Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • 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 :)

PELENG 8mm Fisheye

As Doug once told me, "the quality of any individual Peleng lens is a direct corollary to the amount of Vodka consumed at the factory that day."

Doug gets his lenses on a direct buy deal and hand picks them. Then he does some nice precision work in mounting them and making their accessories. You get what you pay for.

Maybe RAF delivers a great product too, I don't know. But I do know what Doug does. He's been around in the business for decades and has earned his degree of respect.

Mitch Gross
Abel Cine Tech
 
That's real good to hear, Mitch. Yeah, he has a good solid background.
 
Buyer beware with Pelang lenses. I got one from Long Valley equipment and at first it looked and worked great. Then I loaned it to a friend who shot a spec commercial with it and everything was out of focus. Come to find out the PL mount was not secured very well which allowed the backfocus to slip out. I had the mount re-done and now all is well. And if you need any work done on any piece of glass, let me suggest Paul Duclos in LA. He's amazing.
 
I'd be in too. Cool to have funky lenses as well as precision ones.
One of my bigger regrets is that I did not buy a director friend's personal set of old-school Cooke primes that had the really good Century conversion to PL. All focused close, and were in great shape. Had the usual old-lens funkiness (anyone remember how YELLOW those 75mm's were?) and of course he wanted top dollar ($8500) which I thought was steep for a trick-lens set. If I want to shoot a film with a '70s-era vibe, I'd just rent a set.
Still would have been a cool set to own, though.
But I'd be down for a group buy.
Cheers,
Harry
 
FYI, although I assume you've already seen it, I started a separate group buy thread to alert anyone interested (who may not have opened this thread).

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=7955

If you haven't put in your group-buy "aye" over there, would you mind shooting a quick reply so we can keep it all in one place? Or you could pm me.

Thanks!

-Chris
 
Mitch Gross said:
The Peleng is good for the price. The Nikon 8mm as converted by Oppenheimer Camera is vastly superior but also vastly more expensive.
Click to expand...



Not True in my experience, I projected my first Peleng and the Nikon 8mm side by side @ Clairmont with some of the lens techs there - it just blew the doors off of the Nikon. I've seen some mediocre pelengs, but if you get a good one it's quite amazing.

I actually can't remember where I got my first Peleng.... from some sketchy website. Ken Stone and Mark Weingarter were involved in the second batch where we bought 10 units and PL'ed them. This was before any one offered them pre-made.

Nice Talking with you the other day Mitch !

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #30
I'm now the proud owner of a Peleng 8mm complete with PL mount, the rear clear filter plus 5 more filters that I intend to convert to NDs.

I'll see if I can project the lens sometime early next week. So far, I'm pleased with it. Looks like it's going to be one of the best sub-$400 investments I've made in a while. I just have to get those NDs made.
 
Jeff, where did you get it? Did you do the eBay one? Douglas said he's out and it doesn't appear any more are coming from him.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #32
Yes, I grabbed one off ebay. It came in an actual retail box with the clear plus two other filters and a junk case. It already has the PL mount installed -- it's black anodized aluminum, but looks fairly well made and is secure. $382 after shipping -- it drop-shipped directly to me from Minsk. I found someone else on ebay selling a set of three filters for the lens for $9, so I grabbed them.

A few of us have been working behind the scenes to come up with a source for these lenses for Doug's mounts and some extra filters to go with them. ...All relating to the potential group buy thing. But it seems a lot of these dealers just get one lens here and there. The guy I bought this one from actually didn't have it and almost had to give my money back because he didn't think his supplier could actually ship one. He's seeing if he can get more.
 
Matt Uhry said:
Not True in my experience, I projected my first Peleng and the Nikon 8mm side by side @ Clairmont with some of the lens techs there - it just blew the doors off of the Nikon. I've seen some mediocre pelengs, but if you get a good one it's quite amazing.

I actually can't remember where I got my first Peleng.... from some sketchy website. Ken Stone and Mark Weingarter were involved in the second batch where we bought 10 units and PL'ed them. This was before any one offered them pre-made.

Nice Talking with you the other day Mitch !

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
Click to expand...

You must have gotten very lucky with your Peleng. I've tested several as well as several Nikon 8 and in all cases the Peleng did not fare as well.

Mitch
 
Mitch Gross said:
You must have gotten very lucky with your Peleng. I've tested several as well as several Nikon 8 and in all cases the Peleng did not fare as well.

Mitch
Click to expand...

Let's have a 8mm fisheye throwdown ! Let me know next time you make it to your west coast office !

Matt Uhry
www.mattuhry.com
 
  • Thread starter
  • Moderator
  • #35
I'll try and compare the 8mm peleng with the 8mm Nikkor sometime next week. The local lens guy I'd work with has a re-housed Nikkor 8mm fisheye. I'm a little skeptical about the Peleng... It's so small compared to that Nikkor. :)
 
I tested one of my PL mounted Pelengs against a Nikkor 8mm in PL mount on a Arri 35BL2 with 5293, then projected the print at Du Art, and they were indistinguishable. Had to look at the slate to figure out which was which. I've also heard that the Peleng handles flare better, which is a good thing since you just might have direct sunlight in a lot of exterior shots with this lens.

Of course, it's possible that I tested a superb Peleng against a lousy Nikon. But I've sold so many of these in PL mount and everyone loves them. The Peleng is so inexpensive that buying one for your kit, either in Nikon or PL mount, is a must.

I'm still working on getting other ND filters for you guys. Right now I have ND.6 in optical polymer resin, which is what they make eyeglasses out of.

Doug
 
Oh man I love this lens... I've had it for about a year now, mostly to do time-lapse on the Dslr. That was the plan then until my Red came out then I'd mount it via the canon or nikon lens adapter. This PL option seems the way to go!
Here's a sample I shot with the lens over the summer during the Persid meteor shower. First shot is a 20, second is the Peleng...
http://homepage.mac.com/powrslave/.Public/tl_081107.mov

-Eli




Jeff Kilgroe said:
Anyone have any comments to share on this lens?

It was tested at LART with decent results, but I was wondering if anyone else has had a chance to put it on a RED and give it a workout.

I'm planning on getting one, they're dirt-cheap anyway. What is the recommended source for one of these? I've found two dealers online for getting one with a PL mount.

I'm mostly looking at Long Valley Equipment
http://www.longvalleyequip.com/lens.php

LVE sells it for $795 and puts a fixed PL mount on the lens and supposedly collimates each one before shipping. It should cover the entire 4K sensor area on RED and maybe a bit more, looks like about a 24mm diameter image area. Comes with 4 filters, 3 of which they claim they manufacture themselves.

The second one is RafCamera
http://rafcamera.com/mcl/wide/peleng_pl.htm
This one is about $400 cheaper. It's tempting, but it appears the PL mount is just an adapter to be fixed onto the MC mounting back of a stock lens, includes the stock filters.
Click to expand...
 
powrslave said:
Oh man I love this lens... I've had it for about a year now, mostly to do time-lapse on the Dslr. That was the plan then until my Red came out then I'd mount it via the canon or nikon lens adapter. This PL option seems the way to go!
Here's a sample I shot with the lens over the summer during the Persid meteor shower. First shot is a 20, second is the Peleng...
http://homepage.mac.com/powrslave/.Public/tl_081107.mov

-Eli
Click to expand...

Pretty cool, what panning head do you use? Do you know what your exposure settings were?
Thanks
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top