Cinematics "CT.2" lenses emulate/knock-off Zeiss CP.2's

B

binba

Active member
A Chinese company called "Cinematics" developed their own cine mod to Zeiss' ZE/ZF lenses:
http://www.pchood.com/film lens

A 5-lens set will run about $10k. That's more than $6k for the bare SLR lenses, but much less than $18k for the CP.2's.
I'm mainly posting this because these were unveiled half a year ago, yet they've never been mentioned on dvxuser. In fact, I couldn't find evidence of a single (English-speaking) person in the world owning them. Have you heard of any?

There are but a couple of references from Matthew Duclos and NoFilmSchool. It's easy to write those off as worthless Chinese rip-offs to stay away from (or even a hoax), but it'd be interesting if those were legit. The CP.2s after all are ZE/ZF glass in (high-quality) rehousing. I'm especially interested in the fact that the Cinematics 35,50,85 should open up to f1.4 while the CP.2's open up to f2.1.
 
Have you seen that?

Looks like they just somehow bolt a big sunshade and a gear over the lens.


Frank
 
^ yeah, not a proper rehousing, from what I can tell.

Trying to figure out if that video was simplifying the process in the explanation, or it's just as said. Perhaps it was lost in translation, as maybe that was a simple visual way to explain a more complex rehousing... or maybe not. :)

Look at the focus scales: The barrel rotation looks like it is only elongated slightly by simply making the diameter of the lens larger, thus despite being the same degrees of rotation, travels a bit further. Thus a few more marks than the photography lens.

85---.JPG
On this lens, the CT.2, you can see the focus scale says: Infinity, 21, 12, 7, 6, and so on.


zeiss-cp2.jpg
This lens goes: Infinity, 200, 100, 60, 40, 30, 25, 20, 17, 15, 14, 13, 12, 11, 10, 9.6, 9, 8.6, 8, 7.6, 7, etc.



Also, the CP.2's are rated in T-stops, which I trust Zeiss really did. The CT.2's are still in F-stops because they are advertising the lenses with the same aperture as they started with, and those apertures are F rated by formula, not by actual transmission... and as we all know, an F-stop lens will have a slightly slower rating when converted to T's. That's the way it goes. That does not account for the entirety of the light loss but it's a small reason for why they are slower.

If you are going to invest thousands of dollars in glass, do it right. If you have lots of money, rent to yourself, and can risk it... go for them. But it's a risk. If you rent to other people, I would find most DP's very concerned to take out Chinese Knockoffs, of what is already considered the second most affordable cinema lens set ever made.

If you rent to others, this could be a negative to even the most mildly discerning fellows.

Then there is support. If a CP.2 breaks, there are plenty of places to send them for repair, and if severe enough, lost or stolen, plenty of retailers to purchase from or plenty of rental houses to temporarly rent a replacement from.

If one of these CT.2 lenses fails you, good luck getting them serviced. You'll likely just have to buy a new one each time, because I doubt they are repairing these in China. And who are they? Do you know how long they will even sell these? From their lackluster imitation business model, I would not be surprised if they just moved on to something else and discontinued even making these lenses, thus not even allowing you to replace it at full cost. Now what?

Buy it once, and buy it right.

A CP.2 should come with a warranty. They are a well known lens set in rental market. They can be fixed, replaced, and rented at many many places in America. They are much better built and have interchangable mounts. CT.2'S has none of that... ok well it seems you can ask to have a certain mount put on, not sure if they will... and they have a three year warranty... I'd love to see someone try and collect upon that in 6 months. Maybe this company is very honest and will honor that for three years. It's a gamble.

Long term, this is a bad business model.
 
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Thanks for the videos, Postmaster. I think the idea has merit but all the concerns are completely valid. LockCircle is also coming out with some sort of an oversized barrel. Despite ever shrinking budgets, we decided to go the proper route and placed an order with Duclos. I'll still be very interested in any lens news coming out of NAB and the opportunity to try them hands-on.
 
Is it that much more than paying for 'cinevised' ZFs via companies like Duclos?

From the looks of it, you're getting the same great Zeiss glass, with a slightly more functional focus scale/rotation. Given that the base lens will seemingly still be intact, I think there's rather less to worry about than there might otherwise be.
 
I do like the idea of it in some ways. I think if they did them for more lenses (like older Nikon or Zeiss) it would be kind of nice. You now get more marks (even if not as many as the CP .2), no external barrel extension, same front diameter and all the lens marks on the side. For a low enough price, it would be kind of nice!
 
Cinematics had a booth at NAB, with one of those lenses on a camera. Haven't spent much time with it (we already went with a Duclos set), it is definitely an outboard barrel. I don't think it'll help at all for any barrel extension (such as the ZF.2 100mm makro). While it seemed at least as nice as a Redrock gear ring, I'm sorry to say the stuff in their booth was the absolute worst quality of anything I've seen at NAB. They sell a full range of production gear, and I couldn't pick up a single part without finding a major fault with it within a minute. (Knobs that won't unlock, creaking lenses, very flimsy cables, etc.)
 
binba said:
don't think it'll help at all for any barrel extension (such as the ZF.2 100mm makro).
Click to expand...

Probably not, but with a construction so that while it is an outer barrel, the inner could move, as such meaning that the front barrel wouldn't extend.
 
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