Posted by:
on May 16, 2009
1. Red Prime Demo. ( only 35mm )
Ted ( from Red ) started out with a discussion about some of Red's lens program's history and talked about how they thought the Red prime was in league with the best cine lenses, yet at a fraction of the cost.
There was a short demo comparing the Red 18-50 and the Red 35mm lens visually on a camera. Both lenses looked fine on the monitor, as one would expect - both being able to make a nice 720p image.
Then we were allowed a little bit of hands on with the Red Prime - build quality looked to be very good. The size and weight of this lens are not fully apparent when you see the pictures - It's a bit bigger and heavier than Ultraprimes or Cooke S4's. Size and weight wise made me think of the Cooke 15-40 T2. The 35mm was made with an internal floating focus element, a design which I believe should bring really good close focus performance.
Then there was a few minutes of unguided playtime with the lens. It looked to be very high resolution, mechanically excellent very good flare resistance, low distortion, moderate breathing, basically everything looked really good. If the 35mm is a good indication of the rest of the lenses and you are looking to buy a PL prime set: it's a no-brainer.
2. Jacek from Optitek had his Pro Nikon mount on display. It uses a locking ring driven system to pull the lens snug to the mount. The Iris on G series lenses can be adjusted with a simple external ring. He had a Nikon 14-24 on it and it worked well. It's a vast improvement on the stock camera mount - highly recommended if you are shooting with Nikons.
3. Jacek also had the prototype of the Optimator a flange focal depth checking device for the Red and other PL mount cameras. It works by projecting a focus pattern onto the cameras cmos sensor. You rack the mount's adjustment ring back and forth until you can see the highest number on the scale. It's a bit better in theory than the IBE Null Lens because you can use it anywhere - you don't need an infinity target, it gives a readable numeric scale to judge your accuracy, and the Optimator has a provision to see the sides of the frame also which lets you know that your mount / sensor are not askew in some other way. It's self powered with an internal battery or by a cable.
I want to have a look at Uniq optics Diascope and see what's up with that. Probably next week.
Posted by: Finner
on May 2, 2009
NAB 2009 seemed to be hot with 2 main things. 1- PL lenses. 2- 3D everything.
As far as lenses go I was very impressed.
PRIMES
Red’s new primes WOW! Okay these things are SHARP! These could very well be the sharpest cine lenses available. Also the RPP have very nicely built housings and from what I found the overall mechanics were
solid and well built. The coatings looked good and it was very hard to flare them. At T-1.8 they are fast enough for most any shoot. To be picky the issues I found with the RPP were that the focus was a little stiff and could use a lighter grease (In cold weather lenses get stiffer and the current RPP’s I played with would cause problems for remote follow focus motors when it gets cold), T-stop was light and would be better if it was stiffer (After you set the stop you don’t want it to change from being bumped and I found it to spin a little to freely for my liking), the lenses themselves were a little bit heavy (Although not really any different then Master or Ultra primes so they are in really good company), on the projector I could see that the 25mm rounded (fish eyed) a tiny little amount (not anything of consequence but more then MP’s or S4’s hopefully the RPP 18mm does not round more), an 18mm lens is needed ASAP, it would me nice if both feet/meter markings were put on the RPP lenses like other high end lenses rather then having to choose one or the other. All this said the RPP look very promising and may just be the set that puts Red up in the same echelon with other highly priced/respected lens companies. After looking closely at the lens coatings I wonder if Jim has built a cozy relationship with Nikon (for our sakes lets hope that is the case). The 5 lens set (25mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm, 100mm) sells for$19,000 US.
Posted by: Finner
on Apr 16, 2009
So here it is the biggest, most BAD ASS map you'll ever see for NAB 2009. Use it to find your way around the show floor. You'll have to find the alcohol on your own. But it's Vegas - that won't be a problem! By the way when you see me at a party with free booze and if I'm not double fisting then help a brother out and bring me a damn beer. I guess I will have to settle for that watered down American beer but oh well at least it's beer!
And don't forget about the Reduser party at the Rio on Wednesday April 22nd. We've been filled in with a little inside scoop and lets just say Red has some big surprises comming down the pipe at this event!
DOWNLOAD MAP!
Posted by:
on Apr 14, 2009
Hello everyone,
Finner asked me to enter a blog at his 'KnowsBest site. And since I am, unfortunately, his friend, I felt it the right thing to do.
Being my first entry and with so much of the industry in flux this year, it's hard to know just what to blog about. The NAB trade show is next week and there are a lot of exciting new products that will be unveiled this year. Of the most interest to the REDcommunity, are several highly-anticipated new offerings from lens manufacturers. Most of these will also be on display at the NAB show or at events that coincide with the show.
Blogging about lenses is more Matt Uhry'sfunction around here, but I'm going to touch on a bit of this. First up, RED will begin shipping their new Pro series primes this coming week. The couple reviews from those who have seen them are showing the lenses to be nothing short of amazing. RED will be demonstrating and projecting these new lenses at the REDUser event on April 22nd. Other equipment dealers will be showing lenses as well. There are new offerings coming from some German lens manufacturers such as IB/E Optics and another set believed to be made by ISCO. ARRI / Zeiss should have a new set of compact primes as well.
