(upbeat music)
- I need to wear hats more man, they're clean.
I look real artistic.
Look like I'm about to go paint something after this.
(Courtney laughs)
What's good?
My name is Courtney Hill.
I am an L.A. based cinematographer.
I guess you can call me that.
I film things, everything from short films,
to docs, to YouTube content.
And today you clicked on this video
because you wanna talk about
the SLR Magic MicroPrime CINE Lenses.
And I actually now have a full set,
I guess you could say, or my full set.
I didn't want to get the 16 mil,
because some people said that was too wide,
distorts, at that wide of a focal length.
But I actually do have the 25 millimeter,
the 50 millimeter,
also the 18 and the 75.
(upbeat music)
When talking about being like an indie filmmaker,
upcoming filmmaker, I mean,
the one thing that we have an abundance of is creativity,
but we have, deficiency when it comes to funds for our tools
and companies like SLR Magic,
providing affordable, great lenses is a win-win.
Honestly for anyone out there that's looking
to purchase 'em.
First and foremost guys,
I am an SLR Magic ambassador,
so they work with me to bring you guys
content about these lenses,
but I also do use them on my own professional projects
and personal passion projects.
But I do not get paid to make this content
and all my opinions are my own.
I actually seeked out this partnership
with SLR Magic because I'm just a fan of their lenses,
and I feel like they're a great budget option
for young filmmakers out there.
So I filmed one music video,
a documentary and I'm also filming a short film this weekend
with the SLR Magic MicroPrime CINEs,
I actually wanted to grab these guys
because they are small, lightweight.
We've talked about them in the past
and a couple other videos as far as,
why use cinema lenses versus photo lenses
for video and vice versa,
but they are really, really neat.
I'll recap a few cool talking points about them,
for one they're all pretty uniform in size.
They're all MicroPrime, so they're pretty small.
Some are taller than others,
depending on the focal length that you choose,
but they all have metal mounting points,
so it's not cheap plastic.
The whole housing is actually metal, which is nice.
They all have 82 mil threads
and also 85 mil diameter for matte boxes.
So they're all uniform in that respect.
So that way, if you use anything
like follow focuses or matte boxes,
you don't have to reset them each time you do a lens swap.
So it makes it a little bit more efficient on set,
which I enjoy.
Also the color calibration
is consistent across all focal lengths.
I'll have some test footage as well in this video,
showing off what they look like. (laughs)
I have a few takeaways after using these lenses
over the past several months,
one is the build quality.
They feel great in hand,
they're cool to the touch.
They are full metal,
so they don't feel like cheap plastic.
I mean, it's not to say that they're tanks,
you definitely don't wanna drop them,
because these are optical tools.
You wanna make sure that they're in pristine condition,
so that way you don't have to worry about
any inconsistencies across the line.
I also do appreciate that they have the standard teeth here
on the focus and aperture ring,
so that way you can hook up a follow focus to it.
And it works seamlessly.
They have 150 degree rotation on these rings.
Overall it just feels like quality.
I mean, they have hard stops.
They're just good.
They're just great lenses.
At an F2, I feel like your subject is tack sharp.
You don't have to worry about,
getting an eyelash in focus
and everything else being blown out.
So definitely use these at like a F2.
I wouldn't use 'em wide open,
unless it's like super low light,
and you're capturing something that's wide landscape
or an establishing shot, something like that.
The budget cinema lens market is ever growing.
There's tons of competitors out there from
SLR Magic to Surrey.
There's a couple other ones that pop
up here and there on Indiegogo,
but they offer anamorphic options, all kind of stuff.
SLR Magic is one that has been around
for many, many years.
To be honest, they have a wide range of mounting options.
Whereas normally you'll only find stuff like,
PL Mount Amorphic Glass or Cinema Glass.
They have E Mount, X Mount, Micro 4/3 Mount,
there's tons of different mounts,
there's anamorphic adapters.
I'm definitely gonna be purchasing more equipment
from SLR Magic because they just have a wide variety.
The next thing I'm actually eyeing are
the anamorphic adapters that you can attach
to the front of these MicroPrimes.
So that way you can, of course, de-squeeze the footage
in post, but have anamorphic lenses.
You can pretty much convert your MicroPrimes
to anamorphic lenses.
So yeah, that's the next thing
we're gonna be doing with these,
but I'm glad that I have a full set in the full range,
so that way I have more options,
when on set.
Just more tools to create beautiful images.
When talking about the image that these lenses produce,
I do enjoy the fact that they give you
an organic feel, like that filmic look
that a lot of people are chasing after.
I actually love my Helios...
not anamorphic but it looks almost anamorphic,
but the Helios Vintage Lens that I use,
the 44-2,
I made a couple videos about that lens
but I loved using that lens for video and also photos,
and these are kind of in the same vein.
They're not as imperfect as the Helios.
These are still very consistent,
like I said across the entire set,
but they do give you a nice focus roll off,
they give you nice bokeh,
and they don't look too sterile.
They have more of an organic feel to them.
A lot of times when you use a lot
of these modern photo lenses, like the lens
I'm filming on right now,
the Sigma 35 mil art,
I think this is the 1.4,
but it's very sharp and clinical,
which is good for different circumstances,
but when you wanna get that filmic look,
that dock look, these are a good option.
Like I said, if you open 'em wide open,
they get very soft.
But if you stop in a little bit,
you'll get good corner to corner sharpness
and you'll get good separation from your background,
which a lot of people enjoy that look,
including myself, especially on full frame.
(upbeat music)
The other dope thing about SLR Magic
is if you check back periodically,
during different holidays, or different times of the year,
they offer a ton of different sales.
You'll be able to find these lenses
for great prices throughout the year.
They'll drop the price in half sometimes,
and then also of course,
the third party market,
you can always find them on Facebook groups
and on eBay for great prices as well.
If you don't wanna buy them from first party,
but I always recommend buying first party,
so that way you can just ensure the fact
that they've been inspected,
they haven't been dropped or mishandled,
and you get a good product at the end of the day.
Whether you have like some passion projects
that you wanna film, home videos,
or you just want to get decent cinema lenses
without having to spend a ton of money;
these are a great choice.
I've also used these for stills.
They once again offer the same characteristics
as they do in video,
and it gives my home photos, my family photos,
that good warm feeling I guess you could say.
The feeling that you used to get when you saw
your childhood photos.
Like that grainy almost,
that warm, it feels like your image has a soul;
that's what these provide.
But yeah, I don't wanna draw this out too long
and make this a crazy long video,
I just wanted to give you guys some test footage
because I've used these for the past several months
to give you my brief thoughts and opinion on 'em.
If you guys have any questions or anything,
or you wanna discuss anything
that I haven't covered in this video,
which I probably haven't covered a lot,
but leave the questions down below.
But if you're someone that just wants to get
into YouTube, that wants to get into filming,
that has a new family and you wanna create content,
or just document your journey.
These are great inexpensive cinema lenses
that don't break the bank and that you get
a great image from,
like I said I use 'em for stills,
for video, for everything.
It's a little challenging with the toddler
using manual focus, of course
photo lenses like the one I'm filming on
right now are great for auto focus,
but you can't get away from that look,
from that feel,
and a lot of times it's a lot more about the glass
than the the camera body, but yeah,
but that's about it for me guys.
You guys will definitely be seeing more footage coming
from these lenses and future projects,
future videos on this channel.
Like I said, I have a couple projects
that aren't out yet that I've used these lenses for.
I'll be sure to do directors cut breakdowns
of those projects and we'll go over the shots
and the tools that I used
and how I set it up.
But enjoy some of the test footage
that's been sprinkled throughout this video.
Thanks again for watching you guys, until next time.
Stay fresh.
Peace.
(soothing music)