Any footage from 18-252mm lens?

[Steve Kimmel]

Anyone know of any footage from the new Sony 18-252mm lens that's available? I searched but couldn't find anything on the web.

[Ned Soltz]

I was the first to have the 18-252 out in the field and while I've reviewed it in print, I just haven't been able to get any footage up yet. It's on my list....

Ned Soltz

[Steve Kimmel]

Thanks Ned. Any chance of getting something on-line before end of the year (to take advantage of Sony rebate)?

[Steve Kimmel]

I just had a thought: Although there are lots of advantages to 18-252mm lens over the 18-200mm lens for the FS100, it would be much cheaper to buy an FS100 with the 18-200mm lens in order to get a longer zoom range/autofocus/autoiris for when that's needed.

Is that a crazy idea?

[Ned Soltz]

Well.. the advantage is the F3.

The reason for buying the 18-252 is to take advantage of automation, including the rocker zoom. If you need the distance, you could more reasonably buy a Nikon adapter for the F3 and add a still lens.

Ned

[Steve Kimmel]

Originally Posted by Ned Soltz

Well.. the advantage is the F3.

The reason for buying the 18-252 is to take advantage of automation, including the rocker zoom. If you need the distance, you could more reasonably buy a Nikon adapter for the F3 and add a still lens.

Ned

Good point. Of course, having the FS100 would give me a nice 2 camera, large-sensor solution for multicamera shoots. Do you have a sense for the image quality of the 18-252mm versus the 18-200mm (not on an F3 of course)?

Thanks.

[Nate Weaver]

Originally Posted by Steve Kimmel

having the FS100 would give me a nice 2 camera, large-sensor solution for multicamera shoots.

I had one FS100 and 4 F3s on a Red Hot Chili Peppers concert I directed in August.

We tried to match the FS100 as close as possible in prep, and thought we had it close enough, but when I got to post it didn't match at all, especially the highlight handling.

It might be possible to get them as close as you'd think is possible, but until I have a lot of time to do it, I won't be doing it again. Link to the show below. The color correction "look" I went with wound up masking a lot of the difference, but you can see it if you look. The FS100 was in the barricade.

http://kroq.radio.com/2011/08/29/exc...s-breakfast/2/

[Steve Kimmel]

Thanks Nate. That's good to know.

Would love to know more about the image quality of the 18-252 zoom. In Ned's write-up, one of those who used the lens complained of low contrast, but don't know if that's just the typical zoom-lens issue (vs. primes) or if this is a particularly low-contrast zoom.

[Alister Chapman]

Of course you could always buy an EX1R or EX3. Your DoF won't be all that different as the EX1R is f1.8 while the lens is SCL-Z18x140 is T3.8 at best. In fact you can almost get 2x EX1R's for the cost of the lens.

[Steve Kimmel]

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

Of course you could always buy an EX1R or EX3. Your DoF won't be all that different as the EX1R is f1.8 while the lens is SCL-Z18x140 is T3.8 at best. In fact you can almost get 2x EX1R's for the cost of the lens.

Interesting idea. I think there will be a discernible DOF difference if you are at the same distance from subject and set focal length to give same FOV.

Assuming calculation below is correct (using DOF Master website):

F3 with 18-252mm set at 100mm and f/4.8 (about minimum f-stop at 100mm per Abel) and subject at 30 ft:

DOF is 6.53 ft

EX1R with lens set at 28mm (to give same FOV as F3 at 100mm -- right?) and subject at 30 ft

DOF is 19.4 ft

Can someone tell me if I did this right?

[Nate Weaver]

The big new zoom will buy you a little FG/BG separation, but it will be a dog to run and gun with.

Add to that that it will have much less resale value than most other PL lenses...I agree you're better off with an EX3. Noisier (I had one of those on that concert shoot as well, it was the wide shot deeper in the house), but noise doesn't matter so much if you got the shot you couldn't get in time because you were futzing with bigger, crazier gear than you should be for run and gun.

AND...check the latest issue of F&D Times. Zeiss has just announced they intend to release a few lower cost, lightweight, interchangeable mount zooms to go with their CP2s. I think the lens companies are finally waking up that there's a market for cheaper, lighter zooms for EOS and PL mount.

[Alister Chapman]

OK, so there is a much bigger difference than I had thought. I'm surprised by how big.

[Nate Weaver]

I'm almost shocked at the difference too now that I had those two calculator sites in front of me.

I ran numbers for 50mm which is a much more common number for myself to be working at. Putting the F3 at T4/50mm vs EX3 wide open at matching length, it's still quite the difference.