Don't be fooled by your lenses 

Follow up video with Zeiss Milvus and Sigma Art - ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0r6MxbBGzXM.html

Few things: 1. Full frame DOF, compression, transition between focus and out of focus are and overall light gathering capabilities is not “made up” - it’s as real as the earth is round. Maybe worth getting an equivalent camera like a Monstro and do some side by side testing before saying stuff online thats not true. 2. Speedboosters WILL increase more chromatic aberration. In my experience if you want none or as leas as possible look at lenses with APO designation (they all fairly modern though).

Seriously crazy how good the Sigma 18-35 really is in comparison to true cine prime lenses.

The Milvus 50mm f1.4 is one of the best lenses I have ever shot on. It's unbelievably sharp wide open and only gets better stepped down. Between the image and build quality, it's easily one of my favorite lenses of all time. Interested to hear your thoughts.

The "blur circle" and "bokeh balls" you're referring to when talking about bokeh is optically referred to as the circle of confusion.

Love these comparison videos!! Keep it up!

I am at 8:30 and I have to stop to say THIS IS IT. this is the video i was looking for all over yt for weeks. someone who understands market, needs, lens sharpness vs character and ca and all of that and take few very interesting lenses budget friendly and do really good job comparing. thank you for this video man.

Awesome video! Especially love the comparison shots with your canon fd a the sigma 18-35. Would also love to hear your opinion of the Zeiss Milvus lenses, I own the 25 1.4 and the 50 1.4 (f-mount for aperture control) and love the look. Gonna get the 35 next and then the 85 to finish the set. Also own a vintage nikkor ai set as well with Metabones Nikon to Fuji X speedbooster which I can use on both sets.

Hi Spencer. I know you stopped using diffusion filters in front of your lens (a la Deakins) but I found that even a light filter like the Black Pro Mist 1/8 can help "hide" some chromatic aberration. I recently used one to hide Zeiss CP2 CA, a lens that are pretty sharp and still show some quite pronounced CA. Test it out and tell us what you think! All the best

underrated youtuber, such good work

Thank you for putting all facts in perspective and sharing this.

I just got the irix 45mm and im really digging the way it looks. I havebtr s5ii and a sigma 24-70. Putting the irix om there it has mor bloom than the sigma. I actually took the pro mist off the s5ii and put it on my canon r5 with the 24-70 and they look similar with teh bloom. I would love the meike lset though but i think a want a dzo cine zoom first.

Would love a video on cropping factors dude. I used ZCAM E2 with a metabones 0.71x adapter MFT mount to Canon EF. Love the content man, keep it coming.

Thanks, very useful.

Spencer always dropping some real stuff.

I definitely like the irix more non speedboosted

Hello Spenser, first I wanna say you did great work and your channel is very helpful with lot of info about lenses. I subscribe immediately. I'm still deciding between Meike and Irix and I can't decide.. but what struck me in your video and even you are mention it too, was some kind of glitch movement due to focusing , almost only with IRIX lenses even with or without speedbooster. What was cause of these glitches? You mention your mount, but why was this doing only with Irix lenses? Do you use any adapter with irix lenses? For me it was quite strange to see on the lenses in those price points. Your camera mount was somehow untightened or? What do you think was the cause of that problem when your follow focus literally move with whole lens/camera? Thank you for your work and answers!

Thanks for this! I'm wondering what is the best way to correct CA in post?

Hi Spenser, I got the cine kit Mitakons T1 for MFT they are great pair with BMPCC4K...and when shooting GH5,6 the image is less digital. They are pretty fairly matched and one of the best prosummer Cine Lens for MFT and 4 lens for around 1100$ is a good deal..but I definitely like more shooting with S5 and prores RAW just more control About CA a lot of things can be fixed in Resolve even a person like myself so a not trained colorist can do it with some work around...if you still have the S5 or even better S5ii around you should try the Panasonic lens S prime line they are kind of very neutral imho but have more character VS sigma 18-35 and are very good matched and with linear focus in option for manual focusing still focus by wire but with greater control. And I agree with you lens are very important... Nice video and work Love your channel🎉 Yours Fil

Great vid!

Curious on what your take is on "The Tuner" by Module 8. Looks cool from a character perspective but its not cheap.

Hi Spencer what's the soundtrack please? This jazz sounds great

Awesome video, but nothing looks sharp in the frame. Maybe you can post stills somewhere.

Wowee throwback on the super speeds frame haha.

Would be nice if you create a video to show how chromatic abberation can be removed or reduced in post

Hey Spenser, You can actually use the FD converted lenses with the Metabones Speedbooster, since that focal reducer element allows you to adjust for back focus and rotate the glass back to allow clearance for the FD's rear element. The Canon is not adjustable.

I love using my 18-35. I am very curious about 40mm lenses lately. I'm trying to decide between the 40mm Sigma Art and the DZO Vespid 40mm. The Sigma seems to be the sharpest Art lens according to what people say about it and has a good focus throw of 128°. It is quite heavy though. The DZO has a very nice cine build quality, an even longer focus throw of 230° (is that too long to pull without a FF?) and seems to be reasonably sharp. The DZO has more glare and generally seems to be a bit more of a dirty lens. Now the DZO is more than twice the cost, less sharp, less clean and still the Vespid has some appeal because of the lovely cine build. What are your thoughts? Have you worked with 40mm lenses? Do you like that focal length?

Hey, I think there might be a mistake in there w.r.t. bokeh and speed booster interaction (or, of course, I'm wrong). You mention at 10:15 that the speedbooster increases the size of the bokeh balls due to changing the T-stop, which afaik is not true - the bokeh is unaffected by the speedbooster (unless ya meant bokeh can be affected by change in position due to change in fov due to speedbooster). To see this for Yourself, You can take a full frame camera and take a test shot, then put a speedbooster onto the lens and use s35 mode. The second test image will be brighter, but won't have larger bokeh. One way to visualize this is: there is a certain image that is coming out of the back element. This image determines the size of the bokeh, and basically all image characteristics, really. All the speedbooster does is shrink it down, making it brighter, but not changing anything else. Another way to frame this is that while the lens + speedbooster combo is faster, the combo is in effect also a wider lens, so increase in bokeh due to T-stop change is cancelled by the larger FoV (though this framing device is less accurate than the first one imo). Here's a handy reference with some tests: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-xlnciK2cyto.html

Great video! Please do a whole video on S35 vs. Full Frame! Also, could you test out the Zeiss ZF/ZE lenses, now known as the classics? These were before the Milvus, but I still use a complete set, and to me, they are one of the best non-cinema lenses I've ever used. Thanks!

The Meike's are still a thing? I mean that in the kindest way. I just haven't seen them anywhere. People have either shifted to Vespids or Nisi Athenas. Though, I still hold that the SLR Magic APO Microprimes are still the best bang for the buck.

You pull focus with a device whats it called?

Milvus?? I have them and I don’t feel that they give anything special. Otus maybe. I also have the fd Leica Zeiss and mamiya in a search for something inspiring and whether it’s the sensor or the lens imo micro contrast is really what we should be looking for if we are filming faces in particular and whenever we want that wow image that just has an effortless quality and fidelity. Likewise I have the sigma art series and vespids and most of the time most jobs don’t need anything better. The sigma cine lenses are nice but nothing special. Absolutely agree that any lens worth sticking on your camera has to be significantly better than the 18-35mm. Using a low con filter is also pretty essential if there js a high contrast image. Low contrast lens are absolutely essential but ones that do not sacrifice micro contrast and fringing is always ugly. Most modern budget lenses are functionally excellent and as explained so many dps just want the image clean so that post can do what they do later. Apo lenses are a good starting point and the dulens lenses have something special when it come to clean and affordable. Modern Leica summilux c lenses have something special whilst being super clean if you are renting. I remember trying some rehoused reworked super baltars and was blown away. They can be great in an entirely different way if the sensor is a little too digital and you want a little cinematic magic. At a certain point just hire the best lenses you can if you have a budget if it’s not a job and it’s for fun or social media then I doubt anyone will care or be able to tell the difference. But they will notice soft out of focus images and unwanted artefacts like fringing. Imo I have always gone with Zeiss super speeds whenever I have had the chance but I’m more tempted to try the tribe 7 blackwing 7 to see what all the fuss is about. So many amazing lenses out there. Imo in terms of vintage lenses that are cheap the mamiya sekkor c have the nicest look though a set is almost impossible and it needs an adapter but it’ll make faces so three dimensional in the right hands. Thanks so much for the video and thoughts.

I’m really not feeling the look of those fd lenses. They just look soft and washed out and not in a good way.

Hi, I'm a writer/producer working on my own movie. I'm in the planning production stage and I'm thinking about how I want the film to look. I saw Stuart Dryburgh's cinematography on the film, The secret life of Walter Mitty, and I loved how the film looked. I know he used Hawk V-Lite anamorphic lens to shoot the movie but I wanted to know what else he did to get the look of the film. How did he get that texture to the scenes. The movie looks a little fuzzy and warmer than other films Thanks for your time

Agree with everything you said. BTW, zhong-yi (jong-ee) is how it is pronounced!

Can you reach out to Nisi please! & ask them to do a review on the Nisi Athena full set.

CP.3

Probably mentioned by other commenters, but speed boosters don’t alter depth of field. You’re just getting more real estate which gives you extra light which is why people talk about climbing t-stops. It doesn’t affect depth of field, so the premise of the video is pretty much undermined.

57k subs!!?? It makes me not even want to start a channel. Your skill and interest is deserving of 300-400k minimum. Crazy. ❤️

Really random but you should run your dialogue through a plugin like Izotope's "Mouth De-Click". No hate at all, your video is really nice but all I hear when you're speaking is little mouth noises

I’m really not impressed by the look of the expensive vintage lenses that he’s gushing about. They just look soft. I think the modern, low cost cinema lenses give a much better image without the downsides of the vintage lenses.

Yes, FF vs s35 and how speedboosters work is highly misunderstood.

pronounced: MAYke