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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

uniqoptics lenses any good?

Very good lenses. Made in limited quantities, so not as many reviews, user reports. What I saw in demos looked good.
 
Hey Steinberg:

Did you look at ours? its weird that you have trouble with the flaring.....I think its one of the best features of the lens....dare I say the flare is similar to a primo?
The uniqs are a certain price point.....we have done a few low budget features and some TV series with good results. They are not cookes, masters or ultras, but the price is attractive. The only issues we have had are with heavy diffusion......as with all of the cheaper lenses they tend to fall apart when you start going really heavy.

John DeBoer
Sim Video
 
John, what do you mean when you say "...,you start going really heavy."? Are you talking about filters? Please explain what you mean that cheaper lenses fall apart. I use Zeiss and Angenieux, so maybe I have not experienced the effect.
 
They are great lens for the money. Great build quality, resolution, sharpness, MTF like ultra primes.
Flaring problem ? Says who dipshits? Who are the these guys who have never owned or used the lens commenting?
I've used them several times. The quality is up there like ultra primes but heavier and larger like RPP.
It's amazing how you guys like to beat up Unique Optics. Pathetic.
 
David Collard said:
They are great lens for the money. Great build quality, resolution, sharpness, MTF like ultra primes.
Flaring problem ? Says who dipshits? Who are the these guys who have never owned or used the lens commenting?
I've used them several times. The quality is up there like ultra primes but heavier and larger like RPP.
It's amazing how you guys like to beat up Unique Optics. Pathetic.
Click to expand...

stay_classy1.gif
 
These lenses are very similar in look to the RPPs. I would agree that they are prone to flare very easily, especially the 100mm. I'm referring to a kind of 'veiling flare', where there is an overall loss of contrast and the blacks get lifted, as opposed to a visible lens flare pattern. Even hot hits off surfaces that are out of frame can cause flares...often we'd start flagging all kinds of sources to find out where the flare is coming from. If you're used to not using hard mattes, well, get used to them for these lenses.

That said, I still prefer these over Red Pro Primes in usage, I find the mechanical feel a little bit better and more focus marks for me.
 
Hey Tim:

Yes, diffusion filters. If you put heavy diffusion, say a 1/2 BPM and a 1/2 Classic soft, they start to fall apart. Super speeds and 2.1's have the same issue, although not as much...as do some other cheaper primes. Once again, you get what you pay for.

John
 
Kar Wai Ng said:
I would agree that they are prone to flare very easily, especially the 100mm. I'm referring to a kind of 'veiling flare', where there is an overall loss of contrast and the blacks get lifted, as opposed to a visible lens flare pattern. Even hot hits off surfaces that are out of frame can cause flares...often we'd start flagging all kinds of sources to find out where the flare is coming from. If you're used to not using hard mattes, well, get used to them for these lenses.
.
Click to expand...

Completely agree with everything said by Kar Wai Ng. The 100 is the worst one of the bunch for this issue. And I like the term "veiling flare"......I think I will start using this to describe the issue.
John
 
David Collard said:
They are great lens for the money. Great build quality, resolution, sharpness, MTF like ultra primes.
Flaring problem ? Says who dipshits? Who are the these guys who have never owned or used the lens commenting?
I've used them several times. The quality is up there like ultra primes but heavier and larger like RPP.
It's amazing how you guys like to beat up Unique Optics. Pathetic.
Click to expand...

Wow.
 
As with anything you should do your own tests. I found that a small light facing the lens would produce a ring flare emanating from the source and would grow in size as the light moved from center of the lens to the side and when I say grow in size I mean it's would grow to about 1/4 of the frame. I also had Cooke S4's, a Zeiss Highspeed set and a Red 18-85 zoom to compare against. None of the other lenses flared 1/10th of what the Uniq's did. Looks nice if you want it there but I can't imagine what a row of streetlights would do to the shot.

I'm not bashing or endorsing. I did a day of tests and found that this lens set wouldn't work for the type of projects I shoot. Do your own tests and see if you like them.
 
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I've used them on quite a few projects (*as an AC) and found them to be quite nice. I've never once seen flares like Paul is talking about, could simply be a bad/early batch. They are quite heavy and bulky, and I believe the 18,25,35 are the same size while the 50,85,100 are a different size. Not a huge deal but enough to annoy the crane op when doing wide to long lens swaps all day long. For the price they can't be beat. (*Haven't used the RPPs)
 
A guy I know in Toronto, Ryan Williams, swears by them.

They seem like really nice lenses for the money, I'm hoping to get some hands on with them soon, hopefully shoot my next music video with them on the Alexa.

I think what John was referring to was going with really heavy diffusion filters in front of the lens, and by "cheaper lenses fall apart" he means the image starts to fall apart, or strange artefacts begin to appear, contrast drops etc.

Maybe I'll just come in to SIM and have a look at them some time John?
 
Aaron,

like Paul said - do your own test.

Anyway I have used them several times and also mixed them with UPs for a commercial job (in a studio, no uncontrolled lights, so I can't say much about flares) and they performed very well.

I have not used the RPPs so far, so I can't compare.

Best wishes and kind regards,
Martin
 
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