RED 18-85mm Zoom on AF100

I have shot with the Red 18-50mm. besides being a T3 , a tad slow, I love the lens, a good introduction Cine lens.
But I gather the engineering / build of the newer 18 -50 mm and 18-85 are more refined !
Here is a project we are currently in production with , most mid / close shots are on the Red 18- 50mm the rest are Zeiss.

http://vimeo.com/23095782

 
I like the thought of the big 18-85 for doc work, although it is a heavy lens I am sure. The light camcorder aspect of the AF goes out the window with that lens on. I know the 17-50 is a lot smaller but I want the reach of the 85. I very seldom do handheld shots (I have a few wide primes if I need to go handheld). The AF would be a lot bigger with the 18-85 lens but still smaller than lugging around an ENG shoulder mount rig.
 
Keep in mind the 18-85 is a simply massive lens. Huge. You won't believe just how big and heavy it is. If you're thinking it's like the 14-140, well, no... the 18-85 weighs 4x as much as the AF100 does. There is no possible way to use it without a full rails & baseplate & support system in place.

That said, I've heard good reports on it, that it's a good lens, and especially if you can get it for the "battle tested" price of $6,000.
 
Barry, was this somehow softened in post or is it the Vimeo "Magic"?

Looks even softer than my vintage Zeiss primes, especially on the edges.
Lens feature or intended?

Frank
 
If Red can sell some of the lowest cost cinema zooms for their camera then Panasonic should too.
 
Panasonic Broadcast doesn't produce lenses. It is easier said than done for the consumer division to start producing low cost and high quality professional zooms. Look at the quality of all the 4/3 and micro 4/3 lenses.
 
Panasonic doesn't make any cine zooms, period. I am not sure that there is a market out there to create that kind of lens for a 4/3 sensor.
 
I'd be looking more at someone like Canon to be making affordable cine zooms and prime's. They already make high quality cine lenses and still lenses, and there's clearly a market for it. If they could come up with cine zooms and prime's to rival the cp.2 and RPZ crowd they will do well I think. Many people would buy for 5d, 7d, etc. and for af-100, fs-100, f3, etc. But I doubt Panasonic has any interest in this area.
 
Bucknfl said:
Red didn't offer any lenses either ----------------------until they did.
Click to expand...

I'd be pretty surprised if Red actually is building their own lenses and grinding and polishing glass. . .so who is it that is actually making the Red cine lenses?
 
I have the 'DigiOptics' 18-50 & 50-150… They say Digioptics on them, but when you hold it beside the original RED zoom - they are the same. Not up to par with the Zeiss Zooms, but also just a fraction of the price. The focus could be smoother, but a lens tech tells me that could be 'fixed' with service - I just need a week of down days to let him work his magic.

Have to say that I really like them and they are on the front of my AF100's 90% of the time. I don't find T3 to be too slow since we light most of what we shoot, and the doc style verité shoots have all worked out fine.

I don't for one second regret buying them - while others have been complaining about a lack of zooms, I've been shooting.

Here's a thread about them: http://www.dvxuser.com/V6/showthrea...50-Zoom-initial-look-with-pictures&highlight=
 
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Barry_Green said:
Keep in mind the 18-85 is a simply massive lens. Huge... That said, I've heard good reports on it, that it's a good lens, and especially if you can get it for the "battle tested" price of $6,000.
Click to expand...

Oh, I know. It's one of only a handful of lenses right now that work the way I want with the AF. We're all by-and-large using still lenses. I want a cinema lens. I think other lenses will see the light of day for the AF but not any time soon. If so, I'd just sell any RED lens I bought (if newer lenses were smaller, cheaper and performed better). For the money, the BT 18-85 is affordable for me and I could make money with it.
 
DustBowl said:
Oh, I know. It's one of only a handful of lenses right now that work the way I want with the AF. We're all by-and-large using still lenses. I want a cinema lens. I think other lenses will see the light of day for the AF but not any time soon. If so, I'd just sell any RED lens I bought (if newer lenses were smaller, cheaper and performed better). For the money, the BT 18-85 is affordable for me and I could make money with it.
Click to expand...
Then it sounds ideal for your purposes. Others to consider in that same general size/price range would be the Cooke 18-100 or 20-100, if you can find one.
 
I've have the RPZ 17-50 and love it. I leave it on the camera and is what i use most of the time. Shots are always set up and lit, so it is definately not too slow. I just like having everything manual on the lens, with no servos, so I think its great. Less contrasty then nikon primes, but way more than the zuiko 14-35. Big, but not too big...unless your doing a whole day of handheld. Its a bargain and a great way to get cines going on the af100.I havent used the older 18-50, and heard its not as good as the 17-50, but a used one is cheaper and I've heard its really not that bad and you can do some great things with it.The 18-85 tho is a really big lens. You need to consider how your going to mount it on rails and how having a large rig like that is going to affect your shooting.
 
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