Scarlet lens quest

[Curtis Stanton]

I'm planning on placing a deposit on a Scarlet before the price increase. I've seen the Dec. 10 lens shootout and the various lens threads on reduser.net and elsewhere, but I still have some questions.

I'm coming from a prosumer background and haven't spent much time researching lenses—until now. Once I got over the sticker shockand new configuration of the Scarlet, I considered the Canon mount and Canon L zooms. From there I went to the Canon mount and a set of Duclos Zeiss ZF.2 primes. Then it was off to consider a PL mount and the RED 17-50 zoom. And somewhere in there I began checking eBay for Leica Rs.

My main use of the camera will be for documentary interviews with some landscapes and cityscapes with no crew or minimal crew. I don't foresee using it for narrative films.

I realize much of this is subjective and personal preference, but my questions are these:

• Factoring out zoom shots and just using the 17-50 as a variable prime, is the image quality of the 17-50 in the same league as the RED primes which seemed to do OK in the Dec. 10 shootout?
• Does the 17-50 require lens support, and can it effectively be used hand held?
• If I went with the 17-50 I'd love to be able to use smaller, high quality lenses as well. I've looked on the Leitax site, but didn't see an adapter that would allow a Leica, Zeiss, or any Canon mount lens to be used with a PL mount. (They seemed to replace the PL mount with a Canon mount.) Does such an adapter exist?
• Manual lens users (especially one man bands): Are there times when you needed the auto focus or really wished you could take advantage of the convenience of the Scarlet or Epic electronics? I'm very reluctant to give this up, which is one of the considerations that led me to the 17-50.
• Is it difficult to find critical focus for the manual lenses with the 5” touch screen?

Thanks in advance for any answers, any help, and any filling in of the blanks,

Curtis

 

[Dane Henry]

"Manual lens users (especially one man bands): Are there times when you needed the auto focus or really wished you could take advantage of the convenience of the Scarlet or Epic electronics? I'm very reluctant to give this up, which is one of the considerations that led me to the 17-50."

- Haven't used AF on a camera, even on cameras that DO have AF lenses. I do not for see using the AF on my Scarlet with Canon Glass, it's going to have to be pretty incredible to change my mind. I love the tactile feel of rolling my focus...brain to fingers to lens... that's pretty fast!

 

[axel ebermann]

see the answers / suggestions below:


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• Factoring out zoom shots and just using the 17-50 as a variable prime, is the image quality of the 17-50 in the same league as the RED primes which seemed to do OK in the Dec. 10 shootout?
  
  nope. it is a decent lens (I own one) but a prime is a prime is a prime.
  
  
• Does the 17-50 require lens support, and can it effectively be used hand held?
  
  - no
  - yes
  
  
• If I went with the 17-50 I'd love to be able to use smaller, high quality lenses as well. I've looked on the Leitax site, but didn't see an adapter that would allow a Leica, Zeiss, or any Canon mount lens to be used with a PL mount. (They seemed to replace the PL mount with a Canon mount.) Does such an adapter exist?
  
  - All star -Mount is pretty nifty. It is a 'dumb' mount though.
  
  http://allstar-cine.myweb.hinet.net/html/red_accessories/A_Mr.htm
  
  
• Manual lens users (especially one man bands): Are there times when you needed the auto focus or really wished you could take advantage of the convenience of the Scarlet or Epic electronics? I'm very reluctant to give this up, which is one of the considerations that led me to the 17-50.
  
  I have been using myriads of cameras of all shapes and sizes over the last 15 years. Never used autofocus on any of them. I consider it pretty much useless for professional use.
  (this is why we all spend the big bucks on lenses with manual focus....)
  
  
• Is it difficult to find critical focus for the manual lenses with the 5” touch screen?
  
  It is challenging with a sensor of this size period. That is the curse and the blessing of a shallow depth of field.
  If you have static situations or sitdown interviews you should be all right checking focus in pixel view.
  run and gun: forget it. you will need a focus pulller.

 

[Curtis Stanton]

Very helpful, thanks

 

[Sergio Perez]

"Manual lens users (especially one man bands): Are there times when you needed the auto focus or really wished you could take advantage of the convenience of the Scarlet or Epic electronics? I'm very reluctant to give this up, which is one of the considerations that led me to the 17-50."

- Haven't used AF on a camera, even on cameras that DO have AF lenses. I do not for see using the AF on my Scarlet with Canon Glass, it's going to have to be pretty incredible to change my mind. I love the tactile feel of rolling my focus...brain to fingers to lens... that's pretty fast!

No need for autofocus. What you need is a Tack sharp LCD or EVF. And practice practice practice. Focusing just becomes second nature.