Lens help BMPCC

jackmarsh

jackmarsh

Hey everyone,
I have a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera, but I'm unsure of what lens to get for it to start me off... If I had to get one lens, what do you suggest is the best option at the best price, that will get the job done and give me the most capabilities?
Thanks
 
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Hi, Jack.

There's no all-in-one solution lens that's going to give you everything you need in a perfect world. Since you're talking about owning just a single lens for now, that pretty much rules out primes (unless you want a really fun challenge of shooting an entire movie at, say, 35mm). So you first need to figure out either how much of a focal length range you need, or how much/little you would be able to work with.

The BMPCC has a Micro 4/3 mount, and the lens selection there is pretty limited. You might want to look at getting a Metabones Speed Booster to adapt something like Canon EF mount, which can open up the lens selection quite a bit.

Something else to consider: zoom lenses have a few drawbacks, but one of the most common ones is light loss through the zoom range. Look for a constant-aperture lens. If it says something like 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, that means that you can start at 18mm f/3.5, but when you zoom into 55mm you will lose exposure and end up at f/5.6. If it says something like 24-70mm f/2.8, that means that it maintains f/2.8 throughout the zoom range (i.e. constant aperture).

So how much of a zoom range do you need, and do you need wider aperture like f/2.8 or f/1.8? Or would f/4 and above suffice for what you want to do?
 
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Cryogenic said:
Back in January he wrote in another thread that it came with a Canon 50mm 1.8 II Lens and a Fotodiox EOS-m4/3 adapter. Wonder what happened to that as it should be very sufficient.
Click to expand...
Yeah... Sadly that broke. Literally slipped out of my hands onto my bed, and got jammed into itself. When I took it to get fixed, it was irreparable. Terrible design. After some research, seems I was not the only one to run into that issue. :( . Although, yes, the Fotodiox EOS-m4/3 adapter I still have and it is unharmed.
 
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AcousticAl said:
Hi, Jack.

There's no all-in-one solution lens that's going to give you everything you need in a perfect world. Since you're talking about owning just a single lens for now, that pretty much rules out primes (unless you want a really fun challenge of shooting an entire movie at, say, 35mm). So you first need to figure out either how much of a focal length range you need, or how much/little you would be able to work with.

The BMPCC has a Micro 4/3 mount, and the lens selection there is pretty limited. You might want to look at getting a Metabones Speed Booster to adapt something like Canon EF mount, which can open up the lens selection quite a bit.

Something else to consider: zoom lenses have a few drawbacks, but one of the most common ones is light loss through the zoom range. Look for a constant-aperture lens. If it says something like 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6, that means that you can start at 18mm f/3.5, but when you zoom into 55mm you will lose exposure and end up at f/5.6. If it says something like 24-70mm f/2.8, that means that it maintains f/2.8 throughout the zoom range (i.e. constant aperture).

So how much of a zoom range do you need, and do you need wider aperture like f/2.8 or f/1.8? Or would f/4 and above suffice for what you want to do?
Click to expand...

Would it help if I posted a storyboard of my upcoming film to give you a better idea of the shots I'm going to need?
 
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jackmarsh said:
Would it help if I posted a storyboard of my upcoming film to give you a better idea of the shots I'm going to need?
Click to expand...

Dude, we could spend lots of time dissecting your film. What it boils down to: you're shooting it, so you know which shots you need to pull off.

The basic focal range in primes is 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm. There are, of course, wider and longer promes often used, but that's kind of the starter set (or more simply, 24/35/50).

The Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera has a pretty heavy crop factor (2.88x compared to full frame). I would highly recommend adding a Speedbooster just to keep as much FoV as you can. So, with Canon EF lenses, there are a couple of selections to think about:

Sigma Art 18-35mm f1.8 - limited zoom on the wider range, but a very sharp lens even wide-open at f/1.8. The downside is that you won't be able to blur the background as much on closeups, and the camera has to be fairly close to get the closeups.

Tamron 28-75mm f/2.8 - A solid lens that doesn't get quite as wide but can do quite a bit more on the long end. Good sharpness, good multi-purpose range of focal lengths.

Canon EF 24-70mm f/4L - Great lens with a versatile focal length range. Not as fast at f/4, but that's not so big a deal if you're lighting your scenes. There is an f/2.8 version as well; it's a brilliant lens,mbut much more expensive.
 
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jackmarsh said:
Yeah... Sadly that broke. Literally slipped out of my hands onto my bed, and got jammed into itself. When I took it to get fixed, it was irreparable. Terrible design. After some research, seems I was not the only one to run into that issue. :( . Although, yes, the Fotodiox EOS-m4/3 adapter I still have and it is unharmed.
Click to expand...

Well that sucks to hear. If you can only get one lense get a 35 or 50. Might try ebay. I bid on lenses all the tiem and sometimes win them at decent prices.
 
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jackmarsh said:
Hey everyone,
I have a Black Magic Pocket Cinema Camera, but I'm unsure of what lens to get for it to start me off... If I had to get one lens, what do you suggest is the best option at the best price, that will get the job done and give me the most capabilities?
Click to expand...
You can only afford one lens. Get the Panasonic 12-35mm.
 
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