Zeiss CP.2 Lens Family

Justin R Goff

Justin R Goff

DVXuser Sponsor
Hello all,

I am considering offering lenses on our website. Not sure if we want to go as high as the Ultra-Primes but after talking to a few enthusiasts, I realized that the Zeiss CP.2 family was mention often along side the Canon cinema primes to have great image and build quality for the price. Here is basically what I found out about the CP.2s.

http://www.innocinema.com/operators-blog/quick-overview-on-the-zeiss-cp-2-lens-line/

Haven't looked to much into the Canons. I don't think we are totally sold on them yet (EF mount only, No 35mm as of yet) but
any personal feedback on either these Zeiss compact primes or the Canon cinema primes would be appreciated!
 
Justin R Goff said:
Hello all,

I am considering offering lenses on our website. Not sure if we want to go as high as the Ultra-Primes but after talking to a few enthusiasts, I realized that the Zeiss CP.2 family was mention often along side the Canon cinema primes to have great image and build quality for the price. Here is basically what I found out about the CP.2s.

http://www.innocinema.com/operators-blog/quick-overview-on-the-zeiss-cp-2-lens-line/

Haven't looked to much into the Canons. I don't think we are totally sold on them yet (EF mount only, No 35mm as of yet) but
any personal feedback on either these Zeiss compact primes or the Canon cinema primes would be appreciated!
Click to expand...

For what cameras?

If you are the shooter, you can guage your own needs and likes by testing lenses and picking the ones that fit your budget and liking. However, if you are renting, you are typicallly talking about two completely different crowds if comparing UP's to CP's.


FYI: The new Canon cine primes are canon mount only, so you're talking to serious DSLR crowd, C300/100 crowd and the occasional Scarlet/Epic owner with Canon mount.

For me, if I owned a set of MP's, I'd be in trouble... my clients are Ultra Primes / S4's at best. They aren't paying MP, 5/i or Summilux prices yet, so I'd be without a customer base. It's important you have the gear your clients want, or at least can afford!

What kind of clients do you have?
 
CP2 are over price I personally think. I find it ridiculous that the lens aren't even fast lens at this price. I think the only selling point for these lens are that they are 'Compact'

You can probably get the Canon Cinema lens for similar price and they are faster and just as compact.
 
It's not about speed all the time. Quality over speed is my thing.

Not saying CP.2's are better than Canon Cinema lenses... not tried them (Canon Primes) yet (and won't until they are PL likely.) Just saying CP2's are the least over priced PL cinema lenses out there, imo. So, I don't much get it.
 
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Thank you for the feed back guys!

It seems the concensus here and through some acquaintances friends that the CP.2 are a little overpriced. This is mostly second hand information I am getting but I have found out that this particular ziess series lacks uniformity across the board on some fundamental things such as focus marks, aperture marks and even color balance to an extent. Another item to mention that was pointed out to me was that the CP2s are rehoused stills glass (also have a hunch that the Canon primes are rehoused "L" glass). This kinda gives me the impression that the CP.2s are in fact a bit overpriced. It would be great to get some feed back on the cinema primes and how they compare to the CP2s' uniformity issues mentioned earlier. Ill keep looking. Thanks again!​
 
As Ryan pointed out... What are you looking for?

Are you interested as a lens reseller on your website, lens set for rental use, or a personal use lens set?
 
I haven't used the Canon Cinema primes yet but they are getting great reviews by those who have used them. Vincent Laforet said they are amazing. Our own Brian Weed also has good things to say. Perhaps, he'll pipe in on this thread if he sees it.

I haven't seen a direct comparison between the Canon Cinema Primes and the CP2s yet. Laforet said he was going to do a side-by-side review but he's a busy, busy man so who knows when that will happen. Has anyone else seen any direct comparison reviews?

Here is a brief video comparing the Cinema lenses to L lenses. It's not in-depth, though, so take it for what it is...


The biggest knock, of course, is the missing 35mm.
 
Justin R Goff said:
Thank you for the feed back guys!

It seems the concensus here and through some acquaintances friends that the CP.2 are a little overpriced. This is mostly second hand information I am getting but I have found out that this particular ziess series lacks uniformity across the board on some fundamental things such as focus marks, aperture marks and even color balance to an extent. Another item to mention that was pointed out to me was that the CP2s are rehoused stills glass (also have a hunch that the Canon primes are rehoused "L" glass). This kinda gives me the impression that the CP.2s are in fact a bit overpriced. It would be great to get some feed back on the cinema primes and how they compare to the CP2s' uniformity issues mentioned earlier. Ill keep looking. Thanks again!​
Click to expand...

As someone who (after a great deal of umming, ahhing, renting, testing and researching) recently invested in a set of CP.2s I'd have to say I find it hard to agree with much of the criticism that get levelled at them - for the price the only (non-ancient) lenses that are competing with them are the Canon cine primes (basically an EF-only version of the CP.2 stills glass concept) and the soon to be released Sony Primes.

Yes the inconsistent apertures are a bit frustrating, but since most people seem to have got rid of their 18mm T/3.6 lenses, most sets are simply T/2.1 across the board with the exception of the widest lenses, mainly the 21mm, which is a T/2.9 - and dealing with a single lens with a 1-stop difference isn't too big of a deal.

Mechanically and operationally, there's really no comparison with any still lenses out there. The CP.2s are leagues ahead. And with a long focus throw, accurate focus marks and excellent construction, they make pulling focus, and repeating focus moves incredibly easy - my main reason for purchasing them was to speed up things on set, and the precision and control that they allow absolutely speeds up the process, there's no dicking around with small and not always precise focus marks, they just work.

Add to that beautiful image quality (they really are lovely bits of glass, I've never had anything but ecstatic feedback from clients) and I honestly think the CP.2s make for a solid set of cine lenses. Are they on the same level optically as UPs or S4s? Of course not, nor should they be for the price. But for the price, there really aren't many better options around IMO. If you step up in price a fair way you get to the Illuminas and S4 Minis, and they're superior lenses, but again - you pay for the improvements.

At the end of the day, I'd take an F3/C300 with CP.2s over an Alexa/Epic with stills glass each and every time, until the end of time.
 
Grug said:
As someone who (after a great deal of umming, ahhing, renting, testing and researching) recently invested in a set of CP.2s I'd have to say I find it hard to agree with much of the criticism that get levelled at them - for the price the only (non-ancient) lenses that are competing with them are the Canon cine primes (basically an EF-only version of the CP.2 stills glass concept) and the soon to be released Sony Primes.

Yes the inconsistent apertures are a bit frustrating, but since most people seem to have got rid of their 18mm T/3.6 lenses, most sets are simply T/2.1 across the board with the exception of the widest lenses, mainly the 21mm, which is a T/2.9 - and dealing with a single lens with a 1-stop difference isn't too big of a deal.

Mechanically and operationally, there's really no comparison with any still lenses out there. The CP.2s are leagues ahead. And with a long focus throw, accurate focus marks and excellent construction, they make pulling focus, and repeating focus moves incredibly easy - my main reason for purchasing them was to speed up things on set, and the precision and control that they allow absolutely speeds up the process, there's no dicking around with small and not always precise focus marks, they just work.

Add to that beautiful image quality (they really are lovely bits of glass, I've never had anything but ecstatic feedback from clients) and I honestly think the CP.2s make for a solid set of cine lenses. Are they on the same level optically as UPs or S4s? Of course not, nor should they be for the price. But for the price, there really aren't many better options around IMO. If you step up in price a fair way you get to the Illuminas and S4 Minis, and they're superior lenses, but again - you pay for the improvements.

At the end of the day, I'd take an F3/C300 with CP.2s over an Alexa/Epic with stills glass each and every time, until the end of time.
Click to expand...

I wish more people were like you. You kinda nailed exactly what CP.2's are. Hell, what any lower cost cine-lens (true cine lens) set is. Pretty good optics with much better mechanics and reliability. Rokinon's, despite the nice name given to them by the company, are not cine lenses imo. They seem to be nice photography lenses with gears. More like good quality cinevised lenses. Having a 35mm lens with focus marks of infinity, 10, 3 and 1 foot is hardly helpful.
 
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