Mixing Lenses of different brands

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Anurag

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Mixing Lenses of different brands

PostSun Aug 04, 2013 3:25 pm

Hi All...
Would it be prudent to mix lenses of different brands at any level of real production?
Say if one mixes couple of lenses of Contax with Nikons, would that create any serious problem??
Or the images would somewhat be identical??

Regards
Anurag
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Uli Plank

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Re: Mixing Lenses of different brands

PostSun Aug 04, 2013 3:51 pm

You'll need to plan for more time in color grading.
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Jules Bushell

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Re: Mixing Lenses of different brands

PostSun Aug 04, 2013 4:13 pm

I just finished grading in Resolve on shots shot on Nikons and Tokina. They were vastly different and my grading skills suck. I ran out of time, left them close but not close enough.

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Kholi Hicks

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Re: Mixing Lenses of different brands

PostSun Aug 04, 2013 4:15 pm

You'd benefit greatly by using glass of the same brand/family, at least your primary focal lengths. It's not such a bad thing to have a mixed wide angle, or a very telephoto angle.

Sometimes, even shooting wide open on some of still lenses makes a vast difference, one that's hard to correct.
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rick.lang

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Re: Mixing Lenses of different brands

PostSun Aug 04, 2013 6:09 pm

desiclad wrote:Hi All...
Would it be prudent to mix lenses of different brands at any level of real production?
Say if one mixes couple of lenses of Contax with Nikons, would that create any serious problem??
Or the images would somewhat be identical??

Regards
Anurag


Best practice of course would be to stay within the bounds of a manufacturer who claims their (current) lenses are colour matched like Zeiss. But given the limitations of some suppliers at the wide end for BMPCC and BMCC, in practice we shall likely mix lenses. Where applicable, the Metabones Speed Booster in a way gives you a new set of lenses that are perfectly matched as long as all your shots include the MSB.

In reality you will have something like a Tokina 11-16mm and want to match that to something like Sigma or Canon zooms at higher focal lengths. That's where it is good to see videos from others who have blazed a trail for you. I think Tokina and Sigma looked decent together in a video I saw but as others have said, grading is more difficult where you might need manually to fix one shot to match another. Could be time consuming but I do notice it can be disruptive in a video when you see shots that are not matched but part of the same scene.

Rick Lang
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Anurag

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Re: Mixing Lenses of different brands

PostMon Aug 05, 2013 6:03 pm

Thank You Gents, to all of you :) .

Now I think I will stick to one single brand( Contax) at least for all my primes. But as pointed by Mr Kholi & Mr Rick lang, it's inevitable to use Sigma or Tokina for wide end, I wish to go to Sigma 8-16 route. Hope the extra 3mm would be pivotal in some real small spaces.

Warm Regards
Anurag

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