PS Technic Lenses - Warning!

Michael LaVoie · April 9, 2008

I just wanted to share an unfortunate experience I had with PS Technik's Digital 35 lenses. ZGC

I bought them and tried desperately to make them work but the barrel was so stiff you couldn't pull focus without shaking the whole camera. I returned them the day they came in. Even ZGC's repair tech said it was a problem they knew about but that they can't adjust it because the breathing would become worse if they loosened it up. So, to anyone with a camera and adaptor, I'd avoid this set as they have a bunch of problems with them. They use the same block as the ZF still lenses so they still pull in the wrong direction only they have the added problem of needing one and a half turns to pull so it's really awkward. I'm not sure what PS technik engineers were smoking when they housed these things but they obviously didn't consult any DP's or 1st A.C.'s on the R&D. What a huge waste of time. When is someone out there going to make a set of primes for adaptors that make sense!? I mean a lens that pulls correctly with witness marks, gears, uniform front sizes and a sliding aperture. Is that too much to ask? The market is HUGE! Someone out there would make a mint off this if they'd just step up. I know they won't be cheap but they should at least be under 10K for the set. These were $12K and they were godawful! Maybe I'm asking for the impossible here.

Stephen Williams · April 9, 2008

Hi,

The ones I tried were fine, what do you expect for 2200 euro a lens, Cooke S4's?

Stephen

I just wanted to share an unfortunate experience I had with PS Technik's Digital 35 lenses. ZGC
I bought them and tried desperately to make them work but the barrel was so stiff you couldn't pull focus without shaking the whole camera. I returned them the day they came in. Even ZGC's repair tech said it was a problem they knew about but that they can't adjust it because the breathing would become worse if they loosened it up. So, to anyone with a camera and adaptor, I'd avoid this set as they have a bunch of problems with them. They use the same block as the ZF still lenses so they still pull in the wrong direction only they have the added problem of needing one and a half turns to pull so it's really awkward. I'm not sure what PS technik engineers were smoking when they housed these things but they obviously didn't consult any DP's or 1st A.C.'s on the R&D. What a huge waste of time. When is someone out there going to make a set of primes for adaptors that make sense!? I mean a lens that pulls correctly with witness marks, gears, uniform front sizes and a sliding aperture. Is that too much to ask? The market is HUGE! Someone out there would make a mint off this if they'd just step up. I know they won't be cheap but they should at least be under 10K for the set. These were $12K and they were godawful! Maybe I'm asking for the impossible here.

Robert Houllahan · April 10, 2008

I know they won't be cheap but they should at least be under 10K for the set. These were $12K and they were godawful! Maybe I'm asking for the impossible here.

$12K per lens is cheap.....

-Rob-

Michael LaVoie · April 10, 2008

My main complaint with the lenses is that they were targeting a specific market. That of the Mini-HD-adaptor realm. This market is different from the Viper/D20/Red world where you might slap a 20K prime lens on the front of the package. You don't do that often with a HVX200 or a Z1U. Most of the time HVX200 users are making do with crappy Nikon and minolta still lenses and that's what this set was meant to replace. However good their intentions might have been, they failed on almost every level. I'm happy to hear there was a set out there that's working for someone but I was told by the reps at ZGC that they all have the problems I found with my set so I didn't bother trying a different set, I just returned them. My expectations for a $2700 lens were simple. I wanted something that would operate at a higher level than that of a $100 nikon still and I didn't really get that. I got something worse. So while I wasn't expecting a Cooke S4, I guess it would pretty much have to function similarly for the lens to be considered a successful design wouldn't it? The principles are the same. I don't expect the glass to be identical but at least the housing should work well.

Sam Wells · April 10, 2008

Are you (they - ZGC) talking about breathing in a focus pull or about some kind of creeping in a fixed focus position ?

I'm puzzled by what you quote.

-Sam

Allen Achterberg · April 10, 2008

Are you (they - ZGC) talking about breathing in a focus pull or about some kind of creeping in a fixed focus position ?

I'm puzzled by what you quote.

-Sam

I am also puzzled. It must mean a drifting focus (which I also sort of doubt)

Michael LaVoie · April 11, 2008

The folks at ZGC were saying that the breathing during a pull would go from bad to worse. They admit that even with the lens barrel in a practically frozen stiff condition the breathing was bad but if they loosened it enough so you could pull it easier, the breathing would increase. Apparently it's the same lens block that's inside the zeiss ZF still lenses which is also why they pull focus in the opposite direction. The only thing "cine" about these lenses is their appearance.