However, in feature film work, some lens collections can easily cost $250,000 for a set of 6 lenses (Leica Sumicron-C). Cooke lenses could reach $100k. So, not many people owned these either. You just rent. You then get to write all of it off as an expense on the budget of the production. Camera gear used to be so expensive that few owned.
The bigger rental houses make all their money on other things -- the ROI on sandbags, sound blankets, even consumables is ridiculous compared to cameras. (Granted I'm blending grip and camera, but some houses do both.)
You're also competing with owner/operators, and even in-house studio operations. It doesn't scale -- relationships matter and it's highly regional. Compared to other ways to put your capital to work, it's not a great investment.
They rent cameras too, not just lenses. The RED Raven model (one of the NetFlix approved models) rents for $490/week. That's just for the "body" (what RED calls the "brain"). A full kit with accessories is $850/week. Lenses are on top of that.
I think there’s a good mix between rent and own as there’s a lot of diversity in creators.
Arri puts out a new Alexa and you can maybe get one if you have a hundred grand in your pocket, but there are some master primes or legacy sets that are simply not for sale.
We can make microchips for a few quid but a metal tube with a few small lumps of shaped glass costs 10,000 times as much? Seems unlikely.
Is it a fashion thing, like unless it has the right logo on the lens body then the producers reject it?
And the reason you want one of these expensive lenses, is that they can do things that other lenses physically cannot and can never be persuaded to do.
The famous Carl Zeiss Planar 50 mm f0. 7 lens used in Barry Lyndon is special because it can physically let more light into your camera than any other lens. That’s why nasa commissioned a set of them from Zeiss to use in filming the moon landing.
Don't remember the sources for the anecdote, sorry. But the wikipedia page corresponds:
Note that even then they had to use brighter candles (they had 3 wicks instead of one).
As for quality, the highest of high end lenses are much sharper for a given f-stop, and sometimes have higher t-stop ratings, than cheaper lenses you can get. They will look consistent through all focus settings, and won't "breathe" (zoom while focusing). The lenses also come as a matched set, so you can switch between focal lengths and the images look the same -- no color shift or aesthetic change. This puts a huge number of constraints on the lens designer, requiring different materials and manufacturing processes. Cinema lenses aren't irrationally priced, even if the demand is driven by aesthetics.
And yes, modern lens designers could probably recreate classic lenses. No, it's not economically viable, even at outrageous prices. (Because you can digitally fake most of the obvious artifacts, and the few people who really care about the in-camera look aren't enough to justify the engineering cost.)
There may also be a minor materials issue; some of the glass used in very old lenses was pretty exotic, some were even mildly radioactive. It's possible those glasses are not available since there are better replacement options in glass catalogs now. But this is just speculative, I haven't tried to source thorium glass. (Yet?)
Depends. Some of the gear mentioned on the Netflix page can be afforded even by ambitioned hobbyists, others - especially the lenses - are way too expensive for anyone sans big studios.
Major studios will have a selection of their own equipment, but rent from companies like ARRI (who, coincidentally or not, make their own cameras of which some are rent-only) for projects requiring more than that - or anything on location in foreign countries. It's easier to call up Arri and have them and their local offices deal with cameras, lighting equipment and the likes than to ship all that stuff around the world, deal with customs etc.
> Is there an aggregated marketplace where I could be able to put my camera for rent if I do eventually get one?
In Germany there's gearo, no idea about any other.