Zeiss ZFs - Good Investment?

Jason Adams

Jason Adams

Section Moderator
It would seem to me with the camera market moving at Light Speed the only safe investment is Glass. I have heard folks are getting descent results with ZFs on Red and with VDSLRS with Adapters and of course 35mm Adapter rigs. Any Thoughts on this?

Can I get a ZFs on a RED, 5D MK II, and GH1 with proper adapters? Anyone have any experience with these and recommend some good ones.

Thanks

J
 
Simple answer to all of your questions/thoughts: Yes.

Long Answer: The ZF's are great pieces of glass reGARDLESS of where they were manufactured. They'll also retain value for a long period of time. I've got a set of C/Y Zeiss and still waiting for my ZF set to get here, I think I'll end up liking the ZF's more.

We'll see! But definitely, the ZF's are a good bet for just about any camera, especially considering you can mount Nikon glass to everything.
 
I think so. If I use an adapter, I prefer the ZF's and always rent them. They are also kind of hard to find, so the market is not OVER saturated with them.
 
I LOVE mt 50/1.4. Going to be getting the 35 and 85 soon with the money I was going to spend on the 5Dmkii.
 
Ryan Patrick O'Hara said:
I think so. If I use an adapter, I prefer the ZF's and always rent them. They are also kind of hard to find, so the market is not OVER saturated with them.
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They're definitely hard to find used and at a better price than fair, aka dirt cheap. Just have to bite the bullet and get a new set.

I'm anxious to put my hands on the 18/3.5 and 21/2.8 when they get here. Knowing how infamous the 21/2.8 was of the C/Y iteration, I hope that the ZF copy matches.

Hoping to have these darned things here soon, then gonna consider press fitting both sets.
 
I love zeiss glass for my HVX and Redrock. I never got a chance to use zeiss on the RED only RED primes. But still zeiss is great if you have the money.
 
Only problem with the ZFs is that they comply to the stupid Nikon backwards-focus thinking. Every lens on earth focuses to infinity by turning the barrel left, but Nikon goes to the right, and so do the ZFs. Really just a quibble, not much more than an annoyance, and you can usually get a reversing gear for your follow focus so that it turns the 'right way'.
 
One thing I have found, though, is when pulling off of the barrell, the backward focusing seems much more intuitive. But yeah, with an FF you're gonna want to adjust that.
 
Thanks Guys. I think I am going to invest in some. The camera market is flying. It took about 4 months for my HPX-170 to loose its sex appeal to a new camera. Not a problem I still love it and its paying my bills.
I am thinking of another camera this year and from this feedback it seems glass is a worthy investment.

I appreciate everyone's feedback.

Anyone recommend a good place to order some new ones?
 
Barry_Green said:
Only problem with the ZFs is that they comply to the stupid Nikon backwards-focus thinking. Every lens on earth focuses to infinity by turning the barrel left, but Nikon goes to the right, and so do the ZFs. Really just a quibble, not much more than an annoyance, and you can usually get a reversing gear for your follow focus so that it turns the 'right way'.
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Naw. I've had cinema lenses which focus 'backwards'. I've even had a Panavision MK-II lens set, which had a few of the many primes which focused 'backwards' then the normal focus throw direction. I think it was 2 of the 9. I have a feeling that some lenses just have to be, or are much easier to build a certain way. Just my guess. I doubt they are simply trying to keep AC's on their toes. :)

What I don't know is if this (backwards focus throw) is a uniquely Nikon photography thing... It was my impression *most* motion picture film lenses went one way, and *most* still photography went another. Not just Nikon. I have little experience with still photography outside the nikon body and lens arena, so this is something I am interested in. Do Nikons go the opposite way of Canon and etc?
 
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I don´t want to be on enyones nerves, but I want to encourage everybody again to look into the Carl Zeiss Jena medium format lenses of the 60s.

This is the best glass Zeiss EVER made, period.
It´s not coated so you need a mattebox and a french flag.
But it´s way cheap (around 100 Euros or less). We are knee deep into that stuff on german ebay.

Look for the ones with the Zebra rings only. The later ones are crap.

They all have a Pentacon Six bajonet. I use a Pentacon6 to Nikon adapter.

Zeiss Flektogon medium format 50mm/4
Zeiss Biometar medium format 80mm/2.8
Zeiss Sonar medium format 120mm/2.8
Zeiss Sonar medium format 180mm/2.8

Because of the big diameter they are much faster than the nubers look like.
The 80/2,8 is almost as fast as my 1.4 Nikon.

Frank
 

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I wonder why most of the ZF sets sold from Cinevate, Redrock, etc. don't include the 21mm or 18mm. You often need an 18mm for shooting the wides on anything but full frame still. I suppose because it's meant primarily for full frame 35mm adapter work, rather than RED one size sensor (super 35mm) work?
 
I'd say most people, unless wanting the wide effect or in VERY cramped situations would not need anything less then the 25mm lens. The 25mm is the widest I'll go in narrative storytelling unless I want to make a semi-dramatic statement with a very wide lens, because I feel like lenses less then 25mm can really call attention to themselves.

So my guess is two things. First, they are trying to sell a 'kit' with the most commonly used lenses. Second, they want to keep price down. I'm sure those other lenses are SUPER pricey, especially the further you drift from the normal 50mm range. I haven't looked up pricing yet, but they probably cost a bit more. Could probably land a couple zf 50mm's for the price of one 18mm zf. They don't want to scare off people purchasing lens kits by adding a lens which may be unnecessary in most productions and on top of that having it just drag the overall kit price to hell.


edit:

Just looked it up.

50mm f/2 ZF lens is $550.
18mm f/3.5 ZF is $1,240.
21mm f/2.8 ZF is $1,450.
 
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The cost factor makes sense Ryan.
The 18mm is part of a standard cine prime lens set, so I thought it was odd that these vendors wouldn't sell it. I use the 18mm, but it often depends on the director and whether they want that lens perspective.
 
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