Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
A place to discuss, share, and create stop motion films.
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There is support for sony cameras in dragonframe 4. Did anyone test it? How good are sony cameras and their lenses for stop motion?
I bought 2 lenses from this guide and it seems that they are very blurry. How to fix this?
Have you made sure that you've focused the lenses? It might require you to do it physically rather than through Dragongrame.
Have you made sure that you've focused the lenses? It might require you to do it physically rather than through Dragongrame.
Yeah I did. I mean there is small area where all stuff in focus. Basically even my smartphone is able to capture more stuff so it will be sharp enough.
What distance is the camera from the set?
I have a question regarding a specific lens, is the Canon 24-105mm f4 ( IS USM) any good for stop motion? I know it's minimum aperture is f4, but the constant aperture really is what I am liking in this lens. Plus, I never use anything below f5 anyways in stop motion . I saw the lens used for $600 rather than the usual $1,200.
Is your camera and dragonframe able to access the lens electronically so you can pull focus via Dragonframe's motion controls? If not, then I wouldn't see a good reason to pay 600 dollars for this lens, personally.
I'd much rather buy a range of manual prime lenses than a fancy zoom lens any day because the glass quality.
That lens is great as an all around photography lens, and it's cheaper now because the second generation has finally come out. But buying it for stop motion use only would be a poor move. You're way better off buying several manual primes for less money. To put things in perspective, if you watch behind the scenes footage from studios like Laika and Aardman, you see some of the same lenses suggested in the original post of this thread.
Thanks for the tips guys. I forgot to mention that I wouldn't be using it exclusively for stop motion, as I would be using it for photography and video as well. I just don't know if I'm ready to invest that much in a lens.
Hey everyone, I'm completely new to stop motion animation and photography. My four year old fell in love with the lego brick animation on the lego.com site and I told him we could try to make some on our own. Now he's obsessed and I'm in over my head, but am really trying to make it work. So we went to Samy's Camera and talked to them about what to purchase, and we ended up taking home a Nikon D7000, basic lighting system, tripod and dragonframe software. However, they also had me purchase this macro lens, the Nikon AF-S FX Micro-NIKKOR 60mm f/2.8G ED Fixed Zoom Lens:
https://www.amazon.com/Nikon-Micro-NIKK … PHQ03Z029Q
After reading this forum and the Dragonframe site info, I'm wondering if we shouldn't have purchased this auto focus lens and instead just purchased an old manual lens on eBay. Could anyone help me understand if we picked up a lens that will do what we need it to do?
Thank you!
Welcome to the forums! From my general impression, Samy wanted to make some money off you. He's right in saying that a macro lens is good, but not necessarily a 600 dollar one. For brickfilming, you can get away with cheap gear and it can look great. In fact, I would go as far to say it's better.
Here's what I would recommend in your case.
Any Canon body. From the lowest end to the highest end, as long as it's relatively recent, it'll do. They all have pretty great image quality. I use the Canon SL1, but I know you can get cameras like the T2i (and others) on eBay for about 200 bucks or cheaper. I know you didn't say anything about the body, but Canons are overall better (IMO) for brickfilming for a variety of reasons, one of which is lens compatibility. Nikons have a shorter flange distance, causing problems with various lenses connecting. Also, they have an issue with light flicker.
Then go for a manual lens. Whether you stick with Nikon or Canon, manual lenses are the way to go. Chris complied a great list here. But there are also some other lenses to consider. I like the Helios 44-2, which is a vintage 58mm Russian lens. It has a great look. There are also a variety of other vintage lenses on eBay to look at, but I can't personally recommend any others because I don't have them.
Autofocus lenses are not as needed in stop-motion unless you are going super professional and have the tools to adjust the focus with robots from within Dragonframe. Just grab a couple of manual lenses, a few lens adapters, and you've got it made.
Thanks so much for the response. Well, yeah, we spent about $1,600 at Samy's getting the Nikon D7000 body and the expensive autofocus macrolens. I hear you about the Canon body and the manual lenses, but short of trying to return what we purchased, is there a way to actually make what we bought work? If not, if I keep the D7000 and purchase a manual Nikon lens like one of the ones in that link, would it address the light flicker issue? Thanks for any help you can provide!
You could certainly make the equipment you have work, but there are more cost-effective (and potentially easier to use) options.
One reason that makes Canon DSLR's a better choice for stop-motion is the fact that they have a much better live view (which you will be using as your preview in Dragonframe). You can see a comparison of the live views here . If you are worried about buying from ebay, you could purchase a good camera body (with a warranty) from their refurbished DSLR web store for around $300.
That said, the D7000 is a good camera, and should serve you well if you decide to keep it. I would, however, recommend returning the expensive macro lens you purchased and check out this thread by SlothPaladin as well as the lens Rioforce suggested regardless of the DSLR you decide to use. Using their suggestions, you should be able to get a couple of good lenses for under $200.
Good luck with your foray into brickfilming!
I agree with Feinstein here. The D7000 should work if you want to keep it. It's not optimal with Nikkor lenses, but the workaround of not twisting the lens on all the way may do it. Of course, with a more expensive Nikon DSLR, it might just have no issues with the flicker. I wouldn't know because I never used any higher end Nikons.
Thanks guys. This has been really helpful. I called Samy's and I can return the camera and the lens, so I'm going to do that and pick up a Canon body. I just bought the Micro-Nikkor 55mm f/3.5 on eBay, so hopefully this will all work much better. I guess I'll have to get a lens adapter too. Thanks!!!
I have a nikon with the basic lense kit 18-55, and I can't make a close up stop motion so I want to buy a lense,
this is the 55mm 3.5 lense recomended in the forum?
ebay.com/itm/Nikon-Ai-Micro-NIKKOR-55mm-f-3-5-MF-Manual-Focus-Macro-Prime-Lens-from-Japan-/282578858634?hash=item41cb03328a:g:xGsAAOSwjyxZb-pQ
Because in the photos looks very estrange.
what about this one?
http://lenshero.com/es/objetivo/nikon-5 … d-objetivo
some other newest lense? what do you use?
I use a 18-55 mm lens, and i use a canon rebel. I can still get pretty good close up shots! I was thinking about buying some macro filters. Might get some in a few weeks.
elDrac13, yes, the lens you linked on ebay is the lens which Sloth and many others recommend. Minor variations of that lens were made for decades, so some of them look a little different than others depending on how old they are. The second lens you linked has a minimum focusing distance of 1.5 feet, which at 50mm, even with an APS-C camera, is not going to give the close up shots you're looking for. Best to go for the macro lens which Sloth has recommended.
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