Advice on building flexible rig.

[Shawn Sagady]

Hey all. So after some time I am planning on buying some equipment to shoot narrative projects for myself. I’m looking at buying a Ursa Mini Pro G2 as an affordable and flexible camera, I’ve always loved the look of their color as well (shot on a bmpcc for ever for work). 
 

I’ve been wracking my brain on lenses. I actually have shot with the new Sigma Cinema Zooms which are a great deal for two zooms and coverage, but they breath like an asthmatic running a marathon and are not true parfocal. Lately I’ve been looking at everything from old Cooke varatol 18-100 to Arri Alura LR.  I do love the ziess CZ.2 28-80 but even used they are a bit out of range. 
 

In the end I’ve got about 20-25k to build a rig that can aupport my narrative projects but also be used flexibly for commercial projects etc to make money on the side.  So any advice would be really useful. I’ve done DSLR style rigs and I’m over it, I’m ready for a solid camera and real glass. 

[Shawn Sagady]

I did discover the ziess/arri Variable Prime set which could in theory solve my coverage issues but it sounds like they are very heavy and awkward to deal with.  Leaning more and more towards the Ziess Cz.2 28-80 and then add some primes later on for better wife and telephoto coverage.  Just need to land a good deal. 

[Frank Hegyi]

I'm a fan of the fuji 20-120. Underrated lens for the price. 

Edited March 8, 2020 by Frank Hegyi

[Phil Rhodes]

You are not alone; struggling with less-than-ideal zooms is miserable.

I've never used the Fujinon XK6x20 for a real project, but it'd be high on my shortlist, too, on that budget. I'd be considering the Zeiss LWZ.3, but I think it has too much focus rotation and lacks a decent grip for handheld work. A 28-80 of course has far less range than either of these options. I'd look for a good used one.

ENG lenses on adaptors can work but the optical performance is often not what you'd hope for.

I think investing in a decent lens of this type is likely to be a worthwhile investment. I consider it unlikely that the majority of work will go to full-frame cameras for reasons of sheer practicality and a lens is a much longer-term bet than any camera body.

P

[Shawn Sagady]

let’s talk about the LWZ.3. Everything about it seems really solid except the variable apature.  I honestly have not worked with any lenses that have this. Is that just a minimum apature so if I’m set to 3.5 it stays consistent or does making it 3.5 slider the far end to 4.5?
 

if working at 3.5 effectively makes it fixed apature then it’s a lot more interesting. 
 

 

[Phil Rhodes]

I haven't used it enough to comment on the ramping behaviour, but it does ramp.

Bear in mind also it doesn't have an ENG-style servo grip. Personally I'd be less concerned about the servo than the physical grip. Chrosziel make one but it's not particularly ergonomic.

P

[Shawn Sagady]

24 minutes ago, Phil Rhodes said:

I haven't used it enough to comment on the ramping behaviour, but it does ramp.

Bear in mind also it doesn't have an ENG-style servo grip. Personally I'd be less concerned about the servo than the physical grip. Chrosziel make one but it's not particularly ergonomic.

P

The ramp doesn’t look that bad tbh. One stop and it’s really smooth. I’m really torn because on one hand these are nice affordable lenses but I get the nagging feeling of future buyers regret. I’ve decided to up my budget some if I can get a good set of primes or a solid zoom.  Seems like the glass is the worthwhile investment. 
 

- Ursa Mini Pro G2 
- small HD top plate and handle 
- Small HD shoulder mount/rails plate 
- Wooden UMB-1 Swing Away 
- BM viewfinder 
- PL and EF Lens Mounts 
- Taradek 4k 750 Tx/Rx 
- IDX Dual VMount Batteries and Charger (I own a couple v mount batteries already)  
- Tilta Nucleus Nano. l
 

Depending on what kind of deals I can get that’s about  16000 for a lens  

originally I was going to cap out 20k but if I can get a lens solution in there I’d go as high as 30.  This leaves me with what I perceive to be a solid setup when I include all the other gear I already own such as fluid head and sticks, monitors etc.

So with 16000 I can look at some more options. I just don’t want to end up feeling like I’ll regret the lens choice because it saved me a couple thousand.  If I can’t find anything that really fits the bill then I’ll probably go for the LWZ.3 or The two Sigma Cine Zooms. 

[Phil Rhodes]

I'm not sure if I would make the same decisions between primes or a zoom of the types we've discussed. They do wildly different things and work in wildly different circumstances. Out in the field shooting a documentary, I suspect, you're not going to be changing primes that often. It's a pain.

I'd lean toward the 6x20 but I wouldn't make that decision without handling them side by side. Anyone who's going to sell you a five figure lens should be able to arrange that comparison.

P

[Shawn Sagady]

Yeah unfortunately I am in Maryland so I’ll probably have to use borrowlense to do any comparisons or maybe drive up to New York to try out lenses at a shop up there.