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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 :)

Luma Tech Illuminas vs. the new Cooke Panchros...a review

Jeffrey T. Morgan said:
...To me, if they are as sharp as the RPP, half the weight and that much faster.... the price seems right. In between RPP and Panchros?
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If they behave consistently from lens to lens, look and perform good wide open and compete favourable against modern glass (with repsect to build quailty, serviceability, veiling glare, resolution etc) they are a bargain.

I deeply supsect there is a catch since I am yet to see any real glass miracles.. That catch might be completley workable??

If anyone has them in london and wants to see them against other lenses get in touch... I'd love to have a look (and have a teck give them a look over).

Also reference to UK servicing! where??

Michael L
 
Until Fred gets these lenses into the hands of the premier Red User contributors for a SALT II type review, I think most people will remain skeptical.
There simply have been no serious comparison reviews by American Photographer, RedUser, or any of the cinema blogs I visit from time to time. That is a goal Lomo et al must achieve before any meaningful sales will take place. (Other than Fred 's Canadian buyer, I have not heard a peep from any respected cinematograpaher on Illumna quailty or performance. Have you?)
 
Tim Duran said:
Until Fred gets these lenses into the hands of the premier Red User contributors for a SALT II type review, I think most people will remain skeptical.
There simply have been no serious comparison reviews by American Photographer, RedUser, or any of the cinema blogs I visit from time to time. That is a goal Lomo et al must achieve before any meaningful sales will take place. (Other than Fred 's Canadian buyer, I have not heard a peep from any respected cinematograpaher on Illumna quailty or performance. Have you?)
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Tim,
Do you think there are no respected cinematographers in the world besides those found on the Redusers Forum? Have you considered that your remarks may be an insult to the famous Russian DP, Valentinovich Astakhov, who shot an entire feature using only the Illumina lenses (on a RED camera), or Monsieur Le Gal in Paris who shot such a beautiful music video, or DP Matt Gorie in Australia who uses Illuminas to shoot his commercials and all the other dp's who own or rent the Illuminas??? and..."Fred's Canadian buyer" is PANAVISION (besides their competition in Montreal, Toronto and other Canadian locations.

We are not worried about the skeptics; Time will tell. And...if the Illuminas were not selling extremely well why would we be raising prices?

We greatly appreciate this forum as a means for open discussion, hopefully without demeaning anyone, and must thank RED for creating the firestorm of creativity in the first place! The lens revolution was born with RED. However, successful revolutions take time. And the Illuminas were built for the RED army (pun intended).
 
Fred, I guess I missed something. Please show us the comparison reviews by your DP friends. A review by Panavision comparing your products to theirs would help. As to the gentlemen you named, not too much on IMDb about them. I didn't find any comparison reviews from them, either.

6-9 months ago there were a number of favorable reviews on Standard Primes, most in context with other lenses. Today you can't find sets anymore. The loose sets have been gobbled up. The only negative comments on the Standards came from you. If you would loan a set of your Illuminas to Evin Grant and his SALT team, you could easly remove any doubt on your product if they stand up as you say they will.

It's only a suggestion. Lots of RedUsers out there need lenses. You have a chance to edify all of us. And you have all our attention as to your decision.
 
Nobody is putting down your lenses Fred, we just want to see some more examples at high quality. I would consider a set in a hearbeat. The only inexpensive fast set of primes in 35 format are the K35's. They are good, but have quirks.

The market needs a a nice set of fast primes for night work. :)
 
Fred Salaff said:
Tim,
Do you think there are no respected cinematographers in the world besides those found on the Redusers Forum? Have you considered that your remarks may be an insult to the famous Russian DP, Valentinovich Astakhov, who shot an entire feature using only the Illumina lenses (on a RED camera), or Monsieur Le Gal in Paris who shot such a beautiful music video, or DP Matt Gorie in Australia who uses Illuminas to shoot his commercials and all the other dp's who own or rent the Illuminas??? and..."Fred's Canadian buyer" is PANAVISION (besides their competition in Montreal, Toronto and other Canadian locations.

We are not worried about the skeptics; Time will tell. And...if the Illuminas were not selling extremely well why would we be raising prices?

We greatly appreciate this forum as a means for open discussion, hopefully without demeaning anyone, and must thank RED for creating the firestorm of creativity in the first place! The lens revolution was born with RED. However, successful revolutions take time. And the Illuminas were built for the RED army (pun intended).
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OK, Fred, but WHO in the US has bought the newest models with the improved mechanics? If they are selling so incredibly, where are the reviews?

If you are not worried, then why do you have no interest providing a test set of lenses to Evin Grant? Sales are so great now that you can raise prices and can afford to ignore 10.000's of REDUSERS??
(Redusers who shell out 10's of thousands of dollars for cameras BTW) really?

I think its a fair request... and I will even pay to RENT them for the SALT test. Just saying
 
The Illuminas are new and hard to find to evaluate, thats for sure. I felt pretty lucky to have scored time with both the Illuminas and the Panchros a few weeks ago. I only had 4-5 hours with them so kept my evaluation pretty focused on what -I- consider to be critical image elements for narrative work.

Based on my very independent evaluation, they are just what Timur said the market needs: a nice set of fast primes. The set I paid Fred last week for should arrive mid-late July. Just about the time my Epic-M does. At that point I would be happy to include them in any evaluations that are likely to shed more light on the subject. Knowledge is power.
 
Timur Civan said:
Too bad youre in cali man... Dying to try them.
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You are welcome to fly down to Florida and join me when I go pick them up. Bring your Panchros and we could take them out on town; charts, beaches, and the hot Miami night.
 
I'm in Ft. Lauderdale, Hollywood, FL right now... but sadly on vacation and without my Cookes, otherwise I'd swing by. Don't like to miss the opportunity to play with other lenses.
 
Fred Salaff said:
Tim,
Do you think there are no respected cinematographers in the world besides those found on the Redusers Forum? Have you considered that your remarks may be an insult to the famous Russian DP, Valentinovich Astakhov, who shot an entire feature using only the Illumina lenses (on a RED camera), or Monsieur Le Gal in Paris who shot such a beautiful music video, or DP Matt Gorie in Australia who uses Illuminas to shoot his commercials and all the other dp's who own or rent the Illuminas???
Click to expand...

Hi Fred
I love Astakhov's work with Balabanov. Which film did he shoot with the Illuminas?
 
Luma Tech, Inc. received this statement from famous Russian DP and professor at the St. Petersburg State University of Cinema and Television, Sergey Valentinovich Astakhov

"This year in August I started to shoot a new fiction film under the working title “Three days with the fool” genre – “romantic comedy for the family, at least as it is positioned by Alexey Kozlov, scenario writer, director and producer of the film. As usually, there was a question of choice for the camera and optics for film shooting. According to scenario the children acte in the film more than the professional actors, therefore we decided to use the digital camera Red One. Objects scheduled for shooting varied very much in scene and time of action: scenery in nature both in sunlight and at night, and indoor decor at day and night, in various interiors. I am not a fan of often changing optics by the focal length, for example for the films "Lucky days" and “Brother" I used only one objective lens with focal length 25 mm. “Three days with the fool” required more choice of sizes and "isolation from background”, therefore the whole series of ILLUMINA (18 to 85 mm) was used.

For some shots I used superwide-angle optics 12 mm Elite and long-focal-length optics Canon 400 mm. ILLUMINA optics is a good combination for these well-reputed objective lenses by the picture; and ILLUMINA optics very well recommended itself for many parameters, such as sharpness, light scattering. The shooting was made basically with the stops 2.8 to 8. Optimum stop was 4 mm. In order to retain the stop I used neutral grey filters. I tried to retain the optimum stop by the combination of those filters. I like them for the sharpness and "isolation from background”. But even when I used 18 mm objective lens on 1.3 stop, I was quite satisfied with the sharpness.

Upon the project close-out I can make the first conclusions. ILLUMINA optics is very stable in mechanics, good on optical drawing and is highly competitive with the optics of similar kind HS Carl Zeiss and sometimes is even better. I talk about the chromatic abberations on the frame edge. The chromatic aberration of ILLUMINA is siginificantly less expressed than at the other manufacturers.

I can say that ILLUMINA optics is a reliable instrument in cameraman’s work. As about weak points: no mechanical elements round the back lens to prevent the accidental damaging. Besides, it would be desirable to extend ILLUMINA series by including wider angle and longer focus. I know that the objective lens with 14 mm and 135 mm focus are at development stage already. It will let us to stop using the objective lenses of other friendly companies and allow to retain the same pattern all along the film.

In general, it is great that the very worthy product made in our country and in our city is appearing on our narrow specific market."
 
It doesn't appear to be bandwidth. The downloaded version is all messed up to.

Would you guys like to have me shoot a comprehensive test for you? Just cover the expenses and I will do it for free. If I do a great job (which I will) you could consider paying me with a set of lenses once mass production starts!

And by test I mean a diverse real world use of Day, Night, Interior and Exterior locations. City and Country.
 
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Paul Nordin said:
You are welcome to fly down to Florida and join me when I go pick them up. Bring your Panchros and we could take them out on town; charts, beaches, and the hot Miami night.
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Hmmmm......... I do have friends in Ft Lauderdale.....
 
Hey Paul, did you get your Illuminas yet? I have a shoot in Emeryville next weekend and would love to see them.

Mike
 
Hi Michael, Unfortunately, I'm still waiting to hear from Fred that they have arrived in the USA. Apparently, St.Petersburg Russia shuts down in July to a large degree for holiday, which had an impact on lens mfg. Last I heard is they will arrive the 1-2 week of August. Once they do get in, i'm happy to let you check them out.
 
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