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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 :)

Canon Cine Primes? Anybody seen or touched them?

Ryan Emanuel said:
I'm picking up the 24mm cn-e this afternoon and the 24mm L series on sat. I'll have some R3d comparisons from the scarlet. No scientific testing though just field tests.
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Hopefully you can do a breathing test comparison and let us know the result. I am curious to what "minimized breathing"(canon's words) means in the real world.
 
Mark K. said:
As you'd expect given the success Zeiss has had with reusing their still lens optical formulas in their CP.2s.
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True, but if you go back through history, it does appear that Zeiss's cinema designs ALSO influenced some of their still lenses. The 28 f2 for example, is supposed to be derived from an older cinema design. And there have been contant rumblings that Zeiss's 35 1.4, 50 1.4 and 85 1.4 still lenses were derived in some manner from older Super Speed designs.

It wouldn't surprise me if these new CP2 Super Speeds have at least something in common with the original Super Speeds . Obviously, the CP2 image circle is much larger (these new ones cover full frame), so there clearly have been changes...and the new coating is quite different. But point is...Zeiss appears to be flexible with designs, and they may even go back and forth...from cinema to still...and back again.
 
Robino_J said:
Hopefully you can do a breathing test comparison and let us know the result. I am curious to what "minimized breathing"(canon's words) means in the real world.
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The breathing actually is really minimal, better than cp.2
 
I wanted to test the lens more but a production took all my time this weekend. What I can tell you about the lens, having shot on cp.2 and owning zeiss ze glass is that the canon glass are sharper throughout different f stops. They are still sharp at 1.5, though there is some green chromatic aberation on high contrast edges wide open. But still the CA is less noticable on the canon then on the zeiss wide open. Zeiss has this distracting magenta halo that happens under f4. Cp.2 Focus and iris rings have a better feel but I love that the canon communicates with the scarlet showing f stop and lens focal distance and its pretty responsive. I'm gonna sell my zeiss ze cinemod set and get these canons, I think they are really what the mid range indie guy was looking for. CP.2 are great but not sharp all the time and breath a little. The Canon is a little better mostly across the board, at least thats my opinion.

Also I was impressed by the minimal distortion the lens had at least when cropped to super35, I'll try to upload some R3ds tomorrow
 
Thanks for the info, Ryan. I'm going to be buying a small set of proper cine primes or a decent zoom within the next year, and I suspect that the Canons will be my best bet in terms of IQ and covering the Epic's sensor. I'm really looking forward to seeing comprehensive tests once the whole set is available.
 
Ryan, Please post any additional impressions and any images.

Thanks,
Prio
 
Canon at one point said that they would be releasing their cinema lenses in both PL and EF mounts, but I have yet to find any specific mention of the primes being made available in PL mount. It would be a shame if they didn't.
 
They should, as somebody mentioned here, just start make the K35's again... how can it be that hard to do what they did back then. K-35, are super compact, highspeed, sharp and has beautiful falloff and dof. Why invent something new then... ?
 
Björn Benckert said:
They should, as somebody mentioned here, just start make the K35's again... how can it be that hard to do what they did back then. K-35, are super compact, highspeed, sharp and has beautiful falloff and dof. Why invent something new then... ?
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guys!
probably I'll have the chance to test a set on sunday.
I can compare the CN-E 24mm to a 24mm L (the mark II), the CN-E 50 to a Zeiss ZE 50mm Makro and the CN-E 85mm to a ZE 85mm.
Just for fun I could also compare the 50 and 85 to a wonderful Sigma 50mm 1.4 (much better than Canon 50mm 1.4) and the new Sigma 85mm 1.4.
Let me know what would you like to know other than mechanics, breathing and WO performance!!
;)
T.
 
Ryan Emanuel said:
I'm picking up the 24mm cn-e this afternoon and the 24mm L series on sat. I'll have some R3d comparisons from the scarlet. No scientific testing though just field tests.
Click to expand...

Would love love LOVE to see a comparison.
 
Björn Benckert said:
They should, as somebody mentioned here, just start make the K35's again... how can it be that hard to do what they did back then. K-35, are super compact, highspeed, sharp and has beautiful falloff and dof. Why invent something new then... ?
Click to expand...

Someone posted the same thing about the Zeiss Superspeed MKIIIs. The reply was that they can no longer use the same glass formulas as they did back in the day as there are now limitations on the use of lead. Not sure if it is true or not, but it does sound kinda' plausible...
 
We did some quick testing with all three this week on a miniature set for an animated project we are working on. They are definitely very sharp... slightly sharper at wide open through f2.0 than Zeiss ZE (f1.4)s. At about 2.8 and beyond, there is little difference between the two. They are a little heavy on focus. In fact, using the 85mm, the knob on our new Redrock Blue follow focus loosened a bit, resulting in an impending repair. We also shot some green screen with the 85mm with good results. I definitely like these lenses, but with the limit on focal lengths (no 35mm yet), it is tough to make the committment to these lenses IMHO. If you consider something like the Zeiss Super Speed CP lenses, you can still compliment them with ZE lenses with complete color match that also offer FAR better focus control than any of the L series Canon still lenses.
 
I own the CN-E prime lenses.
IMHO, they're the best cine lenses for the price.
The 50 mm 1.3 T and the 85 mm 1.3 T are both great, but the 24 mm 1.5 T is really terrific.
If you wanna see the 24 mm in action, download this still picture (http://www.yousendit.com/download/WUJhNWNnTXZ0TWxFQmNUQw) that I took with a 5D MK II last week.
The iris was completely open (1.5 T)
Enjoy!
 
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