Off-topic question about 1DC lens situation...

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Barry,
Sorry for confusing you further.

Apart from the Canon cinema lenses, you can also use the Zeiss ZE brand of lenses which are meant for the EF mount of Canon. I have found that Duclos does modifications of these lenses and are listed in their site. Since I know that these lenses are sharp, I feel they should work well while filming at 4K. After duclos modification these lenses are still much cheaper than the Canon cinema lenses. Haven't physically tested the cinema lenses as they are yet to launch in India. However, I feel you should try out the Zeiss ZE duclos mod lenses.

Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Barry McGovern]

oh, you're not confusing me at all - it's a reflection of my ignorance in this area...

I see the 11-16 you say will vignette is not in the package and that you feel the entire package should work in 4k mode.

It does seem a better option than one or two lenses, to get five if they are going to match the quality to my eye...

[Bob Drummond]

Sabyasachi, surely the normal photographic EF lenses will cover 4K too? They're designed for the larger full frame sensor, yes? I know they aren't strictly speaking cine lenses, but you can outfit them with a follow focus no problem.

[Sabyasachi Patra]

Bob,
The EF lenses cover the full frame and can be used for 4K filming and one can use the follow focus. Similarly any lens that was designed for the 35mm film cameras can fit here and be used directly (if it has an EF mount) or through an adapter.

Of course, the quality will vary depending upon the quality fo the lenses. At the minimum, from the camon lenses I will use the L series lenses of Canon. Even out of the L series lenses, one needs to pick and choose the best primes and zooms to get the best quality.

At the wide end, a Cinema lens would be nice. (I have reviewed both the 16-35 f2.8 II and 24-70 f2.8 L USM lenses and use those, however, a cinema lens at wide end would be nice. The 16-35 f2.8 II does have slight barrel distortion at the 16mm end)

I have heard good things about the 24-70 f2.8 II L USM lens, but haven't tested it yet. I have the perennial DSLR shooters favourite - the 24-105 f4 L IS USM lens, but I won't be comfortable using it for 4K work. Ofcourse, when I am filming from a moving boat, with the camera few inches above water, the 24-105 may be a better idea due to its image stabilsation than a cinema lens. So we need to sneak in a few lenses depending upon shooting conditions as well.

The 100mm f2.8 L IS USM macro lens is a very good lens with lovely IS (image stabilisation). Pretty sharp lens. It can help in getting some unique point of views as well. Zeiss has got a good 100mm f2 macro lens as well.

The 70-200 f2.8 L IS II USM lens is pretty sharp and very good image stabilisation for handheld use. I use it all the time. It would be great at 4K. I am actually very interested to see side-by-side how it fares with the 30-300 cinema lens in terms of sharpness and colour rendition etc.

I think it would be good if the other lenses are not pushed to the extreme for eg against bright back lighting conditions certain lenses show purple fringing.

Barry,
Extremely sorry that I had missed your response about the Duclos ZF.2 post. So I was trying to remember the lenses from memory and tell you. The ZF is the Zeiss Nikon mount and ZE is the canon mount. I had no idea that Duclos is doing the mod and of this series and offering it for canon as well. As earlier mentioned, lenses built for our 35mm film cameras will work with the 1D C in 4K mode. Quality will vary depending upon the lens quality.
Cheers,
Sabyasachi

[Barry McGovern]

Much appreciated, Sabyasachi.