Notes from November 2009

Looking at Super 16 zooms

I've been in Seattle the last four days watching the films of Lisandro Alonso at the Northwest Film Forum. During my stay, I managed to meet up with Charlie at his shop to look at some Super 16 zooms. Charlie recently had a stroke, and though he's dealing with some pretty serious physical impairment right now, he's still sharp as a tack. He carried on as he normally would, talking in full technical detail about lens mechanics, different types of lubricants used in lenses, and which lenses use metal or plastic internal parts. I always learn something when I visit Charlie's shop, and I wish him a full recovery. He certainly seems to be well on his way. I'm most interested in the Canon 8-64, and Charlie has one in Aaton mount. Though I rarely shoot with something as wide as an 8mm, the 8-64 has the most usable range, and remains one of the fastest Super 16 zooms at T2.4. The idea is to sell my current set of primes and move over to a zoom as my primary lens. I'm still making my decision, but the 8-64 would make some aspects of shooting much easier.

November 14, 2009  –  permalink