S16 lens advice

[Will J. Lokken]

I've recently purchased my first S16 camera (Aaton XTR Prod) and I'm looking to make an investment in a zoom lens I can use for allround purposes and no-budget projects that I can still use on productions where we have the budget to rent e.g. Ultra16s, Super Speeds, S4s/SK4s -

Hoping someone in here can give me some advice on the topic.

I'm interested in a zoom that has the following properties:

• PL Mount
• Close focus of 0.75m or closer
• Has at least 12-30mm range
• Preferably ~T2.8 or faster
• Covers S16 fully

 

For these requirements I've narrowed my options down to either:

• Angenieux HR 11.5-138 T2.3
• Angenieux HR 7-81 T2.4
• Cooke 10.4-52mm T2.8 (CVK)
• Cooke 10.8-60 T3* (CVK)
• Cooke 10-30 T1.6 (CVP)
• Cooke 9.5-53 T1.6 (CVT)
• Cooke 10.6-52 T1.65 (CVT)

I didn't include the Canon Zooms as I don't feel like they give me the look I am going for. I also didn't include Zeiss Vario Sonnars in the list because their close focus is too far. But they may be workable with a diopter. I'm afraid of losing sharpness however. Any thoughts?

Any other lenses that I might have missed in my research are much appreciated.

Do you have any advice on these lenses. And which do you prefer?

 

[Robin Phillips]

I'd argue that the canons with filtration can be pretty darn versatile, and given how (relatively) common they are you may want to consider one of the late model ones. I know the catch with some of the Angies is once you get midway through the zoom range the maximum open t stop changes

 

while this wouldnt really count as a budget lens, I use a zeiss LWZ.2 15.5-45 T2.6 on my SR3Adv and get great results. For whatever reason its kinda the forgotten zeiss cinema lens despite its insane sharpness and match to U16s/Ultraprimes. Every now and then these can be had for under 10k

[Will J. Lokken]

Thanks for your feedback Robin,

I hadn't considered the LWZ, but it looks like a nice lens for S16 too!

But damn, I love the 11mm-14mm range too much to let that go