Vince Sweeney Posted December 27, 2018 Share Posted December 27, 2018 (edited) I'm researching wide primes below 24mm for the least amount of distortion and wondered if anyone is aware of any tests that have been done that may help speed up the process of targeting lenses for further testing. Due to budget issues all the wide primes available can't simply be rented and this is why I'm asking. Top tier DP interviews I've found talk up the below 18mm Master Primes for being relatively distortion free, even at 12 or 14mm, but then another preferring to use the older Super or Standard speeds at 14-20mm for their ultra wide shots, etc. so was wondering if there's a more scientific test done that's available somewhere, written or online? The still's world has plenty of tests posted but I'm only looking at cine PL lenses. And this is concerning people in the shots, not landscape and architectural content, but I'd think the less line distortion a test shows the more accurate a face is going to render. Edited December 27, 2018 by Vince Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Miguel Angel Posted December 27, 2018 Premium Member Share Posted December 27, 2018 Hi Vince, You can take a look at the 8mm Ultraprime, which is quite interesting. Or you can take a look at The Favourite, which was mainly shot on a 8mm, 10mm and 12mm The Favourite Have a good day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Premium Member Dom Jaeger Posted December 28, 2018 Premium Member Share Posted December 28, 2018 The Ultra Prime 8R is the widest properly rectilinear lens you can get, but the price is quite noticeable stretching at the edges to keep the lines straight. Pretty much all high end spherical prime lenses for cinema are designed to be rectilinear: Summilux-Cs and Summicrons, Cooke S4/5/7s, Panavision Primos, Ultra Primes. Some, like the Leicas and Cooke S5/7s, only go down to 18 or 16mm. Master Primes are probably the most consistent in being both rectilinear and without vignetting (darker corners), with focal lengths all the way down to 12mm. This test shows how similar the distortion is among lenses like the Summilux-Cs, Cooke S4s and S5s, Master Primes and Ultra Primes in the 16 to 18mm range: Generally avoid zooms, which have a hard time containing distortion over their range, except something like the Arri 9.5-18 UWZ, which is pretty amazing, but the compromise is a short (1.8x) range. I've read that the Tokina 11-18 (often cine-modded) is pretty good in terms of distortion, but I don't have personal experience with it. There's a bit of distortion in the wide angles used on The Favourite, even some fish-eye shots. I think they used old Panavision Standard Speed wide angles, along with PV Vintage lenses for that movie, some crazy wide shots in there! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart Brereton Posted December 28, 2018 Share Posted December 28, 2018 I'm not a big fan of ultra wide lenses, but I did use the old Zeiss Standard speed 14mm on a show a couple of years ago, and was impressed with how little it 'bent' the image. Only downside was it's size. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Young Posted January 2, 2019 Share Posted January 2, 2019 Laowa 12mm F2.8 is a full frame lens that has pretty impressive distortion control for the price and focal length. Check out Caleb Pike's video where he actually used it: The Gecko Cam G35's are also pretty stellar in the wide angle range you've mentioned. https://www.gecko-cam.com/products/lenses/genesis-g35/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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