If Red went full frame 35 with a sensor what glass would you use on it? j/w

[Brian Merlen]

Hey guys, basically the title summarizes my question. With Weapon coming up and the former Red roadmap I am just curious as to what glass you guys like when it comes to full frame PL. Regarding 65 this was discussed in the Weapon section of RU, but I figured I'd ask the question of full frame since it seems like a more practical format in the sense that PL glass with okay mechanics exists for it already in massive volume. I'll start it out with the obvious list of primes, but I know some zooms cover as well...

CP2, Canon Cine (with Duclos PL conversion), Schneider Xenon full frames... All of these are a similar price range and cheap, which is really cool I think from a cost perspective. I am contemplating my first PL set so it almost seems to make sense to me to buy full frames, despite my obvious desire to get quality s35 lenses instead. Anyway just wondering what others are thinking if we really do end up needing full frame glass, maybe not now, but at some point in the near future? What are your favorite PL full frame primes and zooms and what qualities make them your favorite?

 

[Tommaso Alvisi]

Brian,

I'd say a basic set of CP.2s like this:

25 T2.1
35 T2.1
50 T2.1
85 T2.1

then slowly adding:

15mm T2.9 or 21mm T2.9 or both
and
100mm T2.1 or 135mm T2.1 or both

I think this is still a SOLID solution until some REAL contenders are out there.

 

[Craig Weeding]

The lens I am planing to get are the Zeiss Compact Zooms
They are in a completely different class then the Zeiss compact primes, they are much closer to Ultra Prime Quality
They are full frame and have interchangable lens mount for

• PL, EF, F, Micro 4/3 and E mount
  
  
  

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Craig, I didn't know that the Compact Zooms were that good. In any case, I advise people to stay the hell away from SLR lenses unless they're exceptionally good. They're false economy. Why spend thousands on a camera and skimp on the optics?

With rare exceptions, you only get to shoot your project once, so get it right the first time. It's better to buy a Scarlet and good lenses than a Dragon and SLR lenses, even if they are rehoused.

 

[Nick Morrison]

Craig, I didn't know that the Compact Zooms were that good. In any case, I advise people to stay the hell away from SLR lenses unless they're exceptionally good. They're false economy. Why spend thousands on a camera and skimp on the optics?

With rare exceptions, you only get to shoot your project once, so get it right the first time. It's better to buy a Scarlet and good lenses than a Dragon and SLR lenses, even if they are rehoused.

Stills lenses generally just have worse mechanics - but optically many are superb. It depends on what your project is. I shoot mostly interviews/promos - the mechanics of an Ultraprime are wasted on us. However - being able to bring 14 modded primes on set (which i can do with stills), can be a major advantage in promo, where my clients often want different "looks" quickly (fisheye, long lens, wide ange, interview, etc). I couldn't afford to rent 14 Ultrapimes...but with modded stills lenses...I can do that.

Horses for courses. Lots of people do superb work on a variety of glass, you'd be surprised.

 

[Jake Wilganowski]

Love my contax Zeiss modded speed set, freakin wicked sharp and filmic contrast/flares, cover full frame

Also agree that the zeiss compact zooms are superb, beautiful glass

 

[Craig Weeding]

Hello Karim

Here is a link which has a review of the Zeiss CZ. Although it is done by a Zeiss dealer it is still an interesting view: http://blog.abelcine.com/2013/10/24/testing-the-zeiss-cz-2-compact-zoom-lenses/

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Hello Karim

Here is a link which has a review of the Zeiss CZ. Although it is done by a Zeiss dealer it is still an interesting view: http://blog.abelcine.com/2013/10/24/testing-the-zeiss-cz-2-compact-zoom-lenses/

Thank you! BTW he never mentioned distortion. Nobody seems to bat an eyelid about it, yet it's just as important as CA, soft corners, warping, edge smearing etc.

 

[Jacobo Martinez]

I've seen Phil Holland using the zeiss CZ zoom lenses quite a lot. Maybe he can illuminate us.