It was a good idea to develop all 12. Having this huge spread of lenses, with all the in-between focal lengths, is a great advantage for us, and we have used and needed all of them. As you know, "The Perfume" is a historical film, and that often limits where we can put the camera. Sometimes we simply cannot move the camera any more forward or backwards, and to be able to then put on the perfect lens is great. For this kind of film all those different focal lengths makes a lot of sense.
MSM: How do they perform for you, as a focus puller?
CA: I love the scales on the focus ring. They are very good and the numbers are very easy to see. I think it is great that all Master Primes have the same size and front diameter and that the focus and iris rings are in the same place. I also like where the focus and iris rings are positioned, it makes working with follow focus and lens motors very easy. The whole ergonomics are very well thought out.
I also feel that the Master Primes have a very organic focus fall of. It makes for a very pleasant image to look at, this is something I have always liked about the Cookes. In that respect the Master Primes perform like the Cookes, I very much appreciate this. I also think it makes focus pulling easier, there is no sharp drop of, no point when all of a sudden the image is out of focus, but rather a gentle change from in focus to out of focus. This makes my job easier, even though they are T1.3 lenses.
MSM: Why were the Master Primes chosen?
CA: Tom and Frank (director and cinematographer) chose these lenses for a variety of reasons, but two things they really liked were the nice out of focus highlights and their resistance to flare. The out of focus highlights are important for a certain image quality, a soft, natural looking image. And the resistance to flare is also very important for us. We have some complex CGI work that has to be done with lights actually in the frame. Having lots of flares in the lens would affect the whole frame and be a big problem. But the Master Primes are amazing. We did a lot of tests with lights that are in the shot, pointing directly into the lens. It was surprising how well the Master Primes were able to handle this. You can place soft or hard lights directly into the frame, and there are no flares. And resolution and contrast are outstanding. This will make post production much easier.
MSM: At what stop do you work on this show?
CA: We shoot usually at T2 or T2.5, those are our standard stops at night, and we get an outstanding image quality from the Master Primes at those stops. When we shoot daylight we shoot at T5.6, and that looks equally good.
MSM: Are you using any other primes in addition to the Master Primes?
CA: No. Both first and second unit use Master Primes. We have 11 Master Primes on the first unit, all focal lengths except the 65 mm, which is not ready yet, we were told, and the second unit also has some Master Primes. Why should we use other prime lenses when we can shoot everything with the Master Primes?
MSM: And what cameras are you using?
CA: An ARRICAM Studio is our A camera, an ARRICAM Lite is the B camera and our Steadicam camera, we use a 235 for hand held and special rigs and an ARRI Wireless Remote System. All cameras are shooting 3 perforations. The 235 really is a handy little camera. We have, for instance, something we call the "Nose cam". It is a 235 mounted to a parachute helmet, and the camera looks into a mirror that shows the actor's nose. So we can shoot the nose as the actor is moving around naturally.
MSM: Thank you for this interview.
Marc Shipman-Mueller
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