Blackmagic Pocket 4k lens on a tight budget

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dakta

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Sorry if this is a cliche thread or a repeat subject :/ I have done some searching :)

I've just taken the plunge and bought a Black magic pocket 4k camera to learn a bit of video work beyond my gopro,

It needs a micro four thirds lens, and whilst I'm going to save up for the best I can, I would like something cheap in the meantime, rough and ready just so I can get out there and practice.

I know nothing of lenses, and the immediate budget is tight (as im buying batteries, memory cards and lots of accesories too) - so please bear with me but my ideals are:

- zoom would be nice but not essential
- manual focus (for practice)

Now, I don't have a specific budget but I'm thinking in the region of a few hundred pounds (as in not five or six) - I also know you won't get quality and features without the price tag, so I might not be able to tick all boxes, but can anybody recommend something that might be ideal as a good starting point?

Thank you!
 
I have a couple of BMPCC4K. One of the benefits of the MFT mount is you can adapt it to most lens systems. I use Nikon lenses for stills and so I have adapted mine to fit those, but it's just as easy to use a Canon or Sony mount.

I use one of these for mount adapting https://www.amazon.co.uk/VILTROX-NF-M43-Adapter-Olympus-Panasonic/dp/B01N0SJINQ?ref_=ast_sto_dp £35

A good cheep lens that I use is the Tamron 17-50. It's a constant f/2.8 aperture it is a bit plasticy but the optics are very good and it's also very light and manually focuses well. On the P4K it gives a 35mm equivalent of 34- 100mm.
https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/product/t...-di-ii-ld-aspherical-if-nikon-fit/sku-2473830 £119

I would suggest that you get much more lens for your money by adapting APSC lenses to MFT than buying MFT lenses. The only exception to this is when you want to shoot wide, wider than about 18mm (35mm Equivalent) the sensor stack on the P4K can cause some softness at the edge of the image with APSC or full frame lenses. Because of this I use an Olympus 8-25mm for interior shoots, but these are expensive.

If you don't want to mess about with mount adapters etc. something like this 25mm prime would be a cheep place to start
https://www.mpb.com/en-uk/product/7artisans-25mm-f18-micro-four-thirds-fit/sku-2451164 £58

If you are buying batteries then I would suggest that you either buy the latest genuine Canon battery or the Smallrig version. These are the only ones I have found that give any kind of run time cheep clone batteries just can't deliver the current, I have brought some that will only run for about 10mins. Also the Samsung T5/T7 drives give lots of reliable storage at low cost when compared to suitable memory cards.


Andrew HATFIELD | Architectural and Interior Photographer
 
I would be tempted to look at buying a m42 to MF3 adaptor and picking up a Helios 44M 55mm lens, or choose from a multitude of very cheap M42 lenses. But start with a Helios 44M, its a very popular video lens it has a bit of a cult following for video and photography and £50-75 gets you a good one (sometime even less) you could pay a bit more and find one thats been converted fully for video with gear drives and declicked aperture.
A modified version of the lens was used in shooting some scenes in Dune and The Batman.
 
Sorry for the late reply, unfortunately I've not been able to do a lot with my camera because workload has exploded (joy of self employment, grab work when you can)
In a panic, because I wasn't sure with some of the suggestions on here whether I'd need an adapter, I bought after reading a few quick reviews a Panasonic Lumix 25mm F1.7 | H-H025E-K Prime Lens.

This actually seems okay, and gives me the chance to practice with manual focus, and after a few hours playing with it it seems okay for ordinary use.

I have purchased the Tamron SP AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical (IF) recommended above, and ordered an adapter as well these should be with us this week sometime.

Furthermore I have ordered 2 spare batteries and a charger (seperately), these batteries are genuine (or claim to be), and if they work well under load then I'll likely order another 2.

Thanks everyone for the advice and if there's any more suggestions please throw them my way :)


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I have noticed that, I presumed it was down to my technique (totally new to this) I don't think the BMPC has any kind of constant autofocus (though you can press the button) so I think it's down to learning how to do it manually properly :eek:
 
Mentioned it to my parents who threw a camera bag at me (mum used to be into photography), some interesting Tamron lenses in there but I don't think they'll be suitable, adapter apparently is arriving today (wasnt expecting it for a bank holiday) so might be able to have a play before the one i ordered that you recommended comes :)
 
dakta said:
I have noticed that, I presumed it was down to my technique (totally new to this) I don't think the BMPC has any kind of constant autofocus (though you can press the button) so I think it's down to learning how to do it manually properly :eek:
Click to expand...
The Lumix lenses have a weird system where the rate that you turn the ring changes the focus throw. If you turn it slowly it takes a lot of movement on the ring to make it move if you turn it quickly it takes a lot less throw. Unfortunately it is completely useless for video manual focus because it's so unpredictable. I have a couple of Lumix lenses but only ever use them with autofocus. The Olympus lenses are much better MFT lenses for manual focus.

Andrew HATFIELD | Architectural and Interior Photographer
 
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