I will be posting images and frame grabs very soon. My Epic is out on a rental this week but I'll have time to post images this weekend.
Just as a teaser, a couple of days ago in a friend's rental shop, we did a few very quick and dirty -non-scientific- comparisons of the Illumina 35mm against a few other well known lines from Arri
Here is how the Illumina 35mm lens appeared to stack up wide open (t1.3):
Less CA than Super Speed mk3
Similar CA to UltraPrime
Worse CA to MasterPrime (Master Prime 32mm totally rocks in CA performance wide open...amazing lenses)
CA on the Illumina visually dissapeared, or reduced to insignificant around t/2.8 and undetectable around t/4.0 Same as the Supers and Ultras. Masters, well the 32mm was forged by a God that hated CA...what more can I say.
Sharper than Super Speed mk3
Similar Sharpness to Ultras (to my eye a hair better)
Less sharp than MPs
Slightly less distortion than SS
slightly worse distortion than Ultras
not in the same ballpark as MPs (agian...amazing lens)
Breathing (focus pull-through performance) much more pleasing than SS
Not really differnet than Ultra
less tack perfect than MP
Actual lens speed lightly faster than Supers, Ultras, and Masters.
Finish is less polished on Illuminas than any of the three from Arri. (might be painted finish rather than coated)
I only had time to check out the 35mm in this way. None of the tests meant a hill of beans from a definitive number-crunching way. These were quick and dirty tests, but the results were pretty impressive. These are good lenses!
Of the three lenses I checked (25mm, 35mm, and 85mm) the 35 & 85 focus marks are spot on perfect. The 25mm's marks are slightly off by -2" at 4'. I'll check with Fred to see about getting that lens re-collimated.
The proof will be pointing the camera at real subjects not charts. I'll post some frame grabs soon.
