image from www.en.panalight.ro

So as promised I am finally looking at something other than a Cooke.

On the slate today, the Zeiss CP – 1 Set.  I chose to review the CP1’s, as opposed to the CP2’s for a reason.

One, because i have a set of CP1’s…..  but more importantly, they are true PL primes.   The CP2’s have interchangeable mounts that can prove a bit tricky to collimate.  The CP1’s i have are accurate to the inch, so for the sake of testing and working with them, i went with what i know works perfectly.  I will amend this later with the newer CP’s at a later date to reflect the differences in the update.

Since they are so accurate in terms of focus, let me talk about build quality and ergonomics.  The primes are very light weight, under 2lbs per lens, and all the same size, with matching focus and Iris locations.  All have 114mm fronts, very handy when quickly changing lenses as your mattebox and follow focus can remain in the same position.  In my opinion, the light weight of the lenses is a double edged sword.  Yes they are easier to handle, and make for simpler stedicam and handheld work, yet they have a “hollow” thinness to the metal that just makes me grit my teeth.  They will probably last a life time, but every time you handle them it just doesn’t feel right.  Somethign like when you handle carbon fiber tools, or camera accessories.  I know they are strong and durable…. but they just feel to light and it doesn’t instill confidence.   The focus and iris both rotate smoothly with a long rotation, however with resistance that is vastly different than the Panchros.  My AC for the job i just did with them, (a newbie), having pulled focus on my Cookes, when pulling on the CP’s asked if somethign was wrong with the follow focus, noting the additional friction.  I had to set him straight that the silky, lack of resistance you get on Cookes is not the norm.  This isnt to say they are stiff by any means, they just aren’t as silky smooth as the Panchros.

The witness marks are plentiful, and accurate.  However despite the long rotation, you still wind up with 3/4 of the barrel rotation representing minimum focus to about 6 feet, with the remaining 1/4 for everything between 6 feet and infinity. Not a big deal on the wides, but murder on the 85mm.  Especially that the 50mm and 85mm are both T1.5.

As you can see, for a nice close up, the 85mm just looks great.  This was shot @ T1.5 1/2, and my AC was having difficulty keeping the singer of this music video in focus not so much because of the narrow DOF, but because of the fact that the 6″ he moves back and forth is almost a 1/4 turn on the lens barrel, and even more on the follow focus.  However, there is a certain beauty to a fast lens in a tight closeup.
That said, the real kicker is that the disparity of the Tstops, while not REALLY a big deal….. kind of is.  Let me clarify.  The lens set is as follows. 18mm T3.9, 21mm T2.9, 25mm T2.9, 28mm T2.1, 35mm T2.1, 50mm T1.5 and 85mm T1.5.

This basically means i have to light to a T4.  I mean, you have to light the scene to your slowest lens, unless its a one shot kind of deal where you aren’t going to be switching back and forth.  So, as i see it, if im going to be lighting to a T4, why even make the 50 and 85 a 1.5?  Ah HA! but then again, its AWESOME having a 50mm and 85mm at a T1.5……  The problem being you can’t just switch from one lens to the other when youre lit for one.  It is frustrating.

The CP’s optically speaking are decent.  They all suffer from significant softness, and very strong chromatic aberration wide open, and depending on the lens, all the way down to a T5.6.  The biggest culprit of CA being the 50mm, 85mm, and 35mm lengths.   Notice the pink/magenta CA on the sequins on the shirt.  Shot with the 85mm @ T2.0.

100%

All of these lenses are soft wide open, including the 18mm.  Yea, the T3.9 18mm needs to be stopped down to be sharp.  This was extremely apparent on a EPIC shoot i did last week, with the CP’s.  Punching in for focus with the 25mm wide open, just never looked sharp in the focus assist until it was stopped down to a T5.6.  When edited, and output to 1080p for delivery, the softness is reduced, but had the shot been screened at 4k, it would have looked soft.  I shoot primarily on the F3 so the 1080p image looks ok if shooting wide open, but not as razor crisp as Master Primes or Ultra Primes in the Zeiss family.

These 1080p screen grabs are good examples of how when reduced to 1080, or captured at 1080, the images come back together rather well.

The 18mm in action:

The 50mm:

I am in the middle with regard to their flaring characteristics.  They don’t flare poorly, but they do flare a lot.  Similar to the early Zeiss Superspeeds in quantity, but not in quality.

The image milks up significantly, and there is a blue/aqua flare ghost.  This isn’t the flare ghost that comes from the OLPF, no, that’s green.  This is a bizarre aqua flare.  They all do it, and they all do it differently. Each lens has its own distinct flares.  Where as with S4’s, Ultras, Panchros etc… The flares looks somewhat similar in texture and scale, the CP’s are completely different in color, shape and quantity.  The 18mm flares if you look at it wrong.

That said, when CP’s are not flaring, and stopped down a stop or two they do exhibit phenomenal contrast.  Blacks are black, and whites don’t bloom in any way. They do milk out when wide open however.  Especially the 50mm and 85mm.  I am curious to see how the performance in the CP2 T2.1 50mm and 85mm compare.  This is what happens when you flag every light source off the lens, and stop down… look at those blacks… perfect.

This is a test shot with stand ins.

 A dancer.

Its almost too clean.

This is the life you have to live with Compact primes.  One extreme to the other…. fast Tstops, or slow Tstops… Soft and milky or crisp and contrasty…. They are so darn inconsistent.

That said, it can also be a blessing.  Shooting them wide open is like a built in promist, want it clean and sharp?  add a light and stop down to a T4, and you will have a super rich, contrasty, razor sharp image.  Want it Soft and ethereal? put in a scrim and open up.

Overall, i find that i am so spoiled by the Panchros and how consistent they are.  From T2.8 all the way to T16 its the same image.  The range of “look” you get with a set of CP’s is considerably different.  I can only describe the looks as neutral but slightly warm.  The longer focal lengths don’t distort, but the shorter ones do a bit.  Breathing is low, and the bokeh is absolutely gorgeous. There are somethign on the order of 14 iris blades to keep the bokeh perfectly round and buttery at all Tstops.  This is one area where the CP’s excel. They have “Canon L series” like bokeh. Smooth and clinical looking, but in a good way. This will make many in the DSLR crowd happy, because the bokeh they enjoyed on the Canon camera with Canon lenses, is attainable in PL on other platforms at an affordable price.

Over all in the end, i like the CP’s.   They have quirks, but i like quirks.  Perfect lenses would be boring.  If you want perfect, look into Master Primes.  I for one am perfectly happy living between my Cookes and the CP’s.

Till next time where i look into the Duclos 11-16 T3 Zoom!  Its so much fun its almost wrong….

-T
Dont forget to follow me on Twitter @timurcivan or @tstopcinema
www.tstopcinema.com

In this installment of the Examination of Lenses series,  we will be looking at a venerable lens.  The Cooke Super Cinevarotal MKI T3.1 25-250. (Special thanks to Mike Ross who provided the lens, and i promise i will review something other than a Cooke in the next article!) This was the lens used to shoot the original Superman film.  Being a product of the late 1970’s this lens certainly has the character and look of that period.  Zoom lenses from that era, the pre computer age, completely hand made, with all the flaws and perfection unique to a hand made product, have a distinct feeling to them.  Somewhat soft, with a dreamy dramatic look. The Angeniuex’s had it, the Cookes had it, and the Lomo’s certainly had it. This lens  is no exception.  Unlike contemporary zooms that perform consistently all the way through their range and apertures, (Angeniuex DP Rouges, Optimos, Allura Zoom, Fujinon Zooms etc)  This lens really needs to be kept a safe distance from its extremes.  Full wide, and full telephoto both cause the lens to act up, as well as wide open apertures.   The artifacts happen far more on the telephoto end of the lens, than it does on the wide, however in the video below, you will see that at 25mm it does display some softness in the corners.  The Cinevarotal seems to behave far better in terms of flare performance and sharpness when stopped down past a T5.6.

This shouldn’t be surprising, considering the lens is thirty years old.  I personally found the flaws, to be part of its charm.  If i’m shooting a period romance drama, i definitely would shoot on this lens, wide open even. The softness is so kind to the talents complexion, and the reduced contrast gives the sense of antiquity.  There are a few caveats to watch out for when shooting on a Cinevarotal, the lens has a lot of purple/green chromatic aberration on the long end of the lens.  Its pretty robust from 32mm-200mm @ T4+, but once you go wide open, or past 200mm it gets very “quirky”.  The last 2 clips on the the video, really demonstrates the performance difference between, wide open and stopped own.  The shot of the couple with the dog is wide open @ 250mm, and the shot of the monument is also 250mm, however @ T8.

Notice the couple shot is a dreamy soft romantic “optical disaster” by Arri Master Zoom standards.  The monument shot however is far more acceptable by todays standards.

Mechanically the lens i used was sound, and despite its age, it was well taken care of, and the focus and zoom mechanisms were practically brand new.  One interesting mechanical quirk is that the focus ring, has a small metal housing that covers part of the focus ring, and within it, is a mechanical dampener.  Essentially a small toothed wheel that has a friction element to it, that slows down and tightens the feel of the focus ring.  Very odd, but it gets the job done.   Now based on the photo above i’m assuming i don’t have to mention that the size of this lens is daunting.  It weighs in about 20 pounds, and is the size of a 3 liter pepsi bottle.  In studio setups, or narrative that requires no hand held, i’d not hesitate to shoot on this lens.

Some things to be aware of….

It will not cover RED EPICS 5k until you reach well into its Zoom range.  Even then, the 5k Frame is looking into the far edges of the image circle,  not a place lens manufacturers ever intended the film plane to be.  So use it with an Epic at your own peril.  On Red MX, F3, Alexa, AF100 and FS100 you should have no trouble whatsoever.

These test images from a RED training seminar show the vignetting corners of the Epic with the Cinevarotal. Stills Courtesy of Mike Ross.

50MM

75mm

250mm

In Conclusion, This lens has tons of feeling, character, and just enough “trouble” to keep things interesting.  Just what I look for in a piece of glass.  After all, nothing is more boring than absolute perfection….   There are contemporary zooms that are as sharp as primes, have zero breathing, don’t flare and weigh in at astonishingly low amounts.  However by eliminating all the “flaws” they also scrubbed out all the character.  This lens, just like its smaller brothers the Cooke Varotal 18-100 and Varotal 20-100, are character incarnate.

Next Time Zeiss Compact Primes.

Picking up where i left off with the Cooke Varotal 18-100 T3, i figured it was only fair to continue with the Cooke line.   The beauty of lenses in the digital age is that they are the last organic component in the image path.  We used to have the wonderful magic of photo chemical emulsion film, to conclude the path of the light rays, but in the future, the film production world for the most part will be all digital, and most likely RAW, meaning the capture is absolute and consistent.  No happy accidents in the chemical conversion of light to silver crystals.( or unhappy accidents for that matter…)  As we have seen from the Varotal, some vintage lenses impart a lot of character, while some of the newer high end lens manufacturers aspire to optical perfection.  This is fantastic because we can choose lenses specifically for their optical character.

Personally, i’m a Cooke guy. (In case you cant tell already…..)  Their warmth, contrast, and the smooth roll in and out of focus really makes warm and fuzzy inside.  Thankfully, these beautiful attributes translate to digital quite well.

Cooke iPanchro Prime lenses:

iPanchros are an interesting set of 6 lenses, 18mm 25mm 32mm 50mm 75mm and the 100mm.  They are for the most part a brand new line for Cooke.  Released in 2009, with the 18mm only added to the set this year, and a 135mm planned for next year.  In this case, new is good, VERY good.  They are designed from the ground up with an pedigree unlike any other, an inherent consideration for digital workflow and robust quality in mind.  iPanchros are tiny dynamos of optical power.  Not the fastest lenses in the world, the entire set is T2.8, but that compromise enabled some interesting by products.  Cooke prides itself on creating lenses that match ( as far as physics allows) as closely as possible.  The iPanchros are no exception.  Using a Panchro, is like using a S4 that opens up to a T2.8.  Literally.  Its the same aperture components from the S4 series, transplanted into the optical chain of the newer smaller lenses.  What this means is, that for half the price, you can have lenses that match S4’s optically in every way except a T2.0 aperture.  Sharpness, contrast, flare, bokeh, build quality* and color.  They match so closely, that my friend and fellow DP Ryan Patrick O’Hara, when comparing the iPachros to the S4’s, found that they matched so well that the differences were akin to the difference between different sets of S4’s…. not a completely different product line.  That says a lot when talking about the quality of the design, and the stance behind these lenses.  The choice of a T2.8 aperture enabled the engineers to focus on consistency and performance.  Far more important factors than speed when using cine caliber glass.

*( about build quality, you get the same exceptional S4 build quality and award winning focus design)

The image itself is warm, contrasty and sharp…. but with a certain…. intangible quality that just gives the sense of richness that defines the “Cooke Look”.  The lenses specifically have built in a subtle warming filter that is targeted at the skin tone ranges.  ( i swear the Cooke tech told me this in person)  ( Cooke look, is printed on the box the lenses come in…. awesome) This video is shot on Sony F3, with Cooke iPanchros and the Duclos 11-16mm Zoom.    Immediately below is the extended ungraded version to show off the natural look of the lenses.

Ungraded:

The Panchros are fantastic to work with.  As a DP, the T2.8 stop is no bother whatsoever.  I light to a T2.8 – T4 when shooting anyhow, as i feel an aperture wider than that looks somewhat awkward, and is difficult for many 1st AC’s to pull focus with.  The modern crop of digital cinema cameras all seem to run a base ISO of 800, and if you turn on practically any lamp on set you are hitting your exposure.

My AC’s love the lenses because the focus and aperture rings are smooth as butter, the witness marks are accurate to the inch, and the finish of the lenses just ooze quality.  My AC was so impressed with the feel of the lenses that he said he wished he could pull focus on them every day.  The reason for this glowing review is that the focus design is such that, unlike helicoil lenses, where the focus marks get closer and closer together as the lens nears infinity, the Cookes use a “eliptical” design, that makes the focus marks far more linear, and thus pulling focus is far easier and more accurate. ( i don’t really understand the focus design, all i know is that my AC’s love them…)

Strengths and flaws:
This is some lowlight testing footage which shows a few interesting things….

These scenes were shot with the Sony F3 at max ISO, in river side park w/ sodium vapor lamps.  (The black and white testing is for a film i’m shooting this week, and i need to see how the color image translates to black and white.)

Aperture/bokeh:
This was for the most part shot completely wide open.   This is the cool thing about Panchros, they are designed from the ground up to be shot wide open.  Where as most lenses need to be stopped down for peak performance, understanding the T2.8 aperture is a working stop the engineers designed the lens to perform identically to a S4 stopped down to a T2.8.  The only difference being that there is a small round matte behind the iris giving you the option of round bokeh wide open, as seen in this video below, or if you so choose the classic Cooke “flower” bokeh.  Technically the Panchros seem to open up past T2.8, but the round matte gives you an option for round bokeh or not, while maintaining a T2.8 aperture.  As you see below, the distinctive Cooke bokeh in effect.

Flare:

The Panchros do flare a tiny bit, but not nearly as bad as Super Speeds or the Cooke Varotal ( mind you “bad” is purely subjective, in a rock music video situation, huge flares are eagerly welcomed… in a narrative film, not so much.) you can see some flares from the street lamps, and car headlights.  I feel however that shooting at such a high ISO was more the culprit.    I’ve been using the cookes for several weeks now, and i have distinctly noticed that they are pretty much flare free.

Color:

Color rendition is a bit warm, but freakishly consistent within the set, and matches the color tone of the 18-100 very closely.  They look, better than real life in that everything has a “glow” to it…..  If you need absolute optical precision that represents the real world exactly….. Master primes or Ultra primes are a better choice, but if you need beauty or drama.  This is the place to be.

So in wrapping up, this look at the Cooke Panchros, a few things come to mind.  They are small, light, built to last, and perform like a lens three times the price.  However, the Panchros do something that the S4’s can’t, which is important in the upcoming future.  The whole Panchro set covers RED S35 5K.  From the 100mm all the way down to the 18mm, they offer full coverage up to 33.1mm.  Also, while we are on the subject of digital cine cameras, the “i” in iPanchro…. thats the idata protocol.   Its a way for the digital camera to record in the meta data, what focal length, focus distance, and aperture setting the lens is set to.  this is mission critical when doing digital composite work, where the 3D effects artist has to account for the lens information when creating the effects.  Instead of relying on script notes, he can just read the metadata.  The iData can also be used in the 3D steroscopic world, to help sync 3D rigged cameras together.  The tight standards that cooke builds their lenses to with regard to color, contrast and sharpness, means they are an excellent choice for 3D film productions.

Ever since i got these lenses i have felt like i won the lottery.  Every time they come up on the camera, and i look at the monitor, i go to heaven just a little bit, and hopefully continue to do so for many more years to come.

Feel free to comment, follow me on Twitter or visit my website, www.timurcivan.com

Next up…. Duclos 11-16mm T2.8…..
“It goes to 11….”

-T

The influx of the 35mm sensor cameras over the last few years has created a vacuum in the cinema lens world.   Used lens prices are sky rocketing from the demand, and many manufacturers are scrambling to get high quality, “cine” style lenses to market at a price point low enough that ownership becomes an option.

In this post i’m going to examine every PL lens i can get my hands on.  I am not going to be putting lenses on MTF projectors, nor will i shoot test charts.  Practically every modern lens manufacturer can produce lenses that far exceed the optical resolution that the sensor on any digital cinema camera can capture.  I know they are sharp.  Instead i am going to focus on the visceral.  What does it look like, more importantly, what does the lens feel like.  Story telling visually, requires emotion in the image.  The state of the camera market being as it is, the cameras impart less on the image by way of character.  The real deciding factors in creating the look optically is the Lens, the filters, and the lighting.  I am a HUGE believer in getting the look in camera.  Taking chances, and knowing what you want on set.  I challenge the directors of the world to make the choice to shoot with a blue filter and ancient Lomo’s, instead of adding blue an a vignette in post!!!

Check back as I will update this post as often as i get to test the lenses.

First up:

The Cooke Varotal 18-100 T3 Zoom.

A legendary lens.  Roger Deakins himself said its his favorite Zoom. ( if you know me, you know i worship the ground he walks on)   I can see why.  Its organic, sharp but handles the image with out feeling harsh,  solidly built, ergonomic, and has…. character.   First off it is so forgiving to portrait shots because of its Sharp/softness.  The skin texture and detail is there, but not overwhelming.  Speaking with the Cooke lens tech who checked out my lens, he said Cooke designs the lenses to naturally emphasize skin tones.  Its like a built in warming filter that only effects certain wavelengths of light.  (very subtly of course) That added with its lovely deep contrast, and you have the recipe for “The Cooke Look”.  It has the distinctive Cooke Iris.  Most Cooke lenses have Iris blades that create a bokeh pattern that resembles a flower or sunburst.  See the video below.  It has carried through to the S4’s S5’s and Lastly the iPanchros.    Its sort of a signature in every shot, ” This was shot on Cooke glass”.   I think it looks great.

The focus roll off from the points that are sharp, to the out of focus bokeh is quite smooth and gradual.  Take note of the focus in the shots of the street in the Second video, “testing the filters”.  there is no point with absolute perfect focus.  Focus rolls in, and out with a nice smooth transition.

The lens is heavy around 13 pounds, and made of high grade aluminum, and most likely brass in the internals.  The lens comes with a tapped hole in the focus, and zoom rings for a snap zoom lever, pictured above.  The focus rotation is more than 270 degrees, making focus pulling easy and accurate.  The Varotal also has a close focus of 26″ from the Focal plane.  Taking into consideration that the Varotal has a length of 13″, this means you can focus, 13″ from the front optic @ 100mm.  This is a 12 degree field of view, almost rendering the lens a “macro”.  This is a screen shot @ 100mm T3 at i believe 3 feet.  The lens can get even tighter.

One of its coolest features is the internal Filter system.  A small trap door opens up, and a device that looks like a threaded monacle pops out.  You screw in special 30mm filters, and voila`!   Filters that will never flare from the sun, freeing up precious matte box filter trays, and only weigh a few grams.

This video is an example of some of the effects the filters have on the image.

The Varotal opens up to T3.0, a bit faster than its older predecessor the Cooke 20-100 T3.1.  In the 1980’s when this lens was first made, most film stocks sat in the ISO250 range for tungsten.  A T3 aperture was considered pretty fast for a zoom.  Especially one with the range of an entire standard prime lens kit.  In todays shooting environment, with camera sensitivities, and image quality reaching unheard of levels of performance, a T3 aperture is not only adequate, but hardly feels like a hindrance in any way shape or form.  I use a Sony F3, REDmx, and hopefully soon will have the pleasure of working on Epic, and Alexa. All of these cameras have standing ISO800 base sensitivity, and the some of these cameras, the Epic, Alexa and Especially the F3 hardly lose image quality when gained up.  The test below is shot on a F3 @6400.  Mind you i was in Cine gamma mode, and the overall image is darker and lower in contrast, I also was testing the Sepia 2 internal filter wich absorbs 1.5 stops of light.  Had i shot in Rec 709, and no filter i most likely would have been over exposing the shots by about a half stop.  The room with the model sitting was lit by one 40w bulb, the TV and a laptop.  All the filters mentioned above were in play.

Under controlled lighting conditions the Varotal did its very best.  The image is sharp, and color; especially skin tone rendition is perfect.  Shot on F3 w/ 1x 250w softbox, and a 150w pepper hair light.

Here is a grab of the “before”: to show what the raw footae looks like when using a “soft Con” filter to help emphasize the dynamic range, and give me a better “negative” to pull of the composite above.

Thats all i can think of for now.  I will be updating this Lens series with the Cooke iPanchro set, Zeiss CP1 set, and the Duclos 11-16mm PL lens very soon!

-T