I have had a Pentax 50 SMC f1.4 for years, a gift from my father in law, A Contax 85 f2.8 on loan with an option to buy for a couple of months and a Nikkor 28 f2.8 Ai-s since our last trip to Japan.
I intend to use them for video, maybe some stills, but mostly video, but video for me lately has become a drudge, not a fun thing at all.
So, in my usual scientific way, not wanting to disturb the PL mount on my S5 (it is well seated, but complicated), I grabbed the S5II, the three lenses and stood at my back door in the rain and tried to capture some roughly similar footage, well as similar as a 28, 50 and 85 can do anyway.
In my unnecessary rush, I left the cam on Standard profile, no settings changed, just as it came out of the box. This also allowed me the opportunity to over expose all the footage, using the “V-Log has tons of highlight range” thinking, which is correct, but my state of mind was not.
It did however allow me to see the footage in direct comparison with the same white balance, similar exposure etc, which is actually pretty handy, but still, a low bar set, expectations moderate.
The Contax. It snapped in and out of focus beautifully and turns the same way as cine glass, which is handy, except it is the only one of the three that does (wish I kept my set, but back then I was trying to jam them onto EOS bodies for stills). There was almost no focus breathing.
The Nikkor, with I would argue the smoothest Bokeh, even being the shortest lens. Minimal breathing, but focuses contra to cine glass, which always feels more natural to me and a snappiness, maybe with more micro contrast.
The Pentax. This lens has a sticky aperture, sometimes I can get it to move well, often not, so I have just set it as f2.8, the widest the other two lenses can do (yeah, all set to f2.8, forgot to say). This one was hardest to focus for some reason, but turned like the Nikkor. I over exposed the Pentax files a little, over compensating for a drop in light, but they came back ok in Standard.
Bokeh now, Contax, then Pentax, then Nikkor. No opinion here, each to their own, but I can live with any of these for serious video work.
All three lenses can produce a sharp file, they seem to have similarly neutral to cool rendering and were all pleasant to handle, the Pentax probably the least nice here with the sticky aperture and a somewhat less sure feeling focus experience.
Stills lifted from footage is always a little less punchy than a true still or the footage I see on the screen, but even so, the files are excellent as they are. The Nikkor, which has terrific separation for a wide.
The subject is sharp with lots of fine edges and textures, but the lenses don’t waste any of it. I find it ironic that many of these classic lenses were in effect wasted on film. The Pentax may be a little cooler than the other two.
The Contax. This lens really shines with focus transitions, I mean Vespid-like shines. The Nikkor and Contax are a good match.
I will make an offer for the Contax because apart from anything else, it would make an excellent portrait option for the S5 and with an adapter, and I know this from previous experience, be a handy short tele on MFT.
Using 3 formats in video gives me a range of 28/40/50/50/75/90/85/135/155 effectively.
Every lens tends to make you use it a certain way, that is natural. The other day I used my new/second hand backup 17 f1.8 on the Pen F for the first time and found myself getting in really close to things.
The Contax was a natural for focus transitions, snapping subjects out of frame, but gently, not aggressively. No breathing of note and smooth focus pull made it a pleasure to use, apart from going the wrong way for me. I use it with a focus assist.
The Pentax was confusing, I actually found it hard to get a frame I cared about and the experience left me a little flat.
The Nikkor was all about getting in, grabbing width with intimacy. The ideal docco lens and it turns the right way for my brain.
When using full frame f2.8 to f4 would be my ideal working aperture (same as f1.8 to 2 in mft), anything wider is unnecessary show-boating and a little too “on trend”, anything smaller is fine when needed, but f4 is about the eye’s depth of field, it seems natural and depth of field is balanced with viewing range.
I will be keeping an eye out for more Nikkors, missing a 55 micro recently for $100au, but anything in that range will be of interest.