Why are Zeiss MasterPrimes so Good?
DoPs will tell you that lenses are what really count in a quality production to influence not only the look and depth of field of the programme but how different designs of lenses can also influence close focus shooting as well.
Dramas and Features routinely use Cooke S4i and UltraPrime lenses but the introduction recently of the Zeiss MasterPrime range of Prime lenses brought a new design rated to above 8K and a maximum aperture of T1.3, which offers a full stop more than UltraPrimes which are T1.9.
The wide aperture allows for stunning pictures with a very shallow depth of field but it is the close focus ability which increases the versatility of these lenses.
To give you an example of this, a 135mm MasterPrime has a close focus of just 11.4cm compared with 1m for a 135mm UltraPrime, so when you need that cut-away of a cigarette on location or a big close-up of an actor during production, you can may be able to get away with not changing the lens or even obviate the need for using additional Macro lenses at all!.
An additional benefit of using MasterPrimes is the common form-factor of the lenses, so the range of 18mm-135mm MasterPrimes have the same physical dimensions for operational ease of use.
VMI can now offer for hire from stock the Zeiss MasterPrime range of lenses:
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 18MM T1.3 14" CF
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 25MM T1.3 14" CF
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 32MM T1.3 14" CF
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 40MM T1.3 16" CF
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 50MM T1.3 20" CF
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 75MM T1.3 2'9" CF
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 100MM T1.3 3'6" CF
ZEISS MASTERPRIME 150MM T1.3 4'11"CF
The missing lenses to form the complete set of MasterPrimes will be arriving early in 2013, so watch this space!
VMI MasterPrime Lenses