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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 :)

Evin Grant's NAB 2011 lens roundup...

Evin

Did you miss the Schneider Optics new Cine-Xenar set. 25mm, 35, 50 75, 95 with an 18 on the way. They will only cover super 35 so a 33mm circle. They are mostly T2 with the two wider ones being 2.1 and 2.2. Very even illumination and sharp with out being to sharp like the red primes. Didn't has a chance to check flare charistics but being that they are from the same company that makes B+W filters, it may be safe to assume they are going to flare nicely. Prob the best low end set of PL glass I saw. Under 30k for the set.

The new Angienioux is dead sexy and for only 9k I am seriously thinking about a deposit on the leica's. They were wow

Matt
 
I would be interested in a more detailed examination of the 35mm Illuminas as well.

As for the newly designed Schneiders, do they still barrel forward when focusing? I was interested in these lenses but that is a real killer for me.
 
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Rob Castiglione said:
I would be interested in a more detailed examination of the 35mm Illuminas as well.

As for the newly designed Schneiders, do they still barrel forward when focusing? I was interested in these lenses but that is a real killer for me.
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Yes they do, and unfortunately they are huge just like the Uniqes & RPPs. I have to say all these lenses perform very well but size and weight really does matter as much as performance, at least to me. It looks real macho to have a huge lens on your cam but after the first few times you have to move them that wears off. The Leica Summilux-Cs and Zeiss Ultra Primes are the sweet spot for size and weight IMHO. Now if I could only find an extra $180K lying around :biggrin:
 
I didn't really look at the Schneider primes... Or at least not more than a casual glance. To me, they looked like another "me too" set of decently performing, aggressively priced, big and heavy primes. I'm in full agreement with Evin about size and weight. I really like my RPP's, but the size/weight is often an issue. The 18mm is just as heavy as the 300mm and about as long. But they're what they have until I too stumble across $180K for those sexy Leicas. I like the Ultras, but now there's a long wait to get them. They're also not compelling enough for me to replace the RPPs with them, IMO. Better size/weight though. I almost bought Ultras more than once in the past, but kept stalling off waiting for the RPP's. In many ways I'm glad I waited. Then again, I probably would have done just as well to buy the Ultras 3 years ago. People want to rent the Ultras... People still treat RPPs as an unknown quantity and shy away from them. In my town, people would shoot with an old Coke bottle and talk about how amazing it is if only I could manage to put it on a PL mount and paint a Zeiss logo on it.
 
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  • #48
$47K is so right in the gray zone for me, once you pay tax, get braketry and a case it's $50K which is around the price of a 12:1 if you can find one used.
However it is light and that is a big deal. Although it didn't thrill me on the show floor I'm sure it's a fine performer and I'd get used to it quickly enough, the question is weather or not I can make the ROI work for me, Hmmmmm.
 
John Fairstein said:
Anyone check out the Illuminas?
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On paper, the Illuminas are right there for price (very competitive) and for size (smaller than Leica, bigger than Ultra's) and speed.

But I'm concerned they won't do a good job with the marketing and sales and therefore market penetration and ease of upkeep. They seem somewhat mythological to me--like they're always going to be better on paper than in reality. Would love to hear/see some solid field reviews and projector comparisons, etc.
 
I saw the Illuminas and even had them on an EPIC. They are actually a little larger but not longer than the Leica's. All the lenses are essentially the same size and they've been recertified to T1.2 at $33K for the set of 5 primes 18-85mm.

They seemed very nice in the brief bit we got to play with them. We did shoot some footage with them so need to look at it and analyze, however imperfect the "Testing" was ;)

Outside of the Leica's I'm really looking forward to getting these up on the projector and Camera for some reasonable testing.

Jason
 
I tried out the Schneider Cine-Xenar and wasn't impressed at all. The focus was super stiff and the lens actually telescoped whilst pulling focus!
 
Did they change the design for the illuminas so the Iris ring is NOT up front but in the back like most lenses? - saw a photo of a "new" 25mm and it looked different than the lenses on their web site.

Do the illuminas also "barrel out" when pulling focus?
 
I forget but I think the iris was in back like normal but can't say for sure.

The Illuminas do barrel out but really only noticeable when going from close focus all the way to infinity which frankly is not a move performed very often. I think the total barrel out was less than 1/2" max.

Jason
 
So are there any MTF numbers, test charts photos, or anything for the Illuminas?
 
Not that it matters now, but where were the Illuminas at NAB? I managed to miss them this year and last year they were still not finished, IIRC...
 
Tom Lowe said:
So are there any MTF numbers, test charts photos, or anything for the Illuminas?
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These lenses caught my eye at NAB as well, and I've since been scouring the web for any concrete info. So far no luck. There are some "tests" which were performed on an earlier version (Pre-release?) of the lenses, but I've only been able to read with Google's russian auto-translate and too many things are lost in the translation...particularly the charts which would be the most helpful. I'll probably rent a set from the distributor in Nashville and see how they stack up. Maybe take them over to Chater's who has MPs, UPs. If the quality is up there, they stack up well from a cost/size/speed perspective against the others in this range (RPP, Cine-Xenars, Cooke Panchros, CP2s, etc.). So they seem worthy of a serious look.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
Not that it matters now, but where were the Illuminas at NAB? I managed to miss them this year and last year they were still not finished, IIRC...
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THey were right next to Zeiss. You're eyes were probably too dassled by all the MP glass to notice them.
 
Paul Nordin said:
THey were right next to Zeiss. You're eyes were probably too dassled by all the MP glass to notice them.
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Wha??? How...?

I'm definitely going to spend more time at the show next year. I've done this to myself two years in a row now where I try to crash through everything in a day or two and it just doesn't work out so well. Especially when I run into other redusers and people I know when on the floor and chat a bit.
 
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