Super-Zoom (15x or more) to adapt to m43

You know sometimes at the start of a film there's a close-up 'zoomed-in' shot of person, then the shot pulls out, keeps pulling out, by the end of the sequence the person is tiny and lost within a wide shot providing a larger context.

I see there are B-mount lens as used in the industry, many of which are extremely expensive, currently beyond my reach.

It seems that their range due to the format of the film, would though be quite good for m43.

For instance an Angenieux 10-150mm (15X), which on m43 would (via doubling) equate to 20-300mm in FF terms - is an extra-wide to tele range.

Somewhat wide-angle (not needing to be as extreme as 20mm) to v.long tele would be ideal, in FF terms, 30-450mm (15x) would be ideal (or if possible even more range than 15x). So in m43 terms this would need a 15-225mm lens, or thereabouts.

I have a focal reducer adaptor for the FF M42 mount to m43, and would consider another focal reducer adaptor if there's an ideal 15x (or greater, 16x, 18x etc) candidate FF zoom.

Optical quality is not paramount, some softness at the extremes is ok, and is some CA, though the lens needs to be fairly par-focal, well enough to go from in focus zoomed-in to looking overall in focus when zoomed out to the wide end (even if the actual subject has gone out a bit).

Also something that doesn't weigh a tonne and doesn't has motorised zoom couplings etc. As neat as possible. I would consider B-mount if that is the way to go and there's a reasonably priced option, otherwise any other mount that can be adapted to m43.

Any suggestions?

Hello!

Your closest bet will be the kind-of-modernish "super-zooms" by Sigma, Tamron... that are typically available in 18-200mm versions - they will bot be FF lenses, but designed for APS-C cropping bodies. This should not be an issue though I think, because a "regular" 0.71 focal reducer will get you to about this ballpark. Only the Metabones XL might be problematic, I don't have experience with any of these lenses though.

IQ will be ok-ish I guess.

I personally use my old Ais Nikon 35-200 on my MFT bodies (with and without XL/0.71 Metabones Speedboosters) and like it a lot - it will unfortunately not give you what though.

The wide-range of C-mount zooms will unfortunately not cover MFT, so that is not an option (at least I have never seen or tried any of the C mounts that could provide at least acceptable coverage throughout the zoom range). That not even on my N1 bodies.

Best,

Alex

Edit: "my" camera store does list this one here to allegedly cover MFT:


I can not verify that, because I have not tried one myself, also if you will be able to reach infinity focus. It might be worth it though, if you can find one near you to try out.

Not sure but the Angenieux 10-150mm was a 16mm lens (not even Super 16) , so I don't know if it would cover the M43 sensor size.

FrancoD said:

Not sure but the Angenieux 10-150mm was a 16mm lens (not even Super 16) , so I don't know if it would cover the M43 sensor size.

Click to expand...

...you're correct I just researched further, it only covers 16mm film, which is 10.26mm wide.

m43 is 17.3mm wide.

...do you know if the 18-200mm lenses are parfocal?

Also what's the zoom action like, I need it to be fairly smooth, not stiff or jerky.

I also see there's 18-300mm lenses - any experience of those? As it's for video, high sharpness isn't overly important.

Also, although I adapt many lenses using 'dumb' adaptors, it could be an advantage to have a smart AF adaptor. If the lens has OIS would that still work on m43? - it could be very useful. I presume IBIS wouldn't work, as the camera wouldn't know the focal length of the zoom.

left eye said:

...do you know if the 18-200mm lenses are parfocal?

Also what's the zoom action like, I need it to be fairly smooth, not stiff or jerky.

I also see there's 18-300mm lenses - any experience of those? As it's for video, high sharpness isn't overly important.

Also, although I adapt many lenses using 'dumb' adaptors, it could be an advantage to have a smart AF adaptor. If the lens has OIS would that still work on m43? - it could be very useful. I presume IBIS wouldn't work, as the camera wouldn't know the focal length of the zoom.

Click to expand...

Hello!

Pretty much every aspect you want to have operating smoothly will be problematic with these budget lenses. I highly doubt they are anywhere near parfocal, because hardly any foto-zoom-lens is, let alone in this price range.

Operation will not be super smooth and IS will not really work, because you would have to adjust the focal length on the fly which is not possible while performing a smooth zoom sequence.

For any electronic contact you would need a Canon mount version and respective adapters, but I have no experience with that unfortunately.

Best,

Alex

Yep- in terms of practicality with usable controls and weight, the modern 18-300mm is your main option, even though like others have said it likely won't be parfocal. You might also want to check for breathing too.

I actually own a Fujinon-TV 25-350mm f/3.5, designed for a 1 inch sensor.

It optically vignettes at the corners (requiring a 16:9 crop) which doesn't go away until about 170mm/quite far into the range. It's not awful coverage but I would still crop it.

It however weighs a literal tonne, yes it's the motorised version but it would still weigh a tonne with all the bits off it.

With these c-mount TV superzooms too you might not get checks for distortion, chromatic aberration, parfocality etc, particularly outside of normal coverage. The C-mount facebook group will have lots of footage though.

The shorter zoom range ones get most of the attention, and some have been found to be geninuely parfocal/decent sharpness wide open.

But some used outside their normal coverage have had quite high distortion.

It's important to note the aperture is likely to decline even though it says constant, it seems TV lenses were even worse than photo lenses in this- I own a big B4 box lens that says f1.6 constant but in the literature declines to f2.1/f2.4 at the long end.

left eye said:

I also see there's 18-300mm lenses - any experience of those? As it's for video, high sharpness isn't overly important.

Also, although I adapt many lenses using 'dumb' adaptors, it could be an advantage to have a smart AF adaptor. If the lens has OIS would that still work on m43? - it could be very useful. I presume IBIS wouldn't work, as the camera wouldn't know the focal length of the zoom.

Click to expand...

Tamron also makes an 18-400mm zoom (22x), and you could adapt the Canon version with a smart adapter. This would provide power for the lens's VC (Vibration Compensation) and AF systems, plus focal length (and probably distance) data for the camera's IBIS. How well any or all of these features would work depends on the adapter, camera/lens firmware versions, etc.

https://www.dpreview.com/products/tamron/lenses/tamron_18-400_3p5-6p3_di_ii_vc_hld

Depending on your output needs... I don't know about the current offerings of fixed-lens superzoom point & shoot cameras, but as of 10 or 15 years ago some of them implemented "digital teleconverters" in such a way that you could seamlessly zoom from wide to optical tele to digital tele. If you have strong light the quality might be good enough for your needs even with the smaller sensors. I don't know whether you could get 4K output from any, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get at least HD nowadays.

Best wishes,
Sterling
--
Lens Grit

SterlingBjorndahl said:

Depending on your output needs... I don't know about the current offerings of fixed-lens superzoom point & shoot cameras, but as of 10 or 15 years ago some of them implemented "digital teleconverters" in such a way that you could seamlessly zoom from wide to optical tele to digital tele. If you have strong light the quality might be good enough for your needs even with the smaller sensors. I don't know whether you could get 4K output from any, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get at least HD nowadays.

Click to expand...

That's a good suggestion.

The Nikon Coolpix P1000 has a 24-3000mm (125x) equivalent optical zoom plus 4x digital zoom, and up to 4K video:

https://www.dpreview.com/products/nikon/compacts/nikon_cpp1000

SterlingBjorndahl said:

Depending on your output needs... I don't know about the current offerings of fixed-lens superzoom point & shoot cameras, but as of 10 or 15 years ago some of them implemented "digital teleconverters" in such a way that you could seamlessly zoom from wide to optical tele to digital tele. If you have strong light the quality might be good enough for your needs even with the smaller sensors. I don't know whether you could get 4K output from any, but I'd be surprised if you couldn't get at least HD nowadays.

Best wishes,
Sterling
--
Lens Grit

Click to expand...

Hello!

Nikon had a 10-110 motor-drive zoom lens (called PD) for the Nikon 1 series (27-270mm equiv) - maybe you could source a N1 body and such a lens for little money. The downside here is, that the N1 bodies are not too good for video I am afraid (the J5, sporting a great 1" sensor, can not do real 4K for example).

That was is:


Best,

Alex

"Nikon had a 10-110 motor-drive zoom lens (called PD) for the Nikon 1 series (27-270mm equiv)"

Those Nikon lenses were made for the 1" sensor, smaller than the M43.

The M43 also has a shorter flange distance so that lens if an adaptor was made wpould not focus to infinity.

FrancoD said:

"Nikon had a 10-110 motor-drive zoom lens (called PD) for the Nikon 1 series (27-270mm equiv)"

Those Nikon lenses were made for the 1" sensor, smaller than the M43.

The M43 also has a shorter flange distance so that lens if an adaptor was made wpould not focus to infinity.

Click to expand...

Hello!

If you quote, just quote/read the whole thing - it is pretty clear, what I actually wrote, isn't it:

FrancoD said:

FrancoD said:

Hello!

Nikon had a 10-110 motor-drive zoom lens (called PD) for the Nikon 1 series (27-270mm equiv) - maybe you could source a N1 body and such a lens for little money. The downside here is, that the N1 bodies are not too good for video I am afraid (the J5, sporting a great 1" sensor, can not do real 4K for example).

That was is:

https://www.nikon.at/de_AT/product/...s/2018/1-nikkor-vr-10-100mm-f-4-5-5-6-pd-zoom

Best,

Alex

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

SiFu said:

FrancoD said:

"Nikon had a 10-110 motor-drive zoom lens (called PD) for the Nikon 1 series (27-270mm equiv)"

Those Nikon lenses were made for the 1" sensor, smaller than the M43.

The M43 also has a shorter flange distance so that lens if an adaptor was made wpould not focus to infinity.

Click to expand...

Hello!

If you quote, just quote/read the whole thing - it is pretty clear, what I actually wrote, isn't it:

SiFu said:

SiFu said:

Hello!

Nikon had a 10-110 motor-drive zoom lens (called PD) for the Nikon 1 series (27-270mm equiv) - maybe you could source a N1 body and such a lens for little money. The downside here is, that the N1 bodies are not too good for video I am afraid (the J5, sporting a great 1" sensor, can not do real 4K for example).

That was is:

https://www.nikon.at/de_AT/product/...s/2018/1-nikkor-vr-10-100mm-f-4-5-5-6-pd-zoom

Best,

Alex

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Best,

Alex

Click to expand...

There are also plenty of video cameras that have a zoom of that type but maybe you did not read this bit from the OP :otherwise any other mount that can be adapted to m43.

(read the title of the thread again...)

The 1 inch c mount zooms may suffice, if you use a 1.4x or even a 2x multiplier, between the lens and your sensor.

M4/3 and even APS, respectively, cover should then be possible.

The drawback is the increase in loss of light, by the same amount.

The 15x c mount zooms are very heavy. You will be fixing that to your mount and hanging the camera off of it. I have two.

SD B4 and B3 mount zooms are far cheaper than a Nikon P1000, but without the 3000mm reach. Ensure you get the 2x extender built in. It will be lighter and faster than the C mount equivalent. Adapters cost $50 or less.

There are no zooms that are not designed to be parfocal, except for a few quirky, fast SLR ones of 50 years ago, Vivitar usually. If your zoom is not parfocal, the back focus distance to the sensor needs adjusting. The B4 zooms have mechanisms to allow this to ensure parfocal performance.

It has been usual to 'fool the eye' by clever editing of the use of two lenses, for such scenes as you cite.

Close and not that hard (you might just look in the M4/3 backyard). Olympus makes a quite good 12-200 lens in M4/3 mount - you don't even need an adapter I don't have one and general chat says that it is not as picture perfect as the 12-100/4.0 IS from Olympus which I do have and can say that it is a very good lens indeed.

Not quite as wide but there is a cheap and quite effective Canon EF-S 55-250. Light and gives quite good performance. Unfortunately it is "EF-S" and the rear baffle precludes mounting on a focal reduction adapter.

The Olympus 12-200 is a bit slow and I don't know if any of the available M4/3 teleconverters will work with it.


Check it out.

looks like that is the best suggestion so far.

Here is an example of how it can work for the OP :

FrancoD said:

looks like that is the best suggestion so far.

Here is an example of how it can work for the OP :

Click to expand...

Money might be the issue ...

The lens is expensive already and that full rig would probably be a LOT more expensive again (I did not check) but the point is that it does exist and it is "almost" parfocal.

(I had a look. Not sure because you need to add several bits together but still less than the lens, yet far from a budget solution )

That "parfocal" bit is the tough one for lenses that are not designed in the first place to be used on for video.

left eye said:

You know sometimes at the start of a film there's a close-up 'zoomed-in' shot of person, then the shot pulls out, keeps pulling out, by the end of the sequence the person is tiny and lost within a wide shot providing a larger context.

I see there are B-mount lens as used in the industry, many of which are extremely expensive, currently beyond my reach.

It seems that their range due to the format of the film, would though be quite good for m43.

For instance an Angenieux 10-150mm (15X), which on m43 would (via doubling) equate to 20-300mm in FF terms - is an extra-wide to tele range.

Somewhat wide-angle (not needing to be as extreme as 20mm) to v.long tele would be ideal, in FF terms, 30-450mm (15x) would be ideal (or if possible even more range than 15x). So in m43 terms this would need a 15-225mm lens, or thereabouts.

I have a focal reducer adaptor for the FF M42 mount to m43, and would consider another focal reducer adaptor if there's an ideal 15x (or greater, 16x, 18x etc) candidate FF zoom.

Click to expand...

You can only use one focal reducer at a time.

left eye said:

Optical quality is not paramount, some softness at the extremes is ok, and is some CA, though the lens needs to be fairly par-focal, well enough to go from in focus zoomed-in to looking overall in focus when zoomed out to the wide end (even if the actual subject has gone out a bit).

Also something that doesn't weigh a tonne and doesn't has motorised zoom couplings etc. As neat as possible. I would consider B-mount if that is the way to go and there's a reasonably priced option, otherwise any other mount that can be adapted to m43.

Any suggestions?

Click to expand...

I do have the Olympus 12-100mm zoom lens and it is just about 8.3x from widest to longest. That lens is a great lens and I absolutely love it.

But I also have my Sony A-Mount lenses and I have the 18-250mm which is about 14x from shortest to longest. I can adapt it to my Olympus camera, but I have never tried it with this lens. I would lose auto focus and aperture control. And I have no idea of how poorly the parafocus would be. Probably not very good. Certainly, if I were to try this, I would start at the longest focal length and zoom to the shortest since out of focus is harder to see at shorter focal lengths, and if your video needs it to be in the reverse zoom direction, I would edit the video file.

But really, I would do it with a camera such as the Nikon P1000 or P950. The zooming is quite incredible. I looked, and I see I have never tried a movie of a continuous zoom from one end to the other. I don't know how well it would work. But likely better than whatever else I could come up with.