switar preset lenses...what does everybody think?

July 15, 2006

i have a preset switar and im interested in getting feedback on the set.

i understand that all of the presets cover super16 from the 10mm up to the 75mm, including the 10mm with the aspherson. is this true? if not what lenses cover super16 and what lenses don't?

assuming that they do cover super16, are they sharp from centre to the edges or do they soften up?

otherwise what do you all think of theimage quality they put down?

BANNED Patrick Tong · July 15, 2006

i have a preset switar and im interested in getting feedback on the set.

i understand that all of the presets cover super16 from the 10mm up to the 75mm, including the 10mm with the aspherson. is this true? if not what lenses cover super16 and what lenses don't?

assuming that they do cover super16, are they sharp from centre to the edges or do they soften up?

otherwise what do you all think of theimage quality they put down?

Hi

10mm Preset lens with the 5.5 aspherson lens is not cover super16

Patrick

July 18, 2006

Hi

10mm Preset lens with the 5.5 aspherson lens is not cover super16

Patrick

thanks for that. does the 10mm cover super16? how about the 50mm and the 75mm?

Rachel Oliver · July 18, 2006

thanks for that. does the 10mm cover super16? how about the 50mm and the 75mm?

Hi;

I have Switar pre-sets in 10mm, 26mm, 50mm and 75mm which I use for super16, no aspheron though. The 26mm, 50mm and 75mm cover perfectly and are very sharp, the 10mm just about covers with a little corner darkening that falls out side most overscans, it is very sharp in the centre but softens up towards the edges but is certainly very usable.

Olly

Rachel Oliver · July 18, 2006

thanks for that. does the 10mm cover super16? how about the 50mm and the 75mm?

Hi;

I have Switar pre-sets in 10mm, 26mm, 50mm and 75mm which I use for super16, no aspheron though. The 26mm, 50mm and 75mm cover perfectly and are very sharp, the 10mm just about covers with a little corner darkening that falls out side most overscans, it is very sharp in the centre but softens up towards the edges but is certainly very usable.

Olly

July 18, 2006

Hi;

I have Switar pre-sets in 10mm, 26mm, 50mm and 75mm which I use for super16, no aspheron though. The 26mm, 50mm and 75mm cover perfectly and are very sharp, the 10mm just about covers with a little corner darkening that falls out side most overscans, it is very sharp in the centre but softens up towards the edges but is certainly very usable.

Olly

with any luck my third post will come through.

rachel, thanks for the reply. mabye you could just answer a few questions to clarify.

so all of the presets are sharp from th centre to the outer edges of the image?

are your lenses multicoated?

when you crop the 10mm to remove vignetting, does it turn into an image with a focal length of about 12mm?

my next crazy project is to get a price quote on an adaptor lens. since the switar lenses are designed to go through aglass prism block they apparently dont work as well on other not beam splitter cameras...especially if wide open. ill see if i can get a glass block with the same sort of optical characteristics as the bolex glass prism minus the beam-splitting aspect. having this in a tube between the lens and camera should correct abberations. am i nuts?

July 18, 2006

Yes, you're nuts. The pre-set Switars are excellent lenses, but there's no point in buying lenses specially corrected for the beam splitting prism and then trying to "de-correct" them for another camera, especially when there are so many excellent lenses, such as those by Zeiss, which do not require any special optical compensation (IMHO).

Rachel Oliver · July 18, 2006

with any luck my third post will come through.

rachel, thanks for the reply. mabye you could just answer a few questions to clarify.

so all of the presets are sharp from th centre to the outer edges of the image?

are your lenses multicoated?

when you crop the 10mm to remove vignetting, does it turn into an image with a focal length of about 12mm?

my next crazy project is to get a price quote on an adaptor lens. since the switar lenses are designed to go through aglass prism block they apparently dont work as well on other not beam splitter cameras...especially if wide open. ill see if i can get a glass block with the same sort of optical characteristics as the bolex glass prism minus the beam-splitting aspect. having this in a tube between the lens and camera should correct abberations. am i nuts?

Hi;

Well I never did any scientific tests but they seem sharp from edge to edge apart from the 10mm, my 75mm is the all black MC version, the others are the silver/black generation before but all seem very consistent with each other. I don't bother cropping the 10mm in telecine as most viewing systems crop out the corners anyway. Hope that helps.

Olly

July 19, 2006

Yes, you're nuts. The pre-set Switars are excellent lenses, but there's no point in buying lenses specially corrected for the beam splitting prism and then trying to "de-correct" them for another camera, especially when there are so many excellent lenses, such as those by Zeiss, which do not require any special optical compensation (IMHO).

well, officially id be correcting, not decorrecting! but, to get one correction adaptor that can be used amoungst all of the lenses is much more economical than buying a set of zeiss lenses.im looking into getting a set but im exploring all possabilites. its nicer to have less crap to own and deal with to.