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Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2


steve hyde

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I am very interested to learn more about the Zeiss CP.2 lenses as they become available. Is anyone using them yet? What are your impressions? I am considering buying a set for use on both HDSLR and S16.

 

Thanks in advance for joining the discussion.

 

 

 

 

Zeiss CP.2 Website

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We have them for sale and rent and clients have been very satisfied. Some prefer them to the Ultra Primes, and those Zeiss lenses are more than three times the price.

 

Just out of curiosity, would those clients be mainly shooting digital?

 

Ultra Primes are very sharp and somewhat cool, which tends to highlight the deficiencies (or to be less judgmental, the non-filmlike look) of sensor capture. Often lesser quality glass actually looks better on digital cameras because it 'takes the edge off'.

 

Not criticising the CP.2s at all, I don't think Zeiss could make a bad product if they tried. But there is a reason they are a third the price of Ultra Primes.

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The compact primes are based on the ZF photo lenses. The glass is the same but the gear is not. The whole lens is not a (german) Zeiss manufacture. They're based on their design but are made by a japanese company called Cosina. In comparison to the older Zeiss T2 these will cover full frame DSLRs and larger sensors which may be useful for versatility. Whether or not you might pay double just for the housing and maybe a PL mount is a question i might not be able to judge...

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The housing and interchangeable lens mounts is a major selling point for me since I want to be able to switch from film to digital as needed. Some of the lenses are quite slow [T 3], but perhaps that is less of an issue with the digital sensors and new Vison 3 emulsions. Another selling point is that each lens has the same size front so less fooling around with different sized filters when the matte box is off the unit.

 

Mitch, I'll be in touch. I'm curious to know if you can get me a good price on a set. I would buy them mail order from New York to save on taxes.

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Just out of curiosity, would those clients be mainly shooting digital?

Film and digital.

 

We have clients who have put them on 35mm, Super-16, HDSLR, Phantom, RED One and 2/3" video with a Pro-35. They have a slightly different look than the Ultra primes and some clients prefer this look. The Ultra Primes are great lenses and I certainly don't wish to demean them. This is about options and personal preferences.

 

There is a great deal of difference between the stills lenses such as the ZFs and the CP.2s. The individual optical elements are hand-picked for best performance and color matching. The iris has fourteen blades instead of nine for a rounder aperture, which makes for a more pleasing bokeh (out of focus imaging characteristics). A far more robust construction means less focus shift and image shift due to mechanical imprecision (on a looser stills lens the image can be effected from pressure on the focus ring axially as opposed to adjusting rotationally). The larger diameter barrel means more focus reference marks at far greater precision.

 

Steve, feel free to email me directly (mitch-at-abelcine-dot-com).

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  • 1 month later...
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These lenses behave extremely well wide open. Here's a link to a short movie we produced for Zeiss shooting with the Compact Primes. The two-part interview with DP John Inwood is full of great info on the lenses.

 

http://blog.abelcine.com/2010/04/12/testing-zeiss-compact-primes-on-the-bicycle/

 

 

Mitch:

 

Thanks for the link! I watched all three of them. Very informative

 

A project just landed on my palette and it might be a good time to use these lenses.

 

I'll be in touch. again thanks!

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I've used these lenses on 2 different projects in the last 2 weeks and love them. So much that I've placed an order for a 4 lens set with AbleCineTech! Can't wait for them to get in- I hope they arrive before my next gig at the end of the month so I don't have to rent again.

 

But, I do think they're great, and a marked improvement over SLR lenses in about every sense.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'm definitely happy with my set- the bokeh is very pleasing and the housing performs great with focusing. It's also very convenient to add a multiple cameras when shooting with DLSRs since they're everywhere, whereas I'd otherwise be limited with bodies if I went with a modified DSLR body. If anyone wants to shoot a test card in Los Angeles, I'm always happy to give them a demo.

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