-X 250mm f5.6 has pushed my photography farther than any tool before.
I've been a film photographer since the early seventies. About 6 or 7 years ago I got into digital videography and have used nothing but my legacy Nikon glass, as well as some Russian M42 mount lenses. I couldn't imagine using anything else. I hate autofocus, focus by wire, and the unnaturally sharp look of most modern glass.
I can totally understand! I think AF and modern lenses are still extremely useful but it is hard to beat the shooting experience and look from vintage glass.
Love vintage lenses, so pumped you did a video dedicated to them! Have you looked into the close-focus mod for your Mir-1B 37mm f/2.8? It's very easy to do and worthwhile to allow it to focus a lot closer!
Thanks!! I'll have to have a look for sure, really that close focus on the 37mm haha.
Hi please can make a video about your best settings for Blackmagic 4k and 6k cameras?
Hey, I’ve made one about my shooting and transcoding settings ☺️
Great info!! Can you use a speed booster with canon -FD 24mm 2.8 on pocket 4k?
Awesome update on your vintage lens, I bought the Carl Zeiss 28mm and 35mm because I came across your footage on them. also how did you build that rig in 7:01 looks great, could you post a photo of it on your story or make a video about it? Is that the rs2 or s3 your using?
That's the rig I did for the DJI Focus Pro, feel free to watch the video I posted recently as it is mainly DJI components from the Focus Pro Combo with the RS4 Pro :).
Hi! Great video, one question. Any particular reason why you adapt them to 77mm? Im trying to decide between 77 or 82mm nd filter
Hey, thanks!! I chose 77mm because I already had a lot of lenses with that filter thread size and most importantly a lot of filters ☺️ Plus it’s also not huge compared to the original thread size.
Love your vid on this. I would like to ask about your experience in putting a seamless focus gear onto those vintage lenses, how do you fix them firmly in place? With certain kind of tape or glue to keep them from sliding? I have a set of nFD lenses, but haven't really made up my mind on making the gears on them permanent yet.
Thanks!! I bought the right size on eBay for super cheap years ago. They kinda slide on, tight and secure. No glue or anything. You can buy the exact size to the mm and there are charts to help you find the one for your lens :)
@@OfTwoLands I bought the ones from smallrig, they are supposed to fit exactly, but they seem to be slightly elastic, so mine slides and don’t stay firmly in place.
Hi Flo, regarding the Tilta cage, does it have a hdmi and usb clamp, like in the smallrig?
Hey, the one that I have doesn't but maybe you can add it later as I know tilta have a bunch of accessories. I just have the bare minimum kit, Just the cage.
We recently purchased some takumar vintage lenses and neogray films to shoot a short video of Siguniang Mountain. We will use these vintage lenses later. hope I can shoot high-quality works like you.
My experience is substantially similar to yours, I started with the Canon FD (I still own the 28mm 2.8 and the 35-70) and then moved on to the Contax Zeiss which I had modified by a laboratory in Paris (and also the first job I shot with these lenses was in France).
I built my set around the Distagon 28mm 2.8 which I consider a great lens, very flexible on S35 and APS-C sensors. Still, sometimes I feel the lack of a 'wider' wide angle but the 18mm f4 is a little too pricey for me at the moment and for this reason, I am also considering the Yashica ML 21mm 3.5 which has a color rendering similar to the Zeiss Contax.
I'm also thinking of buying a cheap Pentax-M lens to learn how to de-click the aperture ring and maybe in the future build an entire 'spare' set and cine-mod by myself
Thanks for sharing your story mate!
I love the 28mm as well, near perfect :). I have looked into the Pentax but went with the others, so many choices haha!
I like all of those lenses, and especially the helios is very interesting, but I think I've got a soft spot still for the Contax x
I love the Contax as well, very well rounded lenses :) xx
Nice video. I just ordered the BMCC6K and am looking into the best adapter for my Contax glass (EF mount by Duclos.) You could probably do a whole video on adapters! Glad you mentioned the Helios and showed some footage. I'd had the same dilemma as you, that the 58mm was too long, but now that I'm getting into FF, I can justify getting one!
Thanks and congrats! Personally I love the Urth adapters ☺️
@@OfTwoLands Thanks! I ordered one instead of the Sigma. I realized that for the Contax glass I don't need the electronics. I guess for gyro data I just enter that manually.
Vintage glass just have great and unique character!
100% 🤩
Mirrorless cameras have opened up so many possibilities for lens choices. I've been building a set of vintage Nikkors and I absolutely love them!
All of my lenses, apart from the 50 are f2 and the build quality is great!
These paired with my S5 are incredible and ill be shooting all projects on them for the foreseeable future.
Totally agree, having L mount on the BMCC6K really changed things for me!
Great stuff! I love how you explained all this. I do have a question about the Helios- are all Helios 58mm? That's all I seem to see when people speak of the Helios. Is there a 35mm option or lens that would compliment a wider angle to the 58mm Helios? Thank you for sharing such an awesome video!
Thank you, glad you enjoyed it!! Helios can come in different focal length but the 58 is the most famous one. The 85mm is known as well. I don't think there is a wider one than 50 but I could be wrong. Most people, myself included, opted for the Mir 37mm which shared a lot of the similarities of the Helios 58 :)
@@OfTwoLands Thank you!
Vintage glass has been somewhat of a game changer for me filmmaking wise 👏 👏 I got to a point where I had only wanted to shoot anamorphic, couldn't really imagine being captivated by spherical lenses anymore etc. But then the Canon FDs, the Helios with the swirl bokeh, etc. just have something special to them 👏 Your channel has been a big help in showing how good the vintage lenses (and the bmpcc's) can be 👍 🙏
Thanks for the positive feedback man! And totally, vintage lenses make a lot of sense!
We get spoiled these days when it comes to gear :)
I owned Minolta MD MC, Contax Zeiss, Helios - Mir, Mamiya 645. First, it s cheap. Second, characteristics look. You should try on the M645, its really details, sharp, close focus distance. Hope someday you travel to Vietnam, i will show you :D And by the way, i ve just owned FF6k :D
Hello. I have a question. Do you use a tripod for your blackmagic 6k? And if so, what kind?
I do. Mix of Manfrotto 055 and 190 and also iFootage mini :)
@@OfTwoLands Awesome! Trying to make a good choice on my tripod purchase my BMPCC 6K. 👍
also one more question, what d focus gear ring size did you get for your Zeiss lens, i got a 53-55mm but it feels way to tight
I think they are 63mm.
When I first started to collect vintage lenses the cream of vintage glass Leica was already too expensive. Then came Contax and FD, prices began creeping up. But I wanted great glass, so I bought a set of Rollei HFT, for a fraction of the price.
Then slowly I picked up other brands, Takumar, Canon FD, Minolta nMD, Pentax K, Chinon”tapered “ etc”.
It quickly becomes addictive haha! I'll have to check out the Rollei.
@@OfTwoLands Yup a true addict now. The Rollei are just rebadged Zeiss Contax / Ultron glass.
You need to fully stress how addictive the hunt for vintage lenses is, especially for newbies. I bought my first camera at the start of the coronavirus pandemic. Innocently watched a few videos on vintage glasses, and three years later I ended up with four boxes of vintage lenses. From the CZJ flektogon & Pancolar, Super Takumars, Canon FDs, Helios 44s, both early and later versions, Mir, Contax. I don’t even know what to do with all of them at the moment. Looking at eBay now, I guess I’ll have to hang onto them for a little longer. The prices are just skyrocketing like hell.
Haha I do mention it! And yes it really is addictive, pretty great obsession I reckon 🤩
Pressé de voir ce que tu vas faire avec le Mir 1b 😊. De mon côté, je dois en avoir facilement 150 (voir plus 😅) objectifs vintage, je suis un peu obsédé je crois lol
Haha un peu?!
Do the Helios need an adapter? What mount do you recommend?
You need M42 to L in my case, Urth is great :)
Hi, thanks for the film, how the distagon 18/4 compared to leica r 19mm, did the distagon 18/4 produce 3d looks image?
Hey, thanks for watching! Haven’t used Leica R lenses so hard to compare sorry!
how can you put filter thread on zeiss 18mm?
I did yes and then used a step down ring from 86 to 77.
Any recommendations on vintage glass for a BMPCC4K/M43? I was looking at the Helios but read that the crop causes you to lose a lot of the bokeh.
The Canon FDs are probably a good option since you can go wide :).
There are other wider lenses than the Helios too when it comes to Soviet ones like 20 and 37mm.
Hi, can you tell me the ring adapter that you're using on the BM ?
You mean for focusing? I've listed it in the description :) It is the Tilta.
@@OfTwoLands No bro i mean the adaptor tu helios tu blackmagic
Canon fd all day for me. I have a few other vintage lens including the Helios but something about those fd lenses.
They sure are great lenses!!
Have the Helios but it doesn’t reach infinity focus… any suggestions?
I think you can re adjust that. Could be your adapter too.
Why doesn’t anyone mention the Nikon E ai lenses?
Leica R all the way !
The full frame 6K just dropped to $1600 😳. I have an S5II and the lack of AF when shooting solo is an issue, but at this price it just seems like a must buy.
Yep, I’d definitely get one if I was someone considering it!
I get that the distinct look is unique but you never use auto focus lenses? Aren't you tempted by the eyeAF technology? As I'm documenting my family and work life, I think AF has saved me a lot of time at the expense of creativity of course.
I do use standard Canon Zoom lenses quite a lot actually and I have used AF in the past for years and multiple projects! I think it is super useful but not necessary in my case. Now that I also have the DJI Focus Pro it changes things for me :). If BM had AF in their cameras I would use it for sure.
@@OfTwoLands that makes total sense. Thanks! 👋
What adapter are u using with 6k and Helios?
Urth. Listed in the description ☺️
@@OfTwoLands thanks. Is it solid mounted? Now screw out when follow focus is working ?
I have the impression that the popularity of vintage lenses has already passed, and they are starting to lose their value significantly. What are your thoughts on this?
I don't really agree. I think vintage lenses are hyped more are certain times but never lose their value, at least not over the past 10 years or so.
Your right - it's addictive haha - I tested about 30 vintage lenses before deciding on my kit. ruclips.net/video/Wv_f2rk5EUI/видео.htmlsi=vsFzaYmG3zmsMnEs
You'll need to get into vintage zooms - I actually prefer them to primes. If you like the helios, I highly recommend the Zoomar 😃
Sure is haha! I’ll check out your kit asap ☺️🎥 and thanks for the tip on the Zoomar 🙏
too much rambling, get to the point.
@@antiplouc No one forced you to watch it ☺️
@@OfTwoLands No one forced you to ramble and lie in your title for click bait.
@@antiplouc Haha lie? What are you on about? You’re probably the type of person that can watch a mindless vlog for 30mins but can’t handle more than 5mins of actually information :). Feel free to leave for something else. Crazy that people have time to leave comments like yours 😅
@@OfTwoLandsYou don't know the "type of person" I am It's the opposite actually. You are wasting people's time by making 10 minutes video that should last 1 minute. You ramble useless pseudo poetic sentences for minutes and never get to any valuable information. You could have stated the same exact information in less than a minute. Now stop reacting with ego and improve your content. I'm here to learn something, not to hear you talking while liking the sound of your own voice.