First Look - Schneider Xenon FF-Prime Lenses

[Rome Will]

Thank you for your advice. I guess you're right. It's the best to have the widest lens for the start. I'll try to find the forum that you suggested and find what's what with the lenses and resolutions. Thanks

Karel,

I believe Phill has a note on the crop...and I'm not really suggesting that you start with the widest...because a 35mm on the Scarlet at 4k is (like I mentioned) close to a 50mm...but that measurement is what I've been told is the typical lens used for shooting people. Again, try searching for Xenon lens length (and even the first part of this thread) and you'll see what I mean about the lens lengths.

Good luck! I love the Xenons...even though they are a bit front heavy on the gimbals, I'm learning to balance them ok.

 

[Jon Carr]

Anyone else received their 100mm yet?

 

[Anton Shavlik]

I just received my set today (35, 50, 75). It seems my 50 has a strong green cast to it, is there anything I can do to fix it besides call and attempt to exchange for a properly color matched lens?

 

[Bob Gundu]

I just received my set today (35, 50, 75). It seems my 50 has a strong green cast to it, is there anything I can do to fix it besides call and attempt to exchange for a properly color matched lens?

Does this happen at f5?

 

[Anton Shavlik]

Yeah, the tint remains across all apertures. If I shoot raw and adjust tint it matches perfectly with the 35, and the 75 is just a little less contrasty. I'm otherwise pleased but I don't want to have to always do that.

 

[Jon Carr]

Yeah, the tint remains across all apertures. If I shoot raw and adjust tint it matches perfectly with the 35, and the 75 is just a little less contrasty. I'm otherwise pleased but I don't want to have to always do that.

I would exchange the 50 for another. Theses lenses should match perfectly, at least my set and the sets I been using for multicam.

 

[Matthew J]

Evidently, "trickling" of the 100mm out of the factory would be a generous statement. I figured once they started coming out, it would be a somewhat steady stream.

 

[Anton Shavlik]

Did a bit more testing while waiting for Schneider to get back to me. I downloaded Phil's .r3d's and compared to my own results. Seems that the 75mm is just a smidgen faster than the other two, about a quarter stop, in both in my lens and Phil's prototype. Also seems there's a slight contrast and color variation in both our sets.

 

[Hal Long]

Karel, why not get a cheaper lens package for the price of the single Xenon? I have and love my Xenons, but I haven't done too many jobs where one lens was enough. I would consider a set of Canon FD, Zeiss Contax, GL Optics 18-35, a Red Zoom or Rokinons before getting just one lens . Better to have a fully-functioning kit, than be limited by only one prime.

Just my thoughts. Good luck.

 

[Phil Holland]

FYI for those interested in these lenses, they are showing the 135mm T2.1 at Photokina 2014.

 

[Owen Rennie]

FYI for those interested in these lenses, they are showing the 135mm T2.1 at Photokina 2014.

Yeh just saw that on Facebook. I'm saving for this set, looks amazing

 

[Matthew J]

I wish they would just start shipping more 100mm's!

 

[Troy Bakewell]

I wish they wer $3k instead of $4k. lol

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

Has anyone heard anything new about the release date for the 100 or 25?

Thanks in advanced.

 

[Phil Holland]

Has anyone heard anything new about the release date for the 100 or 25?

Thanks in advanced.

I've seen and shot with a couple 100mm primes out in the wild, though I heard the first batch didn't ship in huge numbers. Haven't seen a production copy of the 25mm, but the prototype was very good:

 

[Fergus Hammond]

Glad to hear that the 25mm prototype is looking good. I'm definitely a little frustrated that it's taking so long to come to market. Frankly, if I'd known how long it was going to be I probably would have gone the CP.2 route. Oh, well...

 

[Phil Holland]

Glad to hear that the 25mm prototype is looking good. I'm definitely a little frustrated that it's taking so long to come to market. Frankly, if I'd known how long it was going to be I probably would have gone the CP.2 route. Oh, well...

The 100mm looks good too.

I won't defend Schneider's pace, because their certainly have been delays along the way. Even from the initial announcement of these primes before they became what we know now.

The real thing to remember here is that this is an entirely new set of primes and that takes time to design, test, and manufacture. The CP.2s pretty much existed for some time before they landed in their housings. Zeiss is actually doing the same "journey" Schneider is doing with the Xenons with the Otus line-up and you can see what speed that is happening at.

It's been said that it is about $1 million in R&D, tools, and machines to make a new lens these days. If anything I'm surprised that Schneider has been able to produce a set of 5 in such a short time. They did the right thing by getting that fundamental set of 3 focal lengths ready from the get go. Once the 18mm is out next year that's a very ideal set for motion picture production that is alarmingly affordable.

 

[Fergus Hammond]

Definitely agree. Oh, but I want that 25mm so bad! Maybe I'll just break down and get the Cabrio...

 

[Marcus Friedlander]

On the Xenon broucher they have the 100 and the 25 listed as TBA. Did they release a couple of 100's and then realized they wanted to change something? And I cant wait for this full set to finally come out! These are going to be the first set of cinema primes that I buy and I have a feeling I'm going to be using them for a long time to come!

 

[Jeff Kilgroe]

I've seen and shot with a couple 100mm primes out in the wild, though I heard the first batch didn't ship in huge numbers. Haven't seen a production copy of the 25mm, but the prototype was very good:

The 100's are scarce, that's for sure. If anyone wants to see a shot with the 100, I'll grab something this weekend. 25mm should be shipping very late this month or first part of next month, but there don't seem to be any final production units out in the wild yet and that usually happens when we're about 30~45 days out from first shipment.

135mm should happen early next year, probably April-ish, but I'm guessing. Not sure what was said at Photokina and IBC about it. The 18mm is in the pipeline somewhere too.