Mark Nelson, Director of Photography

Mark Nelson has now been working with the Fujinon MK Cine Lenses for over 2 years and here are some of his comments on them:

What do you like about the MK Cine Lenses?

MARK: The ability to hold focus tightly through the range of the zoom lens is great for hand-held work, and speeds up most shooting scenarios. The light weight and compact size make them easy to change out the they travel well. They are a good value for the cost. Since we have a set available, this allows quick and effective matching multicamera setups.

What kinds of shoots are the MK lenses good for?

MARK: The wide of of these lenses have minimal distortion, and if shooting 1920×1080 we can double the reach on the long end with a center crop of the sensor, effectively reaching near a 400mm focal length.

They are not the best choice for very wide angles and we would look at other options and for long, slow “motorized” zooming they would not be my first choice.

What benefit do they offer over DSLR lenses?

MARK: They are “parfocal” and stay focused with a zoom range. This is because they have many more glass elements than a SDLR lens, which needs to be refaced with every change of the zoom function.

How have they changed the way you shoot footage?

MARK: Just bringing 2 in a backpack typically covers 90 percent of my shooting requirements, particularly for ENG shoots.

Any particular applications of the lenses you want to point out?

MARK: The glass on these matches the Fujinon Cabrio Cine Lenses, so they can be paired with those for nice “B” camera option.