Recently one of VLFV readers, Phil Abatecola got in touch to share his experience using (mostly) Russian vintage lenses to shoot his feature length web series. There were loads of things Phil had to take into consideration when building up his “Kremlin Kit” for the series and I felt that it will definitely be a…
Vintage 20mm Shootout
This shootout has been long time coming! I’ve collected quite a few vintage 20mm lenses in the last few years with Canon FD being my latest addition. I just sold my Pentax-A 20mm F2.8 and I decided that I have to do this shootout before I send it out to its new owner. It would…
ILLUMINA (LOMO) Super35 High Speed Cine Lenses
A fellow filmmaker & my go to guy when it comes to info on Russian lenses, Tomasz Wolski aka Film Cyfeowy has recently written a wonderful article for the Polish Filammking Magazine “FilmPro” (check out their Website & Facebook). The article is about Illumina MK-II Cine lenses from LOMO, a legendary producer of film cameras…
Lens Turbo II vs Metabones Speed Booster In-Depth Comparison
As a very happy owner of the Canon FD to Sony E-mount Zhengyi Lens Turbo (Version 2) by ZY Optics I’ve been very curious to find out how it stacks up against the very respected Metabones Speedbooster, therefore I decided to do a quick, real life test to see if Lens Turbo gets anywhere close…
Carl Zeiss Superspeed (S16) MKI 16mm F1.2 / T1.3
My closer look at the Carl Zeiss Superspeed Super16 Cine Lenses continues with the Distagon 16mm T1.3 (F1.2) MKI. You might have seen my previous post about the 9.5mm and 12mm. If so a lot of what I’ll say later in this post might be familiar to you. Compatibility: Like a said already, this is…
Canon FD 50mm F1.4 In-Depth Review
In this review I’ll be taking a closer look at my current 50mm lens of choice, the Canon FD 50 1.4. I’ve been using this lens for most of my shoots for over 6 months now and I decided that it’s finally time to share my thoughts about it. Due to their incapability with Canon…
Angenieux 17-68mm F2.2 for BMPCC & D16 | REVIEW
Ever since I bought the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera I’ve been very keen to try out some vintage lenses from old s16/16mm video cameras. My opportunity came when I bought a 16mm camera which came with the Angenieux 17-68mm lens. Many of you will know that Angenieux is a legendary brand. They’ve been making cine…
Canon FD 50mm F1.4 + Zhongyi Lens Turbo II Focal Reducer
Anyone who follows VintageLensesForVideo on Instagram might know that I’ve been using a Zhongyi Lens Turbo ll (cheaper alternative to Metabones Speed Booster) for a little while now, mostly along with my current 50mm F1.4 lens of choice, the Canon FD 50mm F1.4. For total of just over $200 this combo gives me a 54mm…
New Cameras-Old Glass | Lens Guide for E-mount Cameras
I’m very excited to share an amazing guide to vintage lenses (above), put together by really talented filmmaker and simply a cool dude, Khairil Bahar. This one will be particularly interesting (but no limited) to Sony E-mount camera users, new to vintage lenses. Khairil talks a lot about how to get the best out of…
Carl Zeiss Superspeed (S16) MKI 9.5mm & 12mm T1.3
After spending quite a bit of money collecting and servicing a set of Carl Zeiss Superspeed MKI Super16 primes, I’m very pleased to share my thoughts and some footage I shot with them on my recent short film. In this blog post we’ll take a closer look at the 9.5mm and 12mm as these wider…
