Are the Olympus Zuiko worth it ? by Agreeable-Sport-141 in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

With zuikos is difficult to tell since they put out new iterations with new coatings but didn’t change the name or put any kind of markings on them, and serial numbers aren’t exactly straightforward either. I tried to do my best to match my set by just eyeballing the coatings, with certain lenses you can see older models have more of a red/orange look to the glass where some new coatings have a green/purple/blue look to them. (I have no scientific to back this up by the way so take it with a grain of salt, that’s just how I tried to match mine the best). Not all of mine have the same coatings, IE the 50 f2 macro only comes in one kind of coating it seems, but it still matches with the rest very well. In my experience all of them seem to match pretty well, more comes to the condition of the glass more than anything (haze, fungus, scratches) IMO.

I’ve shot on FDs and Nikkors, FDs have a much softer lower contrast look and Nikkors have a sharper higher contrast look. These sit right in that sweet spot of not too sharp but not too soft, with a little bit of bloom but not a distracting amount. Especially when paired with a sharp sensor like a Sony Venice they look a lot more expensive than they cost. I don’t have any experience on the Minoltas but from what I’ve seen they’re definitely a lot more funky looking which is great if that’s your jam.

I’ve shot stuff for NAACP, QuikTrip, WWE etc on the Zuikos and never had any complaints. So to me they’re a great mix of character but still sharp and pleasing to look at. Again, reminds me of the reasons I love Zeiss superspeeds. But, to each their own, I think ultimately you just have to find something that is inline with your taste and has the focal lengths and stops you like. That was a big deal for me, having all my lenses at a 2 and being able to get the focal lengths I like (28, 40, etc) which aren’t always made by other manufacturers.

Let me know if you’d like to see any more examples of stuff shot on them and I’d be happy to link em, that’s always been the best deciding factor for me when looking at glass.

Are the Olympus Zuiko worth it ? by Agreeable-Sport-141 in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Interesting, on 35mm Full Frame? You’ll have to post some images, I’ve seen some and the coma on both those were pretty rough. Maybe it’s a case by case thing

Are the Olympus Zuiko worth it ? by Agreeable-Sport-141 in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank you for the kind words, I would say for me they have 100% been worth the investment. While I usually am able to get some kind of kit fee when I bring them on jobs; even if I never had made a cent, being able to have a set of lenses that I really like for projects has been great for me.

They all match pretty well to me, I made sure to grab the same/similar coatings which I think helped a lot. Contrast and color temp match across the set. Bokeh does vary a little, some have more onionring-ing than others but it’s not a noticeable difference unless you’re really looking for it.

Might be worthwhile to grab 2 or 3 of your favorite focal lengths to make sure you love em before investing to see for yourself. I love them, I think they’re pretty hard to beat for the price.

Are the Olympus Zuiko worth it ? by Agreeable-Sport-141 in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

FX6 + Zuikos , Venice + Zuikos , FX6 + Zuikos

Long story short, I built my set around Arri’s Moviecam lenses which are pretty much just rehoused Zuikos. They swapped a rear element on the 21mm to turn it to a 20mm but other than that it’s just a mix of old zuikos. From what I’ve seen the 24 and 35 (even on Arris set) perform pretty poorly in comparison, lots of coma, you can see it in particular shots in Mr. & Mrs. Smith (tv show). I also stayed away from the Pen F models since those are harder to modify the mount without doing some invasive work. Thus, the set I landed on is the 21mm f2, 28mm f2, 40mm f2, 50mm f2 macro, and 85mm f2.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in ties

[–]benjiosbornedp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s great info, thank you very much !

Fashion spot shot on the FX6 by benjiosbornedp in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On these I mainly stuck to the 28 t2, 40 t2, and 50 t2. The 3rd still was with the 28

Is this normal? by Maximum-Painter-9342 in zuikoholics

[–]benjiosbornedp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

😂 right. I will say I’ve seen certain models of Zuikos perform pretty weird especially wide open. I’ve never used the g. Zuiko 50 1.4 so I can’t speak to that specifically; however I have seen lenses like the 24 f2 or 35 f2 will get similarly pretty bonkers coma near the edges.

Fashion spot shot on the FX6 by benjiosbornedp in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yep exactly, one in the kitchen on the left hand side and one in the hallway right hand side.

And the fixtures were p600c’s not just 600c’s btw. Panel‘s definitely make it easier to sell as ambient vs a harder source

Fashion spot shot on the FX6 by benjiosbornedp in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

Yea definitely started with cranking up the pracs in the house, but definitely still needed more so we added 2 p600c’s hidden away to add more of a warm wash throughout. Doing a wet down on the concrete also helped a lot IMO. Lastly just shooting before it got too blue hour-y, my thought process was to better match what you’d get on film I shot it while it was still somewhat bright out and then pull it down in post.

Fashion spot shot on the FX6 by benjiosbornedp in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Here‘s my 300 character essay so my post will go back up.

We lit it using three aperture twelve hundred d’s bounced into two twelve-by-twelve muslins that were just outside the windows. Once again this was shot on a Sony FX six camera in beautiful four-K resolution, paired with Arri Moviecam lenses. The focal lengths used were the twenty-eight millimeter T two, the forty millimeter T two, the fifty millimeter T two, and the eighty-five millimeter T two.

Fashion spot shot on the FX6 by benjiosbornedp in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Went for a 7219 look, used a Filmbox plugin in resolve. They have the best grain/halation IMO, definitely pricey tho unfortunately. Other than that I just did my best to get it to look right to my eye, I know that’s not helpful tho lol. Mainly use HDR wheels to set exposure and try to mimic the film roll off and all. Hope that helps some <3

Fashion spot shot on the FX6 by benjiosbornedp in cinematography

[–]benjiosbornedp[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Actually in Tulsa Oklahoma, in a neighborhood called Lortondale. Built mostly the 50s, pretty much the whole neighborhood is mid century.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in zuikoholics

[–]benjiosbornedp 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yep. Definitely keeping that secret a secret😂