Blackmagic Forum

I just got a BMCC a few days ago, and am looking for a reasonable "all-rounder" lens that actually works well with the camera. I'm sure lots of people in this forum have lenses that they use that they know work well with firmware 1.4.1 and don't cost the earth.

I got a Canon EF 17-40 f/4 L USM lens for it, but am horribly disappointed. I was at a beach 150 miles from home (I am not there every day!) and thought I'd set up my camera and take some basic footage. Everything was so over-exposed the display on my camera was completely white (I could still see the bar at the bottom perfectly), and with zebra on, it was covered in zebra. I lowered the ISO to 200. I had a Hoya UV filter on the lens, and no other filters, but it doubt a few stops might have made much difference.

It's not the little bit of over-exposure I would want before grading. It was like someone had pointed a bright light directly into the camera! The sun was overhead, and not in frame.

I tried RAW and ProRes, nothing worked. I've been checking out all the footage I tried to record, but even after working with the footage in DaVinci there is just no data to work with. All blown out.

I suspect the lens doesn't work properly with the camera at all. The Iris button did nothing, literally...

I'm looking for a lens that does a decent job in bright daylight. This was a shocking experience!

P.S. Maybe I did something dumb, and someone could gently give me direction

That lens currently does not work on the camera. I also had it and swapped it.

A better option is the EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS. It's faster, has a wider range and has IS which is really useful for handheld work. It also works perfectly.

There is also a Sigma version 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS that others have reported to be very good.

Awesome, thank you for the speedy reply.

BTW, anything wider that anyone here has tested and uses?

The Tokina 11-16 is good if you can find one that does not have infinity focus issues.

If you wanna go wider, there's Sigma 8-16, it's not as fast but a great, sharp lens nevertheless.

Here's my dilettante side by side of the Tokina 11-16 and Sigma 8-16

I second the Tokina 11-16mm. I too was disappointed with my 17-50mm lens (Tamron 2.8, but still). The 17mm focal length was great on my 7D but the crop factor really bit into it on the BMCC. That said, I used the Tokina for a shoot last weekend and fell in love, so great.

adamroberts wrote:That lens currently does not work on the camera. I also had it and swapped it.

A better option is the EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS. It's faster, has a wider range and has IS which is really useful for handheld work. It also works perfectly.

There is also a Sigma version 17-50mm f/2.8 EX DC OS that others have reported to be very good.

Does EF-S mount on the BMCC?

SarahChana wrote:Does EF-S mount on the BMCC?

yes. ef-s means it covers an aps-c sensor like the 7D but not a "full frame" sensor like the 5D, so as the bmcc's sensor is even smaller than the 7D's sensor, you're fine.

SarahChana wrote:I just got a BMCC a few days ago, and am looking for a reasonable "all-rounder" lens that actually works well with the camera. I'm sure lots of people in this forum have lenses that they use that they know work well with firmware 1.4.1 and don't cost the earth.

I got a Canon EF 17-40 f/4 L USM lens for it, but am horribly disappointed. I was at a beach 150 miles from home...

I suspect the lens doesn't work properly with the camera at all. The Iris button did nothing, literally...

I'm looking for a lens that does a decent job in bright daylight. This was a shocking experience!

P.S. Maybe I did something dumb, and someone could gently give me direction

Sarah, your lens was likely stuck on f/4 as other posts have indicated. Just a comment about your exposure though if I may. It seems that you were not using any neutral density filters. Now the beach on a bright sunny day is very bright, maybe not a snow covered mountain, but very bright so your exposure with any lens you use would be helped by using ND filters. On the BMCC camera, some of the best filters you might want to consider are the new Tiffen IRNDs which reduce visible and infrared light. Rather than stop your lens down to f/11 or more which can induce diffraction in the image, a filter like ND 1.2 or greater will help. If you want to shoot fairly wide apertures, ND 2.1 or higher may be required on the beach.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Rick, yes, it was stuck on F/4 and at night, strangely it jumps to vary between F4 and F/22.

Definitely agree. I'm going to get a Variable ND, but that was definitely not the problem with the 17-40mm lens. That lens did the same today. Plenty of green landscape, cloudy day. I had a Hoya UV on it, because that's all the dealer had. I can get individual ND filters e.g. 0.3, but I've been around cameras enough to know that wasn't the problem with this one.

Adam, I just bought the EF-S 17-55mm f2.8 IS. It works perfectly, and as expected. Thank you. Next on my list will be likely be the Tokina, but I'll try it out in store like I did with the 17-55mm today, and check to see if the infinity problem is there.

Thanks for the answers everyone, and the brief explanation of EF-S (gmf). I've been using Nikon for photography, so I didn't know.

Next stop, cages. I think the Ikan might be on my list. I'm working on a budget here and go spend 8k on camera and accessories!

rick.lang wrote:
Sarah, your lens was likely stuck on f/4 as other posts have indicated. Just a comment about your exposure though if I may. It seems that you were not using any neutral density filters. Now the beach on a bright sunny day is very bright, maybe not a snow covered mountain, but very bright so your exposure with any lens you use would be helped by using ND filters. On the BMCC camera, some of the best filters you might want to consider are the new Tiffen IRNDs which reduce visible and infrared light. Rather than stop your lens down to f/11 or more which can induce diffraction in the image, a filter like ND 1.2 or greater will help. If you want to shoot fairly wide apertures, ND 2.1 or higher may be required on the beach.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD