On Saturday’s post (Click here) I showed you some real world pictures of the new Kowa 8.5mm f/2.8, 12mm f/1.8, 25mm f/1.8 MFT lenses. Now the full specs have been posted on Kowa’s website (Click here).
Here are the images of the new lens specs:
Kowa is know for making such Cine lenses and you can find plenty of them on [shoplink 44740 ebay]eBay (Click here)[/shoplink].
42 Responses
I would buy this if it just had one more color tone and was an inch longer.
And the 8.5 needs a couple more elements…
I count about 17 elements. Whoa.
are these manual focus lenses?
Yep. Manual focus and manual aperture.
In other words… real lenses! 😉
Manual lenses are great, however.. I think we should start campaigning for manual lenses with auto-aperture. I.e Set desired aperture via aperture ring, focus with lens wide open, camera automatically stops aperture down on release of shutter.
If 1960s SLR systems can have it, why can’t m43?
Trying to focus with a stopped-down aperture is a massive pain. The EVF is less clear because of less light hitting the sensor. If this is manual, it’s like doube-de-clutching. Is a synchromesh gearbox not manual?
They would have to have an on board chip for that. Though I don’t know what these lenses look like from the back- the Nokton’s for example can’t have them, at least the 25mm. The rear element is larger than most, and takes up a bit of space where the chip could fit.
Auto aperture on old lenses work because there are mechanical parts on the camera body side that allow controlling them. That’s obviously impossible with a m43 camera.
I know all of this ^^^
A small motor would be required within the lens. New lens mechanics would have to be designed. At least then you could also have exif data. You could also then control aperture remotely and use all PASM modes. It can’t be that hard.
As far as I know, the problem with AF is the mass of the glass (and other moving parts) are too much for the motors used for CDAF. Is the aperture different?
It’s not difficult to focus wide open and stop down for the desired depth of field.
manual focus?
For those wondering: yes, they’re MF, they’re cine lenses.
Prices will determine if the 8.5mm will join the party in my camera bag.
dimensions might come into play as well…
this definitely looks like it isn’t going to fit my bag.
looks more beefy than the voigtlanders
Anyone already compared this 8.5 to the Oly 7-14 2.8? If the Kowa is significantly smaller (and affordable) then I sure want one.
IQ doesn’t matter though. 🙂
And those values in mm are surely not the sizes of the lenses, but the covered field at closest focusing distance. I actually already started to like the industrial military Kowa grey.
I reckon the 8,5 mm does not sport a filter thread?
You can see the filter threads…
ND’s are very important for cine lenses
Altaic, thanks. Can YOU also see the filter thread diameter anywhere?
This poster from CP+ shows the front element of the 8.5mm and it says 72mm there:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/zetton_nara/12523409833/sizes/l/in/photostream/
Pizza, thanks. Good information!
Hi there! Apologize for the silly question: how do cine lenses performs in still photography? I mean, are there any differences? Thanx.
As far as I know, the only differrence is the stepless Aperture ring, so you can change Aperture silently.
So it simply works like an electric zoom lens (for instance the 12-50 Zuiko in E-Zoom mode)? I thought there were optical differences. Grazie.
These are not electric lenses. Cine means step less (clickless) aperatures, compatibility with follow- focus rigs, and a focus design that avoids lens ‘breathing’ (focal length changing slightly) when you change focus (which is often done during a shot, aka focus racking).
Hurrah, at last, for a super wide non-fisheye prime lens.
I don’t get it. These are supposed to be cine lenses, but why is there only one gear ring?
They’re primes, so only focus needs to be adjusted?
Look up any prime cinema lens, you’ll two lens gears. One on the focus ring, another on the aperture ring. And to me, it looks like these Kowa lenses only have a gear ring on the aperture and NOT the focus, which is ass-backwards.
Many cine lenses aren’t geared at all. It’s an amateur thought that cine lenses means geared.
Heck, many high end productions don’t even use a follow focus.
Source? Working full time in the industry for the past 8 years.
How about the other new prime(s) such as the Ibelux 40mm f/0.85? I see alot of shots of the lens from the CP 2014 around the net now, priced 2000 USD? prob too much for the married photographer.
married photographer vs marriage photographer
not the same spending habits by far I guess?
depends if the marriage photographer is married or not.
Text says that lens can not be attached to some M4/3 camera.
I wonder which camera body doesn’t fit to lens.
Based on the pure amount of glass on 8.5mm it certainly won’t be cheap. Which is kind of a disappointing. But it still is cine lens, which have their own market and prices.
Yeah, I know people are excited for an ultra wide angle prime, but this doesn’t seem to be it. It’s bigger and likely will be more expensive than our current zoom options. Sure you get a wider aperture, but my guess is not wide enough for much bokeh on a 4/3 sensor. We’ll see I suppose!
I had not realized that bokeh was a quantity.
circle of confusion is quantifiable
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circle_of_confusion
Sure, CoC is, bokeh isn’t.
These look pretty interesting. Does anyone have any first hand experience with Kowa products? I’m not familiar with the brand, but am certainly interested, particularly in the 8.5 f/2.8. Although it does not look any smaller than the Panasonic 7-14 f/4. The extra light gathering would be useful
These looks suspiciously like Zenitar Helios primes lenses with wide angle adapters glued to the front. Hopefully their performance doesn’t reflect that.
Not that I haven’t found the Helios 44M4 useful for video.