Samyang-Rokinon announced on Facebook the release of three new Cine lenses: “Rokinon 35mm T1.5 cine lens will be available in U.S in few weeks and Rokinon 24mm T1.5 & 14mm T3.1 cine lens will be available in U.S in September.” They will be available in Four Thirds (not microFT!) too. For the m43 system they only made the cute [shoplink 29106 ebay]Samyang/Rokinon 7.5mm fisheye lens (Click here to see it on eBay)[/shoplink]. But I guess they will also bring some new m43 lens at Photokina. Samyang lenses deliver often a top image quality for a low price. Can’t wait to see new toys!
That said, if you are still confused about the brand name don’t worry. The confusion is not your fault! Example, the Micro Four Thirds fisheye lens:
In USA it’s named Rokinon 7.5mm and you find it on [shoplink 29105 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Amazon (Click here) and BHphoto (Click here).
In Europe it’s named Samyang 7.5mm and you find it on [shoplink 29106 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink], Amazon (Click here),
In UK it’s named Walimex and you find it on [shoplink 29109 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink] and Amazon UK (Click here).
But that’s not all! There are many more weird names. Here is a list of eBay links on all Olympus Four Thirds lenses: [shoplink 20647 ebay]Samyang [/shoplink], [shoplink 20684 ebay]Walimex [/shoplink], [shoplink 20649 ebay]Rokinon [/shoplink], [shoplink 20650 ebay]Opteka [/shoplink], [shoplink 20651 ebay]Falcon [/shoplink], [shoplink 20653 ebay]Vivitar [/shoplink] and[shoplink 20652 ebay]Bower [/shoplink].
So you got it?
45 Responses
Whats the difference between a Cine Lens and a normal lens? video optimized?
T-stops instead of F-stops.
t3.1 instead of f2.8 or whatever.
T-stops are more accurate, they show the _actual_ light transmission of a lens.
F-stops are just a quick and dirty estimate, based on dividing the focal length by the aperture size. It doesn’t show the real light transmission. This is fine for photographs, but for making movies, you need to be more accurate.
Cine lenses are usually designed to higher standards. They typically have internal focusing, standarized front diameters for use with matte boxes, they don’t breath or change focus when zooming (if they are a zoom), they have smooth non-click apertures, longer more accurate focus rings with near 360 degree mechanical turn, distance markings and geared for use with follow focus units.
They are usually matched for color, sharpness and oveerall “look” with other lenses in their line from that manufacturer so that if you switch lenses for a given scene you aren’t drastically changing the look of the scene from shot to shot.
This is why they typically cost thousands or tens of thousands of dollars.
That’s rock!
4/3 is still alive!!
GASP!
4/3 is probably only because the lens would be shorter, less material.
BTW, these are all most likely APS-C lenses. Waste of money, size, weight and image coverage on m4/3.
Why 15mm T1.5 is in article header?
I have been planning out finances for the Zeiss 15mm f/2.8…think I am going to keep heading in that direction..although I am interested in what these lenses have to offer…but I am a still photographer ..so probably not what I need…..Sammy is dropping a lot of BIG glass all at once! LOL!
It really depends on what you are filming and how you are projecting.
If there is lots of camera panning, any vignetting and distorsion will show much worse than on still photography. If you think its bad, projecting on a large screen will make matters worse by a quantum leap. Just to make sure its bad, unlike still photography, post processing video is a mess.
This is not to say cine lenses are a must. There are many cases where you can easily get away with still photography lenses. Specially when stopped down.
Good light, f8, sturdy tripod, you won’t need a cine for a youtube bound interview..
Interesting info, thanks. (I only do still.)
And this is the reason why cines are so big: Vignette can show through out of focus blur.
A t/1.5 cine lenses has, to be worth the name, must be usable at t/1.5.
There are other considerations that pushes the price up: top notch smooth manual operation, color matching, minimal aberration of all kind, accurate t, cine zooms must be parfocal, etc.
Sharpness, while being important, is not ranked highest on the priority list. Great camera lenses are often sharper than cine lenses!
That’s awesome! Wish a 85 & 50 mm too – for full prime line with color integrity))
What’s T? I remember reading a discussion somewhere that T values are usually associated with video/cinema lenses. They dont match with F-stop numbers. Is this correct? If these are video/cinema lenses I highly doubt that this is compatible with AF.
Walimex? Sounds like a big box store chemist or something.
Walimex is German actually, and AFAIK it stands for ‘Walser Import Export’. Just a retailer like million others as well.
I think I saw a Walimex in GDL.
Are they making these lenses for other mounts and sensor sizes?
Could that be the reason why they are making it for 4/3 and not m4/3?
So, just an interesting question… But why would a manufacturer launch lenses in a “dead” mount… Do they know something about what is coming?
The new IBIS, and image quality advancements Olympus has debuted in the OMD would shine in an E-7, add the type of cine support the newer Nikons and Canons have (dedicated sound, live feed out and stuff) the E-7 would be a very interesting camera… Add the Smart port and you are swimming with Live View off the sensor to an eyepiece…
Well either way, good to see new lenses.
Ab
Actuslly the 15 and 24mm T1.5 sounds fantastic as a cine lens for m4/3, for those of us who don’t have Voigtlander money. Samyang has proven they make quality optics –Here’s hoping for a great midrange price.
These will probably be priced higher than the voigtlander equivalents.
The 24mm is priced at $749.00 US.
Wouldn’t make these lenses for m4/3 camcorder makes more sense?
You can add a cheap adaptor ring and have a mFT lens. There are no contacts or electronics included in Samyang lenses…
Got exited until I realized they are not Micro Four Third. Don’t wanna use an adapter.
These lenses are made for all of the “big” mounts. Just slight flange adaptations are necessary, and then you can sell them to Canikontaxonypus.
For the “small” mounts, the optical formula needs to be different. Brand new lenses, basically, targeting a truly tiny fraction of the market that these lenses will target, and for what? You can always use an adapter on the small mounts, but the opposite does not hold true.
No need to read between the lines here, because it’s just a bunch of blank space. This is a perfectly normal business decision.
I need to reply to myself before someone else does.
Yes, it would be possible to issue these lenses with an m4/3 mount, by making them 20mm longer, but the poor company would be flamed to death by fanboys because the lenses are too big and what are they thinking and why aren’t the lenses in silver and blah blah. That’s why I said small mounts require different optical formulas. Mirrorless snobbery requires miniaturization and redesign.
“Mirrorless snobbery”
Right, these are FF lenses. Give us 7mm T3.1, 12mm T1.5 and 17.5mm T1.5, Samyang.
:facepalm:
Hey, for those with M43, has anyone tried or owned any SLR Noktor lenses? they are for m43 mount GH2 friendly!!?? and they have 14mm F1.6!!! Although I would like to try theses cine to compare quality but the Noktor lens are for m43 users…
Actually that’s the SLR Magic Hyperprime 12mm T1.6 (f1.4) @ $550. From what I’ve read, they’re very good lenses. All manual.
Actually I own a SLR Noktor 50mm. I wasn’t happy about it on my Epl2, but on my OMD E5 it’s unbelievable the amount of light it can gather. It’s less sharp than the 17,5mm voigtländer, even during “nightshots”, but it really surprises me now.
Samyang is the maker, based in Korea, and they’re not too bad (look at their 85mm 1.4). Rokinon may be a big name in the US, but it’s just a rebrand like others as well. I’d rather have the ‘original’, which you get from foto-tip in Poland, Europe.
looks stunning! I own the Samyang 7.5mm MFT Fish-Eye, and along with my 20mm ƒ1.7 Lumix it’s one of my absolute favorites.
+1
Samyang is also the “brand” / name in the UK, see http://www.samyang.co.uk
I don’t get why 43 mount… Do those cams even do video?
And I wish they would decide on a name. This is childish.
They could call the company DSLR Magic?
How about DSLM Magic? 😉
SLR Magic is such a dreadful name!
The E-5, which is the only FT DSLR still available, does video. And as a follow-up is still expected to come, maybe even a refresh of the semi-pro E-30 model which would then get video, too, it is not too stupid to produce a lens that not only fits Micro-FT, but FT, too, if the optical design allows.
the official samyang FB page says that : “Rokinon Carmelo Vazzana Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax, 4/3, Samsung NX”
so they probably wanted to say m4/3 , no sense to making that ugly old 4/3 mount for cameras that don´t shoot videos!
but they will be probably full frame/aps-c which doesn´t make that much sense for us 🙁 I would like to have a cine lenses for the GH2 with no crop
If the optical design was made to accomodate Nikon, Canon and Pentax APS-C DSLRs, too, then there’s absolutely no reason not to offer it for Four Thirds, too, while Micro FT can be perfectly well served through an adapter. There actually is a Four Thirds DSLR that does video, the E-5, and it probably won’t even be the last.
For a cine lens size and weight are probably of least concern. Given the anyway manual-only operation, an adapter to m43 wouldn’t be too big a burden either. In exchange you will get superb quality for an affordable price. I can already feel the buttery focus ring… mmmmmmm!
Still I would prefer a native m43 version of course.
If it’s a native m43, 24mm 1.5 and reasonably priced I’d go for it, cause I just can’t afford a voigtländer!
consider the spec and the requirement of cine lenses, it could be reasonable (for cine lens) but still *very expensive*…
I assume these lenses will breathe just as much as their non-cinema variants. Looking at the pictures, it seems to me that they just added solid focus and iris gears to the lens housings.
I really hope I’m wrong though!