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[Chris Loughran] Ben and I were having dinner at the Border Cafe in Cambridge, and started
talking about lenses, and Ben doesn’t really think there’s a big difference between a
hundred dollar lens and a 20,000 lens, so we're here today to prove him wrong.
[laughter]
[Ben Eckstein] I'm not sure that that's exactly what I said, but ah, yeah, my thesis statement
going into this is that we will see very marginal image quality differences.
[Keith Wasserman] So is it going to be...I mean the way that you are doing this is that
you are going through all, like all through one set of lens and then you'll go back and
you'll do...
[Ben] A different setup.
[Keith] So...oh, so within this setup there'll just be this lens...or just be this series
of lenses
[Ben] All the lenses, all the lenses
[Keith] And then there'll be another setup
[Ben] Yeah
[Rick Macomber] First he tries to, you know, stab her with the knife, and he hits the ground
and he pulls the knife out of the ground
[Matthew Stappleton] Yeah
[Rick] And she gets up and she continues running...
[Keith] I mean I'm trying to have an idea here of an action that's replicable
[Chris] Ben, do you know if the follow focus works with all these lenses?
[Ben] It absolutely should.
[Keith] Like walk in...
[Ben] The thing is the shot once you get there is just your face...
[Brandon Vincent] Right
[Keith] Oh, it's really...
[Ben] We don't see the counter
[Keith] You're not going to see the counter
[Chris] It's a Cooke S4 Prime 35mm
[Keith] It's like the maximum supreme 35?
[Brandon] Yeah, that is the epitome of lenses right there
[Ben] If I go from min to max it's...
[Brandon] [laughs] Well that's why I asked if you had a whip
[Matt] Just crank it, crank it.
[Keith] When she came into the hallway, the sound of crescendo, aww, anyone? anyone?
[Ric] ...and then all of a sudden he stops dead in his tracks, and there's like ten women
standing there with shovels, knives, you know...
[music]
[Keith] [singing] it's a happening ending time, when that suits me just fine
[Rick] Oh, I love that
[Keith] [singing] ...and now I'm cutting to you, oh ho, whatever my night, I'm gonna kick
back, underneath this here shady tree..
[Ric] And now he turns and runs and they chase him and he trips and falls and they surround
him and they just...every weapon goes in to him, and you can hear the sound of Foley
[Matthew] [slurping noises]
[Brandon] I could pretend I'm cooking something over here
[Ben] Well I'm thinking now of more like another person
[Keith] I'll come in. Can you hear me now?
[Brandon] What?
[Keith] Can you hear me now?
[Brandon] Hey what's up?
[Keith] Where are you?
[Brandon] I'm right behind you.
[Keith] No, no, no, so don't acknowledge me
[Chris] I'd be willing to go ... here
[Brandon] Or a banana. I think a banana would be good.
[Ben] I mean ‘cause it does ...
[Chris] With a crank it would be...it wouldn't be a big deal
[Ben] Why?
[Chris] Because I wouldn't have to turn my wrist at all, I would just do this.
[Ben] Oh.
[Keith] I mean if he's going to be on a banana...
[Brandon] I want a banana
[Keith] We should both be on bananas, I think
[Ben] But this is good. I think adding somebody else makes it better.
[Chris] Definitely more interesting
[Brandon] I'm not good at ad libbing, so this is...that's why I operate a camera not...
[Keith] So...
[Ben] But you're so pretty [laughter]
[Brandon] I've got this nice red shirt on
[Ben] Go to him, go to Brandon, and then end on Keith in focus because I think like that's...
[Brandon] Yeah that's..
[Ben] That's our wrap
[Ben] Alright, let's try something Alright, I am rolling
[Ben Pender-Cudlip] Cooke S4 35mm f4 take 3
[clap]
[Ben] Action
[Brandon] So what do you think?
[Keith] I'm telling you, I thought it was absolutely crazy, I get there and she's farming
gold fish on the black market, I mean, you know there's these two big Italian guys, in
matching sweat suits with uzzi's, I'm freaking out, I didn't know whether I should, ah, stop
eating me goldfish crackers or if I should be like sprinkling food in her drink. I didn't
know what to do, it was crazy.
[Brandon] So what did you do?
[Keith] I sprinkled the food in her drink and then she slapped me.
[Keith] But I'll tell you...
[Ben] Shorten up your thing so that he can rack to him for what you do
[Keith] Why don't you respond to this thing, and you say, you know, respond to the fact
that there's these guys with ***'s, right,
[Chris] He's multiple stops under-exposed in the background and he's still really, really
sharp.
[Ben] Yeah
[Ben] Let's see if Benjamin knows how to mount a PL mount lens.
[Chris] There's a little nub
[Ben] shut the f' up...Oh, there's a little nub...I see it. Okay. Ready? Take two...
[clap]
[Ben] And ...action. And...
[Chris] Then you twist...just make sure also you don't put it in and then twist the lens
and then tighten it, you'll never get this off.
[Ben] Okay.... Don't tell me what to do.
[Chris] Okay
[laughter]
[Ben] This is the Zeiss Superspeed, 35mm these lenses do not, are not made any more, I think
you can buy them used ...I was looking up...hard to find exactly, they often come in kit sets,
but you know like, probably five...
[Ben] It's brighter
[Chris] We're getting the same exposure, now at a 2.8/4 split
[Ben] four...five...six
[Ben] Always getting clipping on that..
[Chris] Right, but when I expose for him in the background, the towel was clipping
[Ben] Seven grand maybe
[Ben P.] Zeiss Superspeed, 35mm f/4 take 2
[clap]
[Keith] I'll tell you what I think , I think I'm freaking out, I show up at her house,
shes' got these two gumbahs, in matching jogging outfits and I...
[Brandon] What did you do next?
[Keith] Well, I left the sushi in the car, and I didn't lead with my mermaid jokes
[Chris] A lot stiffer
[Ben] That's what she said
[Keith] Awww..no you didn't
[Ben] You got that? You got that?
[Ben] Seems a little softer, in a good way, maybe. Again, it's so hard to know, it's like
you're, you know, we need to pop up the other one.
[Brandon] Yeah, you'd have to see them side by side
[Ben] Right. It looks good.
[Ben] This is a newer Zeiss CP 2. These essentially are re-housed versions of their still lenses.
[Ben P] Zeiss CP 2 35mm f/4 take 1
[Ben] Alright and ... action
[Brandon] So what do you think?
[Keith] Well I'll tell you what I think, I'm freaking out. I show up and she's got these
gumbahs in matching track uniforms holding uzzi's, I had no idea she was farming goldfish
for the black market, it's crazy!
[Brandon] It's a good thing I didn't go
[Keith] It's a good thing you didn't go, I'll tell you what else ...
[Chris] This one's definitely sharper
[Ben] It does seem sharper
[Brandon] You can pick me up more in the background, or it's just sharper in general?
[Chris] You can see more skin detail
[Ben] Yeah
[Chris] It was easier to focus obviously
[Ben] Because it was a shorter throw?
[Chris] Yeah
[Ben] Alright, we're going to do the 17 to 35
[Ben P] It's a Nikon?
[Ben] Yep
[Brandon] So what'd you think?
[Keith] Well I'll tell you what I think, I'm freaking out is what I think. I go over there,
she's got these two gumbahs in matching track outfits holding ***'s, I didn't know she was
farming goldfish for the black market.
[Brandon] It's a good thing I didn't go. So what'd you do?
[Keith] Well I left the Sushi in the car, and I didn't lead with my mermaid jokes.
[Ben] I could feel that the throw was almost teeny, so it's almost like...in sort of a
good way.
[Ben P] It feels contrastier.
[Chris] It is contrastier, yeah.
[Brandon] I didn't think a lens would show that much difference in contrast.
[Ben] I mean, to me, that's what I thought it would show would be.
[Brandon] Contrast?
[Ben] Yeah, that, like, was honestly the only thing I was expecting to see. It looks good.
[Brandon] Yeah, it does look pretty good
[Ben] How much was this lens?
[Chris] $1900
[Ben] Okay
[Ben] This is an Olympus 14 to 35 this is my lens that I use most of the time. This
and the 35 to 100 Olympus there. F2 zooms, they retail for about 2200, and yeah, they're
for four-thirds sensors, so they work well for the AF100.
This is the Canon 17-55 f2.8 this is a lens that works for APS-C sensors.
[Chris] That's much darker
[Ben] Yeah
[Ben] This is a Tamron 17-50. Similar to the Canon we just had on. How much does this go
for?
[Chris] $600
[Ben] $600
[Ben P] His beard hair is definitely not as crisp
[Rick] True
[Ben] This is the Tamron?
[Rick] Yep
[Ben P] But they're still there, it's...
[Ben] Well, and some would say you want a little bit of softness for...
[Ben P] Especially on DSLRs for sure, you don't want a super sharp lens.
[Ben] Yeah
[Ben P] No ***, well
[Ben] I mean we're nit picking over these things
[Ben P] Exactly! Which tells us all we need to know, right?
[Ben] I'm selling everything
[Keith] Is breathing good or bad or just choice? Just taste?
[Ben] It's not preferable; you don't want to really have a focal length change from
focusing
[Ben] Alright so this is the last one we're going to try for this test, this is a Sigma
30 f/1.4 so this is definitely the least expensive lens that we've got right now.
[Chris] This does not look the same as a..
[Ben] Cooke?
[Chris] Cooke. No. No way.
[Ben] The functionality differences you know, are definitely noticeable, but the end result
is pretty minor. And yeah I agree with Chris. I think Lighting makes a huge difference.
I think that there's a lot you can do in post to get things where you want it to. You know,
I didn't see anything that was like, shocking.
[Ben P] That is gorgeous
[Rick] That's the Cooke?
[All] Yeah
[Rick] Yeah. That's definitely, that has so much more detail in it.
[Chris]You can see the hair you can see the colors
[Ben] But his skin looks smoother, still.
[Ben P] $20,000?
[Chris] I don't know.
[Ben] Not from my pocket
[Chris] That Sigma looks great. The Tamron not so much.
[Chris] I think when the foreground is exposed correctly, lens to lens, they all look good.
I think the underexposed areas in the background tend to change a little bit. I think that's
really where I noticed. The cheaper lenses definitely are a little less saturated than
the more expensive lenses
[Keith] Well I left the sushi in the car and I didn't lead off with my mermaid jokes. hooho
[laughter]
[Ben] That's good
[laughter]
[Ben] That worked