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What Cinema Primes to buy and if its a good idea

Rodrigo Violante

Rodrigo Violante

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I currently have an Epic-W with some Nikon lenses series N. I'm lately thinking in buying the Red Pro Primes or maybe CP2 all used as I have a budget of around 10k.

My biggest issues is that no video on internet can really show me a difference between my lenses that I have and the Red Pro or CP2. I never had any other sort of lenses so I'm wondering:

- if its a smart decision to change from Nikon N to start using the Red Pro Primes or CP2, I dont want to have a formula 1 with a set of old tires.
- What will be the biggest changes I will notice if there are any.
- Is the image quality better? how?
- I seen some people mentioning about the breathing but I never experience any sort of issues, maybe because of the types of shooting I do with usually I dont move focus or zoom.

Also I'm worried about the weight for the Red Pro lenses since I do a lot of hand held and I will also be doing drone photography, which I can switch to the nikon if there is an issue, but then again Ill be spending 10k and not using it.

Thanks

Rodrigo
 
Which Nikon lenses? The "N" as in the newer nanocrystal coated lenses? If so I shoot with them for my photography and occasionally with my Weapon-I prefer them over the CP2s any day. They have more character and less contrast then the typical Zeiss look.

As a whole I don't like the CP2s and prefer the Milvus or Otus lenses over them for Zeiss glass. The CP2s from the few I used don't seem to breath much; and they are pretty soft when open wide, you'd get better performance out of the Nikons.
At your budget you could also check out the Xeen lenses or wait to see what Sigma's primes will be priced at.
 
Thanks Chris for the feedback! and yes they are the new ones Nanocrystal Coated Lenses. Have you try the Red Pro Primes?
 
I only shot with the Red PPs once (mostly used the zooms). Sure for the price they are decent... and kindof heavy.

If memory serves me right the wider lenses (18, 25, 35) didn't cover the Dragon sensor at 6k (around 5-5.5k) but the more telephoto ones did. So they wouldn't cover the Helium at 8k
 
Rodrigo Violante said:
Thanks Chris for the feedback! and yes they are the new ones Nanocrystal Coated Lenses. Have you try the Red Pro Primes?
Click to expand...

Hey rodrigo,

I have a set of red pro primes that I got a little while ago. For me they are truly awesome
Lenses. However, ya, I completely agree that they are heavy as hell. But really beautiful lenses. I have a weapon helium and the 18,25 and 35 do vignette a bit at 8k. 7k and I believe you're fine. But for the money, if you're ok with the weight they're truly gorgeous lenses. you could probably get a full set of 6 for $10k.
 
Tough question. All glass is priced for a reason.

Better than your Nikons?

Not much, optically - you'll have better mechanics with CNE's though, if you're willing to make the leap.

But if you want to make a real leap, you have three choices IMHO:

1) Buy real cinema glass like Ultraprimes, or Leica Chrons. There is no substitute.

2) Buy modded stills glass with character - Leica R or Contax. You'll notice the personality and mechanics right away (I personally hate autofocus glass, no matter what anyone says).

3) Buy a cinema zoom, some are really coming down in price. The Zeiss 20-120 and 28-80 come to mind. Both look impressive, and were designed with cinema in mind.

Keep in mind too that cinema primes show their worth most at the wide end - the distortion and feel of real cinema primes (not stills variants) at 16, 18, 20, 24, 25 is palpable. Once you go tight, I find the results more subtle (flat is flat)...and stills teles can really be excelent.

Hope this helps.

Good luck.
 
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I have a set of the new nikon lenses, cp2 and red prime pro's in my locker. Between those three, I bet the nikon's are used 90% of the time for simple ease of use and weight. If your doing a lot of rack focus (on things like faces), then the RPP are hugely better then both the nikon and cp2(but I normally have access to arri primes so don't end up using the RPP for rack focus). cp2 are nice, but they are a kind of "in between" still glass and cinema glass - where I find I only use them when I need to rack focus and don't have access to cinema glass ( I really dislike fixing the breathing of still glass & cp2 in post).
 
Can't go wrong with the Sony Cinealta lenses. Been using them for over a year and I still have 0 complaints about them. Definitely a great set to own, rent when you need something different.

Of course, if weight's an issue or you need T1.3 then search elsewhere.
 
John Brennick said:
Hey rodrigo,

But for the money, if you're ok with the weight they're truly gorgeous lenses. you could probably get a full set of 6 for $10k.
Click to expand...

+1

I love mine, very sharp.

One more thing to consider, When shooting SlowMo, you need fast lenses. Seems like we are always shooting 120 to 150. The RPP's are 1.8 and that is very helpful at times.
 
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Celere lenses! Top notch quality! 4k$ per lens!
 
cine vs stills

cine vs stills

Rodrigo Violante said:
- I seen some people mentioning about the breathing but I never experience any sort of issues, maybe because of the types of shooting I do with usually I dont move focus or zoom.
Click to expand...

Often its the focus mechanics, breathing, or the lens speed that brings these Cine glass investments, but it doesn't sound like your in need of any of these attributes. You should consider saving your money till your type of work shifts.
 
Thanks for all the great perspective, I think I will rent some maybe in a future and compare
 
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