Obin Olson
Well-known member
LIke anyone who is about to lay down some serious cash for a set of lenses I was a bit afraid of what I would get from Rplenses.com, I was looking for a "cine" set of older glass for my new Epic and was alerted to Peter from reduser. After talking with him on the phone at length about what I want I told him that I had a small 2 day job coming up and would really like to rent his lenses and see just what it would be like "under the gun" on a job shooting with them. To my suprise Peter told me he would just sent his personal set over for me to play with. How could I turn that down? I could tell I liked this guy already. Who sends a personal set of glass off to a random potential customer sight unseen right? As soon as I got his glass I was fully in love, the f1.2, 1.4, 2.0 glass just looked "romantic" shooting raw S35 Epic. I knew I wanted this setup. I could move fast, change glass quick, and get shots I literally dream about - fast - size matters. I was on and off a steadycam, high hat, dolly, tripod, even handheld all day on the beach, golf course, crane arm for 2 days. The glass just worked the way the small Epic body works...a personal camera again, like a stills body, I was getting creative without thinking *how am I going to pull that off without a ton of setup by my grips" I wanted it, I just held out the camera and shot it, low, high, push in, pull out, rotate through etc. I could shoot again, and when it was handheld, I knew that I could rely on Cs6 warp stabilizer to pull out a shot that looked like it was "computer control" for most of my hand held shots. I was very happy.
After sending Peter back his glass with a big "thank you" I placed my order. And I waited. Called Peter a few times (who answered his phone and emails right away) and asked him how long? He said that he sources his glass at times from overseas, "people in other countries take better care of glass then the Americans do" he said. But I was buying used glass right? Yes I was he told me, "but it will be really nice, trust me" Peter told me. "I have a quality level I accept, if it does not meet my standards I send the glass back, my guys know what I want and get it for me" he said. I was stoked, this sounded good.
Well fast forward to today, let me tell you fedex brought a box, and this was no ordinary box, triple wrapped and packed just as well as RED packs shipments the glass came. 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm. I unwrapped the lenses one by one, and I looked at the glass. ....I swear this glass as never been touched by ANYONE in it's entire life. The lens bodies? perfect, not a single scratch, noda. None. the focus rings? aligned just as I asked so the distance from flange is as close to the same on every glass (I wanted this to help speed up lens changes with the remote follow focus I have on it) the caps, brand new, the 80mm ring on the front "very tight" as I requested so my mattebox would not unscrew it. and the "feel" of each lens matches perfectly as far as the focus ring tightness is concerned.
the Nikon f2 135mm...a lens that would make Tony Scott proud....amazing glass. So "cinematic".
I am very happy, I can pick up my Epic, and shoot EXACTLY how I want now, finally. For me that is (to use a cliche) Priceless.
Thank you Jim and team and Peter at RP. I'd buy from him again for as long as I hold a lens in my hand and shoot stuff.
After sending Peter back his glass with a big "thank you" I placed my order. And I waited. Called Peter a few times (who answered his phone and emails right away) and asked him how long? He said that he sources his glass at times from overseas, "people in other countries take better care of glass then the Americans do" he said. But I was buying used glass right? Yes I was he told me, "but it will be really nice, trust me" Peter told me. "I have a quality level I accept, if it does not meet my standards I send the glass back, my guys know what I want and get it for me" he said. I was stoked, this sounded good.
Well fast forward to today, let me tell you fedex brought a box, and this was no ordinary box, triple wrapped and packed just as well as RED packs shipments the glass came. 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, and 135mm. I unwrapped the lenses one by one, and I looked at the glass. ....I swear this glass as never been touched by ANYONE in it's entire life. The lens bodies? perfect, not a single scratch, noda. None. the focus rings? aligned just as I asked so the distance from flange is as close to the same on every glass (I wanted this to help speed up lens changes with the remote follow focus I have on it) the caps, brand new, the 80mm ring on the front "very tight" as I requested so my mattebox would not unscrew it. and the "feel" of each lens matches perfectly as far as the focus ring tightness is concerned.
the Nikon f2 135mm...a lens that would make Tony Scott proud....amazing glass. So "cinematic".
I am very happy, I can pick up my Epic, and shoot EXACTLY how I want now, finally. For me that is (to use a cliche) Priceless.
Thank you Jim and team and Peter at RP. I'd buy from him again for as long as I hold a lens in my hand and shoot stuff.
