a blog by Matthew Duclos
Cooke Optics has announced the launch of two exciting additions to its expanding range of Full Frame lenses. Two new Varotal/i FF zoom lenses bring leading-edge modern design and materials to this historic line of zoom lenses that were first seen in 1971, while the extensive Panchro/i Classic FF range offers the beloved vintage Speed Panchro look for full frame sensors.
Continue reading “Cooke Announces New Varotal/i Full Frame Zooms & Panchro/i Classic”
Cinematographers can now expand upon their creativity and use of artistic, controlled flares with the newly announced Supreme Prime Radiance focal lengths.
Continue reading “ZEISS Adds Four New SPR Focal Lengths”
As of late, the DZOFILM brand is creating quite a buzz in the cinematography community. I can’t recall a lens release that created so many inquiries. Who is DZO? Where did they come from? Are their lenses any good? Let’s explore…
Continue reading “DZOFILM Scales Up with Pictor Zooms”
A perfect example of the versatility of the Zeiss ZF.2 series. This 85mm f1/.4 comes in a Nikon mount from the factory. With a few upgrades and modifications, it’s perfectly suited for motion picture use. I performed the standard three part Cine-Mod which includes an 80mm front ring (77mm filter thread), 32-pich (0.8 module) seamless focus gear, and of course the de-clicked, dampened aperture ring. In addition to the standard Cine-Mod, I also added one of our semi-permanent Canon Eos mounts. This mount conversion physically attaches to the body of the lens and essentially takes the place of the original Nikon mount, effectively making the Zeiss ZF.2 a native Canon Eos mount lens. An excellent mount modification for use on a 5D or 7D. I just happened to have received a Canon Eos mount for my FS100 that I thought I would try out with this lens and it worked great. There is a little bit of play between the mounts, but no more motion than I would expect from a Canon lens attached to a Canon camera. The focus and aperture movement on this lens are like soft butter, creamy smooth. With a Super 35mm sized sensor on the FS100, the bokeh from this f/1.4 85mm is simply dreamy. I love it! I’ll be shooting some test footage in the near future with a few different lens makes and models. I just need to find an interesting topic and create some decent content. I’m tired of test charts… 😉
I’m not sure what to expect this year from NAB. However, it should be exciting. RED has a lot of big announcements that they’ve been teasing on the forums. Sony has a few new cameras up their sleeve as usual. But there aren’t really any big optics announcements to speak of. I’ll just have to go to the show and find them for myself. I have high hopes for something new from Angenieux or Cooke. Zeiss is still rolling with their CP.2 lenses that everyone loves yet nobody can get so I don’t expect much from them. I’ll be sure to swing by all the other vendor booths and check out the new goodies. Hopefully I’ll have a fully functional pre-production Duclos 70-200mm to flaunt while walking the show floor. Regardless of the news, it should be a good time at NAB this year. I’ll be live updating from the show with tons and tons of photos. Keep checking back on April 11th and 12th for news. I’ll start a new post then. See you in Vegas!
Here are some snaps from last years NAB.
We have been considering several lenses for our next conversion process after the 70-200mm is complete. We started with the Tokina 11-16mm that did very well and thought it would be nice to stick with Tokina. However, Tokina didn’t have any other lenses that met our criteria. Certain specifications had to be met, such as constant, fast aperture, lightweight, internal focus and zoom, optical quality, and a somewhat decent platform to start with mechanically. When I heard about Tokina making a new 16-28mm f/2.8 lens I thought it would be a bit of a short range but still fit well. Then I saw the first photos of the lens and got really excited since it looked almost identical to the 11-16mm. In my head this meant that we could save a ton of time and money on research and development for the conversion parts and simply use the existing parts from our 11-16mm conversion. One step further, Tokina was planning to make this new lens a full frame “Pro” lens, perfect for the 5D.
Continue reading “Tokina’s 16-28mm Prospect”
Round Two