Welcome back it's Robert Macfarlane here today we're going to be going through vintage lenses and
modern lenses and how on earth would you decide which to use for your next project I have used
so many lenses over my career everything from cinema Schneiders and Cookes all the way down to
cheap plastic Nifty 50s and you know what there is a reason for every single one of them there is
honestly a reason why you would use any lens out there and today we're going to be going through
how you can even work that out and we're going to be exploring what each lens can give you now
I know I know we've all seen the videos where people go oh my god look at the bouquet in this
video and then look at the book in comparison from this lens and then the next video they're
saying well actually you can't tell the difference between these lenses and if you can then you're
lying maybe there's a third answer which is what feeling am I conveying with this lens
rather than saying that I can definitely tell a hundred percent the choice of lens becomes this
subtle voice that you are choosing to use in your film it's not one which says I am absolutely going
to use Red on every wall and everyone will know because I have chosen that Red this is not the
same case as being as obvious as that lens choice at the end of the day can be even more powerful
than a lot of creative choices but it's a subtle creative choice and that's something that we have
to really come to terms with as filmmakers to be able to understand why am I going to spend
money on renting this lens or buying this lens or servicing my lenses why am I going to use a
modern lens over a vintage lens or a vintage lens over a modern lens and once you understand the
tools that you're using you'll be able to more successfully tell your stories because you've
now mastered you have now understood another tool in your toolkit seagulls were dancing all around
woke up with a sunrise on the stage such a priceless gift to me the salty breeze
so why would you even consider vintage lenses what what are the benefits of using a vintage lens
well first and foremost you can get them pretty cheap and most of them are going to be second
hand third hand 10th hand and yes they may have been pre-loved or maybe not loved at all but you
can clean them you can get them serviced you can get them up to speed to make them
actually usable for your projects also they have a unique look um you hear this all the time
characteristic or character within the lens and they say oh it's because it's got dust and it's
got scratches on it and it's got patina and all these various lovely words and in reality it is
it is a unique fingerprint that is really what they're saying when they say it's got a more
characteristic look it's got a fingerprint a benefit is that they're really easy to find
Ebay and lots of secondhand places car boot sales you're going to find these vintage lenses
and they are cheap they are hoops all right so you can get yourself a pretty nice set of lenses
much less money than a full set of L-class canon lenses
or Cooke s fives another benefit to these lenses is that more often than not
they were built with some pretty good materials plastic wasn't very widely used in lenses back
in the day which is why these lenses have lasted so long and that's why they are I believe and good
a good investment moving forward because they are predominantly metal housed which a lot of
the lenses these days are not metal because technology wasn't quite as advanced at the time
they have very different flare characteristics than modern lenses modern lenses is actually
quite difficult at times to make them flare and I know sometimes we don't want to make them flare we
want to have that choice but these lenses they end up because of the imperfections inside the glass
because of the scratching and patina ring the way it flares is actually quite unique and sometimes
can be absolutely beautiful and if you are well aware of what you're shooting and how you're
shooting it then you can choose whether you're going to have flares or not now some vintage
lenses they have so little coating they honestly have no ability to stop flares from so many
different angles that it actually can become quite distracting and or destructive to your image so
I do thoroughly recommend if you are planning to use these lenses to get these beautiful flares you
know plan it prep it and make sure that when you do get on set you've got the ability to control
the light in a way that stops flaring on your very flary lens vintage lens whatever you've got
because once it's there it really can play havoc in your edit and I really thoroughly recommend
just being able to have the choice of having it or not finally I find that these lenses they have
personality they have history to them you look at the barrel and it has nicks and scratches and
flecks of paint from someone doing painting next to their photography equipment or they tell a
story and there's something about using vintage lenses which is just it's very satisfying and
that's not really something that's going to add value to your next project but it is satisfying
so now why would you choose modern glass well it's more expensive for sure but you get quite a bit
for your modern glass I would say one of the most important factors of modern glass
and this obviously is dependent on the camera and system that you're using
you can have them electronically connected to your camera as is very important these days auto
focus while you're filming or while you're taking photographs this is becoming more and more popular
with time and I thoroughly recommend that if you are youtubing or you are doing small
one-man band projects having autofocus can save you some real problems in the edit because
sometimes when we are really busy and we're having to be in 10 different places at once
that focus can just be a little hair behind where it should be and it can be
problematic or disastrous actually now if you don't have a camera with autofocus this
isn't necessarily a issue for you but it is one that is worth considering if you do
have a camera that has autofocus like many of you do now another factor which I think
is incredibly important and is a huge boon for modern glasses they are almost always
they are going to be faster and by the term faster I mean that they have a smaller number for their
aperture for those of you who don't know the lower the number the wider the aperture on the lens now
this lens has an aperture of 2.8 which is a 100 mm lens with a micro four thirds mount and it has a
2.8 f-stop that means I'm going to get twice as much light as this 70 to 300 mm lens which
is an f4 to 5.6 this is going to be much darker which means that in situations where
the light is failing or I'm inside I'm going to have to resort to raising my ISO which can
be destructive to the image and just give me a less appealing image at the end of the day
now obviously the other benefits of having a wider aperture is you're going to have a shallower depth
of field the lens that you're currently watching me through is the samyang cine 24 mil t 1.5 which
is a beautiful lens it's not totally sharp wide open and you know what I like that also it's got
a really shallow depth of field this being a 2.8 is going to have a shallower depth of field all
the way through its focal range than the f4 to 5.6 because got a smaller aperture can't really help
it can't blame it modern glass is generally going to have less of the quote unquote errors of our
vintage brethren and when I say errors I mean basically the artifacts that the lens would
produce in the image because they just didn't have the technology at the time to correct for it
and these corrections are edge distortion as well as chromatic aberration which is when at the edge
of frame generally the light starts to split into a rainbow sort of effect and then finally you've
got a vignetting and even the edge of the lens is becoming just less sharp or noticeably less
sharp now model glass hasn't totally eradicated these issues but they are far far less apparent
and now you have the choice to add them into your shot in post rather than being stuck with
a less than perfect image from the get-go now some of you may argue that that is actually what they
bought the lens for and that they like the fact that there's vignetting and barrel distortion and
chromatic aberration and edge sharpness issues because for them it works with their style of
filmmaking and this is what we're going to get on to later finally and probably a quite an important
one modern glass is going to fit onto your camera without the need of an adapter this is kind of
a biggie for a lot of you because some adapters can range in the six to seven hundred pound mark
such as the speed booster range and that can add a pretty sizable amount of money to your budget
when you're trying to come up with your own lenses whether you're renting or whether you're buying so
it is a big factor when you're making a decision am I going to spend 700 pounds on a piece of glass
that allows me to use my lens on my camera or am I just going to go for the glass which will
just fit on straight away of course by putting a piece of glass between your lens and your camera
will end up degrading the image in some way shape or form whether it be edge sharpness vignetting
chromatic aberration that glass is adding in artifacts that aren't necessarily a choice
so I think we should probably discuss
why you would use a particular lens over another in any given situation
and it's really got to come down to what are you trying to say with your project a lot of times
you're going to see directors and cinematographers they're going to go oh I want the vintage xyz
because we're doing a film and it's period drama and we'll we'll use an old lens because it's from
that era isn't it of course yes and that makes a lot of sense um and I mean some directors and
DPs will actually buck that trend they go for a cleaner look I know Ridley Scott actively tries
to get rid of any imperfections in the glass CGI early animation suffered because they used cameras
that were doing impossible moves um actually to be honest a lot of movies now suffer from
the same issue where the camera doesn't feel real because it's swooping in and out and through and
and it's doing all these crazy things that are totally impossible for a normal camera to do
and then we automatically as an audience disbelieve it on a subconscious level so
when we use lenses with imperfections we're letting the audience know if this is real this is
something that's tangible and that it was really filmed rather than becoming omnipresent we become
a part of the film that's one side of the argument the other side of the argument is by making the
audience aware that there is a lens and that it has affected the way we're viewing this story
we're making the audience aware that there is a lens and a camera and a cameraman and
a director and lighting and it's fake so by eradicating any idea and concept that there
was a lens and a camera involved by making it clean and uncharacterized then we have
nothing between the audience and your story but there's a third argument
what if you use both what if both can be utilized at the same time to tell an even more aware story
such as utilizing the unique characteristics of a lens with swirly bokeh
to reveal the innermost thoughts and feelings of a character subtly through the use of the lens
choice and in the very next shot you switch to your modern glass because your character
in that shot is actually very straight laced sees the world very black and white so you can
change the look between shots without a sound any moment you will cry for help that we only think
about our staff oh yeah if you enjoyed today's episode don't forget to subscribe
smash the like button check out the links below for even more awesome content at my Patreon page
for fantastic tears such as one-on-one sessions with me to talk about your films