Olympus 14-35mm f/2.0 & 35-100mm f/2.0 VS. Zeiss ZF Prime lenses

[Nityananda_SCSMath]

So the 35-100 only has focus-by-wire?

Anybody? Does this mean that you can't get repeatable focus pulls using focus marks on a follow focus wheel?

 

[LightMast]

Just jam toothpicks in the lens gear notches where you need the hard stops.

 

[avro]

Consider Voigtlander Primes instead of Zeiss ZF.
Especially 25mm f0.95 or 50mm f1.1........
They are cheaper and faster. Focus ring moves in "proper" direction and exposure ring is on the outside.

For zoom have a look at RED 17-50mm t2.9 or RED 18-50mm t3.0 and RED 50-150mm t3.0..

Those PL zooms can be used on Epic,Alexa,RED,Sony F3..... and they have good Controls.

regards
jiri

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

I'll be picking up a 35-100 tomorrow and test how it works to focus with focus-by-wire.

 

[DvxHerb]

Theeditman,

How do you like the 14-35mm? The pics of it on your blog are great. That thing is huge.

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

I will test it more when my AF101 arrives but it feels great and what steered me towards this lens was how versatile and fast it is. It looks just as great as my Zeiss 35/2 which is one of my favourites!

 

[Fotojorno]

I will test it more when my AF101 arrives but it feels great and what steered me towards this lens was how versatile and fast it is. It looks just as great as my Zeiss 35/2 which is one of my favourites!

I have a Zeiss 35/2 as well, I was starting to wonder with all the great reviews of the 14-35 if it would become redundant holding on to the Zeiss if/when I buy the 14-35?. I really like my 35 btw..

 

[DvxHerb]

editman,

Can't wait to hear more. I'm really tempted to buy one. I was going to do either the 14-54 or the 12-60, but I know I would always be thinking about how much better the 14-35 would be.

 

[timbook2]

here is a nice collection of olympus 7-14mm f4 lens images

http://de.pixel-peeper.com/lenses/?lens=686&p=3

 

[Nityananda_SCSMath]

I'll be picking up a 35-100 tomorrow and test how it works to focus with focus-by-wire.

Great! Thanks editman.
Can you test it with a follow-focus unit and test if it can hit repeatable focus marks drawn on the focus wheel?

 

[Alpha Beta Omega]

The 35-100 is a very fine lens but it's not made to work with a follow focus. The way focusing works is the focus ring drives an AF-motor inside. You can hear the lens focus mechanism working when you turn the ring. It is not silent but not to loud either. When you turn slowly focus is slowly adjusted, if you whip turn the focus ring focus will also take a bigger jump than it would have you turned it slowly. Thus having a follow focus will in most cases not be repeatable between marks. But you really have to whip it to move fast so it might be repeatable

Turning the focus ring slow and you have a precise control over focus.

View attachment 27239

I put the Olympus 35-100 on my GH1 and mounted it inside my "editman" cage and used my Shoot35 follow focus. It worked fine to use the grooves on the focus ring itself instead of using one of my Zipgears or Flexigears. As you can see I top mounted the FF unit because using that tripod collar on the lens raises the camera more than my 5D/7D which my cage is set up for.

I also shot this short video showing focus pulling, a bit course I know but I did it in a hurry...

 

[bgundu]

thanks for the test. Very informative.