Canon Lens Set

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hi there, Steve. . .

We don't have even the tiniest issue with pulling focus with or Canon glass, and we do HUGE pulls all the time. . . I mean, really massive pulls in some cases (say from 20 feet to 1 foot at f1.2), and whereas we miss these pulls a lot of time (due to insufficient marks or just plain old operator error), we NEVER have had an issue with not being able to pull perfect focus when we've got accurate marks and are actually paying attention. This thing just never drifts.

I know they aren't for everyone, but the Canon glass has served us so well and faithfully it's amazing. We used Nikon glass before that, but that glass didn't allow a remote focus puller. With the Birger, that's no issue at all.

I agree, Roberto. . . I like your style. . . I just haven't found the need, to this point, to even covet that great PL glass. Sure my pups breathe a little more than some PL glass, but I actually like breathing under certain circumstances.

I WOULD love to be able to do a smooth iris change, but that doesn't happen very often in our shooting.

Thanks.

Stephen

[Mike Van Laanen]

Sorry if I missed this, but doesn't red have some new zooms coming out that have AF and IS?

[Julio Quintana]

Hey guys. So I went ahead and compiled the potential lens sets that can be used on the Epic. I left off the low end still glass and stuck to RED PL glass since that's the most affordable option. I also took the $250/lens Duclos Cine Mod off of the Canons since they don't have an iris wheel to de-click. Here's what I got:

CANON PRIME SET
Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 600
Canon 24mm f1.4L II 1800
Canon 35mm f1.4L 1400
Canon 50mm f1.2L 1600
Canon 85mm f1.2L II 1800
Canon 135mm f2 1000
TOTAL 1
$8,200

CANON ZOOM SET
Tokina 11-16mm f2.8 600
Canon 16-35mm f2.8 1400
Canon 24-70mm f2.8 1300
Canon 70-200mm f2.8L II 2250
TOTAL 2
$5,550

PL PRIME SET
Duclos 11-16mm f2.8 PL Mount 3,500
RED Prime 18mm f1.9 3,800
RED Prime Set (25-100mm) f1.9 19,000
TOTAL 3
$26,300

PL ZOOM SET
Duclos 11-16mm f2.8 PL Mount 3,500
RED Pro 17-50mm f2.9 6000
RED 50-150mm f3 8500
TOTAL 4
$18,000

As expected, zooms are significantly cheaper in both cases, and in the PL category, also significantly lighter in weight. And of course, the primes are faster than the zooms in both cases, although in PL lenses it is only 1 stop, whereas with the Canons the primes buy you an extra two stops over the zooms.

[Julio Quintana]

And a Tokina 11-16mm update from Jarred:

The Tokina Hood vignettes at around 12mm.. if you take it off you are fine.

We have Iris control on the 11-16mm already completed as well.

[Roberto Lequeux]

(...)but I actually like breathing under certain circumstances.(...)

Couldn't agree more with you, again. :)

[Julio Quintana]

Sure my pups breathe a little more than some PL glass, but I actually like breathing under certain circumstances.

Interesting. I've never heard that one before.

[Stephen Pruitt]

Hey there, Julio. . . there are a lot of us around here who feel that the whole breathing debate is really overblown. As for me, in cases where I'm moving the emphasis from far to near and the near object increases slightly in size as we pull, I think it really adds to the feel of the shot. It's definitely less effective when you pull to something and the thing pulled to decreases slightly in size, but it honestly has to be a pretty wicked and fast pull to be visible to anyone other than ACs and DPs.

Your table of Canon primes at $9000 (I'm including the 200mm, as well, as that's a great lens, too) versus $26,000 for the RED primes really tells the tale for me. The expense differential is just too great for us at the present time, and that doesn't include the purchase of a remote lens controller, which would cost several thousand dollars more. Unfortunately, there's just no way to control a lens on a big dolly move or up on a jib without a remote controller. And we do those sorts of moves quite often.

Once the RED EF lenses come out, with any luck they'll be at a price point that actually makes sense for this indie filmmaker.

Stephen

[Julio Quintana]

Your table of Canon primes at $9000 (I'm including the 200mm, as well, as that's a great lens, too) versus $26,000 for the RED primes really tells the tale for me...and that doesn't include the purchase of a remote lens controller, which would cost several thousand dollars more. Unfortunately, there's just no way to control a lens on a big dolly move or up on a jib without a remote controller. And we do those sorts of moves quite often.

This is a really good point, and something to definitely take into account. I have yet to ever see a working (or even non-CG) RedMote Pro. Could Jarred chime in as to the progress with this item? And if you guys have a working one, how reliable is it as an electronic follow focus with a Canon mount?

[paul engstrom]

My electronic ff has been pretty reliable.

I would expect RED's to be even more so because they're ff and camera firmware will be from the same vendor (themselves).

[paul engstrom]

It occurs to me that relevant questions for me are:

1. Which PL lenses to the Canon lenses we've been discussing cut best with?
2. Which PL lenses to the following Nikon lenses cut best with: 14-24, 24-70 and 70-200?