Anyone shot a movie with Leica glass?

Vickko said:
... smart ass reply ....

Most Hollywood movies, shot in Panavision, is Leica glass
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Indeed not - motion picture camera lenses are almost entirely Cooke and Zeiss. Old rental places have many oddball lenses that some client requested to be mounted at one time or another for some special task, but few, if any Hollywood scale productions use them - if only because these tend to be solitary lenses rather than the matched kit the production house usually requires to save on colour matching.

Small scale and more experimental productions are more and more shot on DSLRs, mostly Canons using adapted manual focus lenses (AF/EF lenses being rather a handicap for focus pulling) - Leica lenses will not be entirely rare in that market segment, but Zeiss (probably thanks to the Arri association) and M42 (low price and retro look) seem to be most popular for that kind of conversion.

Leica recently has announced that they'd like to expand into the movie field, so things may chance in the future.
 
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A little off-topic...

I had an Arriflex Mount 5cm F1.5 Sonnar "T", bought for parts. The front element and front triplet were identical to the Contax and Leica mount counterparts, but the rear triplet was "truncated" and produced a smaller image circle.

I have used a pre-war uncoated Sonnar 5cm F1.5 adapted to Leica Mount for video's on my EP2. I like the lower contrast.

I'll try the Summar on it, but that Sonnar is sharper and faster.
 
I've heard that leica glass was used on some of the early television cameras.

Zacuto describes the DSLR work pretty well. I don't see how anything but blockbusters will be shot on anything else in the next few years.

- Charlie
 
alexnotalex said:
Just imagining what a movie would look like through a prewar uncoated Summar....

anyone tried this? is it possible?

best,
Alex
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Should have been more clear... I was thinking more like HD home movies on a micro4/3 or Sony NEX with a vintage LTM or M mount lens on the front?
 
My Panasonic camcorders all have Leica Dicomar lenses. I've shot plenty movies with it.

Panasonic%20Leica%20Dicomar_4.jpg
 
The LTM Nikkor 5cm F1.4 and 5cm F2 lenses in LTM offer 18" minimum focus. With the EP2, it is easy to use these lenses at minimum focus. I usually keep the F1.4 on the EP2.
 
alexnotalex said:
Just imagining what a movie would look like through a prewar uncoated Summar....

anyone tried this? is it possible?

best,
Alex
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This is a great question - you absolutely could do this, I was wondering the same thing (having owned a Summar at one time - that I now regret selling)...

Caveat - you would just have to use a DSLR with motion capture capabilities... This includes the Nikon D90 and D5000 along with the Canon Mark II's...

These DSLRs are being adopted in the filmmaking community as the poor man's RED cameras (REDs are pro video cameras that use larger CCDs to look more like film...) The only deal with using DSLRs in place of film is that you get a "jello" effect if you pan the camera too quickly.

I've shot with the Nikon D5000 and 35mm f1.8 DX - and it looks wonderful imo. Very cinematic with shallow DoF... There was an indy feature shot last year with a D90 called Reverie:
http://vimeo.com/4686358
There are lots of samples of this kind of thing on YouTube. - none, alas, with a Summar. I shot some stuff with a Pentax 50mm Tak. It looks good BUT I prefer the new Nikon because of how sharp and flare-resistant it is at wide open comared to the Tak.
 
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NickTrop said:
This is a great question - you absolutely could do this, I was wondering the same thing (having owned a Summar at one time - that I now regret selling)...

Caveat - you would just have to use a DSLR with motion capture capabilities... This includes the Nikon D90 and D5000 along with the Canon Mark II's...

These DSLRs are being adopted in the filmmaking community as the poor man's RED cameras (REDs are pro video cameras that use larger CCDs to look more like film...) The only deal with using DSLRs in place of film is that you get a "jello" effect if you pan the camera too quickly.
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Interesting Nick. I'd been thinking of a micro4/3 or a NEX.

... does this mean that I can mount my Summar on my D40 for stills? I have some kind of adapter from ebay but can only make it work for macros... any tips?
thanks!
 
alexnotalex said:
Interesting Nick. I'd been thinking of a micro4/3 or a NEX.

... does this mean that I can mount my Summar on my D40 for stills? I have some kind of adapter from ebay but can only make it work for macros... any tips?
thanks!
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Sorry - can't help you there. Nikon is a little flukey with adapters, since a rear element is required but I got two M42 lenses to work. I'd just research other adapters for M39. I've never heard of the problems you've encountered but I never messed too much with M39 glass. Truthfully? I much prefer the Nikon's newish 35mm fixed DX lens to the old glass. It's just way, way better wide open. - the modern coating technology just has it all over the old glass in terms of flare control. I too was curious about how an old Tak and in my case a M42 Jupiter 9 would look. They - frankly, sit on a shelf now. You would be hard-pressed to tell the difference with the DX wide open at 1.8 and f4. Apart from very expensive Leica glass - I've never seen a lens preform this well at wide aps. The Tak looks like mush to me now by comparison. Although the Summar renders a unique and lovely image under the right circumstance, I don't think you would be satisfied with this lens as an "everyday" solution after you play around with it initially. The contrast of the Summar often tanks shooting wide. - unacceptably so, but it can/does render gorgeous surreal-y images under the right conditions - which I found kinda unpredictable. Neat lens, imo, but a little tough to control.

- and remember, it will also be closer to a portrait lens due to the crop factor.
 
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NickTrop said:
Sorry - can't help you there. Nikon is a little flukey with adapters, since a rear element is required but I got two M42 lenses to work. I'd just research other adapters for M39. I've never heard of the problems you've encountered but I never messed too much with M39 glass. Truthfully? I much prefer the Nikon's newish 35mm fixed DX lens to the old glass. It's just way, way better wide open. - the modern coating technology just has it all over the old glass in terms of flare control. I too was curious about how an old Tak and in my case a M42 Jupiter 9 would look. They - frankly, sit on a shelf now. You would be hard-pressed to tell the difference with the DX wide open at 1.8 and f4. Apart from very expensive Leica glass - I've never seen a lens preform this well at wide aps. The Tak looks like mush to me now by comparison. Although the Summar renders a unique and lovely image under the right circumstance, I don't think you would be satisfied with this lens as an "everyday" solution after you play around with it initially. The contrast of the Summar often tanks shooting wide. - unacceptably so, but it can/does render gorgeous surreal-y images under the right conditions - which I found kinda unpredictable. Neat lens, imo, but a little tough to control.

- and remember, it will also be closer to a portrait lens due to the crop factor.
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Thanks for the sensible advice! Nikon DX glass is fantastic, and the 35mm DX f1.8 is high on my list. I do love my Summar - but it is early days still. The unique effects are quite pleasing, if pretty uncontrollable. The Nikon makes images like I see with my eyes open... the Summar like I see in my mind when I close my eyes.

best regards
Alex
 
Bobfrance said:
Coincidentally.

Yesterday, whilst browsing flickr, I stumbled across a short piece of footage shot HD, in black and white, using a 35mm Summilux mounted on a Sony NEX-5.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29487738@N00/4808846950/
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Wow, this is really interesting... but somehow disappointing. Loads of ghosts and reflections. I kept thinking of it as a series of beautiful stills stitched together with ghosts.

I guess the Sony NEX lenses are designed for movies.

Thanks for posting this,
best,
Alex
 
I did a few experiments at the racetrack recently with my E-P2 and CV 75mm f/2.5, and was surprisingly pleased with the outcome. Due to the bright sunlight and subject matter, I stopped-down to f/8 and higher, however. I will try some more creative stuff with it soon.
 
Panasonic GH1, specially with hacked firmware, does a great job for video and allows use of LTM lenses easily. Have a look on www.vimeo.com for examples. I've not yet seen much Leica samples, but there are Zeiss cine lens samples, plus an array of manual SLR lenses there...
 
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