RED 17-50mm Test

[Ryan Hamblin]

http://vimeo.com/11952040

There are a few things to let you know about, if you see a finger in the shot, its cause its holding the filter in place... We have yet to get a mattebox for the lens...thats to come soon. Other than that its a pretty down and dirty quick test. Hope it helps in your purchase decision.

Thanks to Adam of TVC (www.tvcnashville.com) for letting us use their RED. Also thanks to Zach Al-Chokhachi and Jeremy Curtis for assisting me in this test.

[Joel J. Feigenbaum]

Great test. Many thanks for posting. It's a beautiful lens.

[MichaelHalsell]

Ryan, thank for throwing up the informal test. Lens looks like a winner. What will be the mattebox of choice? What are the observations with flare control?

[Ryan Hamblin]

I'm going for the arri mmb-1, but mb20-II will work as well...havnt had it in a flare situation yet, so.... I guess I'll have to test asap.

[Ryan Hamblin]

ill try to have up some of the comparisons with cooke's up tomorrow. Its just some stills, but its pretty uncanny. They damn near match, I mean you really have to look hard to see the difference. I was surprised to see a zoom perform so well against primes.

[Tim Duran]

Ryan, your zoom seemed a bit jerky to me. Is that the lens or operator or what? (I'm assuming it's the "what" since you seem to be the operator.

[Ryan Hamblin]

I was not the smoothest of opperators, nor did I have a focus controller, all hand turned. Though it is a new lens and the mechanics in the zoom are smooth, but stiff.

[David Battistella]

Based on the clip you posted there is a massive color shift from 25-32mm. Would you attribute that to the lens or other factors?

David

[Ryan Hamblin]

It was a white balance hiccup in redcine-x accidentally hit the wrong button... sorry guys. Just discovered this.

[Andrew clemson]

Thanks for taking the time to do this. Looks like a great lens

[C.H.Haskell]

Great test thank you. MMB1 fits well?

[Lenny Manfred]

great price, great range, glad to hear you have an explanation for the color shift, that was scary. but what about all that breathing? it breathes more than my fat uncle albert in a hot humid day.

[Erich Ocean]

but what about all that breathing? it breathes more than my fat uncle albert in a hot humid day.

Wow, that's a lot of breathing.

[Pietro Impagliazzo]

Was the 17mm breathing test at the end related to your friends breathing? :P

Beucase I didn't see you pulling focus at the end.

Great, you could shoot a whole movie with only this lens.


great price, great range, glad to hear you have an explanation for the color shift, that was scary. but what about all that breathing? it breathes more than my fat uncle albert in a hot humid day.

Is it really that bad compared to other high end short zooms?

[Richard Foster]

Thanks for sharing this test. Everyone who does this is contributing so much to our knowledge.

Breathing seems so much more exaggerated at 17 compared to 50. Is that normal for this lens configuration?

[C.H.Haskell]

Besides 17, the breathing is not that bad.

[Lenny Manfred]

Besides 17, the breathing is not that bad.

it is not at 17 where you would be doing your rack focus shots, it's in the long end, and yes, it is very bad for a movie lens, normal for a still photo lens.

the angenieux 30-80 rouge that i had did not breath in either the wide end or the long end, and that is what you would expect from a movie lens.

then again, what can you expect for such a low price? i am very happy the focus tracks, that is a biggie.

[Ryan Hamblin]

even at 17, its not terrible unless your racking the entire distance. In just about every normal shooting situation you do not notice the breathing.

[C. Jagan Mohan]

I liked the Lens.

[Ryan Hamblin]

Its really hard not to like the lens once you use it. I never never ever was one to use primes and I sold all my standard speeds and just have this. Now that sensor's are getting more sensitive its just a no brainer to use good zooms, and if you can go toe to toe with cookes (beating it is detail, loosing to it a bit in contrast, but basically indistinguishable) that says good zoom to me.

We intercut with the cookes alot in the Amy Grant video.

[C.H.Haskell]

I wonder how this would cut with a TOkina 11-16mm, these 2 lenses for a personal kit seem ideal to me.

[C.H.Haskell]

To answer my own question, after doing some research I plan to pull the trigger on this guy. My tokina images seems really close to these in both color, contrast and sharpness and I have spoken to other reputable members who confirm that a Tokina would cut well with this.

[Paul Hazlett]

just shot a spec spot with both these lenses and they dance well together

[matt.alan.martin]

When you use the Tokina 11-16mm on the Red, how wide can you go before it vignettes? Since the Tokina isn't designed for a full frame sensor, I am assuming it's usable from 12-16mm or so on the Red One sensor. Is that correct, or can you go even wider?

I've got a Tokina 11-16mm and I'd like to use it with a Scarlet S35 when it comes out. I'm hoping I'll be able to at least use the 13-16mm range on the Tokina with the S35. Thanks,

Matt

[Sidney L. Plaut]

you can go all the way with the tokina 11-16, since RED is NOT fullframe but very close to a Canon 7D in FOV.

[Roberto Lequeux]

The Tokina covers FF35 at 16mm so the image circle is pretty huge. Perfect companion to the 17-50 in terms of focal lengths.

[C.H.Haskell]

Exactly my perspective Roberto. Add a long lens to this set and you have a nice mobile package.

[matt.alan.martin]

Thanks for the info guys - appreciate it. Since the upcoming S35 sensor is more like a 1.3 crop factor, I'm guessing the Tokina 11-16 will be usable without vignetting from about 13mm-16mm, ala using the Tokina on a Canon APS-H sensor like the Canon 1D.

Here's a link to an article on how that works out
http://www.dslrnewsshooter.com/2010/01/03/the-tokina-11-16-f2-8-getting-wide-and-fast-on-a-canon-eos-1dmkiv/

Sound about right to you?

[Roberto Lequeux]

Yea, someone ran the numbers for the 5k crop factor on an other thread but I keep forgetting them. One thing's for sure though, ~13.5mm or whatever it can cover at 5k will be WIDE, and look pretty sweet if you can avoid close foreground objects. And 17mm at 5k sounds like it will be just GREAT in so many situations. Very big FOV and I suppose with a tinie-bit less distortion than from an 18mm on S35.

[Shane Kelly]

Anyone know what the lead time is on this lens? If you've ordered one, how long did it take to be delivered?
Thanks,
Shane.

[Jon B.]

It was relatively quick for mine... a couple weeks or more. It also depends on the status at Red too. I was told a little over a month and it was ready in a little over a couple weeks.

Call the bomb rep is best.

[Shane Kelly]

thanks for the info Jon.

[Cliff Hokanson]

Hi any one using this on a 3d rig?
Cliff

[C.H.Haskell]

good question?

[C.H.Haskell]

I dont know that this lens has been used for 3D yet but from what I understand it will work fine with one of the mirror beam splitting 3D rigs.

With an MMb1 combo, would you still be able to use a rotating pola stage, maybe a screw on?