I'm with you. I definitely light my scenes! Just saying that if I'm using a zoom lens in a run/gun setting, I'd like the option to capture a little of that ~ cinema verite.

Have you used the zoom lens? How annoying is the electronic aperture? How is the manual zoom? Can I manually zoom/focus while also utilizing OIS?

Hey thanks for your replies! I'm looking at diffusion frames now.

I was spoiled by Chimeras and Kino flos in professional settings, and this is a personal project. It looks like I'm going to have to learn how to light without cheating.

Fred! That's a really cool product. Thanks for the heads up.

I have a lot to say about this, but I'll try to keep it short.

If you have the money and don't mind switching out lenses, then I recommend getting something like a set of Voigtlander Primes. There are other new cinema-grade sets of primes like Lomos and Cookes that are awesome.

I don't have a ton of money, and most of the lenses that work well with this camera's sensor aren't going to be as useful when you upgrade to a camera with a larger sensor. Because of this, I couldn't justify spending the money on a set of fancy new lenses. The problem with zoom lenses on this sensor size is you need something that starts wide enough at a fast enough aperture to be useful.

I think the Sigma 18-35 plus Metabones is probably the right choice, but it won't give you the soft organic look (that it seems like) you're looking for. It sort of turns your cinema camera into a camcorder, which would be very useful for doc work. That being said, I'm not sure the BMPCC would be an awesome doc camera unless you really solve your battery situation and have a good audio set-up that can help sync sound.

The Canon 25-100mm C Mount above is my favorite lens listed above, but it starts kind of close (25mm on Super-16 is a close portrait equivalent).

If you want to go vintage zoom and you are committed to spending $1,000 anyways, I suggest the Angenieux 17-70mm. That's what I would buy, at least. Here's a video: https://vimeo.com/100655284

There are other Angenieux zooms, some of them are really beautiful, and others are less so. There's also a Canon 12-120mm that people are very fond of: https://vimeo.com/127246002 -- this one is f2.2 but I think there are faster variations as well (for more money).

There are other weird vintage zooms you might want to research. I'd suggest looking into Bolex H16 lenses, Bell and Howell Filmo lenses, and other super 16 lenses. Some of these will have varying amounts of vignetting, which I don't mind, but you might. Remember: a lot of these lenses are just plain old (rather than old and "vintage" beautiful) and aren't worth shelling out a ton of money.

The newer zooms that I know about are:

Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 for nikon -- $400 + Roxsen focal reducer = $500
https://vimeo.com/89818643
Cheaper alternative, not amazing looking but would get the job done. The focal reducer would (probably?) make this lens fast enough.

(as mentioned above) Sigma DC 18-35mm f/1.8 -- $600 + metabones speedboster = $1100
I think this would be a good answer for doc work because you get all the camera's auto features like auto aperture and image stabilization. This looks "professional" but not necessarily as "organic" as other lenses.

Then there's the Panasonic Lumix 12-35mm f2.8 -- $800
I think this lens looks really nice, and you get auto features, but you couldn't use it at night or indoors without additional lighting.

You might want to go for a newer zoom. Vintage manual focus/aperture zooms might be kind of touchy to get the right shot, which doesn't lend itself to fast-paced doc work. If you want "soft, organic, vintage" it might be better to get a fast, wide prime and run around with that. It would limit you, but it would also make your life easier and streamline your look. Wide for the BMPCC is like 8mm to 17.5mm

The best (sometimes inexpensive, but usually not) Vintage Super 16mm primes (for my eyeballs) are:
zeiss standard speeds
cooke speed panchros
optar illuminas
Schneider Cinegons
cooke kinetals
carl zeiss tevidons
and then some Angenieuxs, Kern Switars, and Wollensak are decent depending on the lens.
I've seen some forum posts about vintage Kinoptic and Lomos, but I didn't do much research on those brands. People also really like the Kowa 8mm.

Watch out for CCTV lenses because they have nice-ish glass, but they're hard to focus to infinity and you'll have to get them adapted/machined, and I think they are a stupid investment in the long run (unless you find them really cheap). They're not really cheap on Ebay anymore because of nerds.

Also, at this point, vintage c mount lenses aren't a secret anymore, and you'll probably overpay for them on Ebay.

There are people who have spent a lot of time researching this stuff -- check out the facebook group "C Mount on M4/3" if you want to fall down a lens rabbit hole.

And then new primes worth considering:
- The SLR Magic primes, which I don't think look that great for the money.
- The olympus 17mm f1.8 looks pretty good and is cheap.
- Again, the Panasonic leica-made lumix lenses are awesome. I think the widest is 20mm which I decided wasn't wide enough for me.
- And then there are the Voigtlander primes, which I think are my favorite for the money (if you're going to go new).

Ultimately, it really depends on the look you're going for -- so my favorites might not be your favorites. My knowledge comes from internet research -- I don't have enough money to do hands-on research on most of these lenses. There might be some lenses I'm missing. I gave up researching at some point and just bought a lens and started shooting cuz that's what this is all about, right?

I'm running Plural Eyes v3.5. My last short film had files from two different Zoom H5 recorders because we boomed one of them with the shotgun attachment. Plural Eyes managed to match certain shots in certain situations, but mostly it would mis-match audio and video from different shots.

Similarly, for my most recent shoot I had two different audio recorders in action and auto-sync can't seem to figure it out.

Sorry for the long post: TL/DR -- Should I upgrade from my Nikon D5200 to a 4k camera if I'm going to start freelancing?