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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 :)

Which ones would you like to have? Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 or Red Pro Primes?

RED pros. They are purpose built cine lenes. They are more precise and easier to use.
 
It's called brand name loyalty. RPP are better made, 1.8 throughout the lenses, and have a better MTF wide open. CP.2 are soft until you hit 5.6f, and are rehoused still lenses = breathing. But since it's Zeiss and don't weight 5lbs, lots of DP's are willing to look pass the short comings of the lenses.
 
Nick Gardner said:
Ziess CP are not the ziess people want.

Nick
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Exactly. I have used CP.2's on 5 shoots to date but only due to camera package deals (thanks to cheap producers). Needless to say I'd take RPP's any day.

CP.2's have terrible CA, color shifts from lens to lens, wides are slow for a prime. Positives are the cover full frame, are sharp, light, and have the zeiss neutral to cool look and round bokeh. But after using them their flaws are more than I would want in my own set. I hate that I have to expose my lenses to the slowest lens in the set (18mm 3.6! On top of that it has a slightly brown color shift).

I've shot with RPP's as well as the RED Pro Zooms 18-85 and I love them. They are all heavy, big, and lack proper focus marks as the popular cine lenses. But they are sharp as hell, have consistent neutral color, round bokeh, all have the same speed rating.

If you can before you purchase rent a set of each for the day and shoot with them. See which you prefer.

My opinion is save some money and get a proper set of RPP's. Then have Duclos make some rings to cover the RED branding on the lenses and have Zeiss engraved in them. They would think they were Zeiss if they didn't have the RED logo on them.
 
Matt Ryan said:
Then have Duclos make some rings to cover the RED branding on the lenses and have Zeiss engraved in them. They would think they were Zeiss if they didn't have the RED logo on them.
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OMG Brilliant idea. But I can't cover RED brand name - I love it! But thanks for advice. I did a lot's of test myself and I can say RPP is closest to master primes. Super sharp. Very Low CA. Very Low vignetting. What else do we need in a god sake?
 
Dmitry Burenok said:
OMG Brilliant idea. But I can't cover RED brand name - I love it! But thanks for advice. I did a lot's of test myself and I can say RPP is closest to master primes. Super sharp. Very Low CA. Very Low vignetting. What else do we need in a god sake?
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They are very similar to Master Primes, just wish the RPP's were t1.3/1.4 and cover FF haha. Then we'd have the best of both worlds.
 
I have tested them directly against each other at Filmakademie Ludwigsburg and second what has been said. The CPs are not what made the name Zeiss big among DoPs, the RPPs are better in every aspect.

Have a look at the Portland lens shootout, too, the RPPs fared pretty well there among a whole bunch of mid-priced cine primes.
 
Karl Krings said:
again. CP2 cover FF. RPP does not! And check our new superspeeds f1.5 :)
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They still have CA issues like the rest of the CP.2 line as well as breathing and soft wide open. They are sharp (2.0 and up), light, and cover ff yes, but for s35 shooting I'd take RPP's any day. It has been confirmed that the new CP.2 Super speeds are the CP.1 lenses with a rebuilt iris allowing them to open up to 1.5, which they were purposely limited on the CP.1's.

Anyways, it's more of a decision based on what is the best investment for your business. If it's a personal set I'd go RPP's but if clients want Zeiss then that is probably the best way to go. Sad that brand loyalty supersedes quality.
 
RPP's are of better quality, and I find them great for a studio style set ups. They are a more affordable option to something like Zeiss Master primes.
CP.2 are lighter, have a better resell value and and the option of interchangeable mounts.
At the end of the day you get what you paid for.

I personally do a lot a handheld camera work and even if some projects have the budget for big expensive PL glass its the weight and form factor that makes me go sometimes with smaller photo lenses.
 
greg filipkowski said:
My test
https://vimeo.com/50615283
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Just woundering if there are different filters etc, and it's a compressed vimeo file.. what is possible to judge from this? There would have to be pixel 1:1 comparisons done att different fstop etc to be able to make something out of the test, or no?
 
Our lens guru in town (which is very much an arri / Zeiss fanboy) Told me that the RPP's are good lenses, but they do not well as rentals for the following reasons.

1. there is an whole bounch of people that do not want to use RED lenses no matter what.
2. People find them to be big and heavy.
3. He said that they are poorly sealed, they collect dust and grow fungus.
4. The markings are off and some of his RPP's was not possible to get a proper colemation on that worked for the whole focus range / all whitness marks.

But then again this guy rents out arri cams, and is, even though he got several red ones, epics and sets of RPP's very tinted to say that anything else is better than RED. Even so I do not think the the above remarks where all flat out lies, all lenses have their own set of hickups and these where the once he could come up with when shit smearing RED :)
 
Björn Benckert said:
Our lens guru in town (which is very much an arri / Zeiss fanboy) Told me that the RPP's are good lenses, but they do not well as rentals for the following reasons.

1. there is an whole bounch of people that do not want to use RED lenses no matter what.
2. People find them to be big and heavy.
3. He said that they are poorly sealed, they collect dust and grow fungus.
4. The markings are off and some of his RPP's was not possible to get a proper colemation on that worked for the whole focus range / all whitness marks.

But then again this guy rents out arri cams, and is, even though he got several red ones, epics and sets of RPP's very tinted to say that anything else is better than RED. Even so I do not think the the above remarks where all flat out lies, all lenses have their own set of hickups and these where the once he could come up with when shit smearing RED :)
Click to expand...

FInally my pray was answered! Thanks Bjorn - it makes everything 100% clear to me.
 
Dmitry Burenok said:
FInally my pray was answered! Thanks Bjorn - it makes everything 100% clear to me.
Click to expand...

Now just get those Zeiss sleeves and then no one can complain haha
 
I think the main reason of ZEISS is because everyone trust company who's making lenses for more than 100 years. As long as no one really made 5K cameras these days apart from RED - everyone trust RED in this case :)
 
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