Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

Cooke Panchros or Ultra Primes

Ultras are a whole class upp from panchros, their price reflects that, not really a fair assesment.

That said, there's tons of panchro examples on here, and if you want to see ultra primes really sing, watch Tarsem's, "The Fall".
 
Timur Civan said:
Ultras are a whole class upp from panchros, their price reflects that, not really a fair assesment.

That said, there's tons of panchro examples on here, and if you want to see ultra primes really sing, watch Tarsem's, "The Fall".
Click to expand...

I would rather shoot with Cooke glass on a digital camera any day, I suspect UP's will sit on the shelf more as time goes by.
 
Call me crazy, but I choose Cooke Panchros for most of my commercial projects with Red MX and especially Epic. I just love that combo :) If I'm buying for personal ownership then I choose Cooke Panchros in a heartbeat. Much cheaper and only one stop slower. To my eye they look just like S4s except the 18mm. There was noticeable distortion when we used the S4 18mm on FF 5K. We switched it out with the Panchro 18mm and voila! Panchros cover FF 5K easily and I suspect they will cover Red's next sensor upgrade.

Ultra Primes will rent more (at least for now). They are amazing lenses that will continue to be sought after for many years to come. They are small, fast, light and expensive. If you got the cash and the clients to rent to, then UPs are a no brainer. Either way, you are getting an awesome set of lenses that you can have and use for the rest of your life :) Good luck!
 
It's obviously all down to personal taste, and to some extent the type of work you do, the cost is obviously an issue but if you are able then I would try and put that to one side because you are talking about an investment that could still be earning money years after you've finished paying for them.

If I shot mainly narrative or beauty then I'd probably look at the Pancro's or S4's, I tried a set of Panchro's on my Alexa recently and they did look really good, Cooke all the way and the T2.8 wasn't problematic, of course it may be if you ever want to shoot with highspeed camera's like the Phantom.

Undoubtedly the Cookes do deliver an aesthetic that lends it self to faces/beauty you just have to try them to see it: http://vimeopro.com/nicholasbennett/worship

After a very protracted decision (about 5 years) I ended up going for a set of Ultra's, they were the lenses I was hiring for most of my projects, compact and very sharp but personally I've never found this to be problem as it's a good starting point from which to dial back through filtration.

As Clint says, I think either of these will serve you well for years to come and in these fast changing times we're working in I think that's quite reassuring.

http://vimeopro.com/nicholasbennett/nickbennettdp
 
Hi Michael, I got 24, 32, 50, 85mm, looking now to get a 14mm and 135mm
 
I used the Pancro's on a couple of projects and while the images were great, and size / weight / ergonomically wise they were a pleasure to use... I found it hard to live with T2.8... I had lights, but sometimes was trying to balance with city scenes at night through window's and balancing interior accordingly.

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
I agree with Matt there. My next project is interior night location on the 47th floor in Istanbul with huge windows. I'm using Super Speeds for that one :) The joys of renting I guess.
 
Dude you are 100% right about the panchro 18mm. It is amazing. Les Zellan Owner of Cooke, said to me himself,that the 18mm panchro is the best 18mm they make. ( including the 18mm S4, i5 and 15-14 CXX)
 
Adrian Correia said:
Anyone care to comment on which how they feel about these? Which one would you buy if you had the opportunity? Can anyone post Panchro samples?
Click to expand...

This really depends on what you want in terms of your look. If you are shooting a commercial against greenscreen use the sharpest lenses
you can get. There the Ultra Primes of Red Primes are a great bang for the buck.

If you are shooting fiction the Panchros are definitely much warmer and have a nicer focus falloff and might be your weapon of choice there.
 
Here's some of jpegs from a couple recent Epic/Panchro shoots...
 

Attachments

  • woman 2.0000903.jpg
    woman 2.0000903.jpg
    43.1 KB · Views: 0
  • little girl.0000890.jpg
    little girl.0000890.jpg
    37.2 KB · Views: 0
  • prisoners.0000342.jpg
    prisoners.0000342.jpg
    87.4 KB · Views: 0
  • soldier.0000359.jpg
    soldier.0000359.jpg
    40.5 KB · Views: 0
Evin Grant said:
Optimo DPs if you an handle the wait :) same stop as panchros but zooms are more versitile. Just as sharp as Panchros as well with a similar, softer look than the UPs.
Click to expand...

Evin,

What is the wait time ?

Also, how does the 16-42 look at 16mm wide open ?

Is it sharp enough at t 2.8 ?

Antoine
 
We have two sets of Optimo DP's and we couldn't be happier. They are sharp as primes and at 800 ASA certainly fast enough. As a rental they are fantastic, we can't keep them in, they are out on rental all the time. I suspect that's not the case with the Panchros.
 
thanks guys for all the comments - shooting mostly commercial and narrative and for that I chose the Panchros.....Norm Li's nighttime street shoot convinced me I could use them at night....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top