PL lenses - why use them?
- Thread starter mikecazzx
- Start date
A - Repeatable Focus pulls off of accurate marks.
B - Accurate T-Stop Ratings
C - Color matched Sets (post = hell with still lenses)
D - Breathing when Pulling Focus -- Still lenses are bad here
E - Flare resistance
F - Overall Mechanics for focusing, etc
Those are all reasons to use Cinema Lenses.
B - Accurate T-Stop Ratings
C - Color matched Sets (post = hell with still lenses)
D - Breathing when Pulling Focus -- Still lenses are bad here
E - Flare resistance
F - Overall Mechanics for focusing, etc
Those are all reasons to use Cinema Lenses.
Mechanically they are built to survive in the cinema environment. Film sets are very hard on gear. Canon L series lenses wont last long. the rubber rings on my focus and Zoom rings is coming off my L series already. Its only been a year.
Also, they are designed from the ground up to put the best parts of the performance range right in the S35 image circle. When you have less image plane to worry about, you can focus on getting the 31mm image circle ( the 35mm film plane sized image circle) to be sharp edge to edge, and minimizing flaring and chroma aberration. To hell with anything beyond what the film ( red sensor, AF100 sensor, F3 sensor) will use.
Barry_Green
Moderator
And, they're typically size-matched as well, so that things like your follow focus or mattebox will all just fit where they belong, instead of having to be re-adjusted and fitted to each lens.
Cinema lenses aren't about the higher-quality image (unless you go WAY up in budget), they're about workflow.
And, back to the O.P.'s point -- PL lenses aren't well suited to a DSLR (such as a Canon or Nikon that is an actual SLR with a mirror). Many of the PL lenses would contact the mirror in the SLR's. They're great for a mirrorless camera, but not all that useful on an actual SLR-type camera, except for some of the longer/more telephoto focal lengths. And, finally, cinema lenses don't cover the frame of a full-frame DSLR (excepting the Zeiss Compact Primes).
Cinema lenses aren't about the higher-quality image (unless you go WAY up in budget), they're about workflow.
And, back to the O.P.'s point -- PL lenses aren't well suited to a DSLR (such as a Canon or Nikon that is an actual SLR with a mirror). Many of the PL lenses would contact the mirror in the SLR's. They're great for a mirrorless camera, but not all that useful on an actual SLR-type camera, except for some of the longer/more telephoto focal lengths. And, finally, cinema lenses don't cover the frame of a full-frame DSLR (excepting the Zeiss Compact Primes).
Joe Calabrese
Well-known member
Cinema lenses tend to have more iris blades as well, usually 14, while still lenses tend to have less.