different lenses and their characteristics

[andy patch]

I know this has been brought up here and there in these forums, as I have seen bits and pieces in regards to different lens series and their traits.

My question is this: where can one find a comprehensive breakdown of the characteristics of some of the more commonly used lenses (Cooke S4's, Zeiss Super Speeds, Master Primes, Ultra Primes, Digi Primes, etc.) Such things as find sharpness, blade number ( and how this effects the circles of confusion,) and color characteristics is something I would love to see all together in one place. If this has already been gone through on this forum, please let me know as well.

[Chris Keth]

This has been discusses many, many times on this forum. A few searches and some reading should get you what you need. If you want tech info, I believe arri and cooke publish the MTF curves and resolution test results.

[Naje Lataillade]

This has been discusses many, many times on this forum. A few searches and some reading should get you what you need. If you want tech info, I believe arri and cooke publish the MTF curves and resolution test results.

 

 

I've spent the past 2 hours searching on this forum and haven't found a comprehensive breakdown yet. Only bits and pieces. If anyone has a link to that discussion it would be greatly appreciated. Or even if there's a book someone could recommend. It would be nice to have that information consolidated somehow.

 

Thanks,

Naje

[Tim Terner]

I copied this from a post a while back (posted by Max Jacoby), hope it helps

 

"Angénieux Optimo zooms only have 6 straight iris blades (you can see that very well in American Gangster, which is a mix of Optimos and Cooke S4s and it very easy to tell which is shot on what).

 

 

 

Zeiss Superspeeds have 7 iris blades (except for the MK1s, the very first version, which only had 3, giving it the ugliest bokeh ever)

 

 

 

Cooke S4s,have 8 blades which are bend inwards.

 

 

 

Zeiss Master Primes have 9 curved blades, so that even when stopped down, the highlights still look quite round.

 

 

 

 

Zeiss Ultra Primes have 9 or more straight blades (the longer lenses have more I'm told, but I haven't checked yet which lenses exactly)

 

 

 

 

Primos have 11 bent iris blades. They have a similar shape to the Cookes, but because there are more, it is less annoying. I think there might be some wider Primos that have 10 blades, but once again I haven't checked it yet.

 

 

 

Zeiss Standards have 6 iris blades

 

 

 

Most modern films are shot on either Cooke S4s, Primos or Zeiss lenses. Since the bokeh of Primos and S4s is very distinctive, one can usually conclude that if it is absent, a Zeiss lens was used"