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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 :)

LumaTech Illuminas performance

Paul Nordin

Paul Nordin

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I will be posting images and frame grabs very soon. My Epic is out on a rental this week but I'll have time to post images this weekend.

Just as a teaser, a couple of days ago in a friend's rental shop, we did a few very quick and dirty -non-scientific- comparisons of the Illumina 35mm against a few other well known lines from Arri

Here is how the Illumina 35mm lens appeared to stack up wide open (t1.3):
Less CA than Super Speed mk3
Similar CA to UltraPrime
Worse CA to MasterPrime (Master Prime 32mm totally rocks in CA performance wide open...amazing lenses)

CA on the Illumina visually dissapeared, or reduced to insignificant around t/2.8 and undetectable around t/4.0 Same as the Supers and Ultras. Masters, well the 32mm was forged by a God that hated CA...what more can I say.

Sharper than Super Speed mk3
Similar Sharpness to Ultras (to my eye a hair better)
Less sharp than MPs

Slightly less distortion than SS
slightly worse distortion than Ultras
not in the same ballpark as MPs (agian...amazing lens)

Breathing (focus pull-through performance) much more pleasing than SS
Not really differnet than Ultra
less tack perfect than MP

Actual lens speed lightly faster than Supers, Ultras, and Masters.

Finish is less polished on Illuminas than any of the three from Arri. (might be painted finish rather than coated)

I only had time to check out the 35mm in this way. None of the tests meant a hill of beans from a definitive number-crunching way. These were quick and dirty tests, but the results were pretty impressive. These are good lenses!

Of the three lenses I checked (25mm, 35mm, and 85mm) the 35 & 85 focus marks are spot on perfect. The 25mm's marks are slightly off by -2" at 4'. I'll check with Fred to see about getting that lens re-collimated.

The proof will be pointing the camera at real subjects not charts. I'll post some frame grabs soon.
 
looking forward to this! Any chance you could post a few pics of the lenses too.

Hey John, When were illuminas demoed in knoxville? Were they the newer versions. Who demoed lenses? I'm in nashville.
 
The serial number of my lens is 002, and it just came out of the factory. So I doubt that John was looking at exactly the same design, although it was probably pretty similar.

I'll take some pics today and post them.
 
Set of 5 Illuminas with my fancy white sheet backdrop :smile5:

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Nice! Now your killing me.... Please post some test shots soon.
 
So they are pretty light. Nice! Can't wait to see pics. And when you do post pics, please post some at wide open so we can see the CA and softness. Thanks for all the info Paul!
 
Richard wrote: "Hey John, When were illuminas demoed in knoxville? Were they the newer versions. Who demoed lenses? I'm in nashville. "

Hi Richard - I arranged a demo at Pellissippi State Community College here in Knoxville with Glenn Leibold from LumaTech back in Feb. or March. We had a good turnout of mostly students. We tried out the 18 and 25 on my RED, and showed the images on a large monitor. The lenses he showed were pre-release; I think the glass was the same as what is now shipping, but the barrels looked a little different. After he left Knoxville, he headed to Nashville for a demo there, but I don't know the details.
 
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