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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 :)

17-50mm RED Pro Zoom...

We are giving a months heads up... 30 days longer than Apple! I bought 3 more G4 towers one week before the new G5's were announced. Ouch.

Jim

thanks, yeah I just bought my gal a brand new iMac 31 days before the new 27"... grrrr.

tasty glass is a wonderful appetizer while waiting on the 2010 goods. :cool:
 
1263205391.jpg

Glad the key light is working again, Jarred. :rofl:

It looks to me this lens is specifically designed for a S35 sensor which, in my view, should have better performance than adopted FF35 optics. I personally think this is an advantage.

It should be a very nice lens.
 
What I don't understand is how older used RED lenses are going down in price- while other used lenses are holding their used values. I sold my old 300 for around half the purchase price.

Hi,

Supply & demand, a mass produced low cost lens will never be in demand when there are other beter options. Buy the best, you will only cry once.

Stephen
 
Sanjin,

I have used that Tamron 17-50 lens and it's a complete piece of crap. Both optically and mechanically. There is no way RED is basing anything off of that turd. I know you are unwilling to believe, but just consider for a moment that RED could actually be designing and producing their own lenses.

Jeff,

I just found this online at Photozone.de the test about Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF]:

Distortions

The AF 17-50mm f/2.8 SP XR exhibited average distortion figures for a lens in this class.
As expected there're pronounced barrel distortions (2.7%) at 17mm which even out around
the 24mm setting. Beyond the images show a moderate degree of pincushion distortions (0.9% @ 50mm).


17mm_distortion.png


24mm_distortion.png


35mm_distortion.png


50mm_distortion.png



"MTF (resolution)

Many dedicated APS-C lenses suffer from performance problems towards the corners of the image field but,
surprisingly, the Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8 SP XR is one of the few lenses that which are capable to break this trend.
At 17mm and 24mm the lens was even able to reach some of the highest measured LW/PH values ever tested
in the center of the image (@ f/4-5.6). Even wide open the quality is already very good.
At 24mm the quality remains basically on the same high level. At 35mm and 50mm there's a really marginal decrease
in center performance whereas the border quality remains exceptionally high (for such a lens).
The lens showed a moderate degree of field curvature.


fieldcurvature.gif


Verdict

The Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] is a very serious performer capable to deliver some
of the best MTF50 figures to date in this lens class. Vignetting and distortions are about average for a lens in this class.
CAs are very high at 17mm and 24mm. Mechanically the lens isn't top notch but it compares very well here to other third party lenses.
AF accuracy could be a little better on the Nikon D200. Thanks to the very moderate price tag the lens is highly attractive and definitely
worth a deeper look when shopping for a quality standard zoom lens for your APS-C DSLR and it's also a very interesting alternative
to the genuine Nikkor standard zooms."


LINK>>>

lens.jpg

Tamron AF 17-50mm f/2.8 XR Di II LD Aspherical [IF] (the image shows the Canon EOS variant of the lens).

According to this German tester the lens is not a crap at all and has a value in it's own class...
 
I'm interested in the MiniZoom that i think i read about.

Any details on that Jim?
 
Hi,

Supply & demand, a mass produced low cost lens will never be in demand when there are other better options. Buy the best, you will only cry once.

Stephen

I get what you are saying when it comes to the first gen RED 18-50mm.

As far as "mass produced" low cost lenses.. I think the RPPs are a different story. Don't know if you would consider RPPs mass produced but they are low cost compared to the other options (one set of 5 costing almost the same price of a single competitor's lens). Who knows what the resale value will be like for RPPs but I do firmly believe that at a brand new price..it is having an effect on the used pricing of the "better options."

and i must tell you that my friend is sure having a hard time selling his used Zeiss Super Speeds MKIIIs and my hunch is that it is likely due to the fact that lower cost but pretty darn good quality RPP prime lenses are now finally available.

Not entirely disagreeing with you Stephen..as you generally get what you pay for. however, i just don't see a huge "15,000 dollar" quality increase between say an 50mm rpp compared to an ultra prime or cooke s4 50mm...

had i bought a set of cooke s4s (who some may consider the best) and later saw how nice the rpps are at a fraction of the cost..I'd be crying. but that is just me and of course cookes have their reputation to add into the mix other than optical quality.
 
Not entirely disagreeing with you Stephen..as you generally get what you pay for. however, i just don't see a huge "15,000 dollar" quality increase between say an 50mm rpp compared to an ultra prime or cooke s4 50mm...

had i bought a set of cooke s4s (who some may consider the best) and later saw how nice the rpps are at a fraction of the cost..I'd be crying. but that is just me and of course cookes have their reputation to add into the mix other than optical quality.

Tonaci don't forget that Cooke S4s are still one of the most respectable glass in the industry:

"Berger shot The White Ribbon in 3-perf Super 35mm using
a Moviecam Compact and Cooke S4 prime lenses. “I like the
Moviecam’s simple handling and good viewfinder, and I think the
S4s are still the best for avoiding lens flares, which was especially
important given our practical light sources,” he says. “I also appreciate
the look the Cookes achieve — not as hard as Zeiss Primes but
still sharp.”


Christian Berger, AAC on his shooting of Michael Haneke's "White Ribbon" at

ACMDE article "Rural Terrorism" By Jean Oppenheimer, page 20 >>>

Also Cooke S4's focus marks and distance accuracy are definitely one of the best in the industry
just because each individual lens is measured and proofed by hands.

We still have to see what will Leica bring to that field with its own Mystery name(d) primes.
 
This looks like a nice little zoom.
I think it's safe to assume the answers to many questions here on the forum,
pretty much any gripe users had with the 18-50mm will be fixed with this new iteration.
Im betting RED took all the suggestions and feedback they received from the 18-50mm and made a truly professional zoom from scratch.
Well done guys.
 
That's the lens I've been waiting for. I've have been in the market of an Optimo 16-42 and now more than happy that I did not pull the trigger.

While the Optimo is a sharp and very accurate lens it is kind of boring/neutral - but very convenient. I guess that the new Red zoom has equal characteristics - for less than half the price.

Thanks Red!

Hans
 
I get what you are saying when it comes to the first gen RED 18-50mm.
.

Hi Tonaci,

I was talking about the original RED 18-50 & to a lesser extent the original 300. I suspect RPP's will start selling at a discount to new second hand in 2010, due to supply & demand. FWIW the last Super Speeds were sold by the Arri for half price, due to lack of demand, a little cheaper than RPP's today.

Stephen
 
ya know, mechanic aside, surprisingly that older lens provided some of the sharpest images at Reducation in December... the glass was already really good...

My 18-50 isn't all that sharp, practically useless wide open. Maybe I have a lemon. I hope the new zoom is sharp at 2.9, I have to shoot around T8 to get a decent image out of the old 18-50, and the corners of the frame are still not so great.
 
My 18-50 isn't all that sharp, practically useless wide open. Maybe I have a lemon. I hope the new zoom is sharp at 2.9, I have to shoot around T8 to get a decent image out of the old 18-50, and the corners of the frame are still not so great.

Yea, you have a lemon. Mine is sharp wide open.
 
We are giving a months heads up... 30 days longer than Apple! I bought 3 more G4 towers one week before the new G5's were announced. Ouch.

Jim

dont remind me, they did the same thing to me....the bastards, Apple will smile and tell you nothing until the day they go on sale
 
dont remind me, they did the same thing to me....the bastards, Apple will smile and tell you nothing until the day they go on sale


Btw, you just have to read Apple rumors sites so often and then you will know well how not to make those mistakes...
 
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