After releasing the first part of this video, which summed up some of the most popular cinema
lenses currently used to photograph feature films and commercials, there have been some
requests in the comments for a part two.
So today I’ll cover a few more lenses, breaking down their ergonomics as well as their look
using footage from some contemporary films.
Once again I’ll lead with a disclaimer that I’m not a lens technician, well versed in
the technical side of optics.
My observations come from having worked with these lenses as a camera assistant and therefore
I’ll be looking at my experiences from practically working with this glass and comment on what
kind of shoot each lens is typically suited for.
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Cooke began producing their original, spherical Speed Panchros lenses in England way back
in 1920.
Their extremely fast T/2 to T/2.4 prime lenses revolutionised the optics of the time, which
were typically far slower.
These faster lenses quickly became popular as they let in more light and negated the
use of large arc lamps, which had a noisy buzz and were therefore difficult to record
sync sound with.
The lenses themselves are tiny compared to modern glass, meaning they don’t always
cover larger modern sensors without vignetting.
They come in different series, SI, SII or SIII depending on when they were manufactured.
Since PL mounts only became standard in the 1980s, this has meant that these little lenses
needed to be rehoused with a new mount to be usable with modern cinema cameras.
This is where the original glass is taken out and put into a new case or housing.
As such, the usability and ergonomics of each set is dependent on how well they were rehoused.
Some companies do it better than others, making some sets difficult for camera assistants
to work with and some easier.
A good rehousing, such as by TLS in the UK, makes the lenses user friendly with a smooth
focus motion.
As a side note, the Speed Panchros should not be confused with Cooke’s modern Panchro/i
Classic lenses which attempt to emulate these older lenses but with more modern glass.
The Speed Panchros have amazing close focus.
The 32mm in particular has a close focus of only 16 inches, which means you can almost
focus all the way up to the mattebox and get very tight shots in focus with a wide lens.
Despite having a wide aperture, the lenses were only recommended to be shot at T/4, which
is where they start becoming sharp across the image.
Breaking this rule by shooting them wide open at T/2.4 creates beautiful, painterly bokeh
which is sharp in the centre with lots of soft fall off around the edges - almost like
anamorphic glass.
They have the characteristics of what has been termed the ‘Cooke look’, being warm
and romantic, but with slightly less contrast than that of the modern S4s.
This vintage look has made them a popular choice for period films or for DOPs who want
a dreamy, vintage look to their images by shooting them wide open.
As these lenses were made before standardised, precise factory production techniques were
introduced for cinema lenses, the look of each lens may vary slightly, meaning that
some lenses may be slightly warmer or have slightly different image characteristics for
example.
Despite, or rather because of, their flaws the Panchros remain one of my personal favourite
spherical lenses.
From old to new, the Master Primes were co-developed by Arri and Zeiss in 2005.
These modern lenses feature a constant, super fast T/1.3 aperture from their 12mm to their
150mm primes.
They are masterfully engineered and well constructed, with a smooth focus motion, well laid out
distance markings with a standardised 114 front diameter.
They aren’t the most compact of spherical primes, but they are solidly constructed.
Being standardised across the range makes them easy for assistants to work with when
changing lenses or rebalancing a gimbal or stabilized head.
Cinematographers who value clean, high resolution, sharp images often choose these lenses.
They were designed to be as sharp as possible to provide maximum clarity that counteracts
shooting 35mm film.
This sharpness is enhanced even more when applied to digital sensors.
Even wide open at T/1.3 the lenses maintain sharpness across the frame.
They are notable for having virtually no distortion of straight lines even at their widest focal
lengths and no focus breathing or aberrations.
Master Primes have medium to high contrast and drastically reduced flares.
They’re often used by DPs shooting on film, or by those who require a perfect, optically
superior digital image which is totally devoid of vintage characteristics or optical imperfections.
French manufacturer Angenieux has a long history of creating spherical zoom lenses.
One of the staple zooms that has featured heavily on many films is the Optimo 24-290mm
which came out in 2001.
This 12 to 1 workhorse zoom features incredibly high magnification at a fixed stop of T/2.8
without any ramping and a focus scale which remains accurate while zooming.
For all of this to take place a lot of glass is required which means that the 24-290 is
a big chunk of a lens, weighing in at around 11kg.
Its length and weight means that it has to be operated off a head and is unsuitable for
any lightweight rigs or setups.
It’s used for shots that need an extremely long focal length, a crash zoom, or quick,
flexible reframing capabilities - such as when working on a boat or somewhere where
moving the camera around is difficult.
It’s varied focal lengths also makes it a good single lens for productions looking
to save money on renting many prime lenses.
It is a fairly sharp lens, very sharp for a slightly older zoom but less sharp than
many primes or modern zooms made today.
At wider focal lengths such as 24mm it does start to distort slightly and it compresses
the background at longer focal lengths with textbook round bokeh.
It’s been a workhorse for years in the film industry mainly due to its versatile zoom
range, solid build quality, and consistent optical design.
After the success of Zeiss’ Super Speed lenses (which I covered in my previous video),
Canon launched the K-35s in the 70s and 80s to compete with them based on the glass from
their existing SSC Aspherical FD stills lenses.
They are however much rarer to find than the Super Speeds.
The K-35s are similar to the Super Speeds in many respects.
They also are compactly built, lightweight and feature a fast T/1.4 aperture.
This makes them a good choice for light builds such as: handheld, gimbal or drone work.
Like the Panchros, K35 glass also sometimes comes rehoused with a PL mount in lens casings
which makes them ergonomically easier to work with.
Unlike many vintage lenses, which only cover Super 35 sensor sizes, the K-35s can cover
a broader Full Frame sensor.
This capability of larger coverage has made them popular once again with the resurgence
of larger form factor digital sensors, such as the Mini LF.
On top of ergonomic similarities, these lenses also share visual similarities with the Super
Speeds, they are sharp with a notably lower contrast than modern primes.
Their flares are interesting and take on an orangey, purple colour.
Like the Super Speeds, the K-35s have been used on films for a lower contrast look and
are sometimes even paired with the Super Speeds, such as on Handmaid’s Tale which was shot
on the K35s, with select close ups shot on wide angle Zeiss glass.
From one large format lens set to another more modern iteration, the Arri DNA primes
are manufactured by Arri in Germany.
To make these lenses they custom selected old glass from Hasselblad still lenses which
could cover a 65mm or Full Frame sensor size.
Arri worked in conjunction with a few cinematographers to tweak each set, such as Bradford Young
and Greig Fraser.
They are very fast for large format lenses with stops ranging from T/1.6 to T/2.8 over
a broad range of focal lengths.
This fast aperture combined with a large format digital sensor creates an incredibly shallow
depth of field, even when using wide focal lengths, which is beautiful but tricky for
focus pullers.
The DNAs are nicely rehoused and feature a smooth focus motion, a standardised front
diameter and well spaced distance markings.
They have an LDS connector which means they can record metadata, a useful feature for
VFX.
An interesting quirk I picked up when I worked with them as an AC was that some of the lenses
feature a reversed iris ring, meaning that some lenses had an iris reading from top to
bottom, while others had iris’ which were reversed.
The image they produce is stunning.
They are sharp enough to capture detail in the skin without highlighting flaws, have
a neutral colour rendition, gorgeous skin tones with a beautiful focus falloff and swirling,
dreamy, egg shaped bokeh.
So that’s the end of another cinema lens break down video.
There are still more lenses I’d like to cover at a later date in future episodes,
as I’m a bit of a lens nerd.
If you found this informative or interesting please give the video a thumbs up and if you
have any comments let me know below.
Until next time, thanks for watching and goodbye.