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Using cine lenses for stills photography
  • Hi! I'm wondering how well it would work to use a cine lens for stills photography, in relation to comfort. Would it for instance be uncomfortable to turn the focus wheel manually?

    I'm going to buy the Samyang 35mm and use it for both stills and video (with follow focus), so I'm unsure about which version I should choose.

  • 9 Replies sorted by
  • I use my lomos frequently for stills. They are certainly not comfortable! (nor fast to operate)

    If you think you´ll have use for the geared Samyang, go with that.

  • I'm often taking photos with my 12mm Hyperprime and 25mm Nokton and - even with a gear belt on, I don't think they are uncomfortable to use. Certainly, it's better to have an auto focus but since Pannys and Olys are crap for video in my opinion, I'm ok to go with the manual lenses for photos too.

  • Yeah, I only use manual lenses anyway :) What I'm worried about is really only the comfort of hand operating the gears. Wouldn't want to get blisters :P

  • The Rokikon will be fine. Some real cine-lenses are rather uncomfortable, more related to weight and size, but this being a converted still lens shouldn't be an issue.

  • Nokton 25mm 0.95 is good. Super sharp at 2.8. Take RAW photo. Use Lightroom 4.x and get rid of ugly chromatic aberration easily.

  • @stonebat Planning on buying the Nokton 17,5mm for wide shots, so it suits be better to buy 35mm than 25mm as a mid lens. I've heard a lot of good stuff about the 25mm, though :)

  • @mlysbakken

    You have to work that focus pretty hard then, I guess? :)

  • @mlysbakken

    The 17.5mm is excellent, too. It's a good focal length to pair with 35mm focal length.

    The 25mm lens is a good match with Lumix 14mm 2.5 for photo. It can work well with SLRMagic 12mm 1.6, too.

  • @RRRR Haha, yeah :)

    @stonebat Thanks! I've been thinking about getting the 12mm, but I love how the 17,5mm can be both wide and shallow at the same time and I don't think I have the budget for more than one wide lens. I mostly shoot tele stuff.