RPZ 17-50mm 5K vignette benchmark

[Rémi Sello]

Hi there,

We bought a RED PRO ZOOM 17-50mm with our EPIC-M. We are trully satisfied of it, it produce amazing pictures. But I read all over reduser that it only vignette between 17mm & 18.5mm at 5K FF. That's clearly not what I've experienced, so I made a small test to show you what I've got.

Test conditions

I took shots of a white paper at 17mm, ~20mm, 25mm, ~30mm, ~35mm & 50mm (some are approximations since there're not written on the lense). Each shot was taken in camera in 5K full frame, 5K 2:1 and 5K 2.4:1. I then applied a gamma curve in Redcine-X :

Our colorist use this kind of gamma curve everyday, so I consider it as a real usage test.

Aperture ~F/4, ISO 800, Redcolor2 & Redgamma 2. Except for the gamma curve, Redcine-X in full default options.

Here are the results as 15% scaled JPG. You can download a 430mb zip file with full res tiff here.

5K FULL FRAME

17mm

20mm

25mm

30mm

35mm

50mm

5K 2:1

17mm

20mm

25mm

30mm

35mm

50mm

5K 2:4

17mm

20mm

25mm

30mm

35mm

50mm

Conclusion

Although it become less and less noticeable, our RPZ 17-50mm vignettes at every focal in every 5K format. Vignette totally disappears in 4KHD.

Maybe it's a problem with my lense, but I got it brand new from RED UK a week ago.

Please share your experience!

 

[Mike 'Fireman' Ross]

Thanks for that Rémi... interesting and informative.

Does it improve when stopped down?

I wonder, do RED have any plans to revise this lens to eliminate vignetting at 5k?

Mike

 

[Rémi Sello]

Does it improve when stopped down?

Actually your remark reminded me that it wasn't full opened. It was around f/4.

I see no difference when stopping up or down.

 

[Rémi Sello]

430mb zip file with full res tiff available here.

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

Did you try removing the shade from the lens?
It will void your warranty but may cure some of the vignetting...

 

[Rémi Sello]

Did you try removing the shade from the lens?
It will void your warranty but may cure some of the vignetting...

No, and I need it for my clip-on mattebox. :smile5:

It may add vignetting at wide focal range, but I don't think it has any impact on 30mm, 35mm or 50mm focal length.

 

[Jean Guerra]

this is a huge bummer man

 

[Jacek Zakowicz]

No, and I need it for my clip-on mattebox. :smile5:

It may add vignetting at wide focal range, but I don't think it has any impact on 30mm, 35mm or 50mm focal length.

You're right- the dip at 25mm won't be affected by the shade- it's internal...

 

[Thomas Koch]

I guess this means the 18-50 won't cover after 22mm either. FYI, when I shot with the epic and the 17-50 I got similar results. I had to push into the frame in REDCINE-X. very disappointing change of specs.

 

[Mark Andersen]

Same problem here. I have vignetting with my RPZ 17-50 as well. But I didnt notice too much at 2.4:1

 

[Bérenger Brillante]

this is a huge bummer man

It's not a real bummer most lenses are not 5k ready. 17-50 RPZ is the only zoom of its kind.

As Jacek said, remove the hood, it should be better.

 

[Max M.]

this is quite disappointing , as on the red site is says it works with epic, but actually doesn't work flawlessly with epic, what should RED do about this?

 

[Mark Andersen]

Zooms inherently have smaller images circles than primes. On the bright side the image quality seems to be consistent even to the edges (right before vignetting appears) so a slight crop in will still give a very good image.

 

[Max M.]

but always having to slightly crop in is not something you want to do as a standard for every shot you make...You can't justify that towards the post production and your clients, they will want to use other lenses.

 

[Julio Quintana]

I was on the verge of buying the RED 17-50mm as my kit lens. This information is what changed my mind. Because there are no PL zooms in this price range, I ended up ordering a Canon 16-35mm and a Tokina 11-16mm. Oh well.

 

[Jean Guerra]

well al guess am going to have to shoot 4.5k with the red zoom 17-50...........4.5k is more than good for me!!!!

 

[Randall Brown]

I have experienced the exact same amount of vignetting, caught me off guard on the last shoot because i thought it was 5K safe for most of the range. And I didn't find it to improve significantly once stopped down.

 

[Jean Guerra]

anyone from red can explain???

 

[Julio Quintana]

anyone from red can explain???

Jim mentioned in a previous thread that the 17-50mm vignettes on Epic: http://reduser.net/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&p=775950

That lens will vignette slightly at 5K FF without the matte box. I assume you are saying the matte box makes it vignette more?

Jim

In the RED store it says that the lens works with Epic. Although that is technically true, they might want to put a footnote that explains that it doesn't cover the full sensor.

 

[Timur Civan]

Is the epics "S35" bigger than standard s35?