Red or 2nd Hand Cooke Zoom?

ZaneIsNumber1 said:
I'm curious Stephen, when making lens purchases such as a Cooke zoom on ebay or, indeed, any other online site, how would you verify a lens of that age is in good working order?

Thanks
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Hi,

Who is selling the lens and their feedback is important, but in reality things are never quite as good as they are described! Expect minor coating marks when described as perfect! Ask for full money back if not upto standard. Remember you will have to pay 2 lots of shipping if you return, in my case I kept the lens after making some film tests.

Stephen
 
Heres my question.. lets say im going to shoot some commercials.. or low budget indi (under 100k).. now if for some reason i just dont go out and rent some zeiss arri lenses or cooke.. and i dont own any cine lenses.. what is the downside of using some good nikon lenses? i mean nikon makes nice glass.. what about the nikon slr lenses sets them apart from cine lenses (other than the mount)? there is a used cameras near where i live.. if jim is reading (off margarite and crown valley...(we are neighbors). and they have TONS of nice used lenses for cheap!!..
 
zakaree said:
Heres my question.. lets say im going to shoot some commercials.. or low budget indi (under 100k).. now if for some reason i just dont go out and rent some zeiss arri lenses or cooke.. and i dont own any cine lenses.. what is the downside of using some good nikon lenses? i mean nikon makes nice glass.. what about the nikon slr lenses sets them apart from cine lenses (other than the mount)? there is a used cameras near where i live.. if jim is reading (off margarite and crown valley...(we are neighbors). and they have TONS of nice used lenses for cheap!!..
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Hi Zak, there is a tonne of threads about this already but the basis of what makes Cine lenses better is the internals, often they have more glass and have the mechanics to stop breathing when pulling focus. Also Cine lenses are more acurate when focusing because still photography doesn't usually require the need to alter focus midway through a shot. This can be got around by using a good follow focus with gearing though - Redrock's would be a good place to start. Generally speaking professional shoots will want Cine lenses and people with experience with them. SLR lenses are great for an indie or personal setup, I also think they would be a good addition to any filmset where perhaps the cine lenses didn't quite acheive the best result on a particular shot where pulling focus wasn't necessary but I personally wouldn't rely solely on them.
 
thanks homer,
after i posted this i did some research on the site and found some good information. I am in fact lucky enough to have a followfocus so thats good. ive decided to stick with my nikkor lenses for personal/indi use.. but once i have a good budget i will definatly rent some nice zeiss or cooke sets.

ps. anyone have a good genral price range for renting a 3-5 piece lens set
 
Whilst I'm no expert on the prices Zak, I've noticed JDC seems to offer pretty good prices for various bits of equipment, they have stuff here in the UK and in the US I believe which is why I noted them. You are likely to find alot more places to rent where you are than I might though.

Zeiss Ultra Prime set 24mm, 32mm, 40mm, 50mm, 85mm all T1.9 $662 a day

Here's the link
 
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