Lenses

Hands On: Zeiss 85mm Compact Prime CP.2 /T2.1

Chris Gampat
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10/30/2010
2 Mins read
Chris Gampat the phoblographer photo plus expo 2010 zeiss 85mm (2 of 3)

Last Updated on 07/30/2011 by Chris Gampat

Winning one of the longest name awards, the Zeiss 85mm Cine lens for Canon EF mount is a gorgeous and heavy hunk of glass designed for cinematographers. I got some time to try it out on the Canon 7D today and a video sample will be coming soon. However, my experience with the lens was much different than it has been with DSLR lenses.

The Zeiss 85mm cinema lens is big; very big actually. The front thread is larger than anything I’ve seen in the DSLR world but smaller than most cinema lenses I’ve seen for cameras like the RED One. Perhaps this helps to explain the name, “Compact Prime.” As you’ll see in the photo below, the lens is much larger than the 85mm lens designed for photographers.

In case you’re wondering what the difference is between a T stop and an F stop, you can see an explanation here from my good friends at the Photoletariat. Similar to F stops, the exposure does get darker and more becomes in focus.

Both rings on the lens are very smooth and take a very long time to turn. This was designed for cinematographers that require follow focusing mechanisms. As you’ll see in a short video I shot, the depth of field is ideal for many cinematographers. I’ll post the video later on once I upload it from YouTube. The file is very large.

If you’re interested, take a look at my hands on with the 35mm F/1.4 by Zeiss and the rest of our Photo Plus Expo 2010 coverage so far.

Sample Video

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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.