Best ZOOM Lenses for Cinema

[Mark Kenfield]

Phil is correct.. I remember working in the UK film industry.. we would chew on pebbles for lunch.. and clean gear with our tongues.. and be regularly thrashed with Birch for the smallest misdemeanor .. or was that school..? toughen up you cup cakes in the US.. with your gleaming C stands,and honey wagons..

 

Luxury!

 

When I was a lad, we had to get up at half past nine at night, twelve hours before call. Push the dolly fifteen miles on to set (only it weren't so much a 'dolly' as a wheelie bin with the camera gaffer taped to it). Eat half a packet of gravel for lunch. And our 'C-stands' were merely the poor boys in electrics standing on top of each others shoulders (two to four men high) holding the lights by hand!

[Robin R Probyn]

eh... you soft lad.. we would have to wake up 30 minutes before we went to bed.. and be murdered in cold blood by the DOP everyday .. that were film making before these Southern jesses took over..

[Mark Kenfield]

eh... you soft lad.. we would have to wake up 30 minutes before we went to bed.. and be murdered in cold blood by the DOP everyday .. that were film making before these Southern jesses took over..

 

But tell that to the kids these days, and they won't believe you..

[Phil Rhodes]

[Mark Dunn]

. Even productions from London that I've worked on seem totally normal.

 

 

Of course if they can afford US location shooting they're not no-budget anymore.

[Alex Stone]

Whilst this thread has taken an amusing tangent, Robbie you seem to be in luck.

 

Canon have announced a mid-range priced zoom that fills exactly this gap in the market. 18-80 T4.4 for £4700.

 

And as for Contax zooms, they're absolutely excellent. My 80-200 f/4 outclasses my whole set of Contax primes. Sharpest tool in the box, the only one with completely accurate witness marks and is even parfocal! All that for £150 plus a Letiax adapter (~£70).

 

I've heard the 35-70 f/3.4 is also superb, though I haven't used one myself.

 

And I agree with your sentiments Phil; we're expected to work for pittance here in the UK!

[Robbie Fatt]

Does anyone know much about the Cooke 20-100 T3.1.

 

It's on sale on eBay here: http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291806912031?ul_noapp=true

[Dom Jaeger]

It's llovely, like most Cooke zooms, although getting a bit old now. Must have been used in so many movies in the 70s and 80s, before the 18-100 came along. But the rental house I work for still rents one out occasionally. So still very useable.

 

It was probably the first "modern" zoom, with minimal breathing, good close focus, enclosed optics that didn't trombone, and an image that could match contemporary primes. Quite durable too, many are still in very good condition. But it's also fairly large and heavy.

 

If that one for sale is in decent condition that's probably not a bad price. Make sure to ask lots of questions about the condition if you're tempted.

[David Hessel]

I own a Cooke 20-100mm, beautiful lens if you can handle the size. It is pretty much what you are looking for but it is definately not a run and gun lens.

[David Mullen ASC]

I shot an entire season of "Big Love" mainly on that lens. It slightly portholes / falls off in the corners in Super-35, I actually kind of liked the effect. It's a good lens, just not as sharp and contrasty as a modern Angenieux, but the range is perfect for 80% of most set-ups, you could shoot a whole movie on that one lens.

 

You can see the fall-off in the corners faintly in this frame, for example:

[Phil Rhodes]

I don't want to ask the wrong question, but I have to ask: is that the "hot backlight so it looks like we're really outside" trick?

[Jay Young]

Isn't that Cooke 5:1 the same Kubrick used on Barry Lyndon for the big zooms? It had just come out at that time, if I'm not mistaken.

[David Mullen ASC]

I don't want to ask the wrong question, but I have to ask: is that the "hot backlight so it looks like we're really outside" trick?

 

 

Yes, all the backyard scenes were shot on a soundstage.

[Satsuki Murashige]

Isn't that Cooke 5:1 the same Kubrick used on Barry Lyndon for the big zooms? It had just come out at that time, if I'm not mistaken.

That was the Angenieux 12-240 with a doubler to cover Academy 35.

[Robbie Fatt]

Hmm... thanks for all the information guys.

I intend on pairing this lens with my Ursa Mini 4.6k EF, so i'm hoping that there is a compatible EF to PL adapter out there. Hopefully the overall "sharpness" of the camera will be evened out with this softer lens.

So it really is very heavy and difficult to move around is it?

[David Hessel]

14 inches long, 144mm front and 5 kilos. It is a zoom so adapting to pl might be possible.

[David Hessel]

Sorry adapting to EF might be possible.

[David Hessel]

Actually it has a changeable mount too.

[Dom Jaeger]

Older Cooke and Angenieux zooms used something called a Universal mount, an intermediate mounting system that allowed different camera mounts, doublers or anamorphic backs to be easily swapped over.

 

Duclos sell a Universal to EF mount that would fit a Cooke 20-100:

https://www.ducloslenses.com/products/universal-canon-ef-mount

[Dom Jaeger]

Isn't that Cooke 5:1 the same Kubrick used on Barry Lyndon for the big zooms? It had just come out at that time, if I'm not mistaken.

 

Kubrick owned a Cooke 20-100, it was part of the travelling Kubrick exhibition. I'm not sure when he bought it, but it was used in some of his later films, right up to "Eyes Wide Shut".

[Phil Rhodes]

I'd be interested to see if some of the smaller 16mm zooms will cover the Ursa 4.6 in crop mode.

 

P