Lens Suggestions for BMMCC

Hey all,

Recently picked up a BMMCC as an upgrade from a Panasonic g85 and am so excited to use it! I had posted previously about figuring out the battery solution for the camera and have since sorted it out. The expansion port is a new idea to me so I didn’t realize the diy one little remote the previous owner had made supplied power to the camera as well when attached to my v mount battery plate. Anyways, I apologize for the ignorance, I always try to figure things out before resorting to a post.

Having said that, I am neck deep in research regarding lens choices for the BMMCC. I got the .58 speedbooster to reduce the crop factor and allow for the additional 1 2/3 stop of light and would love to know what lenses people love/use for the BMMCC, and I suppose the og BMPCC as well.

Thank you so much for your help, take care!

Having said that, I am neck deep in research regarding lens choices for the BMMCC. I got the .58 speedbooster to reduce the crop factor and allow for the additional 1 2/3 stop of light and would love to know what lenses people love/use for the BMMCC, and I suppose the og BMPCC as well.

What mount is your speedbooster for: Canon (EF) or Nikon (F/G)? I like the Nikon one because it has a smooth aperture ring built in, which works on some lenses that don't have aperture rings (e.g., the Sigma 18-35 Art zoom). But then you have to deal with Nikon lenses, which focus in the opposite way of other lenses (the Sigma 18-35 Nikon mount is an exception to that rule).

Many people go with the Sigma 18-35 because it's so versatile; I personally never warmed to that lens as I find it too contrasty and sharp and devoid of character, but I have one anyway because it covers a very useful range and is fast (good for situations where light isn't optimal).

The zoom I used most often with the Speedbooster in recent years is a 1990s-era Tokina ATX Pro 28-70mm f/2.6-2.8 zoom, which is based on an Angénieux design. I was lucky enough last year to get an original Angénieux 17.5-70 f2.2 zoom from the 1970s (PL mount), which was designed for Super 16 and that's now my favorite lens on this camera. No speedbooster required, and that's good; I'd prefer not to have more glass between my lens and the camera. This lens has plenty of vintage character and a very useful zoom range, but the focus breathing is the worst I've seen on any lens, surprising for a lens that was designed for cinema.

I would steer clear of autofocus lenses like the widely recommended Panasonic 12-35 MFT zoom; on both of my BMMCCs the focus tends to shift when I start recording so I only use manual focus lenses on this camera. It doesn't happen on the original Pocket, only the BMMCCs but it happens on both of mine.

For primes, one lens that really shines if you're going to use a speedbooster is the Zeiss 35/1.4 distagon; I bought a cine-modded one in Nikon mount. On the BMMCC it becomes a gorgeous portrait lens. For the wide side I like the SLR Magic 10mm, which is native MFT mount so no adapter needed. It's not the sharpest lens and is very dreamy and soft wide open, but I like its look and it has served me very well.

In general you should try to find lenses that will match well with each other so you have a consistent look across lenses. I didn't do that very well in the case of my primes!

Thanks so much for the quick response! I didn’t even think to put which mount I got haha but I went with the EF mount because I guess I got it in my head that that is the most universal mounting option. Would you recommended swapping it out for the Nikon mount? Or are there lenses you are familiar with that you would recommend for the EF mount? Thanks again!

Would you recommended swapping it out for the Nikon mount? Or are there lenses you are familiar with that you would recommend for the EF mount? Thanks again!

I've never used EF mount but of course many lenses are available, you'll have plenty of good choices. I only went with Nikon because unless you have the One Little Remote or something similar, it's a royal pain to change aperture in the BMMCC when you're using lenses that don't have an aperture ring, and that's the case for many modern lenses. And the Nikon speedbooster has a smooth (non-stepped) aperture ring on it. It's not as easy to manipulate as a real aperture ring on the lens itself, but it's better than nothing.

The One Little Remote provides aperture control and you can even customize it for your specific lens. However, the One Little Remote doesn't work with V-mount batteries or even with Dmitry Shijan's excellent battery solution for the BMMCC; it cycles on and off randomly, shutting down your camera in the middle of a shoot; this happened to me several times on both of my BMMCC's so I stopped using it with external batteries. I only use the One Little Remote if I'm powering by a Canon battery on the built-in mount at the back of the camera, which will run the camera for about 40-45 minutes in my experience.

It sounds like you have a DIY remote that was installed by the previous owner, and that may very well work fine with V-mount and other external batteries.

I prefer manual lenses with manual focus and manual aperture rings, so that's mainly what I've bought for this camera; the Sigma 18-35 is the one exception.

That’s so good to know, thanks again so much for such a detailed response. Do you know if apsc lenses will vignette with the .58 speedbooster necessitating lenses designed for full frame sensors instead?

Be aware of Canon EF lenses as the aperture will only increment in steps. The 100-400 and other super teles do 0.1 stop increments, but other lenses might do 1/3 or 1/4. Also know that some lenses with Nikon mounts can have the mount changed to EF (no electrical connections) and keep manual aperture.

That’s so good to know, thanks again so much for such a detailed response. Do you know if apsc lenses will vignette with the .58 speedbooster necessitating lenses designed for full frame sensors instead?

They shouldn't given that the Sigma 18-35 Art is an APS-C lens and doesn't vignette with the speedbooster. I haven't tried any other APS-C lenses on this camera; I have a few but they're all e-mount lenses.

So in general is the Nikon speedbooster recommended over the EF mount?

A few thoughts....
Lens choice is very personal and unique, both because of the practical considerations (how you shoot and in what conditions) and artistic (what kind of images you want to make and what feeling you want them to have).

Lenses are tools - there are no "best" tools except for a particular job.

Practical considerations include size and weight, if you need stabilisation in the lens, if you need a zoom or primes, etc. For example, I've found the 12-35/2.8 to be great if you want to work fast. It's a good pairing because it's pretty sharp (these days having a 1080p native sensor looks a little soft for many), its constant aperture means that you can zoom without having to adjust exposure, the image stabilisation is very useful for going hand-held, and the 12-35 gives a useful zoom range with the f2.8 giving just wide enough aperture to get a little background defocus.

Aesthetic considerations are much more personal and I'd encourage you to simply take a few hours/days to trawl through YouTube / Vimeo and see what videos you can find that are 1) shot in relatively similar style to how you work (or want to work) and 2) have an aesthetic that you are particularly interested in achieving.

One special mention is the Panasonic 14mm f2.5 lens, which seems to have a special synergy with the camera, both in focal length as well as in its character. Here's a test I shot some time ago with the BMMCC + 14/2.5:

Thank you so much everyone for the suggestions!

Two additional questions- does anyone know the difference between the NF-BMPCC speedbooster vs the
N/F-BMPCC speedbooster?

Also, I want to pick up a tokina AT-X PRO AF 28-70mm f/2.8 but want to make sure i get the right one, any chance anyone could help with that? I can provide some links to what I was looking at if that's helpful.

Thanks so much!

Two additional questions- does anyone know the difference between the NF-BMPCC speedbooster vs the
N/F-BMPCC speedbooster?

Also, I want to pick up a tokina AT-X PRO AF 28-70mm f/2.8 but want to make sure i get the right one, any chance anyone could help with that? I can provide some links to what I was looking at if that's helpful.

No difference between NF and N/F as far as I know; you'll see Nikon G/F as well; for your purposes on the BMMCC it makes no difference because you're not going to be using the contacts on the lens. If you're getting Metabones, go for this one:

https://www.metabones.com/products/deta ... -BMPCC-BM1

The Tokina AT-X Pro 28-70 f/2.6-2.8 is tricky; there was a good discussion about it on bmcuser.com but the domain appears to have not been renewed and the site is gone. The Internet Archive might have it, but here's the deal:

First, be sure you get the 2.6-2.8; that's the Angénieux design. There's some history here: https://cameragx.com/2018/04/11/the-tru ... 0-af-zoom/

Note that on the Nikon-mount version I have, the lens has a physical aperture ring, which is what you'll use to adjust aperture; the stepless aperture ring on the Nikon speedbooster has no effect. I'm not sure if the EF-mount versions have physical aperture rings or not.

You want either the Pro or Pro II (which had better coatings); relevant text from the cameragx.com page copied below:

1994 – 1999 – the AT-X PRO 28-70 AF/2.6-2.8 (and PRO II) lenses are the ones whose main specifications are the closest to the Angenieux. The main difference between the Tokina and the Angenieux comes from the ability to disengage the auto-focus on the lens itself on the Tokina (by pulling the focusing ring): Angenieux never had such a feature. On the Japanese Domestic Market, the Tokina were sold as F/2.8 lenses (no reference to F/2.6), but in the rest of the world they were marketed as f/2.6-2.8 zooms. [The Angenieux was sold as a F/2.6 constant aperture lens – in theory, a lens opening at f/2.6 lets 10% more light go through than a lens opening at f/2.8 – the difference is largely symbolic.]

The PRO II of 1997 was a significant upgrade over the first AT-X Pro, and benefited from one “High Refraction Low Dispersion” (HLD) optical element, from a better multi-layer coating, and from a faster focusing mechanism. The lettering on the lens’ body still reads AT-X PRO. The easiest way to recognize the PRO II: a bayonet hood mount that replaces the screw-on mount of the previous Angenieux and Tokina models.

I have the first version of the PRO model and am quite happy with it, although it is susceptible to veiling flare. I also use it as a stills lens on a Sony A7iii but it's nothing really special in full-frame; its look is more distinctive to me on the tiny Super 16 sensors of the BMMCC and original BMPCC.

Thanks so much for all the help, hoping to go the route of s16 prime lenses at this point!

Texaco, sent you a PM with some additional lens options. You are going to have a hard time finding good S16 PL mount primes, like the Zeiss Super Speeds, and those available are expensive $$$! Another PL option are some Cine PL mount Zooms, like the Duclos Tokina 11-16, Tokina Cine zooms and DZOFilms Cine zooms. Another alternative are the Veydra /Meike MFT primes, SLR Magic Micro Primes also MFT mount.
Cheers

The Tokina AT-X Pro 28-70 f/2.6-2.8 is tricky; there was a good discussion about it on bmcuser.com but the domain appears to have not been renewed and the site is gone.

I was able to browse using the IP instead of the domain name, so I could find the administrator's email. I have notified him.

About the Tokina, I think a lot of users will be happy to know that Leitax is coming out with an adapter for the EF mount that fits these Nikon mount Tokina lenses. I have an early version and like other Leitax adapters there's no play at all between the lens and adapter. It's not on their site yet but I expect it will be soon.

Hey Brad,
Quick question for you...are you using version 1 or 2 for the tokina 28-70? I'm assuming that version 2 is the way to go, but I just wanted to make sure the "better coatings" of version 2 didn't take away things that people liked about v1, i.e. flaring etc...thanks!

Hey Brad,
Quick question for you...are you using version 1 or 2 for the tokina 28-70? I'm assuming that version 2 is the way to go, but I just wanted to make sure the "better coatings" of version 2 didn't take away things that people liked about v1, i.e. flaring etc...thanks!

I am using version 1. In terms of flaring, it's more susceptible to veiling flare than I'd like; if resistance to veiling flare was improved in version 2 I'd go for that. I don't know if the flares you get by shooting directly toward the sun or other light source differ between the two generations.

You can of course control veiling flare by using a matte box, and I use one with this lens. The hood that comes with the lens helps a little, but isn't very deep. You can use a matte box that attaches directly to the lens, because the front element doesn't rotate (otherwise your matte box would rotate as you focus); it'll also work with a matte box on rails because the lens zooms internally (its length doesn't change with zooming).

Here's an example of veiling flare with this lens; it can be a nice effect but can really wash things out if you're not careful.

Backlit spruce by Brad Hurley, on Flickr

That’s exactly what I was hoping to hear, thanks so much!

A good matte box is your best friend with this and many video lenses. I have several available, PM for details.
Cheers

Anyone else able to weigh in on pro I vs pro II? There is simultaneously too much and not enough information regarding this topic to be helpful haha

The same lenses you like on your G85 you should use on your BMMCC as well!

Anyone else able to weigh in on pro I vs pro II? There is simultaneously too much and not enough information regarding this topic to be helpful haha

If I remember correctly, Frank Glencairn has version II of this lens and has used it on a lot of films (on an Ursa). He's on the forum and you could send him a PM.

Thanks so much Brad, appreciate it!

Ya know what David that may have been exactly what I needed to hear, so thank you very much! haha

Edit: Wait except I want a matching set when I go primes, I knew there was a reason I was doing this

Hey Brad, do you know of any lenses that pair well with the Tokina 28-70?

Hey Brad, do you know of any lenses that pair well with the Tokina 28-70?

That's another question for Frank Glencairn (if he doesn't respond to a PM, go to his website, https://frankglencairn.wordpress.com/about/ and ask him via his email). On bmcuser.com he started a long thread about the Tokina and mentioned that he had an old Sigma lens that, believe it or not, was a very good pairing with this one.

If I'm shooting with the 28-70 and a speedbooster it's got a versatile enough range that I don't really need another lens to pair it with; if I were shooting an A and B cam I'd probably just get a second Tokina since they're so cheap. On the wide end I'd say my SLR Magic 10mm hyperprime matches it fairly well. They are both quite soft wide open; the Tokina feels a bit sharper in general and has more microcontrast.

Thanks bud, much appreciated!

Thank you all for being so helpful and welcoming

About the Tokina, I think a lot of users will be happy to know that Leitax is coming out with an adapter for the EF mount that fits these Nikon mount Tokina lenses.

The adapters are now available on the Leitax site.

Good Luck

Does anyone know if the Meike super 35 lenses in the pl Mount have the same flange distance as the Zeiss cp2s? I’m thinking of getting them to use with the metabones .71 pl to bmpcc speedbooster for the BMMCC

Edit: Hoping I can't save some money getting those instead of having to shell out for the FF