Lens Test: Cineovision Spherical

[Ignacio Aguilar]

We just added this set to our rental inventory, after having spent some months and some money at TLS, where the lenses have been refurbished, cleaned, adjusted, with 95mm common fronts added and new iris scales for matching and accurate T/stops between all the lenses.

We did this test today and found the lenses very interesting. I've heard that Cineovision not only took the Zeiss Contax still glass and simply rehoused it into new barrels; I guess they also put new irises on the lenses so they are all round and match and maybe reworked the coatings so all lenses flare in a quite similar (and spectacular) fashion.

I'm very happy with the set. They are built like tanks, look good and all lenses cover 3.4K Open Gate on ARRI cameras, with FF35 coverage from 24mm and up according to my lens projector. Since I already own the incredible 100mm Cineovision Macro (based on the 100mm f2 Contax), this looks like a great set for the upcoming large format / FF35 / VistaVision cameras, with a similar feeling to Zeiss Standards & Superspeeds but much larger coverage!

Any thoughts?

 

[Vance Colvig]

I love my Cineovision Zeiss set. Sure wish they would have done the 21mm 2.8 Contax. Such a stunner!!!

 

[Paul Ryzhkoff]

Would be great to find out what 20mm T3 lens was used by Cineovision for this set ?

 

[Ignacio Aguilar]

I was told that it's a 20mm Zeiss f/2.8, which I assume is the Flektogon, as I'm not aware of any AEG versions of that focal lenght and stop. The Cineovision lens (or the glass) actually looks very similar to that of the still lens, but the iris on the Cineovision set is much more round with more iris blades, so I suspect new irises were put on the lenses in Japan. The way they all flare makes me suspect that the coatings also were modified at the time of the original manufacture, but I may be wrong.