Schneider Cine Xenar's II

Clayton Burkhart · November 23, 2012

I have an opportunity to pick up a clean set of these 5 lenses for $12.8K for use with my Sony PMW F3.

I know they are external focusing and even the focus ring moves forward, as well as being big beasts.

Great bokeh and no breathing that I can see.

But the price seems very interesting. Any other opinions ?

Trying to see if it would be wiser to go with either Duclos Zeiss ZF.2's or Compact Primes instead, as I own a Canon 5D Mark III and often have shoots where we are mixing RED, my Sony PMW F3 and DSLR's.

One thing purchasing would mean, would be to find a more solid follow focus and a matte box with a large enough rear opening.

Chrosziel provides a package for dealing with the barreling issue:

http://www.chrosziel...&wpid=115&sid=0

However, the matte box is reported to be cheap and easy to crack and I am wondering about that follow focus compared to O'Connor and ARRI, being that it starts to fall into the same price range.

I still shoot a lot of DSLR though too, so I have been looking at the O'Connor DM with both photo and Cine wheels, but ARRI remains the standard as usual.

I really need/like the idea of different transmission ratios depending on whether I am using photo or cine lenses. Any other contenders out there for mixed gear / transmission ratios at a less expensive price point?

Edited November 23, 2012 by Clayton Burkhart

Stephen Williams · November 23, 2012

That price seems good, there have been several redesigns, which is probably why they are so good value. Ask Duclos to look at the lenses & see what he says!