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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 :)

First Look - Schneider Xenon FF-Prime Lenses

Xenons....

Soon.
 
Bob Gundu said:
Hee hee. Xenons and Mac Pros the same week! Chaaa…ching!!!!!
Click to expand...

Not just that...Jarred said the Dragon CF's would be in our hands by 12/20/2013, if memory serves. My DCF has been on order for over two months...

Thank you very much

Fury
 
Well, they're here-LA, that is. Matthew has checked them over the weekend and my set:

http://www.ducloslenses.com/collections/schneider/products/xenon_deposit

will be in my hands on Wednsday, nestled in a six hole custom case that Matthew designed:

http://www.ducloslenses.com/collections/cases/products/xenon-ff-prime-flight-case

for these and my preordered, additional Xenons. In the meantime, I am inserting one of his Tokina V2 moded 11-16 lenses in the case-ALL PL mounts. No word on the separate Ef mounts, at this time. I will add that Matthew told me the quality of these lenses is "spot on!"

Since I am still awaiting Dragon CF, I am offering these for rental, if anyone has interest...

Thank you very much

Fury
 
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Nick Fury said:
Well, they're here-LA, that is. Matthew has checked them over the weekend and my set:
Click to expand...

Yep, mine too. :)

They would have shipped to me yesterday, but there was a snafu with my payment. That's what happens when you wait until the last minute, heh. Hopefully mine ship out today! I went with the 4-hole case. It seems the 5-hole is on back-order actually. And there's a possibility that all 5 Xenons should fit in the 4-hole with a foam swap.


Bob Gundu said:
Hee hee. Xenons and Mac Pros the same week! Chaaa…ching!!!!!
Click to expand...

Christmas is expensive this year...
 
Guys, so I decided I'm going to wait till this hits the full 6 lens set, i.e 18/25/35/50/75/100. As such I just bowed out of the HRC pre-order list despite mine being READY TO SHIP. So whoever was next in line behind me, Merry Christmas. These are awesome lenses, I'm just going to opt to wait it out.
 
Isaac, did you get any indication on when the 18 would be going into production? I'm in the midst of completing my payment now, my only regret is that I'm having to post-pone the shipment until I return to New York from visiting family for the holidays. So I won't actually be hands on with them until the 30th.

Maybe I should just have them sent to my brother's house and open them up on Christmas, ha!
 
No idea. The 18mm isn't formally announced. And I think these are gonna be a great option, but till I have a complete set I can't use them for my projects, or rent them out without supplementing with other glass.

I think I'll snag these but as a complete set so I can hit the ground running.
 
Curious how the CA of these lenses are on this final build. Phil's first look had quite a bit. The Xenar III's appear to have a lot as well. Hope these have it under control! Would love to see some tests from the early adopters.
 
Matt Ryan said:
Curious how the CA of these lenses are on this final build. Phil's first look had quite a bit. The Xenar III's appear to have a lot as well. Hope these have it under control! Would love to see some tests from the early adopters.
Click to expand...

Well that 35mm prototype certainly had a lot! It was uncoated though. The final production models look rather nice actually. The coatings are pretty great.


Actually....... Might as well......

phfx_redDragonSchneiderXenon.jpg


Popped over to Duclos Lenses today to meet up with Matthew, look at the final glass, and share some fun notes.

So.... There's a few differences between the prototypes and the production models that I wanted to share with you guys:

phfx_redDragonSchneiderXenonDetails.jpg


Big noticeable thing #1. The weight is much lighter than the prototypes. This is likely due to the change of materials on the inside. The prototypes were heavy because they were mostly brass on the inside. These are lighter due to lighter material used on the final version.

If you look closely on the above image on the right you will notice that the PL mount is threaded! This is really cool and not something you get on a lot of glass. For people who want to use things like nets or other types of filtration at the rear of the lens you can.

The the left side of that above image showcases the anti-reflective paint that all of the lenses share.

Schneider took a few of my notes and applied them. The focus and iris pull are now what I would describe as "sexy smooth". Updated lubrication and design assisted with that. The prototypes were a lot firmer and required a bit too much effort, I was actually thinking about weaker electronic motors that wouldn't work with them when I made this note. Also, I never liked the pull on the other lenses that these guys are competing with.

The other big note that I'm extremely happy Schneider decided to include is that each lens actually ships with a soft case! I asked for this because when they showed me the first prototypes earlier in the year they gave them to me in soft cases and I did one of those "you know what would be really nice..." These are different soft cases, but they are indeed better too. This was a really nice surprise.

You guys aren't going to be disappointed with these. I was getting worried because Schneider is doing something that nobody really has been able to pull off before, but I was more than pleasantly surprised with the final build. Which is actually a huge relief. Minimal breathing, a very cinematic look, everything you'd want really.

Now they just need to flesh out the range with the 25mm and 100mm. The 18/19/20mm (whatever it ends up as) will likely have a bigger front and maintain the same T stop. This is important as this set should all be T2.1 when all is said and done. There will probably be a 135mm and maybe another way down the line as well. Out of the gate though, especially on 6K Dragon, 35, 50, and 75mm is a nice 3 lens kit.

I saw a few of the Duclos orders ship today. So I know a few of you will have a surprise this week!
 
Have a tracking #...

Thank you very much

Fury
 
Unfortunately, only PL mounts so far I heard.. Making me regret not pulling the trigger on that mount but I wanted to be able to use them on other cameras as well, and I do have EF mounts for all my Reds even though the PL mounts live on them.
 
Strangely enough I was told that because they were fewer Canon mounts orders, those would likely ship earlier or together with PL mounts, so this is a surprise to find out that our PL mount order is shipped out and your Canon mount hasn't.

But I am sure it will only be a matter of days Louis, so don't worry too much.

Btw, an other big thanks to Phil and Ryan form Filmtools for bringing this collaborative Discount opportunity on a preorder of this great lenses!!
 
Phil Holland said:
If you look closely on the above image on the right you will notice that the PL mount is threaded! This is really cool and not something you get on a lot of glass. For people who want to use things like nets or other types of filtration at the rear of the lens you can.
Click to expand...

This is very interesting - What size are they and are there any pre-made rear nets, or at least, empty threaded rings sold anywhere that anyone is aware of? Google didn't turn up much except for information regarding new focal lengths announced for the Leica Summicrons which happen to have rear net holders. I'm not sure where to specifically start digging otherwise.
 
KETCH ROSSi said:
Btw, an other big thanks to Phil and Ryan form Filmtools for bringing this collaborative Discount opportunity on a preorder of this great lenses!!
Click to expand...

Thanks Ketch. I normally stay away from doing things like this, but these lenses peaked a particular interest of mine and a good chunk of shooters. Seems like everybody has come up with their own unique programs now. Just a matter of order fulfillment.


Nick Fury said:
Have a tracking #...
Click to expand...

I physically and optically saw your lenses ship today while at Duclos. Nice case he's made for you.


Kyle Wullschleger said:
This is very interesting - What size are they and are there any pre-made rear nets, or at least, empty threaded rings sold anywhere that anyone is aware of? Google didn't turn up much except for information regarding new focal lengths announced for the Leica Summicrons which happen to have rear net holders. I'm not sure where to specifically start digging otherwise.
Click to expand...

I gotta get on the horn for a totally unrelated thing, but I'll talk to Germany tomorrow and find out a lot about the rear filter threads. I imagine they'll have a "build your own" so you can put whatever you in there. It was more or less a surprise to me to see that they included it on the final design. Happy they did though. I literally have a bag of different nets I've collected over the years. It likely doesn't need to be nets either. Should be fun to experiment with.
 
I'm dying to know how these compare to some of the more expensive sets out there like Ultra Primes for example. I can't wait to read more reviews.

Feel free to post your comments all of you who get your hands on the first batch.

Thanks. :)
 
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