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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

Alex Boothby said:
Illya Friedman wrote a positive and informative review of the Xenon's on the CML glass list. I wonder if he would mind sharing his comments here?
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Illya sells the lenses too...

I'm still awaiting a direct response from Schneider. The lenses are rather good overall, but the CA is excessive. Also a bit more sensitive to flaring than I expected, however I think the flares are beautiful.
 
Anyway you could do a copy/paste of his comments?
 
I think Illya did a great job with his explanation of presenting/defending his view on the Xenon's...I'll let him respond as if he wanted to post his comments here, he would've.
 
Wanted to chime in real quick.

I'll be taking a close look at these (and likely several sets) very soon. I have seen a couple sample images sent my way of shooting wide open in extreme contrast scenarios and CA is really to be expected on certain edges in those occasions, but I need time and the lenses to get into them right and proper. I did quickly look at them at Duclos recently and I wasn't in the "OMG the world is on fire" category in my reaction. I actually liked the overall image character. But I didn't really stress test them just yet.

One thing I think that might need to be said is if you are expecting top tier Master Prime or Summilux-C performance out of these, I think that's a bit far off. They should optically compete nicely against the CN-E and CP.2 primes as that's the targeted competition and general price range here, although the Xenon FF-Primes are less expensive than those as well.

The true test to me is their price versus performance ratio. This will produce the true value of these lenses.

I'll have more info and images soon.


**edit, my only real concern is CA at the moment as that's the only thing that's been mentioned that people weren't in love with. Flare. You can land on one of two sides of that fence. You either want it or don't want it. Think K35 owners for instance. It could be a negative, but obviously it can be controlled via matte box of flag if the lenses prone to aggressive flaring.
 
Cant wait to read your review Phil...didn't mean to PM you out the blue either- new guy mistake (and I heard great things from Matt and Illya about you)...jumped the gun and got the Xenon's. Still learning this reduser site (I've read it for years, but never started posting until now). Again, I sincerely appreciate all the help from posts like this, and hopefully will be able to add some value down the line...did some pretty cool things to my rig I wanna post- might help, might not, but figured I'd post anyway =)
 
What every one must understand is that there is a Lens for every one and for every budget in today's market...

However one can not expect a 4k lens to be as a 20+k lens...

I find the Schneider Xenon's a perfect get by lens, till the Leica C. come, and this is why...


They are very well designed, in both the build quality and focus markings in regard to were they are placed in relation to the actual spot of focus for each, and this is usually only seen in much more expensive lenses, they are all of the same size and eight, with well balance center of gravity in respect to their length, very good for Gimbal operation as well as other applications, focus holds well along the entire rotation, and I actually also like the Bokeh they create.

The lenses do have a bit of Chromatic Aberration more then some would like, but for 4k I have no complains at all, none.

They do flair, but I almost never use Cine glass without a Matte Box properly shading the glass, and the MB is not only for Filters, which I almost always use, even now with the Motion Mount, it's about added Contrast and detail, and controlling the Flaring to suit your needs, and either way the flaring produced by this lenses is normal giving the distance of the last front glass elements, and it is also a pleasing flare.

The lenses are sharp, not as sharp as the MP's or the Leica C primes, both the Summilux or Summicron are of course much sharper, but the Schneider Xenon are sharp enough and certainly IMSO much better then both the Canon and Zeiss counterpart, which again come form Still glass and were not built form scratch for Cine use as the Xenon.


We'll do a detail video review form on set and post some video imagery as well as still frames in a couple of weeks when we are done with our first series of shoots here in Barcelona.

But I really like this lenses, and for the price they simply bit the heck of anything else out there!


Till then I also look to read Phil's view... ;)
 
Ketch, in your opinion, do you believe that the CA from the Xenon's are more, less or on par to the CN-E's or CP2's? I know you haven't done true comparisons yet, but given your experience and working knowledge of the lenses (and your initial observations of the sharpness comparison three lenses) what's your opinion? Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
 
Understood Ketch! Thanks for the speedy response. Getting my Xenon's today...EF mount...will take pics for those wondering how the box packaging has been updated...will put in a best effort to upload some test footage/stills by end of the week (keep in mind I'll be shooting 4k, but can grab some 5k stills)...

Don't have a case yet, but I'm hoping the Schneider case comes out sooner rather than later...it only has four slots, but I should be ok based on what I ordered.
 
You'll love them... Simply one must be reasonable with expectations based on price paid for the gear, and can not should not make direct comparisons of how one lens fairs with an other when one costs up to 6 times more... If this is kept in mind and tests are conducted amongst there own price range, Xenon will smoke them all... Even if not on speed... ;)
 
Here's a couple pics from the unboxing...secure thick foam...will have to do until I get a case.
 

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Mike...have that footage showing the spherical bokeh you wanted...any idea how to get this rd3 file on the site?...tried searching reduser, but that was taking a while...its 4k so I'm thinking I need to save it in 2k...yet I'm unsure so here are a couple screenshots of what I believe you were asking about...nothing interesting here lol! Just a pic of my sink and backsplash...so far, I like them! No real analysis/breakdown here- just simple shots of the lenses and some screenshots.

-Edit...HA! yeah, they were too small....tried to save the pics again, but this time in jpeg...hopefully they will be a little bigger...
 

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Rome Will said:
Mike...have that footage showing the spherical bokeh you wanted...any idea how to get this rd3 file on the site?...tried searching reduser, but that was taking a while...its 4k so I'm thinking I need to save it in 2k...yet I'm unsure so here are a couple screenshots of what I believe you were asking about...nothing interesting here lol! Just a pic of my sink and backsplash...so far, I like them! No real analysis/breakdown here- just simple shots of the lenses and some screenshots.
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Too small to see! ha ha. Zip up the R3D frames and host them on a site somewhere. You can't upload to the REDUSER site.
 
Rome,

when you post and go to GO ADVANCED, you'll see a button named MANAGE ATTACHMENTS... click that, and you'll see that if you physically upload files to reduser that there are restrictions (file size | image dimensions)...

if you want to post larger files or larger images, you need to upload them to a third-party website (your own | dropbox | etc) and then just link to the files in your post...

- M
 
Got you Mike...I re-saved them...this time in a better jpeg format...right up to the max of 96/97kb...its a little bigger...hope this helps.

Edit- PS...If these look bad, please blame me not the camera/lenses...literally just threw them on the camera and tried to grab a shot out of focus for a reduser...
 
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