F3: Original Sony PL lens kit 35 50 85mm

Duke M.

Duke M.

Veteran
This may sound like an odd idea, but I was looking at ebay and saw an F3 with the original 3 lens kit for $10,499 :crybaby: or best offer. In addition, I've seen a couple F3s listed for $6,500, which started me thinking.

I would like to expand my PL lens set. My Cooke Varital 20-100mm T3.1 is an excellent all around zoom for romance, comedy and certain dramas. (I think a harder edge-ier look might be better for sci-fi and noir.) I have Zeiss for longer primes (120mm and 180mm) at T3.1.

Maybe now is the time to get a set of Sony plastic PL primes at T2 (~F1.8) for those shorter lengths. From the reviews I read the weaknesses with them isn't the image quality, which is supposed to be pretty good. (Saw some rumors they have Cooke glass but I don't know if I believe that. Saw some other rumors of Zeiss glass.)

The issues are durability (plastic), markings (vague alignment), mechanics and barrel size (bigger than some matte boxes (but the Cooke zoom is even bigger.)

But, I can probably buy a set for $3,800 to $3,900 now. That's the price of one CP.2 prime. (I don't rent so that's not an issue.)

Any thoughts on the idea? Anybody seen a set around in that price range?
 
Duke M. said:
But, I can probably buy a set for $3,800 to $3,900 now. That's the price of one CP.2 prime. (I don't rent so that's not an issue.)
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Where? Sony only sold the plastic ones with the F3 and I never saw somebody selling the lenses only without the camera in the secondhand market. It wouldn't be worth it because nobody would pay jack for it.
 
For what it is worth, I have gone back to using these lenses almost exclusively rather than the converter with Nikon glass. I have never used high end PL glass to compare, but these lenses seem rather nice, with long throws for focus which really helps me to nail focus much better than the still glass. At T=2.0 they are plenty fast even in very dim light. I really do not care about the accuracy of the markings, and the distance range in focus for any aperture shows up in the LCD display which is helpful. The front end is 114 mm which works with my matte box. Changing glass that is PL is rather fast, so I find that using the 35 and 85 give the two distances which are most critical for what I use them for. They weigh a couple of pounds each, and seem well built even though they have a lot of plastic components. The focus and aperture moves very smoothly, much more so than any Nikon lens. For wide angle I still use the 11-16 Tokina with the adapter, but I have tried the Sony PL 11-16 and it matches the size and mechanics of the 3 lens set perfectly. I am anxious to see the new Sony lenses and possibly complete the set. I know most people knock these lenses, and although I am not an expert in film making, I do know something about optics.
 
I recently purchased some Cooke Mini S 4's and no longer need my Sony's....I have been surprisingly happy with the image that the Sony's provided at their price point. PM me if your interested.

Patrick Donnelly
www.cinemafivefilms.com
 
Adamsenoj said:
Where? Sony only sold the plastic ones with the F3 and I never saw somebody selling the lenses only without the camera in the secondhand market. It wouldn't be worth it because nobody would pay jack for it.
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Obviously I'd have to buy them from someone who bought the kit with the camera. Usually that's someone who became disappointed because they're aren't a complete set and will never be completely matched. The new kit lenses are metal outside and not plastic (and likely a different diameter.)

They frequently pop up on ebay and advertizements.
 
Duke M. said:
This may sound like an odd idea, but I was looking at ebay and saw an F3 with the original 3 lens kit for $10,499 :crybaby: or best offer. In addition, I've seen a couple F3s listed for $6,500, which started me thinking.

I would like to expand my PL lens set. My Cooke Varital 20-100mm T3.1 is an excellent all around zoom for romance, comedy and certain dramas. (I think a harder edge-ier look might be better for sci-fi and noir.) I have Zeiss for longer primes (120mm and 180mm) at T3.1.

Maybe now is the time to get a set of Sony plastic PL primes at T2 (~F1.8) for those shorter lengths. From the reviews I read the weaknesses with them isn't the image quality, which is supposed to be pretty good. (Saw some rumors they have Cooke glass but I don't know if I believe that. Saw some other rumors of Zeiss glass.)

The issues are durability (plastic), markings (vague alignment), mechanics and barrel size (bigger than some matte boxes (but the Cooke zoom is even bigger.)

But, I can probably buy a set for $3,800 to $3,900 now. That's the price of one CP.2 prime. (I don't rent so that's not an issue.)

Any thoughts on the idea? Anybody seen a set around in that price range?
Click to expand...

No Cooke glass. Those rumors were about the new Sony Primes, which are improvements over what you are talking about. I asked the owner of Cooke personally and he said Cooke had nothing to do with them. The original three Sony lenses are plastic, have a real lack of witness marks but optically weren't that bad. Pretty sharp and decent looking. It was really the mechanics that got everyone all upset. And I must say I was really not a fan of them, mechanically.

It's a hard call to make. Three primes only too, btw. The new Sony's are a product of Sony listening to the criticism from the last outing. Those look pretty interesting. I've not yet gotten a big test. Only experience with them was at the F5/F55 release party at Sony Studios.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
It's a hard call to make. Three primes only too, btw. The new Sony's are a product of Sony listening to the criticism from the last outing. Those look pretty interesting. I've not yet gotten a big test. Only experience with them was at the F5/F55 release party at Sony Studios.
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Undoubtedly the new lenses will be better, but my recollection is that the new set runs something like $23k. That's just out of my price range at the moment.
 
I've had direct experience with the 85 new Sony prime (see the images I posted in the "on my dining room table" thread). A well-constructed lens, Metal. Good optics (but as we've been saying, the optics on the original lenses weren't bad). Very decent motion. Lightweight. Not a lot of marks. The question will be whether Sony will choose to sell lenses individually, in roll your own sets, or as they have announced. I think they are still evaluating the lens strategy. I am certain the glass is Sony's glass. After all, they did buy Minolta and their lens making operation.

Ned
 
nsoltz said:
I've had direct experience with the 85 new Sony prime (see the images I posted in the "on my dining room table" thread). A well-constructed lens, Metal. Good optics (but as we've been saying, the optics on the original lenses weren't bad). Very decent motion. Lightweight. Not a lot of marks. The question will be whether Sony will choose to sell lenses individually, in roll your own sets, or as they have announced. I think they are still evaluating the lens strategy. I am certain the glass is Sony's glass. After all, they did buy Minolta and their lens making operation.

Ned
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It'll be interesting to see how it pans out. Personally I think Sony will really miss a good opportunity if they decide to NOT sell the lenses separately. At the moment they're the only 'affordable' cine lenses in the game with a matched aperture the whole way across (T/2.0 for every lens). That matters to people, and is a definite selling point. But people in the $4k per-lens bracket both want and need choice to customise their gear choices to suit their needs.
 
Heard that full set is 20k street price and to complete the old set would be 11k... so if you could get those 3 older lens cheap... you could have the full set for a lot cheaper... thing is how would they match up to the new ones in all areas...
 
For what I shoot I need a PL zoom, so my kit lenses are for sale so I can put it towards a Red(heavy and more affordable) or Angenieux ( cost of a nice car and not wife topic talking points).

Mw
 
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