They're beyond my personal reach also, but then again, lenses like these should be used so it makes for a very good "community package".. Or for your business if you can manage the cost. A far better investment than a similarly priced camera! I mean, if you don't live next to a rental shop and know them personally / can pick up high quality lenses for next to nothing.
For my own personal use, I have a bunch of FD, MD, Konica glass and some c-mounts.
@qwerty123 I'm not sure it was luma tech (I recall the housings looking differently), but the optical blocks must have been the same (same t rate e.t.c). So I guess in terms of optical performance they are identical. If I remember correctly a set started from about 28 000 USD or thereabouts.
There is a discussion on reduser.net on the luma tech illumina lenses vs. Cooke Panchros. A lot of talk talk talk over there but Paul Nordin, who started the thread actually tested them.
These lenses are beyond my reach, I just bought some Canon FD primes, but for anyone interrested in cine primes they may be a good choice. They seem to have been co-developed by Lomo St Petersburg who should have the necessary background and experience.
Anyone managed to try out the ekran-style rebuilt Lomo cine lenses that some US company are advertising on ebay? This looks to be made out of the same optical elements: http://www.lumatechinc.com/S35.html (not sure it's the same company that I saw on ebay)
A whole (new) range of t1.3 lenses costs 10-20% of a set of (new) similarly specced zeiss or leica cine primes. Looks like a superb deal to me, although I have no possibility to try them out / order.
@alcomposer Samyang is a Korean lensmaker that markets its products under the Rokinon brand name. Tamron, Tokina, and Sigma are independent third-party lensmakers, well known for many decades.
@LPowell I did see on this thread that Samyang/Rokinon have quite a lot of breathing though... :-( Let me know if you haven't found this. (If not- Ebay time!)
@alcomposer Depends on how well they work for you. Most manual-focus primes are relatively short and compact, with 52-55mm front filter threads. Using them with a follow focus and matte box on 15mm rails can be a tight fit. For my purposes, the Samyang/Rokinon f1.4 primes are a more convenient size.
@LPowell So in that case some legacy Nikon AI(s) and Canon FDs would be fine with respect to extension since they extend less than an inch when focusing.
I think two more ideal things in a lens would be: (1) LONG FOCUS THROW and, less importantly, (2) as @Gabel mentions, having the aperature in T-stops.
@qwerty123 A lens whose front barrel extends when either focusing or zooming can be awkward to use with a traditional, rail-mounted matte box. While a small amount of extension can be covered by a donut, an inch or more extension will collide with the back of the matte box.
@qwerty123: Leica R's would be a top contender. Great quality and no breathing! I didn't think I'd mind so much, but breathing has really become a deal breaker for me.
But personally, at that cost I'd just get some Lomos instead.
I'm curious what some good video-friendly lenses for the GH2 (or other lumix cams) would be ideal for a Duclos Cine-Mod.... interesting option.
Also @LPowell : can you be a bit more specific about the problem with a lens that has a focus ring that extends in relation to a mattebox? I'm a little new to learning about matteboxes.
So, let's compare these to a set of cine primes... I use Lomo OCT-19 primes. Believe it or not, not even real cine primes perform 100% on this!
* Manual aperture ring: Yes and without click stops. * Direct-coupled focus ring: Of course. With distance marks that are correct. * Proper focus ring rotation: Counter-clockwise. * Non-rotating outer barrel (internal focus): Yes. The barrel does rotate when adjusting the aperature though (like on Zeiss Superspeeds). * Non-extending outer barrel (internal focus): No, same with Zeiss Superspeeds. The extension is very minor though. * Constant field of view: Yes.
As you see, while these are VERY video-friendly, even they lack some features. What you do gain however is: * Much better tightness between lens and adapter. Nothing loose here! * Large focus throw, for more precise focusing. * All marks are located on the side of the lens, allowing your AC (or you) to see them. * Correct distance marks. * Circular aperature. Bokeh won't be much different when stopping down. * Aperature in T-stops.
I just got a helios 44-2 (58mm f2), and I love it so far. I heard that on these lenses oil on the aperture blades also isn't an issue, as many soviet lenses came from the factory that way. Anyways: Manual aperture ring: yes (very cool 2 ring system, allows you to open the lens and have a completely step less aperture if you wish) direct couple focus ring: yes proper focus ring rotation: counter-clockwise to infinity non-rotating outer barrel: yes non-extending outer barrel: no, extends about 1cm, maybe a little under (just from eyeballing it) constant field of view: no, appears to zoom out slightly when focussed towards infinity, thought I haven't tested this thoroughly
I have trouble with EF-M43 adapters from eBay. I bought 3. Every zoom lens I attached after focusing and then I change zoom became out of focus. I tried Tokina 11-16, Canon 17-35. A metering ring also shows wrong value of distance. On Canon 5DmkII the lenses work precisely Now I'm waiting for another (4th) finally not cheap adapter - Kipon EF-M43 with aperture. I hope this one will be the right. I have thinking get rid Tokina, it was useless for me. I glad to read here that folks use zoom lens without problems. May be with Kipon adapter I will lucky.