Smooth Zooming Parcofal Lenses?

[Matthew Robertson]

Hey all,

Does anyone know of any solid zooms that hold focus when zooming, and have a smooth/fairly loose zoom mechanism?

I had a canon 35-105 f3.5 FD zoom for my gh2 when I used to use that system, and it was a PERFECT lens for video. I was able to do some small in camera zooms that had a really unique look and it also had amazing flares, some of my favorite ones i've ever seen.

You can see the lens in use here:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NH8NIZ8bOWc

Some good examples around 2:49, 3:21, etc.Anyone got some hidden gems that would fit this kind of description? The zoom on the FD is just so smooth and it holds focus really well. Its a shame I can't utilize it on my Canon C100. You can get glass adapters that allow infinity focus, but they look terrible (tried one out and it was unusable).

 

[Shervin Mandgaryan]

Have you tried any of the new L telephoto zooms? They're all parfocal and work very nicely. Save for the medium range zooms like the 24-70 and wider, which aren't parfocal at all, the 70-200 range of L zooms are perfect for video work.

The older 80-200 F2.8 L is a particular favorite of mine. It's got older coatings that give it a much more organic rendering (Very similar to Zeiss lenses in Contax mount from the 80's and 90's). I did a writeup here if you want to check it out. http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?94011-Canon-80-200mm-F2-8-L-A-Real-Magic-Drainpipe

Newer lenses have a dampened zoom ring that may or may not be advantageous. If you're looking for a non-dampened ring that glides when you turn the ring, the 80-200 2.8 L is by far the best.

 

[Neal Williams]

I have used a J33 zoom and the Canon 150-600 zoom a lot. While the J33 could zoom through 33X, and I did many zooms, when it came to editing, we all most always chose the wide, medium, CU choice over the zoom. The longer zooms are best thought of as the quick way to get WS, MS and CU without changing lens.
Dollying the camera i or out instead of zooming is usually better as well.

 

[Michael Notar]

here's a link to all the parafocal zooms canon makes/made

http://dougchinnery.blogspot.com/2010/01/canon-parfocal-lenses.html