There has been considerable discussion of the Zeiss ZE lenses used for motion and stills on Canon bodies. I have tested most all of the Zeiss ZE line, and have compared them to the Canon lenses and to Nikon mounted on a Canon. Here is the bottom line: When I shot a big stills ad job 2 weeks ago I had all the various glass there to use, and after about 10 shots it became obvious, use the Canon lenses. The Zeiss, even if the beep focus worked well, which it absolutely does not, is just too slow to work and too tiring on my eyes. Keep it simple, use the Canons on a Canon body.
I had a chance to see Shane Hurlbuts short film made for Canon and shot with their lenses. It looked great on a big screen. That settles that. If you are a total gear head and must have the Zeiss cinema primes, go ahead and spend the 25k. But for me, it is going to be all Canon all the time. As to the Nikons, as much as I love the 50 1.2, which is the best 50 still lens ever made, it will not focus accurately in focus confirmation mode on a Canon. In live view, it is great, but from now on, I am going to keep it simple and just use the Canon glass.
For all of us, myself included, we need to focus on what we do best: tell stories. Anything that interferes with that has to go. If you are puzzling over which piece of glass to use, bring less, use zooms, or only bring 3 or 4 primes. Stop with the insanity of the Franken-Cameras and get on with tell the story. As the brilliant Ed Kashi told me “All that gear gets between my heart and my subject and I couldn’t work like that”. Well said Ed.
