Hi All,
Thanks for the interest in the business. With the surge of s35mm content for broadcast over the last two years these lenses are designed for professional cameramen and production companies that require a set of great lenses and camera compatible. From ENG based camera to s35mm can be a pretty hairy move.
A set of 5 CP.2 lenses could be purchased for £13.5K or for example a set of Kine 5 lenses for just under £4k. This set also rents out for £150 a day, that's a three percent return daily. This can be as part of your own kit or to a fellow cameraman, production company or rental house.
I work as a freelance Documentary Cameraman and do believe these are good value. £1500 for the set that JamesEdge mentioned is a very good price or the lenses wont be in good condition. These lenses have been around for a long time, if they were used as intended, professionally, they wont be up to scratch. An 85 or 18 for less than 500/600 is a good price these days. Of course you can buy these lenses yourself and make your own set, I encourage it, what better way to know your glass than research it. If however you've just got a 15 day shoot on the F5 and are more used to shooting on the pmw-800 then these lenses are of great value. In essence the consideration of value is not a universal trait. What is value for one is not for another.
"Clickless aperture is only good if you think your going to change it during a shot"
I would say clickless aperture to be essential for any cameraman, we deal with moving images. I've worked on a lot of studio shows and even in controlled lighting situations the stop is often racked.
I also can't see why they're not including the 35/1.4 or 50/1.4 in their kit.
To include the 35mm T1.4 would drive the cost up too much, it sells in the second hand market for around £1500 itself. On this note the sets we do are only guide sets. We recently delivered to FixaFilm, a rental house in Poland, this set included the 35mm 1.4 and the 21mm.
I hope this answers some of the questions raised, if anyone has any points or question feel free to keep the conversation going or e-mail me direct
billy@kinelenses.comAll the Best
Billy