Blair S. Paulsen
Well-known member
- Joined
- Dec 28, 2006
- Messages
- 5,503
- Reaction score
- 34
- Points
- 48
- Location
- San Diego, CA
- Website
- www.alacritymedia.com
There used to be pretty clear lines between cine/film, broadcast TV, general video and still photography. These days, not so much. More and more folks are turning to stills lenses (and even stills cameras with video capabilities) for creating motion content. One of the key ideas that led to RED, was the recognition that digital sensors for still cameras had finally gotten to the point that even pros were switching away from film capture. What if you could get a DSLR to go fast enough to do 24 or 30 frames per second for an extended period of time? That idea, Jim Jannard and a number of other technological shifts have blurred those lines.
Large (S35/APS-C and bigger) single CMOS sensor motion cameras have proliferated, 3 chip CCD video cameras are on their way out. Fortunately there are terrific lenses out there for shooting motion on these new cameras with precision build quality and great optics. Problem is, they are way to expensive to ROI for most owner/operators and for jobs that don't have the budget to rent the real deal people need alternatives. Which has led a stampede to lenses intended for the ginormous still photography market.
Premium quality (Canon L, Nikon G, etc) primes and zooms designed for shooting stills can often provide motion shooters with excellent options that offer less weight, less size and less cost. However, there are compromises: trickier focus pulls, breathing, zooms often not par focal, telescoping barrels, sample variance, durability, build quality, etc. Ultimately stills lenses were not designed for motion shooting requirements, just as traditional cine lenses were not designed for high mobility, owner/ops and solo shooting.
IMO the best combo of ergonomics, features, performance, etc for shooting motion content in a wide variety of situations is the good old B4 mount ENG/EFP zoom lens. Sadly they were designed for 3 smaller sensors. There are adapters but you give up a couple of stops and good luck resolving 4K (Zeiss Digi-zoom maybe?).
The Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 PL zoom is the first of what I hope will be a new generation of lensing options for the modern motion shooter. RED was working on a fixed 8:1 zoom for a Scarlet variant at one point, though that's long abandoned (at least as far as we know), but the concept has value. Looking at industry trends, it sure seems like the market for lenses designed for high resolution large single sensor motion cameras has grown to where enough units could be sold to make a viable business case.
This is my plea for the lens manufacturers to offer a broad range of zooms and primes designed for modern motion shooters across a spectrum of price points. Zoom servos, focus assist tech appropriate for motion, optical precision, build quality, image stabilization, look, cost and all the other usual metrics should delineate the marketplace easily enough. I maintain that a 10:1 zoom, T3.2, able to resolve 4K, under 10 pounds, operational characteristics similar to a B4 ENG lens could be brought to market for under $15,000 USD if the manufacturer had a reasonable expectation of being able to sell at least 10,000 of them worldwide. Who's in?
Cheers #19
Large (S35/APS-C and bigger) single CMOS sensor motion cameras have proliferated, 3 chip CCD video cameras are on their way out. Fortunately there are terrific lenses out there for shooting motion on these new cameras with precision build quality and great optics. Problem is, they are way to expensive to ROI for most owner/operators and for jobs that don't have the budget to rent the real deal people need alternatives. Which has led a stampede to lenses intended for the ginormous still photography market.
Premium quality (Canon L, Nikon G, etc) primes and zooms designed for shooting stills can often provide motion shooters with excellent options that offer less weight, less size and less cost. However, there are compromises: trickier focus pulls, breathing, zooms often not par focal, telescoping barrels, sample variance, durability, build quality, etc. Ultimately stills lenses were not designed for motion shooting requirements, just as traditional cine lenses were not designed for high mobility, owner/ops and solo shooting.
IMO the best combo of ergonomics, features, performance, etc for shooting motion content in a wide variety of situations is the good old B4 mount ENG/EFP zoom lens. Sadly they were designed for 3 smaller sensors. There are adapters but you give up a couple of stops and good luck resolving 4K (Zeiss Digi-zoom maybe?).
The Fujinon Cabrio 19-90 PL zoom is the first of what I hope will be a new generation of lensing options for the modern motion shooter. RED was working on a fixed 8:1 zoom for a Scarlet variant at one point, though that's long abandoned (at least as far as we know), but the concept has value. Looking at industry trends, it sure seems like the market for lenses designed for high resolution large single sensor motion cameras has grown to where enough units could be sold to make a viable business case.
This is my plea for the lens manufacturers to offer a broad range of zooms and primes designed for modern motion shooters across a spectrum of price points. Zoom servos, focus assist tech appropriate for motion, optical precision, build quality, image stabilization, look, cost and all the other usual metrics should delineate the marketplace easily enough. I maintain that a 10:1 zoom, T3.2, able to resolve 4K, under 10 pounds, operational characteristics similar to a B4 ENG lens could be brought to market for under $15,000 USD if the manufacturer had a reasonable expectation of being able to sell at least 10,000 of them worldwide. Who's in?
Cheers #19
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