Dave Plake Posted May 9, 2007 Share Posted May 9, 2007 Ok, so I'm sure it's been talked about before...must have been, but I can't seem to find it in the archives.... Which is "Better" or what peoples opinions on... cooke s4 primes versus Zeiss Ultra Primes I'm about to shoot a short and am trying to choose between the two. Any thoughts on the look of each of these? Thanks! D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted May 9, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted May 9, 2007 Both are considered great lenses. My impression, not actually having shot with either of them, is that the Zeiss lenses are snappier, more contrasty, than the Cooke lenses, which some feel are more flattering to faces, being less crisp. But they are both great, sharp lenses. If you had a choice, it would depend on the subject matter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Max Jacoby Posted May 9, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted May 9, 2007 Maybe you didn't use the search funtion at its full capacity, because we have spoken about this subject several times already. In addition to what David said, these differences will be more obvious the wider open the lens is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Chris Keth Posted May 9, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted May 9, 2007 They're both very fine sets of lenses. It's depends heavily on the script which I prefer on any given day. I will say that cooke's optics appeal to me in the way they render closeups more than zeiss lenses do. One thing you might look at is the out of focus areas of some things shot with each line. The bokeh of the S4s seems to be a polarizing factor, either people love the painterly rendering or they think it looks sloppy and messy. Am I thinking correctly when I remember Spiderman 3 and say that it was shot with S4s? I seem to remembering thinking about it at some point in the movie when I noticed the signature concave-sided-octagon shape of out of focus distant lights. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member David Mullen ASC Posted May 9, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted May 9, 2007 Am I thinking correctly when I remember Spiderman 3 and say that it was shot with S4s? It was mostly shot on Panaflex cameras with Primo lenses. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Chris Keth Posted May 10, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted May 10, 2007 It was mostly shot on Panaflex cameras with Primo lenses. Wow, my guess was way off. So are the out of focus artifacts of primos a similar shape to that of S4s or do I just not quite know what I'm looking for? I have never shot with either line of lenses and am just relying on description and screenshots. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Max Jacoby Posted May 10, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted May 10, 2007 The Primos also have this concave shaped bokeh, but they have more iris blades than the Cookes. At least 11, so it is less obvious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Chris Keth Posted May 10, 2007 Premium Member Share Posted May 10, 2007 The Primos also have this concave shaped bokeh, but they have more iris blades than the Cookes. At least 11, so it is less obvious. OK, so I'm not entirely nuts, just inexperienced. So do the concave-sides get more curved the further you stop down from diffrection? I've noticed from shooting long exposure stills that I get more of a star for bokeh rather than circles the more I stop down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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