The ZEISS Cinema Zoom lenses deliver great flexibility thanks to interchangeable mounts, allowing them to be used with a wide range of cameras from multiple manufacturers. There is a comprehensive choice of cinema zooms with consistent aperture, good sharpness and contrast, minimal distortion and a look that matches the highest quality cinema primes including ZEISS/ARRI lenses. Affordable, flexible and offering the highest quality, the ZEISS Cinema Zoom lenses are an invaluable addition to any film set.
By Nancy Schreiber
Nancy shot ‘Moving Parts’ in and around Trinidad’s capital and largest city, Port of Spain. The story is very captivating. A Chinese immigrant young woman, Zhenzhen, is smuggled into Trinidad to be with her only family member. Zhenzhen’s brother is working construction there. He got her a job in a Chinese restaurant. But she soon discovers that the restaurant serves more than just food. Zhenzhen is forced to work in the sex industry to pay off the demanding smugglers. But she does find a way to escape to a new life.
Shooting abroad
Day one I was using my sun chart to plot the day’s work, and was confused for a minute. I thought something was wrong with my app, as the sun was not traveling south. I then started laughing as I remembered just how close we were to the Equator and that the sun travels north there! This is just one challenge when you shoot a project abroad. Something else to consider is the equipment needed. Especially in countries with weaker rental infrastructure. To keep the equipment list short using zoom lenses seemed like a right approach. We ended mostly using the ZEISS Cinema Zoom CZ.2 15-30mm on those graphic and elegant low and wide shots of architecture that we love.
I was happy to find a small but thriving film business in Port of Spain, Trinidad. There are independent filmmakers and technicians who do it all. They shoot, they AC and gaff on commercials mostly, then work on each other’s personal films. My crew was fantastic and had the perfect amount of grip/electric gear which I supplemented with my LED lights. My old friend, DP Roger Grange, came aboard as gaffer and rented us his ARRI Amira. ‘Moving Parts’ was directed by Emilie Upczak. who is American but lived in Trinidad for ten years.
I ended up shooting a lot on an Easyrig since Emilie was interested in a realistic slightly gritty feel for this difficult subject. ‘Moving Parts’ is in post and will be hitting the festival circuit in the spring of 2017, followed by, we hope, a theatrical release around the world.
Excellent image quality
I was pleased to find no distortion on the wide end with the ZEISS Cinema Zoom CZ.2 15-30. There was an evenness of sharpness across the field of view. And although the zoom is really sharp, it is not harsh on actors’ faces and took well to various diffusion filters I employed, such as Schneider Classic Soft filters.
The ZEISS Cinema Zoom CZ.2 15-30 zoom has exquisite color rendition and I detected no chromatic aberration. I also liked the contrast on the zoom and felt it was perfect not only for wider shots of actors but as mentioned, so versatile for wide beauty shots. I used the zoom as a variable prime, which allowed me to frame just right. One would be hard pressed to see a difference between this lens and primes of the same focal length.
About Nancy Schreiber
Nancy Schreiber is an award winning cinematographer based in both New York and Los Angeles. She came up through the ranks as an electrician and gaffer, working in commercials features and documentaries for such directors and producers as Martha Coolidge, Michael Hausman, and Richard Pearce.
Find out more about Nancy Schreiber on her website: http://www.nancyschreiber.com/
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