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Canon 300mm 2.8 IS version 1 or RED Pro Prime 300mm?

Samir Patel

Samir Patel

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Hi everyone. Looking for advice. Has anyone shot with both of these two lenses and compared?

Canon 300mm 2.8 IS version 1 (full frame)
RED pro prime 300mm?

If you had to pick one which would you go with?
Currently I only have a canon mount for my Scarlet so if I go for the RPP I would need to buy a PL mount which is another $2000.

Battle tested RPP goes for approx $3500 + PL mount
Canon lens approx $3800 in the used market + canon mount which I already have.

I'm thinking I can always use the Canon lens with a still camera and it has Image Stabilization.
Or do you think I should go with a manual Nikon lens or other?
 
I'm in the same boat as you looking for a good 300mm 2.8. I've been doing a ton of research.

If I was going to buy a 300mm 2.8 right now it would probably be a Canon FD 300mm 2.8. For a couple reasons.

FD adapter to EOS pretty easily
There are people who say the Canon FD 300mm is sharper then the RED 300mm
The Canon is going for around 1200-1800 depending on wear.
I don't think at this time its smart for me to convert to PL.
 
RED PL 300mm all day long. If larger lenses are coming you will want lenses that don't breathe that much. At very least test them both. Great deals on the RED 300mm. I love that lens.
 
I've got a Canon FD 300mm 2.8 lens that was converted to PL. It's beautiful :)
 
Any mechanical lens will have less image shift than an electronic one. Plus, in a long tele the IS is of limited use when filming, it's optimized for stills according to my impression. My personal experience is limited to the RPP 300 and the Canon 80-200, though.

As mentioned compare the breathing (and bokeh and flare etc.) before buying.
 
Cine lenses are built favoring a better built, and eliminating or try and reduce as much as possible the various artifacts, especially as far as it concerns breathing.

Most important factor to keep in consideration is that if you use the lens in Infinity Focus, this is always not so exact with DSLR lenses, Zooms or Primes, when this are electronic such as the Canon.

As far as the IS on electronic lenses, it does take away form sharpness, so if the same lens is a non IS will be sharper then the IS one, always!

Manual vs. possibility to go Touch Focus and use it also on your Canon DSLR, sharper vs. a touch less sharper, perfect Infinity Manual focus vs. a not so perfect one, were some times is more a guess then a fact, having perfectly aligned Focus markings when needed, vs. not good Focus markings that you can rely on when focusing manually with a metered mode, as the Canon lenses were built to Focus in Auto or even if in Full Manual, were not design to be Focus by measurement but by VF, most importatnly to me also is the fact that you do not have Manual Iris control on the Canon.


There is more, but this I believe should give you a good perspective on the two... ;)
 
I really love my RPP 300. Such a nice mechanical lens. The picture is very good with very little CA.
 
Haven't used the Canon but the RPP 300mm served us well and the build quality is great. Some people, Mark Toia, use the lens on the Epic without support. For the price and quality, it's one of the better PL long lenses out and you can find one for around 3k USD.
 
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