GH2 Urgent Question - GH2 - Ziess

I am tickled with all the correction going on. Take it as you see fit. I thought to ask you the same question.

I do appreciate the help but it did seem to get a little silly. Grain of salt. Back to work for me.
 
A nice, fast 50mm can be had for so cheap that a solid wide might be an additional chunk of cash that could be spent wisely. Too many people who will never need to have CP's buy them because they think that the images they will produce will be so much better than the ZE or ZF versions of them. Gary is right, the glass is the same, the real difference between the two is the housing, focus throw and declicked iris. The real advantage is that the CP's have been made for cinema use, and if your planning on shooting features in the future I'd say they are worth every penny. My company owns four of the CP2's (18mm,25mm,50mm,85mm) and on feature work they are the work horses. On a side note the 21mm ZF or CP2 is the lens I wish I had gone with over the 25mm. Back to the point, I'd say it's safe to say that when asked most would never know the difference between a 10,000$ cooke 50mm or a 300$ nikon 50mm stopped down to f5.6 when shooting a well lit interview on a gh2 anyway. Only a very select few people would ever be able to tell. Great, cheap lenses can be found from 24mm on in the FD, MD, CY, Nikon and many many other mounts that will all cheaply adapt to m43. Super sharp and fast 50mm glass is abundant, I'd buy something wide to put in your bag along with it. Just my 2 cents.
 
I would let budget dictate you lens purchase.
The $4K you would spend on a single Zeiss CP.2 lens would buy complete coverage with some other lenses.

Also, don't fret over crop factors. The only time you need to even think about a 2 X crop factor is if you need to match something shot with a full frame camera.

Good Luck!

Dave
 
I'd skip the CP.2s unless you are working with a crew. There's really no advantage to the cinema glass if you don't have a focus puller, measure marks, use a matte box, etc. If you're working with a small (or no) crew, or are running and gunning, I'd save a bundle and pick up some ZF.2s or ZEs.
 
Thanks guys. I have a FD50mm in my personal kit. The thing that gets me is that I am always needing to step back. Maybe it is a issue of practice and my inclination is to be close. What ever the case, 50mm with the 2X crop factor, being like a full frame 100mm or thereabouts, seems to be a bit long for my current experience. I admittedly need to stage a interview style seating setup with this lens so that I can make a definitive choice based on experience, even if a mock set up.

Good to know from Gary and Dave both about the CP.2 lenses. I will leave that alone and stay with the ZF line on an adaptor. I had even thought about Nikon lenses but their better ones are about the price of Zeiss glass. And, while I have bought used glass on Ebay for me personally, I tend to lean towards new purchases for this package as to have recourse if there is a problem. I already made one bad purchase on Ebay and it spooks me when speaking of the corporate package.

Thanks for making me think.
Rob
 
You seem to be hung up on the 2X crop factor thing. Again it is only a 2X crop factor when compared to a Full Frame camera like the 5DmkII. When comparing framing to a professional cinema format like Super 35mm the crop factor is 1.4X for example.

http://www.abelcine.com/fov/

If you need to move back to frame a shot with your 50mm, you might consider adding a 35mm to your kit, which is the S35mm format 50mm lens equivalent on your camera.

You might also consider investing in an app like pCAM or Artemis for your smart phone to help you visualize shots in advance.

You also mentioned buying new, nothing wrong with that if you can swing the price. I'm a little on the frugal side so if I can save a buck buying great used lenses then that is my first choice. In fact most of my lenses are used and over 30 years old. You might check in the for sale area for deals on lens packages. They pop up all the time as someone buys a nice set to shoot a feature with then finds out it takes more than lenses to make a good film and ends up selling their gear.

All the Best!

Dave
 
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