Quite a while ago, when DSLR filmmaking took over, ZEISS introduced the CP.2 series, the first line of cinema lenses that was really targeted at DSLR filmmakers. I bought a set and it has served me well for many years, using it with all kinds of cameras, even when I switched from Canon to Sony many years ago. What’s amazing is that you can adapt these lenses to all kinds of mounts, and you can do it yourself, which means almost endless versatility. They also cover full-frame camera sensors from the get-go, which is not true with most higher-end cinema primes. 

ZEISS CP.2’s and CP.3’s were designed over a long period of time – and look less consistent

The CP.2s and also their successors, the CP.3’s, are amazing lenses in their own right. Yet, as always, there are some caveats: Many of the ten different Compact Prime focal lengths are still based on older lens designs, mostly made for photography lenses, and they were not all designed at the same time – which means, looking at the entire line of lenses, their look is not entirely consistent.

Secondly, having the ability to adapt these lenses to older, long flange-distance mounts like PL and EF as well as modern mirrorless mounts like E-mount means that for many focal lengths, a long tube has to be added to the mirrorless mount to get to the needed flange distance. 

Last but not least, this mount versatility also means that the lenses can’t all be super fast because of the light loss involved with the needed construction of such long mounts. 

ZEISS Nano Primes: 6 new lenses, universal T1.5 aperture, small, consistent look, entirely new design

ZEISS decided to tackle these three problems all at once by developing an entirely new line of cinema primes. And here they are: the ZEISS Nano Primes. 

What you can see immediately is their resemblance to the CP.2 and CP.3 line of lenses. When we received the Nano Primes, I didn’t immediately realize that they are quite a bit smaller, but you can see this clearly when you place them next to a CP.2 especially. 

Now, here’s what’s amazing: ZEISS launched six focal lengths of the Nano Primes at the same time, 18mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm, and all of them have a very fast maximum aperture of T1.5. That’s especially impressive for wide-angle and telephoto lenses, and of course, to have this consistency is extremely useful when working on sets. Having the ability to isolate subjects and objects even with a wide-angle lens like the 18 or 24mm is very useful in everyday shooting scenarios, I can’t emphasize this enough. 

Look of the ZEISS Nano Primes: Crisp focus, yet creamy bokeh

Now let’s talk about the look – of course, this is subjective, but ZEISS is known to design optically perfect lenses, favoring sharpness and clarity. In the past, some of their lenses could be seen as a bit “clinical” in their look for that reason, especially when comparing them to some more  “dreamy” or vintage-looking lenses, for example, the typical “Cooke look”. With their more recent Supreme Primes which are targeted at high-end productions, ZEISS introduced a more creamy and warmer bokeh while not sacrificing any of the sharpness, which became extremely successful. And when looking at some test footage that I shot with the new Nano Primes, I think they did a great job replicating that look with this less expensive range of lenses. They really look like they could be very complimentary to Supreme Primes in a lot of ways, or even be used instead of them in lower-budget productions. I like the fact that for once, we are not seeing another set of cinema lenses that deliver a vintage-look, like we’ve seen so many times over the last few years from various manufacturers. ZEISS is still about optical perfection, giving you an image you can tweak in post if you need to, while now already delivering a very cinematic and soft bokeh that takes away the digital edge from many modern cinema cameras. 

Technical performance of the ZEISS Nano Primes: bokeh look, sharpness, focus breathing, chromatic aberration

Let’s take a look at the technical performance of the Nano Primes. We looked at sharpness, focus breathing, and chromatic aberration. You can find the details of our technical tests in my review article on CineD linked below, but let me just state here, that the results are overall extremely impressive. Even at T1.5, all of the lenses deliver very sharp images, even in the edges.

Focus breathing is very controlled, even with the 100mm lens. It’s very hard to find weaknesses in these technical tests with the ZEISS Nano Primes, but if you force me to, it’s probably the 24mm lens that features slightly inferior corner sharpness and a little more focus breathing compared to the other lenses in the set. Yet its performance is still very, very good, it’s only when compared to the others that you can see a slight difference, which is completely negligible in everyday shooting scenarios. 

The look of the lenses, both in the real-life test shots as well as in the technical tests – is also proven to be very consistent now. You can tell that these six lenses were designed at the same time: bokeh, out-of-focus highlights, sharpness, chromatic aberration behavior, you name it – they all look very much the same with all of these lenses. As Christophe Casaneve from ZEISS pointed out in our interview (watch it here), ZEISS also had access to much more modern, fully digitized design processes now, which allows them to fully design lenses on the computer before they put them into reality. The full, very insightful interview is embedded below, in case you want to know more about the work that went on behind the scenes to create these lenses:

For a lot more technical details about the ZEISS Nano Primes, head over to our Lens Database where we already added all the focal lengths:

Close focusing distance, build quality of Nano Primes

Close focusing distance of all of the lenses is very good – they are definitely not macro lenses, but the close focus is better than what you would expect with most of the focal lengths. In the Compact Primes lineup, ZEISS added macro versions of the 50 and 100mm lenses, maybe these will be added at some point to the Nano Primes, too. 

Build quality is exceptional as you might expect from ZEISS, the weight is comparatively light but similar to most Compact Primes, but none of the six focal lengths of the Nano Primes is exceptionally heavy. Focus and aperture barrel movements are smooth and the resistance feels right. With the CP.2’s it was a bit too strong at times, something which ZEISS fixed on the CP.3’s, and with the Nano Primes, it’s just as smooth. Focus rotation is 280 degrees from macro to infinity and 90 degrees for iris on all of the lenses. 

E-Mount, future mounts (speculation), and electronic connection

Let’s talk about mounts again: At the time of the launch, the ZEISS Nano Primes were only available with E-mount. What’s great is while these lenses are, of course, fully manual lenses, the lenses still transfer lots of data back to the camera: not only aperture data and focus distance but also additional lens data for distortion and vignetting is available through the ZEISS CinCraft ecosystem for post-production purposes. That means, there will be no separate XD-version of the lenses needed like with the CP.3 lenses, they are perfect for VFX acquisition from the get-go.

While they are only E-mount now, the mount is user-interchangeable and ZEISS already announced that other mirrorless mounts will be available in the near future. Which ones exactly they haven’t announced yet, but here’s hoping it’s going to be L-mount, RF-mount, and Z-mount, all of which weren’t available for the Compact Primes, to my knowledge.

We took off the E-mount to check how easy it is to swap the mounts once other mount options will be available, and were pleasantly surprised: It’s only four screws – there were a lot more on Compact Primes – and ZEISS uses Pogo pins for the electronic connection. There is no fiddling with cables or anything like that, so this should really be safe for an owner-operator to do, even if they are not trained lens technicians. Of course, the lenses mounts can be shimmed once that will be needed for upcoming mounts, to correct the back focus. 

Now, let’s talk about the one obvious drawback of the Nano Primes compared to the Compact Primes: the inability to adapt these lenses to PL, EF, or any other longer-flange mounts. I have to admit, when I first heard that this wasn’t possible, I was surprised. But after hearing the advantages of this – faster T-stops, more consistency across the line, and smaller lenses, I quickly understood why this makes so much sense. And think about it: Even higher-end cameras like the Sony VENICE 2 or BURANO by now have an E-Mount, RED cameras feature an RF-Mount – maybe it’s just a matter of time until we have native mirrorless mounts on all high-end cameras with no need for PL anymore. The big downside of course: you cannot use adapters with mirrorless mounts because of their short flange distance, so the mount on the lens needs to be natively fitting to the camera mount. But I guess we can’t have it all…

Conclusion of ZEISS Nano Primes Review

If you are in the market for a set of consistently looking, tack-sharp, modern cinema primes with a pleasing bokeh, and if you’re predominantly shooting on Sony BURANO, VENICE or VENICE 2, FX9, FX6 or even FX3, look no further. The ZEISS Nano Primes are perfectly optimized for these cameras. And in the near future, they’ll also work on other cameras with mirrorless mounts. The ZEISS Nano Primes start shipping in May, and the set of six lenses will set you back 26,000 dollars or 23,000 Euros. 

What do you think about the ZEISS Nano Primes? Let us know in the comments below!

As a documentary filmmaker shooting mostly on full-frame cameras, I am facing a constant battle: What is the best zoom to use to stay decently small with my kit, and still be able to cover the full zoom range that I need? Usually, the answer has been photo zooms: They are small and affordable. Some of the downsides are: hard to focus manually, no smooth zoom operation, and impossible to use with a follow focus – and often inconsistent in the look they deliver across the range of several lenses because that’s not a priority for photo lenses, as opposed to motion picture lenses. 

The emergence of affordable cinema zooms

In the last few years, we have seen the emergence of more affordable cinema zoom lenses, but it’s been a much slower development than with affordable primes, simply because they are harder to make.

It’s important to point out, that many of these more affordable cinema zooms are made for Super35mm and not full-frame sensors. The reason for it is simple: It’s difficult to make a full-frame cinema zoom and keep the size, weight, and price down simultaneously.

The obvious: Laowa Ranger specs

In comes Laowa with their Ranger series and somehow they seem to have found a solution to the problem. The Laowa Ranger 28-75mm and the 75-180mm are both less than 20cm or 7.5 inches long, weigh only 1.4 kilograms or just over 3 pounds each, and both feature a fast T2.9 aperture.

Only recently, they announced even lighter versions of both these zoom lenses, which shed about 10 percent of their weight – this might not sound like a lot, but in fact, it will make it easier to balance them on a gimbal with a small camera, so that’s very welcome. 

Third lens in the Laowa Ranger line-up is coming

The zoom range is decent and covers much of what is needed in day-to-day shooting scenarios. Laowa also announced that there will be a third, wider zoom added to the lineup, covering 16 to 30mm.

This will complete the line and provide a huge range covering all the focal range needs of a documentary filmmaker like me. 

Non-digital look with pleasant sharpness

A Laowa Ranger review also needs some footage – and looking at what I got with the lenses, they strike a nice balance between sharpness and a non-digital look that doesn’t attract too much attention to itself. It seems like these are great all-rounder lenses for individual projects. The closest comparison to the Laowa Rangers will be the DZOFILM Catta zooms, which are also made for full-frame sensors, and which I reviewed earlier.

The Laowa Rangers look distinctively less “vintage” than the Catta Zooms, giving an overall sharper look, which is welcome and makes them very versatile as regular take-with-me-anywhere zoom lenses. 

Front diameter, focus throw, barrel movement

Apart from their identical weight, it’s also great that both Laowa Ranger lenses share an 80-millimeter diameter for clamp-on matte boxes and a 77-millimeter filter thread for screw-on filters. The lenses use standard .8 pitch gears for zoom, aperture, and focus barrels. When you swap between the lenses on your camera, you will not have to move the follow focus because the positions of the gears are identical on both lenses.

Distances are marked in both feet and meters on the lenses. The focus throw is 270 degrees, so maybe a little bit too much to rack focus from macro to infinity without a follow focus, but perfect to control with something like a Tilta Nucleus M remote follow focus system. When rotating the barrels, you can feel some minor inconsistencies, but nothing too noticeable, which is a decent result considering the price bracket of these lenses. 

Laowa Ranger mount options

Having a set of manual cine zoom lenses like the Laowa Ranger Cinema Zooms means that versatility is key – of course, there’s no autofocus, as is common with cinema zoom lenses, but that has the upside of interchangeability, allowing them to be used on practically any camera with their interchangeable mount.

And in terms of that mount interchangeability, they are among the most versatile cinema zooms I have ever come across. By default, the Laowa Rangers come with a PL mount, but you can swap it yourself for the included EF mount. Optionally, you can also buy RF, E, Z, and L mounts for these lenses, or you can simply use an adapter like a Metabones to adapt the EF or PL version of the lenses on a shorter flange distance mount. 

Convenient back focus adjustment without shimming

What’s great is that you can adjust the back focus of the Laowa Ranger lenses using a built-in ring at the back of the lenses, instead of having to shim your lenses when changing mounts.

That’s something we know particularly well from broadcast lenses, but it’s great that Laowa puts this feature into a cinema zoom, which makes the lives of owner-operators who use their lenses on various camera types easier, as well as saving a lot of time for rental houses as this is simply a faster process than shimming a lens. 

Covering full-frame – and beyond?

As mentioned earlier, part of the Laowa Rangers’ versatility also comes from their coverage of full-frame sensors. If you go beyond the size of a normal full-frame sensor and try them, for example, on a RED VistaVision sensor, you might run into some vignetting with these lenses.

To find out exactly if the Laowa Rangers will cover the sensor of your choice, head over to the CineD Databases and check with our Lens Coverage Tool. There, you can combine any lens with any camera sensor in any of their shooting modes to see if a sensor is covered by a particular lens. 

Sharpness tests

Building full-frame cine zoom lenses with a range of 28-75 millimeters and 75-180 millimeters in such small, almost identically-sized packages, is no easy feat – but does it come with compromises to the performance of those lenses? For this Laowa Ranger review, we ran our series of technical tests to find out.

First, let’s look at sharpness. Looking at the wider zoom lens at its starting focal range of 28mm at T2.9, we can see that the lens is quite sharp, not only at the image center but also in the corners with only minor sharpness falloff – not every lens performs this well in the corners when shooting wide open. Of course, when stopping down to T4 and T5.6, sharpness is usually getting better, but we see almost no difference in comparison to an already good performance at T2.9. 

Corner sharpness seems to decrease on the 28-75mm when zooming in further, with less sharpness in the corners at 70mm, for example, but still totally within reasonable limits. 

I see very similar, maybe slightly better corner sharpness throughout the range of the 75-180mm lens. With the longer zoom lens, corner sharpness also seems to be more consistent with hardly any visible change. 

Distortion tests

Now let’s shift our attention to distortion, and let’s look at those recordings again. At 28 millimeters with the wider zoom lens, we can see some visible barrel distortion. This is an expected compromise at the wide end of a wide zoom lens that’s built with a comparatively small diameter front element like this Laowa Ranger lens. It’s a trade-off I am happy to make as a documentary filmmaker in exchange for having a compact lens – and it’s also an issue that disappears quite quickly when zooming in. At 35 millimeters, that distortion is only minimal, and at around 50 millimeters, it disappears. 

It’s noteworthy that with the longer 75-180mm lens, there is a little bit of barrel distortion visible at 75 millimeters but much less than at the wide end of the 28-75mm lens. This means that when required to shoot at a 75-millimeter focal length, I recommend using the wider of the two zoom lenses to get less distortion. But of course, there is a similar story here with the 75-180mm lens – the distortion disappears almost immediately when zooming in from 75 millimeters. 

Focus breathing & parfocal tests, minimum focus distance, bokeh

Focus breathing within these lenses exists, but seems quite controlled. The 28-75 performs better in that regard than its longer focal-length brother, but that’s to be expected. 

One of the features that make cinema zoom lenses stand out from photo zoom lenses is the fact that they should be parfocal, and the Laowa Ranger lenses both stand out in that regard. When you change the focal length with a parfocal zoom lens, the focus at the center is maintained. With the Rangers, we sometimes observe a slight, hardly noticeable focus shift when changing the focal length, but for the price of these lenses, the performance is impressive in that regard. Making parfocal zooms is no easy task, and it’s one of the reasons why high-end cinema zooms are a lot more expensive, but the Rangers do a decent job considering their position in the market. 

The minimum focus distance for the 28-75mm is 49 centimeters or 1 foot 7 inches, and 75 centimeters or 2 foot 11 inches for the 75-180mm lens. These are quite decent minimum focus distances, especially for the wider zoom. 

Bokeh looks nice and I would call it “cinematic looking” although you can recognize the nine-blade iris by the shape of the out-of-focus highlights, especially at the wider focal lengths. Chromatic aberration is controlled but seems to be more visible with the longer 75-180mm lens. 

Conclusion: great price/performance all-rounder zoom lenses

Wrapping up my review on the Laowa Ranger, I have to say I enjoyed my time with these zooms and I think they are already finding a good spot in the market.

The price/performance ratio is certainly great as they can surely replace a lot of other lenses in everyday shooting scenarios due to their small size and weight, speed, zoom range, and look. Talking about the look they produce, I like how much they make natural-looking, sharp images that look alike, with very little distortion and hardly any other image problems. The image looks cinematic and definitely like it’s coming from much more expensive lenses. Overall, I recommend the Laowa Rangers if you are looking for cinema zooms that punch well above their weight, cover the full zoom range, and don’t break the bank. 

Do you prefer to work with Zoom or fixed focal length Cine Lenses on your productions? Did you have a chance to work with the Laowa Ranger Zoom Lenses? Please share with us your thoughts in the comment section below.

Simply put, in the beginning, there was a camera, and then lenses were created… Sounds logical, doesn’t it? One can say, essentially, this is all you need for creating your next blockbuster. Everything else can be considered as an “extra” or a “bonus” if you like. Looking at the current market situation, it seems many manufacturers have realized this, otherwise, I have no other explanation as to why so many companies have started to produce lenses. So now the market is booming with a bunch of offerings. Some are more interesting than others, but in the end, this kind of competition works best for us, the independent filmmakers, who are looking for good lens quality and value for money.

NiSi ATHENA Lenses

Earlier this year during NAB 2023, NiSi exposed their ATHENA line of lenses. And now, those lenses have finally hit the market and are being sold as a set of five, or, you can purchase the 14mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm separately. When it comes to mounts, there is a variety to choose from. For mirrorless cameras, NiSi is currently offering native Canon RF, LEICA/Panasonic/SIGMA L, Sony E, and FUJIFILM G mount options. In addition, the ATHENA lenses can be ordered to arrive with a PL mount. It is worth mentioning that the PL mount version has no drop-in filter option. So does the FUJIFILM G lenses, while the Sony E mount comes in two flavors, with or without a “drop-in filter” option. More about those “drop-in filters”, is down below.

In this review, I paired the NiSi Athena lenses with the Sony a7S III and tested what it’s like working with them while filming a mini-documentary. By the way, in case you are interested, my main “working horse” for that video was the 25mm lens. It proved to be the focal length that suited my type of work during that day best. When it comes to the Sony a7S III, I still love working with it, but I couldn’t help but notice that certain “signs of aging” are becoming a bit noticeable… Maybe the feature that I was missing most was the ability to record externally via USB-C in a “ProRes-like quality” codec.

As I previously mentioned, the ATHENA lenses will come in a variety of mounts, and while it is very easy to adapt the PL version to attach it to different mirrorless cameras, most of the ATHENA native mirrorless mounts have the advantage of having a drop-in filter feature. As far as I’m concerned, this is a welcomed solution that can help with reducing the overall camera setup size, especially when running and gunning.

Drop-in Filters

At the time of making this review, no drop-in filters were available, but lots of different filter options are supposed to hit the market in early 2024. 

Talking about these filters, I checked with NiSi if only the filter glass element itself can be sold or if it will always include the metal tray, and the answer was, “only with the metal tray”. I hope that NiSi will consider selling the filter glass element on its own, as it can maybe reduce the overall product price or even support the environment a bit. 

Now, please allow me to highlight some of the advantages of these new lenses, and I would like to start with their compactness. One has to love the compact form factor. They are nice to hold and simply feel robust. In addition, NiSi managed to pretty much control the weight of these lenses and nail it to around 890 grams (but the 14mm) for the Sony E mount version with drop-in filter, so if you are working with a gimble for example, changing focal lengths should be straightforward.

All lenses in this family are marked at a maximum T1.9 aperture, except for the 14mm which is T2.4. Having such fast lenses surely helps with achieving beautiful bokeh but please take into consideration that when working wide open at T1.9, the image tends to be a bit soft on the sides. Closing the aperture to T2.8 makes things better, but for sharper images across the frame, T4.0 is your safer bet.

It’s also very nice to see that focus breathing is extremely well controlled next to minimalistic chromatic aberration.

One spec that I like to mention with these lenses is the image circle size. Having a 46mm Image circle means that the lenses can cover full-frame sensors and beyond. For example, you can mount the PL, or G lens versions on the FUJIFILM GFX large format camera, and depending on the resolution you choose, you might have minimal vignetting on the height of the image but not the width.

What else: Lens gears are all lined up in the same position, markings are clearly visible on both sides, and we also have high visibility paint which is not glowing in the dark, yet still, very useful in different set conditions.

Lens consistency continues with the front diameter which is 80mm and the inner filter thread for attaching traditional filters like a vari-ND is 77mm. In any case, these diameter measurements help with keeping the overall compactness of the lenses.

If you opt to buy the five-piece lens set, you might consider getting the practical carrying case that can easily accommodate all lenses and even leaves some space for a future lens.

When it comes to lens distortion, some focal lengths are doing better than others, but distortion is certainly there. Yet, it might not be distracting when working in the field…

Things to consider and improve

When it comes to improvement, there are two points I would like to touch. One is the number of lenses currently offered. Of course, you have to start “somewhere”, but additional focal lengths will be a welcomed addition. NiSi already hinted at working on a 135mm lens, and I guess that this is the reason for having one additional space in the hardshell case.

The other thing I wanted to highlight is the built quality of those lenses. In general, I really like what I see, but, one of the two demo 25mm lenses gave me the hardest time when it comes to mechanical and optical reliability. I had some issues with the lens focus ring (Stiff focus at some point) and drop-in filter tray not locking well, next to having a single spot in the lens itself which caused some unwanted reflections. Luckily, I had no similar issues with the rest of the lenses in the kit. (NiSi assured me that those are isolated issues with those specific demo lenses).

Final thoughts

Throughout 2023 we have tested a good deal of lenses. Most had some kind of “vintage look” built into them. Now, while some will say that the “vintage look” is an excuse to produce optically inferior lenses, let’s give the respected manufacturers the benefit of the doubt. In this regard, NiSi chose the opposite way by introducing good clean, natural-looking optically wise lenses. Let me put it differently, the optical performance of those lenses is consistent, almost clinical, which in many ways is a good starting point as you can alter the look by yourself with some good frontal anamorphic adapters or different filtersation for example.

One thing that I’m reluctant to talk about is what NiSi calls “Micro Contrast Control“. I don’t want to talk about a subject that I only have limited knowledge of, so I’ll just say that according to NiSi, you get more life-like images with these lenses. One way to observe this is by turning your image to black and white and seeing the greater graduation with a large number of grey shades. For the sake of simplicity, may I dare say that this resembles an 8-bit vs. 10-bit picture coming out of a camera? (Like a “10-bit lens”)… :)

So all in all, for indie filmmakers, this set of lenses represents a great balance between optical performance and price!

Acknowledgment: Many thanks to Naoyuki-san who opened the doors of his Italian restaurant Cadota for my visit and allowed me to be with him for a few hours. Higashi-Nagasaki neighborhood in Tokyo is a beautiful quiet place and I truly recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves french fries. And many thanks to Jay Choma who helped with editing this lovely piece! Color grading made with CineD/fylm.ai LUT builder. Try it here.

What do you think of this NiSi ATHENA set of lenses? Do you have experience working with them? If you haven’t already, will you consider getting them? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

These two new focal lengths are a follow-up to the existing Saturn 35mm T2.9 1.6x launched last year as the “most compact full-frame anamorphic lens ever made”, but we’ll get to that in a second.

These lenses are designed to be extremely compact and lightweight, so SIRUI only offers them in 6 mirrorless mount options: Canon RF, DJI DL, FUJIFILM X, Leica L, Nikon Z, and Sony E. However, bear in mind that the mount is not user-interchangeable. So, once you make your choice, there’s no way back.

For this review, SIRUI was kind enough to send me a Z mount version of the Saturn 50mm and 75mm so I could pair them with my Nikon Z 9. Before we dive deep into the specs and I give you my impression on how it was to film with these lenses, make sure to check out the sample footage I captured over the last few days while strolling around in Milan in the video above.

Lightweight and compact design

While there are other budget, full-frame, anamorphic options on the market, including SIRUI’s own Venus series, what really sets the Saturn lenses apart is their size and weight. The front part of the barrel is made of carbon fiber, but this doesn’t affect the overall build quality at all.

Honestly, I was really impressed when I first held these lenses in my hands. If you’ve ever worked with the SIRUI 1.33x APS-C anamorphic primes, then you know what I’m talking about.

The Saturn lenses measure pretty much the same but are lighter, even though they’re designed to cover full-frame. And this is quite remarkable.

The 35mm still remains the lightest in the series – with a weight of around 400 grams, depending on the lens mount option that you choose – but the 50mm and 75mm tip the scale at only 470g and 480g respectively. However, if you’re mounting your camera on a gimbal, even a slight 10-gram variance matters, so you will still need to fine-tune your balance slightly.

Using filters

Another caveat of switching lenses within the Saturn series is that the size of the front filter thread is not consistent across the set. Indeed, while the 35mm takes 58mm filters, the new 50mm and 75mm have a front filter thread of 62mm. This means you have to use at least one adapter ring, which is somewhat tedious.

Or, you could mount an adapter ring to all lenses and use a clamp-on matte box, for example. But to me, this makes little sense, since you would lose the biggest benefit of shooting with these lenses – the fact that you can take them pretty much wherever you go.

Focus and iris gears

On a positive note, the position of the manual focus and iris gears is unified across the set, so working with a follow focus system is a breeze. Focus markings are engraved in both metric and imperial scales. The focus ring feels quite smooth and has a throw of 120°. I think this is a good range, especially if you’re often pulling focus directly on the lens barrel as a solo operator.

On the other hand, the lenses definitely don’t shine when it comes to close focus. The minimum focus distance is 0.9m/3ft. on both lenses, so you need to use diopters if you want to get very close to your subject.

I think this is one of the biggest tradeoffs that SIRUI had to make in order to keep the size and weight of these lenses down, along with the maximum aperture of T2.9 – which can be quite limiting in low-light scenarios.

1.6x squeeze – a rare beast

Ok, but now let’s move on to what really matters – the anamorphic characteristics of these lenses. If you’re shooting on a 16:9 sensor, the 1.6x squeeze factor allows you to produce final images with a wide 2.8:1 aspect ratio – or, if your camera allows for 3:2 capture, you will end up with a 2.4:1 image.

Also, the 1.6x squeeze means that the 50mm provides the horizontal FOV of a 31mm spherical lens, while the 75mm behaves like a 47mm (horizontally).

I found myself using the 75mm more often than the 50mm, and I think that’s due to a combination of minimum focus distance and horizontal FOV. I like shooting close-ups where my subject is isolated from the background, and since both lenses have the same minimum focus distance, the greater magnification of the 75mm helped me do just that.

Unfortunately, no Nikon mirrorless camera to date supports dedicated anamorphic recording modes, nor do they have an in-camera de-squeeze function. So, if you’re like me and need an external monitor to properly display the image, just make sure that it does have a de-squeeze function built-in.

By the way, 1.6x is quite an unusual value to work with, so some basic math may be required to properly de-squeeze the image on your external monitor or inside your editing software.

Blue or neutral?

One of the most sought-after traits of an anamorphic lens is its flare, and SIRUI gives us two options here: blue or neutral. The former produces the classic blue streaks that we’re used to from science-fiction films, while with the neutral option, the flare picks up the color of the light source. Unfortunately, I only had the chance to play around with blue flare lenses, so I cannot speak for the neutral option.

I shot some isolated flare tests at different aperture values and focus distances, as these can reveal more of the “Saturn look”. As you can tell, the blue light streak takes the stage, even when light hits the front element of the lens at extreme angles. As you start panning towards the light source with the 75mm, veiling glare, and eyelash flare easily kick in. These are less prominent on the 50mm, which is dominated by spot flares instead.

As far as I’m concerned, I think these flares look “too classic” and lack a bit of personality. But that ultimately comes down to personal taste.

Optical evaluation

Both lenses are quite sharp at the center, even wide open. But if we take a look at the edges of the frame, they are a little soft at T2.9. Things get better if you stop down your aperture to T4, and at T5.6 the lenses are pretty much perfect, but I don’t see many people closing down their aperture this much.

The oval bokeh looks pretty nice and smooth, and it only gets a little irregular towards the edges of the frame. Some degree of chromatic aberration is happening, but it looks pretty well controlled.

One thing to be aware of though is that both the 50mm and the 75mm showcase a fair amount of pin-cushion distortion, which I’m not a big fan of. You can reduce this by fixing it in post or setting your camera to APS-C/Super35 mode. However, this is very noticeable in full-frame, so you should be careful with your composition, especially when placing subjects too close to the edges of the frame.

This is also true for focus breathing, as the magnification on both lenses varies quite a bit when racking focus from close to infinity, and back.

Final thoughts

Finally, let’s endeavor to answer the question: who are these lenses for? Well, the first and most obvious target is independent filmmakers. The Super Early Bird price of $999 per piece, or $2,999 for the 3-lens set, is quite appealing. And especially if you’re just starting out with anamorphic, this can be a good place to start. The lenses are easy to carry around wherever you go, and having them on you all the time gives you a lot of freedom to experiment.

However, I also think there’s a place for the Saturn lenses on slightly larger productions. Even if they might not have the strong character it takes to become the main lens choice for a DP on a high-end commercial, they can still be mixed and matched with other lenses for specific shots – especially when mounting a full-sized 50mm or 75mm full-frame anamorphic lens would just be impossible.

Price and availability

The Indiegogo campaign is live now, and the estimated shipping will start in December 2023. See the campaign here.

As always, please take into account that backing a crowdfunding campaign has its risks. We encourage you to research and remember that there is a chance for delays and changes in the final models, and some products are never delivered. Please read carefully Indiegogo’s terms and conditions before backing a project like this.

What do you think of the new SIRUI 50mm and 75mm carbon fiber anamorphic lenses? Are you considering adding them to your kit? Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments down below!

SIRUI is a Chinese lens manufacturer that has pledged to introduce a variety of lenses, whether spherical or anamorphic, to the market at an affordable price. Let me emphasize that these are not rental items. These are all meant for the new breed of creators, be it for the ‘net’ or ‘set’, who are seeking to have their own affordable equipment. In my opinion, SIRUI is doing very well in selling the “dream of endless image possibilities”, especially when it comes to their anamorphic lenses. As far as I recall, they were the first company to introduce budget-friendly anamorphic lenses that previously took this niche market by storm.

SIRUI current line of lenses

Fast forward to today’s offering, and it seems as if SIRUI is moving forward in three directions with its optical endeavor:

• Creating small lightweight anamorphic lenses (Keep an eye on the Saturn. Additional lenses have already been teased and we will have a full review of the new upcoming 50mm and 75mm on November 27th).

• The Nightwalker: These “Cine lenses” were launched successfully a while back and SIRUI already mentioned their plan to grow and support this line with two additional focal length lenses. (See our review here).

• The Sniper line: These new APS-C/S35 autofocus lenses are SIRUI’s first attempt to enter the ever-growing lens market by offering a choice of three mounts (Nikon Z, FUJIFILM X, and Sony E), next to three lengths, 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm. As a side note, the company already confirmed that they are working on two additional focal lengths, 16mm and 75mm. Our sources are telling us that the 16mm in particular will have very little vignetting. We will keep you guys updated with further information when it becomes available.

SIRUI Sniper specs

SIRUI did its best to unify the lens specs across the line. All three lenses have an f/1.2 fast aperture, a similar weight of around 380g, and a 58mm inner diameter leans thread. By the way, we have been asked by some of you for the lens’s outer diameter but we could not get the information, simply because attaching a matte box (for example) is not really possible due to the very thin outer barrel. (I worked with the new H & Y variable lenses and found them easy and useful to work with).

When it comes to color coating, the new lenses will be available in black, white, and metallic aluminum.

OK, enough talk about “cosmetics”. You might wonder how these lenses perform on our chart. Well, as a rule of thumb, the more open these lenses are, the softer they get, and not only at the edges but in the middle, too. This is not surprising at all, especially when considering their aggressive price point. If you want to make sure that your images are sharp, consider f/4 as your starting point (f/2.8 will do as well but by sacrificing a bit of sharpness in the middle). This observation holds true for the entire set.

SIRUI Sniper 23mm

I gathered some images below that my colleague Florian took showcasing the lens with a resolution chart.

First, let’s see how sharp this lens is (just to back up what I wrote above).

Now, let’s see how the lens renders out-of-focus points of light, or what we call “bokeh”. As you can see, the bokeh is not unified across the image. What starts as a circle in the middle ends up as a leaf shape on both edges.

SIRUI Sniper 23mm Bokeh. Image: CineD

SIRUI Sniper 33mm

From an optical standpoint, this lens may slightly outperform the other two, but in practice, it’s the one I’ve used the least. For filming, the 23mm (currently the widest in this family of lenses) and the 56mm (the strongest tele of the trio) were my “workhorses”.

SIRUI Sniper 56mm

Funnily enough, this is the lens I used most while filming, simply because it allowed me to get closer to (the friendly) people out there. The bokeh test below clearly shows what I had suspected – the 56mm has some sort of “halation effect” to it. (All three lenses have it, but it comes out strongest on this lens in particular). At times, when working with a wide-open aperture, it felt like I was filming with a “built-in” 1/8 Pro Mist on the lens. I’ll come back to this phenomenon a bit down the road, but first, let’s look at this 56mm lens against our resolution chart:

As you can see in the above image, color fringing and unwanted color shifting on the edge of objects are very noticeable in some lighting conditions. The same goes for the 23mm and 33mm lenses.

On a positive note

I may have sounded a bit harsh so far, so to sweeten the pill a bit, let me say that the focus breathing is very well controlled. Also, the build quality seems to be very decent, and last but not least, the image that comes out of these lenses reminds me almost “one-to-one” of what I saw and felt when working with the SIRUI Nightwalker. I would not be surprised if both SIRUI’s Sniper and Nightwalker share the same lens elements. It also makes sense when the manufacturer wants to be cost-effective.

In the field

Evaluating a lens based on charts and similar metrics can be somewhat deceptive. Although I can’t argue that the lens quality is far from perfect, it’s still easy to appreciate the images produced by these lenses. If you are wondering “How can that be?”, well, the answer is very simple. At times, optical perfection equals a “lack of (image) identity”. And believe me, I’ve seen it over and over again with lens manufacturers who are aiming for the top by trying to make the sharpest possible lens and more. I’m not suggesting that using cola bottle glass will create “image identity,” but in this specific case, many of the obstacles I listed above contribute to crafting a distinct image. Also, depending on your personal taste or artistic needs, isolating your main object from its background is very easy thanks to the fast f1.2 aperture. (Don’t forget to use a strong ND filter to help you with that)…

OK, lots of words so far, but what about the autofocus performance of these new lenses? Well, it is a bit of a mixed bag.

Sniper autofocus performance

Before I continue to share my experience, I need to highlight that for this review, I was working with a FUJIFILM X-H2 camera. I’m pointing this out because I do not know if the autofocus works well with any of the Sony E or Nikon Z cameras. Even more so if you are a FUJIFILM user and are considering purchasing these lenses – make sure that the camera you are using is listed by SIRUI as qualified. For example, I tried working with the FUJIFILM X-S20, but the camera and lens did not communicate well at all. The result was that the autofocus was constantly searching. (To be fair, this camera is not yet on SIRUI’s list). I reached out to the company and SIRUI said they are working hard to expand the list of compatible filming devices. By the way, if you’re wondering whether the lens can receive future firmware updates then the answer is yes! This can be done via the USB-C connector found on the lens body itself.

Most of the time the Sniper lenses worked OK with the FUJIFILM X-H2. Sometimes the lens decided to “take a break” and didn’t quite cooperate with my desire to focus on a specific point, but overall, it was OK. Even the focus changes between two objects were executed nicely and without any noticeable focus breathing! I also liked the ability to get rather close to an object and still be able to focus on it (especially with the 23mm lens).

However, the electronic communication between the camera and lenses is not only for autofocus, and this is where the Sniper lenses tend to fall short. Modern mirrorless cameras are small and perfect for street photography/filming. Top this with the ability to engage the camera’s in-body image stabilization system (IBIS) and here you have a great run-and-gun device that, in theory, should work with non-stabilized lenses, too. I wish that this was the case with the Snipers. Even after dialing the correct focal length in the FUJIFILM camera itself, it felt as if it had zero effect on the IBIS. The results were severe as I had “micro jittering” in many of the clips I took. (As a side note, to me it always looks as if stabilizing shaky images is easier to fix than micro jittering. If you know of a good solution for that, beyond Premiere warp stabilizer or Davinci Resolve, don’t hesitate to let me know).

My solution was to work with a tripod, but it seemed to go against the idea of working with a compact camera and lens. (For the type of documentary work I usually do I don’t use gimbals, but in this specific case, they could be helpful).

In summary, concerning this specific point, I hope SIRUI can revisit and assess if there’s room for improvement in the communication between the lens and camera, not just limited to autofocus.

Conclusion

In all honesty, I’m a bit torn. The Sniper lenses from SIRUI are far from being optically perfect, yet, there is something in their images that is very engaging! (Call me a “romantic guy”, but that “creamy/dreamy” look when filming wide open is rather appealing). If communication between the camera and lenses can be improved, they can become a truly valid option in the creator’s arsenal as their price is hard to beat. The early bird price for each lens starts at $299, or $849 for the entire set of three lenses.

At the end of every crowdfunding-related article, we remind you to please be aware of the risks when backing a project on a crowdfunding platform. Also, please read the platform’s terms of use and remember there can be significant delays when delivering the product. Some projects don’t get delivered at all.

many thanks to the Pan Note Magic band and other artists for allowing me to film them.

What do you think about the new SIRUI Sniper lenses? Would you consider getting them? Yes/no, please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

SIRUI is probably best known for their affordable tripods and equally affordable anamorphic lenses. In 2022, they added the Jupiter series to their line-up – a series of spherical lenses. They started with 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm versions and a 28-85mm cine zoom lens, and are now completing the line-up with a 75mm and a 100mm lens.

SIRUI Jupiter Cine Lens series: macro by design

All of the Jupiter series lenses have one thing in common: They are macro lenses by design, which of course means that they have a very short minimum focusing distance, around 0.29 meters or around 11 inches. There aren’t too many series of cine lenses on the market that are entirely focused on macro filmmaking, so this is quite unique. The 75mm lens has a T2.8 aperture and maximum 1:1 magnification, and the 100mm lens has the same aperture and offers a maximum 1.5:1 magnification. 

A cohesive set: same gear positions, same front diameter

SIRUI did a good job of unifying a lot of the characteristics of the lenses, which truly makes them a nice cohesive set. For example, both the focus and aperture gears are in the same position on all of the lenses. This makes it very easy to work with them on set as swapping lenses becomes super fast since the follow focus position remains the same. Only the position of a matte box needs to be adjusted on the rails, whereas the matte box donut or screw-on filter itself can remain the same because the front diameter of 95mm is identical on all five of the lenses.

Premium build quality, lightweight design

Build quality feels premium, all the metric and imperial markings are very exact, and there are no inconsistencies that I could find across the lenses. The gear rings move smoothly and strike the right balance between easy to rotate and too much resistance – moving them feels just right. You would think the 75mm and 100mm are heavy lenses when you see them, but in fact, they are fairly lightweight – they weigh between 800 and 900 grams or just under 2 pounds. 

Consistent look with a vintage feel

As far as I can tell, these lenses all produce the same look as well, with matched color tones and similar characteristics. The bokeh has a bit of a vintage, organic feel to it and looks similar on all lenses. I wouldn’t be worried about using a full set of these on one project because the look would be extremely consistent across the production. 

Corner sharpness, fringing, and focus breathing

Let’s take a look at the technical performance of the lenses – but on full-frame 35mm, not the GFX sensor, because that’s what they are really built for. 

Corner sharpness is exceptionally good on both lenses even wide open at T2.8 – they look very sharp almost edge to edge with very little sharpness fall-off. There is also almost no visible fringing on the 100mm lens and only very little fringing on the 75mm lens. Focus breathing is quite noticeable, but this is to be expected with any macro lens due to how they are constructed. 

All the lenses are available in PL and EF mount, which means they are well-fitted for high-end cinema cameras but also for all kinds of mirrorless cameras because there are adapters for pretty much any short-flange mount available for PL and EF lenses. 

Sensor coverage: no vignetting on FUJIFILM GFX100 II

When I took the new 100mm and 75mm lenses for a spin, I pushed their limits a little bit by mounting them on the new FUJIFILM GFX100 II using a G-to-EF-mount adapter. This camera has a huge sensor with about 1.7 times the area of full-frame cameras and is considered a medium-format camera in photography terms (or a large-format camera in filmmaking terms). You would think that this would cause these “full-frame” lenses to vignette, but no: turns out, they cover the entire sensor area of this camera on both the 75mm and 100mm lenses. 

Crowdfunding started with big discounts

At the time of this video’s release, SIRUI have launched a crowdfunding campaign for their new Jupiter lenses that offer some early bird prices for all of the lenses in the kit. For example, the super early bird price for the new 75mm and 100mm is $899 each, instead of $1199. You can get the whole set, including all 5 of the Jupiter prime lenses, for $3999 instead of $5400.

SIRUI Jupiter Review – conclusion

These are amazing prices for these lenses and are definitely worth taking a look at – I really like their look and feel and can see myself using them on numerous types of shoots in the future. 

At the end of every crowdfunding-related article, we remind you to please be aware of the risks when backing a project on a crowdfunding platform. Also, please read the platform’s terms of use and remember there can be significant delays when delivering the product. Some projects don’t get delivered at all.

What do you think of the SIRUI Jupiter 75mm and 100mm Macro Cine Lenses? Can you see yourself using them in the future? Let us know in the comments below.

SIRUI just officially announced a new crowdfunding campaign for their new Nightwalker lenses, and in a nutshell, what do we have here and why am I so excited?:

• These S35 lenses come in three focal lengths: 24, 35, and 55mm, and they are all T1.2, which means ideal for low-light filming.

Let me put it differently – a faster lens and lower ISO tuning in-camera equal less potential noise in your video. Needless to say, how easy is it to control depth of field when you have this kind of fast lens?

• Each lens weighs about 500 grams, which makes them ideal for use in a variety of productions.

• The lenses will be sold in two different color choices – black and metallic grey.

• As for the mounts, there will be four of them: FUJIFILM X, Sony E, Panasonic Micro Four Thirds, and Canon RF.

• The focus ring rotation is 270 degrees making it easy to operate, even without a follow focus.

I’ll touch on other points, but first I want to concentrate on one of the most astonishing things about these lenses, and that’s their price tag.

During the crowdfunding campaign, the black-coated lens will be priced at $309, and afterward, it will be available for $349. The metallic grey will be priced during the campaign at $349 and afterward for $399, which is still a steal. 

By the way, I checked with SIRUI regarding the reason for the price difference and the simple answer was: it costs more to coat the lens in a metallic grey color. 

In all honesty, I don’t have a clue how SIRUI can sell these kinds of lenses at this price. Where did they compromise you might ask? Well, I tried to answer this question myself by simply working with them in the field, and also comparing them with relevant charts and data. I am also assuming that the company won’t make a lot of profit, if any, on these lenses, and their goal is simply to become accessible and well-known to as many people as possible.

Before talking about these new lenses, I would like to mention the new FUJIFILM X-S20. This little-in-size but big-in-performance camera is becoming my “go-to” equipment for running & gunning. Its small size along with some useful features like 6K 3:2 open gate and 10-Bit 4:2:2 internal recording makes it a very capable camera at a competitive price. (X-S20 review here).

X-S20 Quick Tip when working with fixed focal length lenses

Currently, cine lenses with fixed focal lengths are not stabilized. So, if you are like me and do a lot of handheld filming, you might want to take advantage of the X-S20 IBIS (In-Body Image Stabilisation) by making sure it is “tuned correctly” in order to reduce unwanted camera shake.

The obvious solution would be to switch the IS/ MODE to: “IBIS/OIS” and IS MODE BOOST to “ON” when capturing “tripod style shots”. But in addition, on top, go to: I.Q. / MOUNT ADAPTOR SETTING /, and then make sure to dial in your cine lens focal length. This should help a lot in achieving nice, stabilized shots.

SIRUI Nightwalker – against the chart

Now, back to the SIRUI Nightwalker lenses and my impression after working with them. Obviously, the T1.2 fast aperture is one of the biggest selling points, and as you could see in my footage, it was again great fun “abusing” depth-of-field. Maybe it is me dreaming, but what really caught my attention was the “anamorphic-like” bokeh. But of course, nothing in life is perfect, especially when the price is so competitive, so with these lenses don’t expect a perfectly edge-to-edge sharp picture when the lens is wide open.

In fact, according to our tests, the sharper lens between the three is the 24mm. The same goes for chromatic aberration. It is relatively strong when the lenses are wide open, which is not surprising at all for fast lenses in this price range, but again, it can be an artistic choice, and if you need better performance, you can always stop down the lens to gain more sharpness.

In the field

What I truly like about these lenses is their uniform size and gear position next to similar color tones. Despite being a bit soft, especially at T1.2, I love the ability to work with such fast
lenses. Being so compact, it means they can still be taken anywhere when traveling where weight is a concern.

The minimum focus is OK and varies between 30 to 60 centimeters, depending on which lens you use. Lens breathing is well-controlled, and above all, there is the price. It almost feels unbeatable for what you get.

The aperture ring has good resistance, while the focus ring is a bit too loose for my taste. Speaking of which, the current batch of lenses is “metric only”. We have no word from SIRUI on whether they plan to make an “imperial version” anytime soon.

In the search for where there might be some compromise in the lenses, something I was not able to check is the longer-term build quality. Unfortunately, it is beyond our capabilities to do so for now. If any of you guys are purchasing these lenses, please let us know if they perform well and hold up when consistently working with them in the field.

You know what? Let me complain about the 67mm lens cap. It’s not so easy to fit this thing onto the front of the lens, and, more importantly, because of its design, the lens doesn’t remain stable on a flat surface.

Last but not least, personally, the 24mm is not wide enough for my style of working, and I can only hope that SIRUI will consider going even wider with future lens releases from that series.

Now, if SIRUI will consider bringing us the same set of Cine Lenses with Autofocus capabilities, I’ll be even happier… This will allow working with cameras equipped with “not so great” EVF, making tasks such as easy gimbal work much more manageable, for example.

That’s it guys; there you have it. A range of fast cine lenses at a very good price. I’ll patiently wait for some of you to play with them, as I’m truly curious to hear your feedback. In such a competitive market, will it affect other manufacturers? Only time will tell.

Notes:

This review contains affiliate product links for SIRUI’s Nightwalker Cine Lenses campaign. Like with any other crowdfunding campaign, we advise you to carefully read the platform T&C as it is not a shop! SIRUI, on the other hand, had several very successful campaigns in the past, so obviously they can deliver.

What do you think about Cine lenses at such a competitive price? Will you give them a chance and check their optical and mechanical quality? Please share your comments with us in the section below.

The XF series of FUJINON lenses are optimized for FUJIFILM’s X-series of cameras like the brand-new FUJIFILM X-S20 that we just reviewed. The XF lenses aren’t unnecessarily large or heavy, as they are built to cover the FUJIFILM APS-C sensors.

FUJIFILM has two lines of prime lenses in their lens lineup, which consist of ultra-fast primes and compact primes. As the name implies, the ultra-fast primes feature wide apertures, while the compact line is focused on weight and size. 

SUPER EBC XF 8mm 1:3.5 R WR

This new 8mm (12mm focal length equivalent to 35mm) compact prime features a Super EBC multilayer lens coating and an f/3.5 aperture. This doesn’t seem fast but bear in mind that this is a lens from the compact prime, and the widest ultra-fast prime lens thus far is the XF 14mm f/2.8 R.

Optical performance

One lens I was eager to compare with the new XF 8mm f/3.5 was the XF 8-16mm f/2.8 red-badge zoom lens. I was prepared to see better performance from the prime lens compared to the zoom at 8mm, but the results are par-none in favor of the XF 8mm f/3.5 when it comes to sharpness.

The 8mm is a lot sharper corner-to-corner, even wide open. Indeed, at f/5.6, the 8-16mm still has soft corners.

When it comes to chromatic aberration, the 8mm f/3.5 also performs well. There is only slight color fringing visible in high-contrast situations.

Focus Breathing is very well-controlled on the XF 8mm f/3.5. There is barely any shift in the visible field of view.

FUJINON XF 8mm f/3.5 build quality

The XF 8mm f/3.5, like all other XF lenses, is built around a metal housing and feels very solid and high-quality. This lens has a manual aperture ring (hence the letter R in the name) that can be locked in the “A” position for automatic aperture control. You press the button on the aperture ring to enter this mode so it doesn’t occur accidentally. There is also a manual focus ring on this lens (without focus markings like all new FUJINON XF lenses).

There is a rubber seal around the lens mount, which makes this lens weather-resistant (WR). Paired with cameras like the weather-resistant FUJIFILM X-T5 or X-H2, you don’t have to worry about your camera getting wet and failing while working in wet conditions.

The lens has a 62mm filter thread and a close focus distance of 18cm / 7.1 inches.

Price and availability

The FUJINON XF 8mm f/3.5 R WR will be available around June 29th, 2023, for $799.95 USD.

For more information, you can visit FUJIFILM’s website.

Are you happy with this 8mm wide-angle prime lens offering? Are you expecting FUJIFILM to announce a High-Speed 8mm lens soon as well? Have you used an 8mm lens from any other manufacturers, and are you thinking about switching to this lens? Please let us know in the comments below!

You might know the South Korean brand Samyang by the name Rokinon, especially if you’re in the US. Samyang calls their new V-AF lenses “The World’s First Cine AF”, which is quite a daring statement, to be honest. We have seen other lenses primarily geared toward video use that also feature autofocus capabilities. However, admittedly, there aren’t many comparable alternatives to this series available.

Samyang V-AF – E-mount only

The Samyang V-AF series comes only in E-mount, which limits them to the use on Sony cameras. In total, five different focal lengths were announced: 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 45mm and 75mm, all except the 20mm which have been released so far. We kindly received the 24mm, 35mm and 75mm for testing purposes. So let’s dive into the review!

Same size & weight across the line – perfect for gimbals

What’s amazing about the series is their low weight and uniformity, as they all share the same weight at 280 grams, as well as the same size and all of them have an aperture of f/1.8 (T1.9). Though the 20mm lens, which hasn’t been released, doesn’t have a confirmed size yet, the wider-angle options are usually outliers that require a larger diameter. Longer focal lengths often make lenses physically longer, too – but that is not the case here. As you can see in the picture above, the 75mm has the same size as the 24mm and 35mm lenses.

Even the center of gravity stays the same on these lenses. I have no idea how Samyang achieved this, but that really makes them amazing for use on gimbals. I use the a7S III on a DJI RS3 gimbal all the time and no rebalancing is required when swapping between the lenses. Although rebalancing isn’t as time-consuming as it used to be when gimbals had a lot weaker motors, it usually still takes some time to rebalance when you swap lenses. Though, this is simply not the case here anymore. 

A look at the exterior of the Samyang V-AF lenses

Before looking more closely at optical performance, let’s stick with the externals of these Samyang V-AF lenses for a bit longer. As mentioned before, they are lightweight, and in order to achieve that, all of the housings are made from plastic. However, I don’t think it feels cheap and if I had the choice, I’d much rather go for this lighter autofocus lens that is made for a gimbal, than for a heavier version made from metal that will make day-to-day operation on a gimbal much more cumbersome. 

Gear ring and linear focus transition in manual focus

All the lenses come with a built-in gear ring that has a 300-degree turn when operating the lenses manually, which means you can make fairly precise manual focus moves. Of course, hard stops on either end are missing, which would make these lenses more cinema-lens-like, but that is something that probably simply cannot be easily added to lenses that also have autofocus capability. 

What’s really nice about the manual focus is that this is a linear focus transition, so the movements are repeatable, which is not the case with some competing lenses that operate with the so-called “fly-by-wire” manual focusing method. Take the ZEISS Batis series for example (check out our review here) – they are also autofocus lenses made for Sony’s E-mount and are similar in size and weight – yet when switching them to manual focus, you have to live with a fly-by-wire mechanism of focusing them, which makes focus markings on the lens useless since you can’t repeat the same focus movement unless you hit the exact same speed every time you turn the barrel – which is almost impossible. What’s important to point out here is also that the ZEISS Batis lenses are also a lot more expensive than these Samyang V-AF lenses.

Switch gear ring function from AF to aperture control

On the side of each Samyang V-AF lens, there is a custom switch that allows you to toggle between two positions, M1 and M2. M1 gives you control over the manual focus when your camera is in MF or DMF mode, and M2 lets you control the lens’s aperture using the gear ring when in autofocus mode. So basically the switch changes the function of the gear ring itself. However, you will have to switch your camera between manual and autofocus modes in order to use both modes under the switch. Samyang also has a separate product called “Lens station” which allows you to change the setup of the modes. We did however not receive a lens station and can therefore not comment on what exact functionality of the modes can be changed, but the company also said that more alternative functions would be added through firmware updates in the future.

There is also a Focus Hold button on the side, which lets you lock the focusing distance that is currently set in the lens. So for example, if your autofocus sets on something and you want to hold that focusing distance, just press that button and the focus will remain where it is. That’s quite useful when shooting handheld, though not so much on a gimbal as you impact the gimbal’s performance and movability. 

Samyang V-AF’s unique features – tally lights and accessory mount on front

Let’s take a look at a few features that really set these lenses apart from the competition. 

All of the Samyang V-AF lenses feature two tally lights built right into the lens itself, one on the side of the lens and one in front. You know the camera is recording when the light turns from green to red. That is a neat little feature when working with talents, so you don’t have to constantly be telling them you started or stopped rolling. However, tally lights can create reflections in some shooting situations or when filters are attached. Samyang confirmed that switching the tally lights off using their lens station accessory is possible.

The tally lights are one-of-a-kind, and so is another feature on the Samyang V-AF lenses: they all feature a metal connector with electronic pins in the front. Samyang says that “exclusive accessories” for it will be coming, but released no further details. It’s interesting because it almost looks like a lens mount at the front of the lens, so my best guess is that they’ll release electronically controlled lens filters. I really hope they come up with something special like a variable ND filter that can be electronically controlled through the lens itself. Or an anamorphic adapter for their lenses – there are quite a few great opportunities for this.

I think in any case, it should be a unique kind of accessory because you’ll only be able to use it on the Samyang V-AF lenses. If it’s something that we have already in a universal form, working for all kinds of lenses, its use would be very limiting. The electronic pins give me hope though that it’s going to be something quite unique. As mentioned before, Samyang wouldn’t tell us what’s coming, but they confirmed that the first V-AF accessory will be released quite soon, still during the first quarter of 2023. Later in the year, they will release another one.

What’s interesting to note is that because of this accessory mount in front, the screw-in front thread is not on the outer barrel of the lens, but inside the accessory mount. The front diameter is 70mm, but the filter diameter is 58mm. According to Samyang, the filter diameter is unconfirmed for the unreleased 20mm lens that will come later this year though. They did however confirm that the accessory mount will work on this wide angle just like on all the other lenses, too.

What do images from these lenses look like?

Let’s take a look at the visuals these lenses create. 

In general, I like the neutrality of the look with these lenses. They have a pleasing bokeh that looks rather soft, yet the character is quite straight, which means they will cut well with many other lenses. Flares are absolutely minimized too. 

What stands out is again the uniformity, even in the look of these lenses, as the three focal lengths we tested look very similar when cut next to each other. You might think that’s a given with a lens series, but with some other manufacturers, there are bigger differences between lenses even within the same series. 

Shooting some charts in the studio, we do see only a little bit of vignetting and sharpness fall-off in the corners particularly the wider lenses when shooting wide open, but the effect is very small and not severe at all. An impressive result from lenses this small, and for this price.

The lenses do have some focus breathing which is certainly unavoidable given their small size. It is noticeable but not problematic in practice – here, the small build size really trumps this minor downside. I’d rather have a small kit of prime lenses ideal for a gimbal with some breathing, than much larger and heavier lenses that I will have trouble balancing on a gimbal.

Chromatic aberration is slightly visible the further you go away from the center of the lens, but also nothing unexpected from a lens with a price/performance ratio of the Samyang V-AFs.

Sharpness looks good and even shooting wide open at f/1.8, they’re still reasonably sharp. The sharpness becomes even better from about f/2.5 on most of these lenses, so just keep that in mind if you are going after the maximum sharpness in your look. For me, it’s amazing that this set of lenses all start at the same aperture of f/1.8, which makes them extremely versatile. 

There is some vignetting visible, but this can usually be easily corrected with software if needed. I don’t mind some vignetting as it makes for organic-looking images and focuses the attention of the viewer on the middle of a shot.

Autofocus capabilities of the Samyang V-AF line

Now let’s take a look at the autofocus capabilities. When testing the autofocus it becomes immediately apparent that video has been the focus when developing these lenses. Focus changes are always gentle between subjects, and face focus tracking works extremely well, even at T1.9, wide open. There were a few occasions when the autofocus was thrown off, but that was probably not the lens, but the camera misinterpreting something in the background for a face.

With more photo-oriented autofocus lenses, the focus changes in AF mode can sometimes be jumpier, and almost instantaneous if the camera setting is on the fastest AF transition speed. That’s not very useful for video shooting except on some rare occasions, which is why Samyang apparently optimized the lenses for optimal video performance in AF mode, which in general means a slower AF transition speed. If you are in one of those rare situations where you need to refocus very fast while shooting video, I recommend switching the lens to manual focus, because even at the highest AF transition speed set in camera, the lenses will make focus shifts look more gentle and cinematic.

Conclusion and final thoughts

In my opinion, the Samyang V-AF series of “Cine AF” lenses are a good investment if you are after a cost-effective and lightweight set of primes for your Sony E-mount camera. Particularly, if you predominantly use them with autofocus, and occasionally manual focus. They are really perfect on the gimbal, which is what I will mostly use them for, and also on larger drones with mirrorless cameras. The fact that the lenses are also all the same in weight and size makes them the go-to choice for gimbal operators using a Sony. Autofocus works great, the bokeh is soft and pleasing and their look is quite neutral and clear, which makes these lenses usable and adaptable for most productions. 

What is your impression of the Samyang V-AF primes? What small and light primes do you use on your Sony camera? Let us know in the comments below.

Let’s face it. Most of us are not filming big blockbuster films for Hollywood or Bollywood. Needless to say, that does not degrade our professionalism or dedication to what we do. The fact that many of us are “running solo” or in small teams makes us want to be even more focused and knowledgeable, as at times there is no additional staff to fill such supporting roles as there are on bigger sets. So next to storytelling, there is another thing that unites us all and this is the unlimited amount of effort to make our footage look different and unique. This has become even more of a topic since filming in general is so much more accessible now than it’s ever been before.

And this is where anamorphic lenses come to our “rescue”. I hope you agree with me, that it is easier to sell a visual illusion when filming with such lenses. And this is precisely where Viltrox EPIC fits nicely into this niche.

In the above mini-documentary, I tried to work mostly “normally” and not go out of my way to necessarily enforce an “anamorphic look” (OK, I have to admit, a few times I couldn’t help myself and had to place a single light source in front of the camera, but this was in order to see how those blue light streaks behave :) ).

Viltrox EPIC lenses on the LUMIX S5 II

In this review, I paired the EPIC Anamorphic lenses with the Panasonic LUMIX S5 II, as this camera offers an internal de-squeeze option for viewing the images correctly in your EVF or camera monitor. It also allows the usage of the camera’s IBIS in an optimal way by allowing you to select the correct anamorphic squeeze ratio in the camera menu (also, in case you missed it, please click here for our LUMIX S5 II review).

In this specific case, I could have chosen to record in 6K, 3×2 open gate mode for greater flexibility when framing my footage in the editing timeline, but since it is limited to 4:2:0 color sampling, I chose to record in C4K resolution and get more of robust footage, especially as I’m recording in V-log and would like to retain high image quality, even after color grading.

Viltrox EPIC – specifications

Back to the Viltrox EPIC Anamorphic lenses. Specifications-wise, all three lenses come in PL mount. In the future, we might see additional mounts, but for now, this is what Viltrox is offering. In any case, with so many lens adapters in the market, attaching these lenses to your favorite full-frame mirrorless camera should not be an issue. 

• The overall lens size, front 95mm diameter, and the position of the focus and aperture rings are all consistent.

• The horizontal field of view spherical for the 75mm lens is 56mm, for the 50mm: 37mm, and for the 35mm lens: 26mm.

• The gear pitch is a standard 0.8 MOD.

• The focus rotation is 290 degrees and the focus breathing effect is barely noticeable – Good job, Viltrox!
• Build quality in general is nice. These three lenses feel very solid to work with.

Each lens weighs less than 2 kilos. Actually, the weight is almost identical for all three lenses and I’m indicating “almost” as the 35mm lens is 40 grams heavier than its’ 50 and 75mm siblings. 

The squeeze factor of the lenses is 1.33x, making it ideal for working on cameras with 16×9 sensors when wanting to achieve a 2.35:1 true widescreen effect. And when I say “true”, I mean that we can use the entire sensor information and don’t have to mask or crop the footage in post in order to get this cinematic aspect ratio. 

The minimum focus on the 35mm and 50mm lenses is 80cm and on the 75mm 110cm.  I wish this figure would have been a bit better, especially on the 35mm lens. 

By the way, like other lenses in its category, it is worth mentioning that the lens comes with focus reading scales that are imperial only. 

Picture aesthetics

• Flairs in general and especially the blue streaks, that are associated with the anamorphic lenses look, are distributed very nicely across the image.

The lens is sharp almost across the entire aperture settings but not overly sharp making the picture very pleasant to watch. One might find working on T2 a bit soft, so I recommend closing the aperture a bit to T2.8 for shaper images.  

• The bokeh is soft and natural almost snuggling the main object in focus.

• Chromatic aberration is well controlled.

By now, I guess you can tell that I like what I’m seeing. The image quality and overall picture aesthetics are very attractive to my eyes. 

Final thoughts

Each lens can be purchased separately for $2,800 or as a set of three with a discount of $500 for a total of $7,900. 

And this brings me to the question, who are these lenses actually for? Considering the squeeze ratio, they’re not aimed at rental houses, as far as I’m concerned. 

What about end users then? Well, the price for such a cinema lens is very aggressive but on the other hand, taking into consideration that it has a 1.33x anamorphic squeeze only, the question still remains: for this price, is this the anamorphic look you are after?

What I’m trying to say is, that it is a bit of a catch-22 with these lenses. The image quality is very appealing, and you can see that A LOT of thought went into designing them, but on the other hand, they are still costly and the squeeze ratio won’t satisfy many. 

So when it comes to getting these lenses, it can be a tough decision and this is why I can only recommend trying them out and seeing if they work for you before committing. 

For the future, I hope that Viltrox can consider designing a front anamorphic adapter to be attached to these lenses for an even greater squeeze. On top, personally, I’d be grateful if I could use screw-in filters on such lenses next to attaching a matte box. I understand the “cinema” approach, but in terms of usability, filters could have served better, especially for “running and gunning” and this generation of anamorphic lenses from Viltrox does not offer this option.

Equipment used in this review

Camera: Panasonic LUMIX S5 II
Lenses: Viltrox EPIC 35, 50, and 75mm anamorphic lenses
VND: NiSi

Music. Epidemic Sound
Color: fylm.ai

Guys, what do you think about 1.33x squeeze for anamorphic lenses? Is it sufficient for the look you are after? And if yes, are you considering getting the Vitrox EPIC Anamorphic lenses? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below