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A good first PL zoom?

AndreasOberg

AndreasOberg

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Suggestions for a good first PL zoom lens?
In still photography I use mostly primes but I have realized that I need to more flexibility with doing videos.
Range would be wide to medium long.

I looked at the Red 18-85 a bit. Downsides is that it's heavy and not that long. I think I would need 2 zoom lenses in this case since I often find myself needing to reach up to 200. On the other hand it could be a nice mix with my 300mm.

Price wize I would be happy if its below $10k used or less.
Thanks
/Andreas
 
Sadly, light weight, long range and cheap doesn't really describe anything out there. The Red 17-50 and 18-85 are a great value, but you have to make a choice between a 10lb beast and limiting your zoom range. The Red 17-50 (about $5000 used, usually) and the GL Optics rehousing of the Canon 70-200 ($6000) might make a good combo of light weight zooms for your purposes.
 
Range: wide to medium long? Sounds like classic 25-250 is what you want.

Price: under $10k? That narrows the field a bit.

You'll find older Cooke & Angie 25-250s well within that price range.

They won't be small or light; decent range cine zooms never are. And if you're expecting Optimo quality you'll be disappointed... but they have character to burn; I love my old Cooke 25-250 T3.1 :-)

Mike
 
Thanks for the input guys.
I'm of course willing to comprimize.
For example using a heavy one. Or maybe going up in price a bit but that will move it into the future.
How is the quality of an older Cooke compared to a Canon 70-200 2.8 for example? I don't really know what to expect from these lenses. Are they anywhere in the same ballpark as the Red Primes, those I can compare with.

It doesn't have to be super long range. It could also be 2 different zooms so wide-medium to medium-long.

Thanks for the help again.
/Andreas
 
How about Zeiss compact Primes? I haven't used them. I'd like to hear from someone who has. At 20k they exceed your budget, but not as much as other options. GL optics is an interesting option. I have an older 25-250 Cooke. Yes, lots of character. It can suffer wide open (at T3.9) but it's a fun lens in the right circumstances. It doesn't cover 5k at the wide and medium focal lengths.
 
I went through the same thinking you are going through right now. If you are going with one zoom then you have a number of considerations. How wide at the wide end is wide enough. If you want something that will be versatile then you need to be in the 17-20 range so Red 17-50 or Cooke 20-60. If you are willing to give up some of those widest focal lengths then the Elite 30-80 might be a good option then there are the Angie DP 30-80 if you want to step up in price and the 28-70 angie which is way out of your price range I am sure cause it's way out of mine.

Then you have how tight do you want it at the long end. 50mm at T2.9 is ok. For me I like to have something longer. The 60mm on the cooke I likes. I often thought I would give up the 10 mm at the front end to get the 80mm length at the long end.

Then you have speed. Almost all those lenses are T 2.9-3.1. I always thought that the Technocooke 18.5-55.5 T2.4 would be a sick first zoom. Thing is it's up in the 8 lb range and it has a huge front element so you are limited to what mat box you can use with it.

The cooke look is a nice look. Most of the higher end old lenses definitely still hold up.
 
Your budget being the limiting factor here, and not knowing your shooting needs, I might suggest a Duclos 11-16mm on the wide end, along with a production zoom like the Cooke 20-100mm. Same basic budget would also get you just the newer Cooke 18-100mm. Both those Cooke's are big and heavy so also factor support into the budget. For a lighter setup the above mentioned Red 17-50mm & GL 70-200mm might be doable.

Good Luck!

Dave
 
My 18-50 T3 Red is my favorite!!! Not to heavy and have handle almost any lighting condition. Plus your workflow is faster cause switching lenses every shot can add up to shoot time.
 
I do like the 17-50 as a great budget PL lens. I'd take it any day over a canon still zoom.
 
Thanks for all the replies guys.

The Cooke range 18-100 sounds very appealing. Basically I'm looking to use the zoom mostly for documentaries where we would have interviews or are tracking moving objects. For example now I was filming sleid dogs from a snow mobile, before I was in the jungle filming interviews in a ranch. Since I'm still new I'm finding that I keep changing my understanding of what I need every time.
What I have found however is that focus is the part I would like to improve the most. What good is it to have sharp lenses if I can focus pull perfectly when I have dogs running towards me.
The way that I think I would use the zooms ideally would be
- having 1 or possibly 2 zooms that are used for everything where you need to quickly change range and setups. And when I have time to be artistic then I use primes.
For example now when I'm using a lot of canon lenses I'm using 24-105 and 70-200 as my zooms. They cover everything normal that I need and then I can use the 100 macro for macro work and 400mm for ranged shooting. Only problem is that since they are canon lenses they are much HARDER to focus pull with (at least with my current experience). I focus pull much much better the Red 300mm with my CFF1.

The Red 17-50 sounds nice, I do wish it was a bit longer though. I often find myself needing something more than 50mm, but it's very lightweight on the other hand.

Have you guys had any luck in renting a collection of lenses for testing and getting a bit cheaper price? It wouldn't be so fun to rent 10 lenses for 3 days for testing for full price, but would be very useful to test them.

Thanks for all the ideas!
/Andreas
 
If you need a longer zoom, take a look at the Canon FD 600-150mm f5.6 L zoom lens. It has a universal mount for PL, Nikon, and Canon, and weighs about 9.5-lb. It will vary the focus some during a zoom, but this is less of a problem with a telephoto lens.
 
If interested in the 150-600mm, check out Century or Clairmont Camera conversion of that lens, where it becomes a true zoom, not just vari-focal lens.
cheers, Ken Robings
digitaloptik.net
 
The optimal word here is "quick". A Cooke 18-100 may be a lot of things, but it is not necessary quick. It's a fairly heavy baby. I suspect that you need a more modern zoom. Something light enough that you don't need heavy duty rail support. Something like a Cabrio or a modern Angenieux 50-150 might do the trick. But those are not cheap.
 
Neal Williams said:
If you need a longer zoom, take a look at the Canon FD 600-150mm f5.6 L zoom lens. It has a universal mount for PL, Nikon, and Canon, and weighs about 9.5-lb. It will vary the focus some during a zoom, but this is less of a problem with a telephoto lens.
Click to expand...
This lens is great for sports and wildlife, but it doesn't have the sharpness and contrast of contemporary lenses. While having that range and being able to zoom and focus simultaneously with one hand can let you catch spontaneous events that you might miss with another lens, the color, contrast and sharpness improve dramatically when I switch to a RPZ for wider shots. It can certainly be a useful lens in certain situations, but I'd go for something more modern if you don't absolutely need a zoom range like that.
 
The 150-600 went out on every commercial in the 80's and maybe 90's, so if interested in that period look, this is a FF35 lens, very future proof.
The Optex conversion is the lens mount only option (varible focal lg.), the Century, Clairmont and Otto N. are traditional cinema lenses, i.e. heavy, with gears.
Min. focus 10 FT.?
Ken Robings
digitaloptik
 
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