Which pl-mount lens to buy for 12k?

[David Kellermann]

Hi,

I'm putting together a shopping list with equipment I want/need to buy for the RED One / Scarlet S35.
I'm planing to spend around $12k on lenses. Because I want to rent the camera out I guessed that
non cinevised Nikon or Canon lenses wont be ideal. Which leaves me the RED 18-85 or (if it comes out in time)
the Ruby 24-70... or are there other possibilities you would recommend?

Also I thought about buying a 2x converter, if a longer focal length is needed.
Which one would work with the 18-85? And how is the image quality?

Thanks a lot for any advice!
David

[David W. Jones]

Don't take this the wrong way, just playing devils advocate...

Why would I rent your Red One with an 18-85mm zoom when I could rent one with a full complement of very nice Cooke's or Zeiss primes for the same or less money?

There is more to the rental business that just having a camera and lens to rent.

If it were me, I would purchase the core tools I needed to earn a living, and not worry about renting out the camera. But thats just me.
Which lenses do you need to own to earn a living?

If you were planing on paying for these cameras and lenses via rentals,
I would double think your situation, and do considerable planing and research before purchasing a boat load of gear.

For example, in my neck of the woods there are more Reds sitting unrented than you can shake a stick at. Most were purchased by Indie film wannabes that know without a doubt that their feature would be a hit if it were shot on a Red, and figured they could easily pay for their camera by renting it out.
.................................................. .................

Just a thought...

A good way to stay afloat in these tough economic times, is to build a partnership with others in the industry!
For example... say you have a Red One w/18-85mm, and you have a good relationship with someone that owns a set of Zeiss Super Speeds. Work out an equal trade agreement, where they get to use your Red when needed, and you get to use their lenses when needed.

I do this now with a number of professionals locally and across the country.
For example... I do not own a Red One, but I have a trade agreement with select owners, where I trade doing voiceovers or audio post & sweetening for time on their camera. Trade a couple of national VO's for use of a Borescope and lenses for a long and grueling tabletop project. Or trade use of my Jib & head for for use of a pair of HMIs. The list goes on, the point being... by developing these relationships with like professionals you trust, it gives you the ability to remain competitive by offering a professional quality tool set without the expense of purchasing the entire tool set.
Or having to rent items you use frequently, but not enough to justify owning.
It also allows you to work at a higher quality level than you might be able to achieve on your own, by providing services that you might not be able to provide in-house.
For example... there are a number of highly talented Editing DPs that can shoot and edit together magic, but sucks when it comes to Audio. Wouldn't it be great to know that you had a studio partner you could send your hard drive to and you could trust them to remix the narration on your Doc, provide score, stereo & 5.1 mix down, and also knew that when you shipped them your Red Body on a Wednesday afternoon it would come back in like condition. This can work all across the board. 3D artist / Roto Keying / 3 Ton truck owner / lenses / cameras, the list goes on.
Wouldn't it be great knowing you had a partner you could trust sending your PL mount Lomo square front Anamorphic lens kit to, also knowing that they would send you their Red when needed. Or have a partner who could use your underwater housing in the off season in trade for use of a field audio kit. Of course these are just the thoughts of someone who is currently medicated, home recovering from surgery. So I'm sorry for not just coming out and saying... Buy lens X.

All The Best!

[David Kellermann]

Why would I rent your Red One with an 18-85mm zoom when I could rent one with
a full complement of very nice Cooke's or Zeiss primes for the same or less money?

Thanks for your advice... but I doubt that you can rent a Red One with Zeiss primes for less than 600€/day,
at least not in the southern part of Germany where I live. There are a couple of rental houses but only some few of them have Reds,
so renting it out won't probably that hard, especially if it's not to expansive (I financed the same way my HVX).

For partnerships... of course they are important. That's why still work together with people I know from film university.

As you proposed, I want to buy now only the most important stuff, like a good and cheap lens.

So a hint if the Red 18-85 is a good investment would be great:smile:

[Jeff Kilgroe]

The RED 18-85 is a nice lens, but it's also a relatively unknown lens and people probably won't be as likely to rent that lens as something more mainstream like a Cooke 18-100 or Angenieux 17-80.

Both the Zeiss and Scneider extenders work great on most lenses. The Schneider ones are a good bit cheaper and come in 1.5X and 2X, if I remember correctly. I have the 2X one and really like it. You lose about 1 stop through the extender.

If you think you can recover enough costs to justify the abuse on your equipment and other risks associated with rentals, then go for it. But you will probably find that it's more difficult to rent a very basic RED package than it is to rent that HVX, even if your price is cheap. Then again, I'm on the other side of the world and don't know your local market.

You will find that most productions will have their own needs for lenses and support equipment and that will make it difficult to consistently rent out a small package, especially if you only have one heavy zoom to offer. A RED package with the 18-85 or similar heavy zoom is going to be unattractive to most anyone who needs to do handheld, shoulder-mount or steadicam work with the camera.

[Patrick Scheller]

I am actually waiting for the new RED zooms which seems very interesting and light (for a change :arf: ). Those together should be around 14k so exactly what you asked for.

@David: Why not take Zeiss Primes or Cookes? Well read the lens tests, then you know why.

[David Kellermann]

The RED 18-85 is a nice lens, but it's also a relatively unknown lens and people probably won't be as likely to rent that lens as something more mainstream like a Cooke 18-100 or Angenieux 17-80.

Both lenses look interesting. I'll probably buy the Schneider 2x converter. Thanks for the tip!


I am actually waiting for the new RED zooms which seems very interesting and light (for a change :arf: ). Those together should be around 14k so exactly what you asked for.

Which "new" zooms? The 18-50 and 50-150?


@David: Why not take Zeiss Primes or Cookes? Well read the lens tests, then you know why.

The Zeiss Compact Primes didn't really convinced me... for the same price I could buy RPPs or Uniqoptics.
No idea how expansive the Cooke Panchros will be... if they are cheaper
than the RPP they would be an option, but I doubt that.

[Patrick Scheller]

yep :cheers2:


Compact primes were dissapointing - for that price! About the panchros we'll have to see about price but also performance! I think I'll go with RPPs and buy some Canon or Nikon fast lenses for those moments when u need more light to pass thru the hole.