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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 :)

red pro primes..

Doug, this is less so now that lenses are much easier to maintain than they used to be.
And the Red primes have a cowl that makes taping them all but impossible. Most AC's these days just put grease pencil right on a lens for a mark.

Just for reference here are the marks on a 50mm Cooke S4 Vs. a 50mm RPP...
Marks.jpg
 
Out of curiosity, it also appears in that comparison picture that the Cooke's have 180-200 degrees of focus ring rotation under 10', whereas the RPP's may have only 90 degrees or so?

If so, it would seem to make focusing a bit more tricky...

-Steve
 
waiting for the improved Pro Plus version.

Stephen
 
Evin Grant said:
Doug, this is less so now that lenses are much easier to maintain than they used to be.
And the Red primes have a cowl that makes taping them all but impossible. Most AC's these days just put grease pencil right on a lens for a mark.

Just for reference here are the marks on a 50mm Cooke S4 Vs. a 50mm RPP...
Marks.jpg
Click to expand...

Not a lot of room for grease pencil marks. Evin, would you be willing to post photos of the 35, 85 and 100mm marks?

A bit of a concern.

bob
 
why didnt someone mention this to Red months ago when they could have changed something?
 
I suspect they did... however Red would be right to (and may) have pointed out that they are still fantastic value for money.

I saw the Red primes today and was stunned by their material value for money! And I speak as somebody who has invested (happily) in a other lens system.

You can't have it all..

Michael L
 
Tape the lenses, it's pretty standard procedure. I don't see what the problem is, for the money it's a ferrari for the price of a ford. They could be covered in witness marks and AC's would still tape em up, horses for courses.
 
The cost savings had to come from somewhere.

Red's not stupid and neither are the alpha testers. This was one of the concessions made to produce a lens of this quality for this price. You can make your own marks, you can not make your own edge to edge sharpness and light transmission.
 
Have to face the reality of the lens hardware here... They just are what they are. And the RPP's are an amazing value. I also agree that tape is a poor solution, plenty of other solutions and a good ability to know where your focus is at on the lens barrel. The throw distance on the focus ring is a good bit shorter on the 50mm RPP than it is on the 50mm S4. I guess there's plenty of room to add a mark for 5' and one for 8' on there. But really, what good would that do? Is it really that hard to know where half-way lies between the 4' and 6' and between the 6' and the 10'??? The throw distance between 10' and 20' is really short, do we really NEED to start cramming 2 or 3 more marks in there and trying to label them?

Sure, I guess more marks, the better. But I've had my RPP's on three productions now -- one short film and two commercials. Plus I've been shooting with them myself the past several days. I'm not finding the marks to be a problem. Everyone who's used my RPP's so far has loved them, no one has complained about any difficulty in hitting focus. No one has wanted to tape them or mark them up. If you like the longer throw and more numerous markings on the S4's and feel that is necessary, go buy the S4's instead. No one lens design is perfect, find the one that you like best for your needs and go with it. I can say that with the RPP's in hand, I will never want to shoot with UP's, super speeds or zeiss standards anymore, unless I absolutely need a specific focal length before RED comes out with it. And even then, I'll go rent the Master Prime in the focal length I need. These lenses are that good.

My only complaint about the RPP's so far is the size and weight of the 25 and 35 mm... But the price/performance more than makes up for it.
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
The throw distance on the focus ring is a good bit shorter on the 50mm RPP than it is on the 50mm S4. I guess there's plenty of room to add a mark for 5' and one for 8' on there. But really, what good would that do? Is it really that hard to know where half-way lies between the 4' and 6' and between the 6' and the 10'??? The throw distance between 10' and 20' is really short, do we really NEED to start cramming 2 or 3 more marks in there and trying to label them?
Click to expand...

My concern is the 20 - infinity marking. Not much room. I my earlier years I certainly remember pulling focus on a 50 beyond 20 feet. Maybe this is a design/cost issue. I don't think you can tape them (unless you tape next to the gear but that is too far from the witness marks. I will be renting the lenses, so I worry a little. But I don't worry that much, they're nice lenses.

bob
 
Jeff Kilgroe said:
I can say that with the RPP's in hand, I will never want to shoot with UP's, super speeds or zeiss standards anymore, unless I absolutely need a specific focal length before RED comes out with it.
Click to expand...


whoa.. lets not get carried away..

red lenses are great, for sharp and almost medical type of lenses..

but come on.. standards and I guess even supers. have a desirable "look" to them.. as do cooke Pancho.. or S4's

lens choice has a lot of variables.:)

I think the RED lenses are great. the price is amazing.


I bet RED PRIMES will be used on ALOOOTTTTT of commercials, that require that sharp edge to edge/glossy and bright look
 
Personally I do not mark the lens at all. Rather I make a FF ring for each lens and I replicate all the lens markings there. With a nice focus chart and a handy dandy tape measure, if the lens marks that are there are hitting then the ones in-between will be accurate. Just a little time and effort. Then they get a clear coat to make them "semi" permanent and allow for new erasable eye marks to be written on top. So I will get all the marks I need including the "missing" marks on my wheel.

I do this with any lens so it's only a little extra time on the RPP's.

That being said. If you are renting... rent what your budget and your eye can agree upon.
If you are buying and the cost of S4's or Ultra's is prohibitive... then you have this option for quality with some trade off's that can be managed.
 
Taylor Morrison said:
Speaking of weight on the 25 and 35 ... do you ever feel the need for support for those lenses? They feel pretty heavy and long for an unsupported lens.
Click to expand...

I haven't been putting support under the 25 and 30. The guys at RED have assured me the primes don't need support. I do use the Zacuto lens support under my 300mm Pro as it's longer and heavier still.

J. Eric Camp said:
Personally I do not mark the lens at all. Rather I make a FF ring for each lens and I replicate all the lens markings there. With a nice focus chart and a handy dandy tape measure, if the lens marks that are there are hitting then the ones in-between will be accurate. Just a little time and effort. Then they get a clear coat to make them "semi" permanent and allow for new erasable eye marks to be written on top. So I will get all the marks I need including the "missing" marks on my wheel.
Click to expand...

I do FF rings myself, but I like the clearcoat idea, I'll have to give it a try.

@ Zakaree, you're right that all the different lenses have their own look or character. I was just saying that I find the RPP's to be quite appealing and in terms of performance, I would put them right up there with the UP's and in some cases they perform even better. Actually I prefer the RPP look over the UP look, but it's all down to personal taste in most cases. If I do want the look of vintage glass or certain lenses, I'll go and rent. I guess what I'm saying is that my days of renting a set of standards or UPs just because I need glass is pretty much over.
 
The cheapest and easiest "clear coat" is to mark the ring in expo marker then cover it with clear tape. Now the first layer is protected and you can write and erase eye marks all day long. Or just cover it in tape and use a sharpie for the lens marks and an expo for the eye marks either way.... clear tape.
 
Evin Grant said:
Marks.jpg
Click to expand...

Do the RPPs have a shorter focus rotation than the Cookes, or just differently distributed?

How are the Ultra Primes in this regard? And how about the UniQ Optics?
 
According to Jeff K. "The throw distance on the focus ring is a good bit shorter on the 50mm RPP than it is on the 50mm S4".

I haven't used the RPP's myself, but visually the throw looks quite a bit shorter.

It perhaps is not fair to directly compare the two, since there is a huge difference in the cost. The Ultra Primes and Compact Primes don't have as much throw as S4's either (which is why focus pullers often rave about the S4's - not just for their optical properties). But it looks like both UP's and even the "cheaper" Compact Primes have finer distance marks than the RPPs.

There's a lot to be said for evolutionary products vs. revolutionary products.
I'm sure the RPP's represent outstanding and unmatched value, but for well budgeted commercials, studio pictures, etc. which rent out their equipment from camera houses, it probably doesn't make much sense to live with possible compromises when the difference in cost is marginal compared to the technical necessities of working fast and accurately.

I haven't pulled on the RPP's yet, it's just my conjecture based on the pictures!



Nils J. Nesse said:
Do the RPPs have a shorter focus rotation than the Cookes, or just differently distributed?

How are the Ultra Primes in this regard? And how about the UniQ Optics?
Click to expand...
 
I'm probably stating the obvious but there doesn't appear to be enough room to print any distance over 20' on the 50mm RPP barrel - I imagine if there was a greater focus rotation at a probably increased cost they could have possibly fitted it in...or used smaller number markings (but then people would probably complain about that too!). Alternatively they could have maybe skipped 20' as a numerical marking and gone straight to marking 30' (but kept 20' just as a line between the 10' and the 30')?

Also, without wanting to diss any focus pullers out there, at around 30 feet at T1.8 on a 50mm you've got about 10 feet of depth to play with (& at 40' you've got 18 feet of depth), plus a nice sharp monitor image too! They managed to do this with crappier-marked lenses (ok, not as fast!) in the old days with no helpful monitor image, edge highlight, Distos etc etc...just saying :001_huh:

[p.s it would be interesting for someone to run out a tape measure and check with a good monitor wide open but I'd hazzard a complete guess that 40' on the 50mm RPP barrel should be just under half of the distance between 20' and infinity...start the sweepstake!! :thumbsup:]
 
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