WUSS, feature film, shooting with Zeiss CP.2 primes!

I'm Line Producing Clay Liford's new movie WUSS here in Dallas and we are one of the first films to be using the new Zeiss CP.2 prime lenses with Canon EF mounts in conjunction with the Canon 5D MII.

The new Zeiss CP.2's are garnering alot of buzz because they are full follow focus geared cine lenses with interchangeable mounts. You can get the lenses in Canon EF for 5D and 7D filmmaking, PL for RED and film cameras or F for Nikon mount cameras or DOF rigs. You can get additional mounts and change them at your shop if you have a RED job one week and a HDSLR job the next.

Weve got the full range of the Zeiss kit on WUSS, the 18mm, 21mm, 25mm, 28mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm. The kit is fast, sharp and clean. Our only complaint so far is the 18mm which is a slow-ish 3.6 T-stop and vignettes on the 5D due to the lens housing itself. The 35m, 50mm and 85mm are a fast 2.1 and are getting the most use so far.


Here's some pics of our rig in action:

Canon 5D w/ 50mm Zeiss CP.2, Marshall 7" HDMI/HD-Component LCD, Zacuto Z-Focus, & Genus Matte Box.


Here's the monitoring set-up with the HDfury converting HDMI to HD-Component which is fed into the Marshall and then looped to a Panasonic BT-LH1760 for video village setups.


Here's the other side of the rig showing the pre-built and mounted Zacuto handheld pieces. (a modified "Fast Draw kit") A simple tripod quick release gets the DP into handheld mode quickly with out much reconfiguration.


One thing you've got to keep in mind with a rig like this is the amount of battery charging required. In this pic weve got Canon camera batteries, Panasonic HVX camera batteries for the Marshall and little off-the-shelf USB batteries for the HD Fury. Make sure youve got plenty on stand by!