New Zeiss ZF package....Thanks RP Lens!

[Lee Dashiell]

I would like to thank Peter at www.RPlens.com for all of his help. The quality and value of the glass was much more important to me than the mount so I decided to save about 30K on my lens purchase and go with converted Zeiss ZF lenses. I am amazed at just how smooth they are. This is the Ziess ZF package that we put together with the Nikon Mount.

18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and a pristine 135mm Nikkor.

Very pleased. Looking forward to shooting with them. Thanks again Peter.

 

[Cal Brunker]

awesome! I'd love to see some footage from these bad boys. How do they hold up in a production environment: Staying sharp on moving talent wide open etc.

This looks like such a smart, well priced setup for the RED, I'd love to see if its a real, viable alternative to a prime PL set!

Thanks for the pix!

Cal

 

[Joe Carney]

Thanks for the link. Looks good.

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

Any focus pullers out there that would care to comment on using a setup like this?

Great looking package by the way. Let us know how it works for you.

Thanks for posting.

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Any focus pullers out there that would care to comment on using a setup like this?

Great looking package by the way. Let us know how it works for you.

Thanks for posting.

Just remember to use something like a Bartech wireless focus device that has the built-in 'reverse' function... That's what I ended up buying.

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Oh, and also... Does anyone know if somebody makes a custom foam insert for the Zeiss ZF range?

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

Can the Bartech somehow compensate for the short focus rotation of a still lens (most PL mount lenses have more distance between focus marks)?

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Can the Bartech somehow compensate for the short focus rotation of a still lens (most PL mount lenses have more distance between focus marks)?

Definitely yes! What you do is that you calibrate the range of motion on a per lens basis, so that the knob on the focus device becomes standardized. This way you get the same great range of motion no matter what the lens. Take a look at page 6 of the manual (actually page 7 if you go by the PDF viewer's page count):

http://strattoncamera.com/pdf/BFDManual2.pdf

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

Very nice!

TheThe - have you used this or a similar setup? How do you like it?

 

[Benjamin Rowland]

Thanks for the link to the manual, by the way.

 

[Gary Ploj]

Zeiss ZF

Zeiss ZF

Nice...I'll check out RP lens website.

thanks.

Looking to buy something similar.

 

[Matt Gottshalk]

If you don't mind, what did that set you back?

Thanks.

 

[Lee Dashiell]

If you don't mind, what did that set you back?

Thanks.

The set was right at $7800.

Seemed like a very reasonable figure for quality glass.

I did learn that the ZF lenses use some of the same elements as the Zeiss Master Primes.

 

[Vladimir Eugene]

I was trying to figure out if they also changed the mount to PL, or if that was an option- does anyone know?

 

[Lee Dashiell]

I don't know if you can put a PL mount on them or not.

These are all Nikon mount lenses.....but the RED comes with the Nikon mount too. I figured that I would rather have a Nikon mount prime lens package and some money in the bank than PL mount primes so I could pat myself on the back. The difference is about 30K. Hard to justify for me but my camera is not on the rental market and the PL mount doesn't make me any $$$.

 

[Jeff Nielsen]

Agreed - I just bought a set similar to yours from RPLens. Hopefully It will ship within the next couple of days as our RED is lensless at the moment. I think bang for the buck you can't beat that setup.

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

These are a very good option for owner / operators and indies who won't be serving the full-service rental market. The ZF lenses have very long focus throws on them for still lenses. Not quite as long as many cine lenses, but very good. Combined with a quality FF, they should perform very well.

For an indie buying into RED, who doesn't already own PL glass, this could be a very logical purchase. I'm so very tempted myself, but I need the PL mount on the camera most of the time.

Converting Nikon lenses like this to PL would be very costly and may even be entirely impractical as the lens barrel would have to be shortened at the rear for proper flange depth.

 

[Manfred Lopez]

Very nice!

TheThe - have you used this or a similar setup? How do you like it?

Yes, this is what I use, although I still don't have all the ZF lenses. I would definitely recommend the Bartech / Heden / Zeiss ZF combo as being great for the money. What I love about the ZF's is their mechanical movement and feel (besides the optics, obviously). The pm;y thing that I am missing now is a custom foam insert for all the lenses. Does anyone know if someone makes a ready-made one to use with a Storm case?

 

[Zakaree Sandberg]

$7800.00 ???
website says 4,775

 

[Lee Dashiell]

$7800.00 ???
website says 4,775

Website is for the four Zeiss lenses....I added the 18mm and the 135mm. The 18mm is the highest priced piece in the set. It was about $1800 after the conversion, which is still a bargain when you price it to a Cine Prime.