Would anyone consider using the Sony PL lenses on the Af100?

bgundu

bgundu

Veteran
I know there isn't much info on these lenses yet, but I just thought that they may be a decent option for the Af100? Check out the clips from the F3 here using the 50mm Sony PL lens.

http://www.xdcam-user.com/?p=1136

F3-85mm-300x224.jpg
 
If they're decent, sure. They're priced right, $7k for three puts them at not much more than half the cost of the Compact Primes. First problem I see though is no witness marks, so... they may be more along the lines of the original Red zoom or the DigiOptics lenses than genuine calibrated cinema lenses. But considering the prices, that's a tradeoff I'm sure many folks would be willing to make.
 
Barry_Green said:
If they're decent, sure. They're priced right, $7k for three puts them at not much more than half the cost of the Compact Primes. First problem I see though is no witness marks, so... they may be more along the lines of the original Red zoom or the DigiOptics lenses than genuine calibrated cinema lenses. But considering the prices, that's a tradeoff I'm sure many folks would be willing to make.
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Ouch good point, I just noticed that they didn't have witness marks, that kinda muted my excitement from them a little bit. But if they are great quality, I might say screw the marks. Besides if you have a proper follow focus with dry erase ring, then its not a problem really.
 
POLARIS-LENS2-640x452.jpg


"This is a CAD rendering of the 3 Sony PL Primes introduced this week with Sony’s affordable PMW-F3 35mm sensor camera. The 3 Primes, as part of the F3K package, will add about $7,000 to the cost of the camera-only package. That’s about $2,300 a pop. It appears that definitive focus index marks are lacking, probably to keep costs down. This is strange, but it isn’t the end of the world: some 16mm primes and zooms also just have numbers — no lines. You pay for what you get. The workaround will be a roll of 1/4″ wide white chart tape. Attach the tape to the focus scale on the lens. Mark off your critical focus distances with a Finepoint Sharpie marker. Use a tape measure to position the camera, and then eye focus on a target (Siemens Stars work best)." - FDtimes

HDwarrior asked the Sony rep in London who the glass manufacturer was, they would not disclose. Odd, maybe its Zeiss and they don’t want to cut into the CP.2 sales with a marketing agreement.

or, maybe its a lesser brand name.

Either way, at least it’s not as bad as Red selling DigiOptical Zooms at TWICE the original price.

$4,000 original vs $8,500 Red Brand. Crazy.
 
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Started to say...lack of marks isn't something some white gaff tape shouldn't fix.

Kinda joking.

If they are decent lenses, I'd hope to see them add a 21mm and a 100mm+ to the kit. Full set of good primes for $11k-ish.
 
The Duclos 11-16mm would round this set out perfectly.

Maybe a Macro or CF lens. Lots of pro DPs only use 3-4 lenses anyways. Some of these sets are getting a bit crazy. 21mm and 24mm, like really....
 
vagarob said:
The Duclos 11-16mm would round this set out perfectly.

Maybe a Macro or CF lens. Lots of pro DPs only use 3-4 lenses anyways. Some of these sets are getting a bit crazy. 21mm and 24mm, like really....
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I agree I don't like these odd numbers in lenses, I traditionally shoot with 4 of my favorite primes, sometimes 5. I see people going crazy with all of these multiple focal lengths and, don't get me wrong when you need an odd length for specialty, its good that they exist, but for normal cinematography work 18mm 25mm 35mm 50mm 85mm is what I like. Usually depending on the shoot I eliminate from the kit either the 18mm or 25mm depending on what the shoot calls for, but thats it.

What I hope is that you can buy them outside of the kit. I wouldn't buy all 3 first. I would grow the pack slowly. I'm one of those odd DP's that can shoot a whole scene with just 1 lens length. Heck if I had to I could shoot a whole film with 1 lens. I've shot a feature film with only a 25mm and a 50mm and you'd never second guess a thing. So there for just buying one lens first would be nice to do instead of having to dish out for all 3. I could always sell it if I didn't like it. Renting is an option, but honestly the whole point of these prices is to own not to rent. So most likely I wouldn't rent them.
 
Giuseppe Pugliese said:
I'm one of those odd DP's that can shoot a whole scene with just 1 lens length. Heck if I had to I could shoot a whole film with 1 lens
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There are a few people like you :). And a few movies made that way as well, especially if you start looking at some interesting 60s/70s Russian movies. I don't like how some lens manufacturers are refusing to let you buy sets of 3-- let alone individually. Leica cine lenses have to be purchased as a complete set of EIGHT for $180,000 :shocked:

They also sold out all their pre-orders on them, so who knows =)
 
my guess would be that initially the only way you'll get those lenses will be in the F3 kit, as Sony may be selling at cost to sweeten the deal. But sooner of later someone has to step up with a truly budget friendly set of PL glass that is not a crazy premium over still lenses. If the AF 100 moves in expected numbers, combined with sony offerings plus RED's already in the wild and more coming, maybe canon too. The market is too big to be served solely by lenses made to be rented by hollywood cinematographers. All of these cameras will have a PL option, and PL would be the best bet for a long term investment, but its not a house, you can't be paying on it for the rest of your life.
 
dop16mm said:
my guess would be that initially the only way you'll get those lenses will be in the F3 kit, as Sony may be selling at cost to sweeten the deal. But sooner of later someone has to step up with a truly budget friendly set of PL glass that is not a crazy premium over still lenses. If the AF 100 moves in expected numbers, combined with sony offerings plus RED's already in the wild and more coming, maybe canon too. The market is too big to be served solely by lenses made to be rented by hollywood cinematographers. All of these cameras will have a PL option, and PL would be the best bet for a long term investment, but its not a house, you can't be paying on it for the rest of your life.
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Yeah, maybe, but I think that Sony will offer the lenses separately in short order, because they are sure to be selling more F3s as body only, and are not going to want to miss out on folks who got the bodies on picking up the lenses latter. As for "... truly budget friendly set of PL glass...", well, up until now the PL mount lenses has been used on cinema cameras, costing very near the cost of the average house, and have the workmanship and quality to equal their costs. Even with the number of large sensor video cameras that are scheduled to come on line in the near future, I don't think that lenses that are of the quality of currently available cinema lenses with the PL mount are going to come down very much in price. Actually, I think that the opposite is going to happen, and with the increased demand for good quality PL mount lenses, on the used market for example, the price is going to go up. I have seen that already with the used SLR lenses. I am shooting with and HD-DSLR and have been putting together a set of manual Nikon prime lenses for it. The price of these lenses, on the used market, have risen substantially lately. This is going to happen to PL mount cinema lenses also, I am afraid to say. Of course, there will probably be a manufacture who will develop a set of lenses, with PL mounts that they can sell in this new market at a reasonable price, however I have very little confidence that such lenses would really compete, quality wise, with the currently available cinema quality PL mount lenses.
 
Sony will not be offering these lenses outside the kit. I believe they are making VERY little off the lenses to get them in the hands of people who want the F3... My guess is, they will eventually let the sale of these lenses out for the market as a set, but might come with a higher cost. That would be sucky for the people wanting them, but I can see that as being the only reason why they aren't just selling these lenses separate from the F3.

To answer the original post which is for an AF100 to use the Sony PL's .... thats not going to happen, simply because the lenses will not be available to buy unless you buy them with an F3... and lets face it, I dont see anyone buying an F3 with lenses and then wanting to shoot with the AF100.
 
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