You may think that we’re paid by Rokinon based on how frequently we report on their new products, but I assure you, it’s simply because they space their products well and release them in a timely manner, as promised. This time, it’s a brand new 20mm Rokinon XEEN.
There’s not much to say in regards to the announcement of this lens. We expect the quality to be on-par with the rest of the line. Speaking of which – now that MOST of the focal lengths are available in the XEEN line, we’ll be doing an all-inclusive IQ test very soon. Check back for that!
The Xeen 16mm was announced only weeks ago and was immediately met with requests for a similar wide angle lens but with a faster aperture. The 16mm exhibited a sad T2.6 aperture. While it’s still fast for an ultra-wide, full frame lens, we want more speed! The new 20mm comes in at a T1.9 which is respectable. Not as good as the rest of the XEEN line at T1.5, but much better than the 16mm T2.6 or even the 14mm at T3.1.
The new 20mm has the same build quality, exterior dimensions, 200 degree focus throw, 114mm diameter, etc. etc., as the rest of the Xeen line. With the addition of the 20mm, the XEEN line now includes 8 prime lenses. Not bad for a kit that would total $20,000 with just about any focal length you could want. The press releases from Xeen have become pretty cut and paste. You can literally change out some numbers (focal length, t-stop, minimum focus) and use the same press release for every lens. Which may sound bad, but think about it… That’s what we all want, right? Consistency within a set of prime lenses.
I would expect that this completes the XEEN line of primes for all of the “normal” focal lengths and we can either expect Rokinon to move onto something newer and better, or begin to add some of the more interesting focal lengths like 40mm, 65mm, all those hipster gaps š
You can find the complete press release here or if you’re ready, you can purchase the new 20mm along with the rest of the Rokinon products over at Duclos Lenses.
“Hipster Gaps”. And a meme was born!
Should I trademark it or something? It could catch on.
People seem to love these, although I haven’t used them I wonder what it would look like on a 2x crop sensor.