The guys at ShareGrid, Duclos Lenses and OLD FAST GLASS – Cinema Lens Rentals have decided to take an assortment of vintage lenses and create a “vintage cinema lens library”. Using the exact same camera, background, model subject, and lighting they may have very well pulled it off.

“The glass is just one of those things, that it’s such an analog factor you really can’t cheat it. You can’t cheat physics”

-Matt Duclos

On their website http://blog.sharegrid.com/ultimate-vintage-cinema-lens-test you can do a side by side compare with different lenses using a drop down list and it’s a lot of fun play around with! Even I admit I was looking to compare my “cheap” Nikkor primes to some of the most popular cine lenses in the industry like the ARRI/ZEISS Master Primes.

The website also has their lighting diagram, 3D scene mock ups, and of course playable videos from all the tested lenses which include: Canon K-35, ARRI/ZEISS Master Prime, Cooke Speed Panchro, Kowa Cine Prominar, Lieca R, Lomo, Nikon AI-S, and Zeiss Super Speed MKIII.