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16mm lens comparisons


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Hi everybody,

 

I'm new to this forum and I'm a film student from Australia. I'm learning a lot about shooting in 16mm but we only look at a single camera and one type of lens.

We've got a music clip to shoot for an assignment and we're using an Arri SR2 and a Zeiss B-Mount 10-100mm F3. I've used this lens in a previous assignment but I don't like the way it seems to 'zoom' in and out slightly as you focus. I want to try to hire another lens, but there's so many other brands, I wouldn't know how to compare with the Zeiss! I've seen Cooke, Schneider and Angenieux.. can someone please give some insight to how each brand tends to compare?

 

Thanks :)

Jesse

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Those sound rather more like Canons than Cookes.

 

There's a good reason for that. It's because they are Canons and not Cooks.:blink: OK, let me start over. For 16, I prefer the Canons over the Zeiss. Thank you.

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Hi Jesse,

 

what you noticed with the Zeiss zoom is called breathing, where the angle of view changes slightly as the focus is racked. It's something a lot of people don't like about that lens. It's a common problem with some older zooms, anamorphics and certain primes, as well as many still photography lenses.

 

The difference in look between various high-end lens manufacturers like the ones you mention is often subtle. Zeiss lenses for example tend to produce an image that people describe as cool or clinical, while Cookes are warmer or creamier. It's mainly slight variations in colour rendition and contrast, and the way focus drops off and creates the out of focus areas, which is a function of the way aberrations are corrected in the design and the shape of the iris. Within a particular brand there will be a continuity in the design, source of glass for the elements and coating formulas that will give them a certain "look", but different lenses made by the same company (particularly over many years of production) can be substantially different. Also with older lenses the condition is paramount.

 

For 16mm Bayonet mount zoom alternatives to the Zeiss you're probably looking at Angenieux, Cooke or Canon. I tend to prefer Cookes, particularly the 10-30 and 9-50 (or 10.4-52), but the Canons (some listed by Tom above) are also excellent. Angenieux now make the finest zooms in the world, but I find too much variation in the quality of their old 16mm zooms to recommend any in particular. They were probably the premier news gathering lens maker of the day though.

 

You might also want to try using a set of primes, which will generally give you a better image than a zoom.

 

A lot of this is subjective, in the end you need to test them yourself and see what works for you and the project at hand.

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Thanks guys, I appreciate your replies :) Just wondering now though, would you happen to know how image quality compares with a Zeiss zoom and a similar Canon zoom? I hear things about different lenses breathing differently and some with slight colour biases.

 

The Canons (and Cookes) breathe less than the Zeiss.

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