The Complete 'Everymans' Guide to RED and Lenses

[explosive]

Hey guys, my first post here!

Firstly let me thank everybody for contributing to this massive pool of knowledge. I found it tremendously helpful!

Unfortunately, as a new user i found it a little difficult to digest so much info and to scour the boards to find the correct post and so on.

So it is my intention for this post (and your additions to it) to be a general summary bringing this all together in a coherent form much of the info regardingng the various aspects and issues regarding RED and cine primes, using the adaptors, nikkors and cannons, focus pulling issues, breathing and anything regarding lenses.

Think of it as our own private reduser wikipedia (or we could always do it on wikipedia... but this is so much more fun) entry on "lenses and red".

I'll start it off with my limited knowledge and what I've been able to discover/borrow/rip off others.

Please add to it, or change what I have done (especially if I have got it completely wrong), in the spirit of creating a comprehensive and well reading treatise on this topic.

Add away :) I will edit.

Document Starts below this post.

[explosive]

RED ONE AND LENSES

The Red One camera will ship with a PL lens mount, a common mount for modern 35mm and 16mm motion picture cameras. There is a wide variety of lens options available for RED ONE users.

RED BRAND LENSES

RED has announced is own brand of reasonably priced high quality PL mount Cine lenses. Working in cooperation with Cooke, Red lenses will be compatible with the Cooke Motion Picture Lens Intelligence System (or /i )which encodes all lens data with the image for easy accessibility in post-production. RED's lenses are manufactured in the United Kingdom.

The following RED lenses are currently on offer or are still in production and shall be on offer soon (all of which fully cover the Mysterium's Super 35mm sensor):

*RED 300mm F2.8 telephoto LENS
*RED 18-50mm f2.8 Close Focus ZOOM
*RED 50-150mm (F2.8) ZOOM
*RED 18-85mm (f2.8) ZOOM
*RED PRIME SET (15mm f2.8, 25mm f1.9, 35mm f1.9, 50mm f1.9, 85mm f1.9)

OTHER OPTIONS

Whilst these RED brand Cine lenses are quite reasonably priced in comparison to its more entrenched competitors (Zeiss, Cooke, Panavision, Fujinon) RED has recognised that to many filmmakers, cine primes are beyond reach, and have allowed for the option of using Lenses from still cameras with red. Currently adapters for Canon FD and Nikon F-mount still camera lenses are available.

The following are some suggested lenses of various sizes both from Canon and Nikkon (links provided) to help you on your way.

NIKKON LENSES

Nikon 17-35mm f2.8 AF-S (http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=676)
-Perhaps amongst the best option wide-angle still lenses around.

28mm f1.4 AFD Nikkor (Discontinued) (http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=2354)
-An ultra sharp image with incredible low-light performance.

85mm f1.4 Nikkor (AIS/AF-D) (http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=1471)
-Nikkon's fastest tele-lens. Produces a smooth image. A classic.

To be completed

CANON LENSES
To be completed

ISSUES WITH STILLS LENSES and RED

Breathing
This occurs whilst changing focus when you may see the image slightly change in size. This can be a distracting effect in many cases which is why this is an issue to consider.
Still Camera lenses were designed to (duh) take still photos and thus did not take this into great importance. So this is a factor to consider when using still lenses with RED. How much do they breathe?
Solutions to breathing may be in slight camera movement (panning etc) whilst pulling focus to disguise the "breathing" OR to resize the image in post to compensate.
However, if a RED owner is contemplating renting his/her camera out, this issue gains importance as -despite the fact that the lens may perform close to a Cine PL mount lens- the client may not be satisfied with a lens that breathes in this way.

Pulling Focus/ Follow Focus
Still lenses do not have the same kind of teeth on the focus ring as Cine lenses do, they are much smaller and only serve as a gripping device really. Which raises the issue of accurate, and accessible focus pulling. Do you really want your hand on the lens whilst performing an extremely complicated shot, both in terms of focus and camera movement?
Follow Focus Kits have been designed such that the Focus Puller would be able to accurately Focus whilst being out of the cameraman's way.

There have been kits designed for use with lenses (such as Stills Lenses) that do not have the right teeth. They involve a rubber ring toothed on the outside fitting snugly around the focus ring. This allows the follow focus gear to be connected to the lens, as usual. However these kits are sometimes unreliable and slippage may occur (why has this last paragraph sounded oddly coital?)

To be continued

[Stephen Williams]

Hey guys, my first post here!

RED, working in cooperation with COOKE, has announced is own brand of PL mount Cine lenses.



Hi,

Cooke have not announced they are making lenses for RED. Red lenses will however be compatible with the Cooke Motion Picture Lens Intelligence System.

Stephen

[explosive]

Also, I'd like to add to this what the various Nikkon and Canon lense magnification relatively is whilst using RED.

Eg. a 50mm RED brand lens. If using a Canon, what lens would give the closest image magnification?

It would be nice to have a general guide on this which we could also link to the more fleshed out pages you guys (AND GALS!) have written.

[explosive]

Hi,

Cooke have not announced they are making lenses for RED. Red lenses will however be compatible with the Cooke Motion Picture Lens Intelligence System.

Stephen

Ta mate. Does the correction sound any better?

[Laco Zamba]

Interesting is what OZMA wrote: RED lenses are manufactured in the UK, Ted would not say any more.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3320

[explosive]

Interesting is what OZMA wrote: RED lenses are manufactured in the UK, Ted would not say any more.

http://www.reduser.net/forum/showthread.php?t=3320

LOL! All the secrecy to uphold Brand-Name stability!

So what major lens company is based in the UK? Hmn

[Stephen Williams]

Also, I'd like to add to this what the various Nikkon and Canon lense magnification relatively is whilst using RED.

Eg. a 50mm RED brand lens. If using a Canon, what lens would give the closest image magnification?

It would be nice to have a general guide on this which we could also link to the more fleshed out pages you guys (AND GALS!) have written.

Hi,

a 50mm Red lens will have the identical field of view to a 50mm Cannon / Nikon lens when used on a Red camera.

A 50mm lens is a 50mm lens regardless of who made it or it's original purpose, it's really very simple.

Stephen

[Stephen Williams]

LOL! All the secrecy to uphold Brand-Name stability!

So what major lens company is based in the UK? Hmn

Hi,

No company to my knowledge makes camera lenses in bulk in the UK. There have always been specialist optical companies & engineering companies. It's quite possible the glass is imported / rehoused / assembled in the UK.

Stephen

[Michael Lindsay]

Could it be that 'made in England' describes the prototype and the Cooke deal is an IP deal?..I say this because I don't think Cooke could physically make that many lens...

regards

Michael

[PaulClements]

Hi,

I talked to a couple of people from Cooke about it and they said the company had nothing to do with the manufacture of Red Lenses. They did say that Red was encorporating /i into their own lenses but that was as far as the link went. It'll be fairly easy to see whether or not Cooke are involved with Red significantly because their accounts will be available via companies house in the future, since they are a limited company in the UK. It's not easy to hide stuff like this, so I'm fairly sure if they were combining efforts they would have made a big announcement about it.

Paul

[Stephen Williams]

Could it be that 'made in England' describes the prototype and the Cooke deal is an IP deal?..I say this because I don't think Cooke could physically make that many lens...

regards

Michael

Hi Michael,

Anything is possible, I have not seen anything that makes me think there is any Cooke deal, if there was I think we would have been told!

Stephen

[explosive]

Hi,

a 50mm Red lens will have the identical field of view to a 50mm Cannon / Nikon lens when used on a Red camera.

A 50mm lens is a 50mm lens regardless of who made it or it's original purpose, it's really very simple.

Stephen

Thanks for replying stephen. That clarifies things a lot. So a 50 on red's zoom will have the exact same field of view as a 50 Nikkor. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

What is all this talk relating to magnification factors and such? That has confused me quite a bit.

I believe it may have been in that post about, what is a 'normal lens' - ie. the lens with a focal distance the same as the diagonal of the chip/film.

[Stephen Williams]

Thanks for replying stephen. That clarifies things a lot. So a 50 on red's zoom will have the exact same field of view as a 50 Nikkor. That's exactly what I wanted to know.

What is all this talk relating to magnification factors and such? That has confused me quite a bit.



Hi,

With a Zoom lens the size of image will not exactly match as the front nodel point of the zoom will be slightly further forward as the zoom lens is (probably) longer.

The magnification factor comes from digital still cameras to give purchasers a relationship between what the lens covers relative to a 35mm still camera. As few people today are shootingh 35mm 8 perf (vister-vision) film, I don't see any point. When shooting with a 6 x 6 still camera I don't convert to 35mm stills via S16 film, I just know what focal lengths to use with whatever format.

The focal length lens you use on a Red camera is the same as if you were shooting on a 35mm motion picture camera.

Stephen

[Jay A. Kelley]

I think this is a GREAT thread dude.. Keep it up
Jay

[explosive]

I think this is a GREAT thread dude.. Keep it up
Jay

Aw, ta mate. I'll try.. .jus' as long as y'all keep on at it, i'll be there to rip off your ideas and add them here :) (and of course be ripped apart for getting them wrong myself :P)

SO KEEP ADDING PEOPLE! You heard Jay, this thread rocks our Casbahs. Yes our casbahs. Don't make me pull out honey and attack ants :ranting2: :red_bandana:

[Loomis]

I think this is a GREAT thread dude.. Keep it up
Jay

As a lurker, and a pale one at that, I also wanted to chip in my thanks for the thread. It helps those of us excited about Red but less tech savvy than some understand some of the implications (especially financial options!) surrounding the purchase of lenses.

Who knows, it may lead to a comprehensive user guide!

[Antoine Baumann]

Interesting is what OZMA wrote: RED lenses are manufactured in the UK, Ted would not say any more.


No company to my knowledge makes camera lenses in bulk in the UK. There have always been specialist optical companies & engineering companies. It's quite possible the glass is imported / rehoused / assembled in the UK.

I have been told that glasses manufactured in Japan cannot cool down very long time due to earthquake activity, which makes a difference in the glass quality. So it would mean that the main thing is where you manufacture the glass, not where it is rehoused or such things.

I would love to know for sure where is the glass manufactured.

antoine.