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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 :)

optica elite quality?

S

Sven Seynaeve

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Who could help me with a little real world experience having used the optica elite
s35 lensens or other ones they manufacture. How is the build quility and the result of it.

I really into the question which set I should get when I got my red. It's hard to do some tests over here as they are not available in Belgium as far as I know , so mostly I'm depending on your reactions.

Please come in with some feedback.
The other sollution I"m looking at are the zeiss ultraprimes.
 
i know a few persons that have used them - they say they are very close to zeiss super speeds in contrast /resolution... they would rate zeiss super speed mechanic's at 9 and elite at 8 ...

these days used ziess standard primes T2.1 are almost the same price as new elites T1.3's .....

you can rent/buy them
http://www.slowmotioninc.com/sales/35_lenses.htm

they have plans for a set of 35 digital primes .. from what they told me - they are the same as the S35 film lens but have a smaller outer housing 85mm vs. 110mm ... maybe in the spring they'll be ready ??

http://optica-elite.com/products/Document Library/1/LENSES FORMAT S35 mm DIGITAL 2007.htm

price list
http://optica-elite.com/price/pages/Price.aspx

ultra primes are hard to come by ... i can't get a answer out of arri ( burbank) on price or availability ...
 
I would say they're brilliant. The glass in these lenses are superb. Design today is westernized. That used to be the problem with Russian lenses in the past when they had they're own crazy standard with Konvas and Kinor. So if your thinking about them go for it, you will not regret it.


fred
 
thx for the replies,

dear mr.Weirdcrew ;
being westernized, what do you exactly mean,
are these the markings,
or also the sizes of the lenses itself??

btw Do you guys know a place maby in Europe, where i could get a side by side comparisation?
 
I think he meant "westernized" in that they were using modern manufacturing techniques not out of date cold war age technologies.
 
I'm guessing that Optica Elite and RED lens's are about the same in optical quality, but what about build quality? Some people have said they weren't crazy about the distance between focus marks and were also concerned about the build quality... Supposedly, there is a new Optica zoom, 16-60 that will be coming out early next year. I am considering it instead of the RED zoom since I believe both will be about the same price.

Just thinkin....

Matthew
 
I think you'll find that Elite's are equal and very often compared with/ to the Zeiss when it comes to optical quality. If that would compare to the RED's I can't say because I have yet to experience them. As for the mechanics with the elites they're said to be not as great as the Zeiss optics, that doesn't mean they're bad though. It only means that the Zeiss is one of the best in the world and it's hard to compete with that, although this was all about 7 years ago and the Elites are said to have improved since then. All in all, the actual glass inside is top notch.

fred
 
macville said:
I'm guessing that Optica Elite and RED lens's are about the same in optical quality, but what about build quality? Some people have said they weren't crazy about the distance between focus marks and were also concerned about the build quality... Supposedly, there is a new Optica zoom, 16-60 that will be coming out early next year. I am considering it instead of the RED zoom since I believe both will be about the same price.

Just thinkin....

Matthew
Click to expand...

There's 2 main manufactures of cine lenses in Russia. Optar Illiumina and Optica Elite. Optar Illumina builds in Moscow, The Optica Elite factory is in St Petersberg. Optar Illumina has announced some new products, including 35mm primes and the 16-60 zoom.

There is no use speculating about the quality of the Red Primes, no one is talking about who is designing the optics and mechanics, doing the manufacturing, what the quality control will be like and when they will deliver. I hope for the best on all fronts.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
Matt Uhry said:
There's 2 main manufactures of cine lenses in Russia. Optar Illiumina and Optica Elite. Optar Illumina builds in Moscow, The Optica Elite factory is in St Petersberg. Optar Illumina has announced some new products, including 35mm primes and the 16-60 zoom.

There is no use speculating about the quality of the Red Primes, no one is talking about who is designing the optics and mechanics, doing the manufacturing, what the quality control will be like and when they will deliver. I hope for the best on all fronts.
Click to expand...

Ahh, yes I got them confused again. I have got to stop relying on my brain to do the thinking. What I am looking for is the build quality of the Optar Illumina lenses! My biggest problem right now is trying to decide on what kind of lens I want to buy. My budget is around $15k and I would like to get something that I know I will be able to use for at least 75% of my work. Originally, I was looking at the Cooke 18-100 as it would cover most of my needed range and then also getting a Cooke 25-250 for any extra emooph that I need. My main work is corporate videos and interview type settings, so I'm not sure about using primes as I can't always get the camera as close as I want. The 18-100 is a heavy lens (12lbs) but when I considered everything I would add, it was only about 30 lbs--which is very close to some of the beta cameras I've used in the past. To me, that's pretty totable, but maybe after a few shoots I might change my mind. The RED 18-50 seems like it just wouldn't have enough throw, but then again the Optar 16-60 really isn't that much more. I wish the RED 18-85 was coming out sooner because I would get that with a Cooke 25-250 and call it a day until I can also buy a prime set.

What do you think Matt, is the 18-100 really that heavy/long that I couldn't kind of run and gun with it? 99.99% of my work is tripod, so I'm not trying to handhold it.

Matthew
 
macville said:
What do you think Matt, is the 18-100 really that heavy/long that I couldn't kind of run and gun with it? 99.99% of my work is tripod, so I'm not trying to handhold it.

Matthew
Click to expand...



18-100 is a bit big, it's a studio lens... needs support, probably will need a 6x6 mattebox - but this should be tested on the Red.

a 20-100 is quite good for the money... Closer to the 18-100 in terms of performance than the price would lead you to think.

Both lenses are not really "Run and Gun" they are big and really made for a multi person camera team -

Cooke 25-250 mk2 is cool, I have one. works well on Red especially if you stop down a bit. A bit too slow for typical interior work. 4x5.6 filters will work on it fine.

The lens you need is the Angenieux optimo 17-80 T2.2 but it's really expensive. $56k I think. Maybe roll with a couple of nikon zooms and see what shapes up in the next year. That's what I would do in your place.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
Matt Uhry said:
18-100 is a bit big, it's a studio lens... needs support, probably will need a 6x6 mattebox - but this should be tested on the Red.

a 20-100 is quite good for the money... Closer to the 18-100 in terms of performance than the price would lead you to think.

Both lenses are not really "Run and Gun" they are big and really made for a multi person camera team -

Cooke 25-250 mk2 is cool, I have one. works well on Red especially if you stop down a bit. A bit too slow for typical interior work. 4x5.6 filters will work on it fine.

The lens you need is the Angenieux optimo 17-80 T2.2 but it's really expensive. $56k I think. Maybe roll with a couple of nikon zooms and see what shapes up in the next year. That's what I would do in your place.
Click to expand...

I would do the nikon's but I don't want to be limited by trying to use lenses in a way they weren't designed for. I had seen the Optimo before but knew that it was waaaay out of my budget.

How quickly can you change out the lens if you have a swing away mattebox? I was thinking that I could also get the 18-50 and the 50-150 until the 18-85 comes out Either that or get a prime set and learn to move the camera more. Hopefully I will get to play with the 18-50 before I have to order lenses, but it's still frustrating until then...Kinda makes me wish I could get a EFP style lens that covered 4K!

Matthew
 
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