Cine style lens for HPX

[David Layton]

I shot two days recently with the HPX on a commercial and was pretty happy with it. I think we're going to purchase one in the next week or so, but I have some questions about lenses.

For the commercial, we used one of the Fujinon CAC zoom lenses that comes standard with the packages one sees available for sale most places. I was not happy with the breathing or with the tight scale of the focus ring. So, we are thinking of getting a cine-style lens such as the Fujinon HAc18x7.6B or the Canon HJ21x7.5B KLL-SC. We can buy the Fujinon for about $16K, the Canon for $30K. That price difference means a lot to us, so we might just have to get the Fujinon. I have scoured this forum and other web sites for information about these lenses, but I haven't found much apart from what their manufacturers have to say.

Does anyone here have any practical experience with these lenses? By looking at the specs, I can tell the scale of the focus ring is much better. I am curious about what sort of breathing and chromatic aberration these lenses might exhibit. Also, how do they handle general color reproduction and contrast?

We would be willing to spend this extra money on glass if we can get a lens that will work well on the HPX but also on the next, better 2/3" camera we buy down the road, whenever and whatever that may be.

Thanks in advance for any information.

Best, David

[hunter richards]

Buy a cheaper HD or Nice SD lens. You can rent high-end lenses as you need them with out shelling 20k out up front. These cinezooms rent for about 300-400 a day. Thats about 50 days of rentals. If you dont have 40 projects lined up in the next year that require a cinezoom, it might be a better Idea to rent.

Just my 20k cents!

[Icarus2005]

I've shot both canon and fuji cine-zoom HD lenses on my HPX500. I own the Fuji HAC 14x4.5 HD lens. I'm very happy with it, with the exception of how limiting it is in regards to when you need the long lens.

I've never seen a cine-zoom with a doubler. Not to say they don't exist, but I haven't seen or used one.

I really like the canon high end ENG lenses, which I have used just like a cine lens with the right gear it isn't a problem, at least on the model I used because ti didn't breath. It was a 21x7.5 Of course if I had bought that one I would have spent more money that I didn't have.

There really is NO point in buying an SD lens new these days, because if you look long enough you will find one used at a very good deal.

I bought my HD lens used and saved a lot of money.

there's no right answer. it's what works best for you. I love both lenses and will be buying one of the canon 21x eng HD lenses when I have the money. I really think its the better of the two lenses overall. But if cinema is the only thing you do, I'd rather have the cine-zoom, which is why I bought that one.

[TwinCitiesShooter]

It sounds like you were disappointed with the CAC lens so you're moving up to a cine-style lens. What about higher-end ENG/EFP lenses that fall in the $20,000-$30,000 range? I.e. a Canon HJ17ex7.6B-WASE ($23,500 at B&H). I'm looking to test that lens and similar ones, for it seems they're miles above the CAC lenses and don't have the breathing issue. Icarus had some good points -- they may be very close to cine lenses in quality, plus they can come with doublers (handy if you're freelancing and need as much range as possible.) It might be worthwhile to test the cine lenses against the higher-end ENG/EFP lenses, and/or seek the opinion of those who have shot with both.

[Noel Evans]

I've never seen a cine-zoom with a doubler. Not to say they don't exist, but I haven't seen or used one.



You can get a 1.5 x extender to use with the Fujinon cine lens.

Too expensive to buy but for primetime rental http://www.fujinon.com/DigitalCinema/ProductCategory.aspx?cat=52