Blackmagic Forum

Hello,

We just got our Tokina 11-16 & Sigma 18-35 lenses in and we've been testing them. (EF lenses) With my first couple of shoots, I have to say from a pure clarity and vibrant colors standpoint I like this lens better than the Sigma. Based on outdoor shots, the greens of vegetation look unreal.

The sigma isn't bad but comparing images side by side so far, the Tokina just stands out.

All this leads up to my questions.

We're getting ready to shot a short at night in a bar with controlled lighting. We're going to have 2 BMCC's to shoot A & B camera's. However, my concern now is not having duplicate lens and getting the footage the same throughout the shoot.

Even with one camera the plan is to switch between lenses depending on the shot and room we have to setup.

However, looking at the difference in the quality of the two lenses, I'm afraid we're going to end up with footage that is going to look drastically different which at best has spending a tremendous amount of time in post production trying to get the same look with all lens shots.

With that if anybody has any opinions, tips, tricks advice they would care to share, we'd greatly appreciate it.

See if you can get your hands on a Nikon 17-35 2.8. It has external aperture control and cuts nicely with the Tokina. I use both all the time.

I have the x-rite color checker passport for photography.. sometimes I use it to give me some kind of color reference. Your right, it will take some effort to match the two lenses. I noticed from my own lenses Canon has a slight blue hue, and my tamrons are more warmer oranges.

Vince Gaffney wrote:See if you can get your hands on a Nikon 17-35 2.8. It has external aperture control and cuts nicely with the Tokina. I use both all the time.

I don't really have an avenue to get my hands on another lens at this point and time before the shoot. We'll have to try and make do with what we have.

Minor Detour wrote:

Vince Gaffney wrote:See if you can get your hands on a Nikon 17-35 2.8. It has external aperture control and cuts nicely with the Tokina. I use both all the time.

I don't really have an avenue to get my hands on another lens at this point and time before the shoot. We'll have to try and make do with what we have.

Can you get a color chart? Use it every time you slate on both cameras. At least you have something precise and consistent to match.

First thanks for the suggestion of the color chart, I just ordered one. That helps me if there are color differences.

The main thing I'm concerned with is lighting which I didn't specify clearly.

Our goal was to setup our lighting for a scene and have it stay the same. My understanding was to try and get the environment setup for the BMCC's native settings, ISO 800, Angle 180degrees.

So with that we're doing a wider angle shot with a group at a table and we're on say the Tokina 11mm at F4.0.

But then we do close ups and over the shoulder with the Sigma and some of the shots we want at F1.8. Then for another scene we're back to the Tokina 11mm at F2.8 or etc.

When changing the aperture, we're changing the lighting. We don't have the luxury of a lot of time on this shoot to mess with the lighting every single shot of every scene.

What little we've done before has been one camera, pick a lens and just shoot at different angles.

Now for time, we're planning on two camera's and using two different lens and I'm worried about us getting ourselves into a mess.

When we go to piece the shots together, having the problem of the colors and lighting being noticeably different and unsettling to viewers when piecing the shots back together.

If so, if we would be better off taking the lens shooting and trying to find settings that are comparable with each lens. Then just shoot at the same settings for the entire shoot.

Minor Detour wrote:When changing the aperture, we're changing the lighting. We don't have the luxury of a lot of time on this shoot to mess with the lighting every single shot of every scene.

You're changing the exposure not the lighting. If you want to shoot @ 1.8 in a setup that's base stop is 2.8 or 4 or whatever - you need to compensate with ND's to get to a shooting stop of 1.8.

Thanks Vincent,

Just curious, if you set up for say an F4.0, I understand the ND filters for going down to a 2.8 or 1.8, but what if you find you need to go up to say a F5.8 or higher?

If you're base stop is a 4 and you shoot at a 5.6 you're a stop underexposed. There's no way around it unless you add light. Light to the deepest stop you want and ND as you open up. This is an oversimplification of how to light but should cover you adequately.


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Thank you, this gives me exactly what I was looking for.

Now I just have to figure out the stops we want to shoot and whether to get the ND's that go on the lenses, in the matte box or just purchase gels to clip on the front of the matte box. (What I'm trying to say is the most cost effective way that doesn't result in a cheap/bad quality look.)

Thanks again!!!!!

Lensrental.com can ship overnight.

On another note, I have heard that the the Sigma is superior to the Tokina in terms of color and clarity. However, I am happy to hear that it's the other way around, because Matthew Duclos makes a killer Tokina 11-16 mod that I hope to buy when I get my 4K camera. Can anyone point in the direction of a comparison of these two lenses?

CineMusic wrote:Lensrental.com can ship overnight.

On another note, I have heard that the the Sigma is superior to the Tokina in terms of color and clarity.

Please take what I say with a grain of salt. I'm a software developer and a techie but I'm new to cinematography. I've only had these lenses less than a week and I'm still testing. These are just my initial thoughts.

I'll pull up some of the clips I've shot and try to post them to our youtube channel and you can see for yourself. (All I'm doing is shooting out in the back yard going through settings.)

Debating on starting a separate thread but it pertains to this, anybody have any thoughts on a variable ND filters. I've read the thread talking about recommendations for them but it's for shooting outdoors. Wouldn't think changing stops would differ but are variable ND's.

If I get a variable based on another forum thread I think I'll try the GenusTech Eclipse.

Here's what I shot in the back yard with these lenses.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL ... RXtUW24JP7
(Uploaded just started so probably 30+ minutes before they are finished.)

Thanks for posting. I would image you know that most non-cinema grade zooms don't hold focus throughout the zoom range and might explain some softness. The Tokina at 11mm looks pretty nice. Were these shot in video mode? There good info on NDs on another thread.

Yes, ProRes Video. To start out I'm using that as my baseline. I did compress those files using handbrake.

I like the Tokina 11-16 a lot , am gone purchase one myself. I saw a lot of great footage coming from this lens To all the footage I seen it looks scharper then my 14 Rokinon cine lens.