Zeiss has been the industry leader in motion picture optics for decades. The renowned quality of Zeiss optics married with the lower cost of the lightweight and rugged CP.2 Compact Primes led to a product that was a runaway success. Now the company has let its intentions be known for future cinema products. Coming soon will be additional focal lengths for the Compact Primes (there are currently nine sizes available), as well as a set of Compact Zooms to complement the CP.2s. Zeiss will also re-enter the anamorphic lens arena, manufacturing the only commercially available set of 2x anamorphic primes in the industry.

Our friend Jon Fauer talked to Zeiss’ Christian Bannert and Michael Schielen recently. Read the article in the latest edition of Film & Digital Times.

Our NAB booth included the PMW-F3 with the new S-Log firmware from Sony installed. I was very impressed with what the new mode added to the camera and was delighted to show it off to guests in our booth. Some of our friends at Next Level Pictures stopped by, and I gave them a short demo. They were so impressed with the effect that they asked to take the camera out for a quick test, which I agreed to. Twenty-four hours later they came back with a plan to take Vegas by storm, and the result was an amazing test of the F3 and S-Log. Cinematographers Khalid Mohtaseb, Jonathan Bregel, Timur Civan and Vincent Laforet joined forces with a fantastic production team lead by Brad Burke to shoot the piece.

For this shoot, the F3 was combined with the new Angenieux 45-120 lens, Cooke Panchro/i lenses, Zeiss Ultra and Master Primes, Miller Tripods, a Kessler Crane Slider, OConnor and Element Technica accessories and the CineDeck Extreme. Watch the video above to see the test results.

Go to Next Level Pictures to learn more about how the project came together, and all the folks that helped make it possible.

Note: The camera was set to output 1080p 23.98 RGB 4:4:4 video in S-Log to the CineDeck, and record to the SxS cards with the Rec709(800%) LUT applied.

Today Zeiss announced two big updates to their CP.2 line of lenses. The first is their addition of two new mounting options: the Micro 4/3 mount, which is found on the Panasonic GH-1 (as well as their upcoming AF100); and the A-mount (Sony Alpha), found on Sony’s new NEX line of cameras and possibly on future Sony professional cameras as well. These new mounts will be available along with the existing PL, Canon EF and F-mount options.

In addition, Zeiss is complimenting the seven CP.2 focal lengths already available with their CP.2 50mm/T2.1 Makro and CP.2 100mm/T2.1 CF. Featuring a 134mm front diameter and a 132mm length front-to-back, it’s hard to really call the CP.2 50mm Makro a “compact” prime. But the lens shares all of the same excellent design and construction elements of the series, including interchangeable PL, F, and Canon EF mounts, as well as an incredibly low weight — about 2.5 pounds. We put it up on our projector and the lens looks great, with a nice flat field, even brightness, and almost no flaring or chromatic aberration. Most importantly, it is a macro (magnification ratio 1:2), the only PL mount macro available at this wide a focal length. Watch the video above for more on this unique new lens and read Zeiss’s full press release here.

At NAB last month, Zeiss introduced an updated version of their popular Arri/Zeiss LWZ-1 zoom. The new LWZ.2 is a 15.5-45mm zoom that features outstanding image quality and is available in multiple, interchangeable mounts (PL, EF, F). Perfect for use with HDSLR cameras such as the Canon 7D, as well as more traditional cine cameras, the lens covers the full Super-35 frame and weighs only about 4.4 pounds (2 kg). Read Zeiss’s full press release on the LWZ.2 lightweight zoom here.

Mitch got a chance to get some hands-on time with the LWZ.2 at Zeiss’s booth – check out his video on Vimeo or YouTube.

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Earlier this week we posted “The Bicycle” – the short film shot by DP John Inwood to test Zeiss’s Compact Primes. Check out the gallery above for some behind the scenes shots of the crew working with the RED One, the Lumix GH1, and of course, the Zeiss lenses. Additionally, you can click here for more info on Zeiss’s new CP.2 lenses.

Today Zeiss announced pricing for their new Compact Prime Series 2 lenses. With mount interchangeability between PL, EF and F, these lenses are not only more versatile, but also the price has been significantly reduced, making them even more affordable. See the new pricing information for the CP.2 lenses here. You can also place a deposit on two of the lens sets on our CineStore. Of course, to truly appreciate the lenses, you have to see them in action…

A few months ago, Zeiss approached us to do some testing of the Compact Prime lenses, and we jumped at the chance to put them through their paces. After considering all the scenarios to test them under, we decided the best way to evaluate them was in the hands of a real cinematographer. So we approached DP John Inwood and asked him if he would  shoot a short film with the Compact Primes. John and I worked together and created the following short, The Bicycle. Watch and enjoy the film, and then check out the two-part Behind the Scenes interview with John.

…continue reading Testing Zeiss Compact Primes on “The Bicycle”

Why change the mount on the camera when you can change the mount on the lens? Zeiss will soon ship a version of their Compact Primes in Canon EF mount for EOS cameras such as the Canon 5D Mark II. The Zeiss Compact Primes are designed to cover the full 24mm x 36mm image area of the stills format, and these new lenses will come with the facility to swap out the mount to PL (and who knows, maybe something else in the future?). This makes the Compact Primes the “Everything Lens Set” for use on all popular cameras. These lenses are inexpensive and lightweight, yet built to professional cine standards with integrated gearing and large scales. Stills format lenses often have weak mechanics, nearly-useless focus scales, servo drives with “infinity spin” focus dials, image shift and breathing in the focus, and axial-expansion that hampers use of accessories such as matteboxes & follow focuses. All of these issues are removed with the new Zeiss Compact Prime Series II lenses. Above is a photo of a prototype at the Zeiss factory and the lenses will debut at NAB in April (come visit our booth #C8740).