a blog by Matthew Duclos
Just ahead of the IBC show in Amsterdam, Leitz Cine has unveiled their latest line of cinema lenses, the HUGO Primes. A set of 8 high-speed prime lenses in a fairly compact body. The focal length and maximum aperture may look a bit familiar, and for good reason. Let’s take a closer look at what Leitz has been working on.
Continue reading “Leitz Cine Reveals Hugo Line of Primes”
For the last five years cinematographers have been asking Sigma for a 65mm high speed prime. Sigma has responded with the addition of a 28mm, and 40mm, even a 105mm high speed prime. At long last, we’ll have a 65mm to fill out the ever-popular Sigma Cine Prime family. Sigma issued a press release with some details of this new lens as well as a few other updates.
Continue reading “Sigma Announces Development of 65mm T1.5 Cine Prime and more!”
It’s been a few months since we talked about DZOFilm here on The Cine Lens. Which means they’ve introduced a number of new products that we’ll go over as a round-up instead of flooding our feed with every new lens they announce.
Continue reading “DZOFilm Summer 2022 Roundup”
After quite a long break from cine-specific zooms (aside from their hybrid style Cine-Servo line) Canon has introduced a new series of lenses for the company’s EF Cinema Lens lineup. A 20-50mm and 45-135mm, both with a maximum aperture of T2.4 which one may thing is reasonably fast, but combined with an image circle large enough to cover Full Frame formats!? That’s impressive. Let’s take a closer look at the new pair of zooms and the features that really make them stand out.
Continue reading “Canon Announces Flex FF Zoom Lenses”
In an effort to bring the highest quality lens modifications to cinematographers across Canada, Duclos Lenses has partnered with Salmo Cine to offer the Cine-Mod® for a wide range of still-photo lenses.
Continue reading “Duclos Lenses and Salmo Cine Bring the Cine-Mod® to Canada”
Irix began offering cine versions of some of their popular photo lenses back in 2019 with the introduction of their 150mm Macro. While this was merely a re-purposing of their photo lens, it came with a promise of more dedicated cinema lenses. The Irix Cine 11mm and 15mm followed shortly which were also re-purposed photo lenses. Shortly thereafter, Irix introduced its first proper cine lens in the form of a 45mm T1.5. It checked practically all of the boxes one would want for such a lens and marked the beginning of them making good on their promise of more cine-specific lenses. We now have the next proper cine prime bringing the Irix Cine line to five lenses.
Continue reading “Irix Expands Cine Prime Line with 30mm T1.5”
In recent years, vintage lenses are consistently being hunted down by cinematographers for their nostalgic look and “in-camera quality.” Sigma noticed this trend which led to the development of their new line of primes. Introducing the Sigma Cine Classic Art Prime lenses.
Continue reading “Sigma Introduces Classic Line of Primes”
On January 15th, Canon Burbank held their New Year Open House featuring Duclos Lenses. Patrons were able to explore the complete Cinema EOS line-up and get hands-on experience with Canon cinema cameras and lenses in the various Canon Burbank test facilities, theater, and showroom. Continue reading “Canon’s New Year Open House Recap”
Sigma has just announced the development of a 14mm T2 and 135mm T2 prime lens. Based on the Sigma ART line of optics, these two new primes will join the already impressive 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm . This news comes as no surprise to anyone who follows Sigma. The photo version of these lenses which were released earlier this year, seem like they were designed specifically to join the Sigma Cine family. They’re a welcome addition and render the Sigma Cine Primes a powerful option for cinematographers. Continue reading “Sigma Fills Out Nicely with 14mm and 135mm Cine Primes”
No… These aren’t cinema lenses. They’re auto-focus, still photography lenses. Sigma has just announced three new lenses in their ART line of still-photo lenses: 14mm f/1.8, 135mm f/1.8, and a 24-70mm f/2.8. So why am I posting about them? Because with Sigma’s new Cinema line of lenses, zooms and primes, I can imagine that these now options from Sigma will make their way into a cinema housing in the near future. Let’s discuss… Continue reading “Sigma Announces New ART Series Lenses”
Last month Sigma revealed that they were (finally) entering the cinema world with a brand new set of cine zooms and primes. On Thursday October 6th, with the help of Duclos Lenses, Sigma hosted a launch event for these new lenses at the ASC Clubhouse in Hollywood, California. Continue reading “Duclos Lenses Presents Sigma Cine at the ASC Clubhouse : A Photo Recap”
This one has been a long time coming and I couldn’t be happier to be breaking this news to all that have waited so patiently. For the past couple of years I would receive an email or phone call about twice a month asking if we had plans to convert the Sigma 18-35mm and/or 50-100mm to a cine lens. I would consistently, politely decline citing high cost or some other hurdle that made such a project unattractive to my organization which was generally met with the oh so annoying “Well, this other company in China does it for real cheap”. Good for them… But alas, we can finally admit to the real reason why Duclos Lenses has avoided such a project. Sigma has taken it upon themselves to carry out what so many have asked for over the past couple of years; Manufacture a high quality, fast, lightweight range of zooms and primes direct from their factory in Aizu, Japan. Let’s take a look into the future of Sigma Cine. Continue reading “Sigma Steps Into The Spotlight With New Cine Zooms and Primes”
As with many lens manufacturers, Rokinon tapped into a market they may or may not have anticipated and as a result, their product line evolved along with user demand. The same thing happened with Zeiss when they realized that we were modifying their ZF line of lenses for cinema use. Back at headquarters in Germany, a quick visit to the engineering department and, BAM! Compact Primes. So what’s the difference between the Rokinon Cine, Cine DS, and Xeen primes? Is one better than the other? Why the big price difference? Should I sell my Cine lenses and get the DS lenses? Let’s take a more in-depth look at the line and try to answer these questions. Continue reading “Rokinon, Cine, Cine DS, and Xeen – What’s The Difference?”
SLR Magic is a Hong Kong based lens manufacturer who has enjoyed the limelight with some unique lenses at substantially low prices when compared to the competition. Their lineup includes oddities with titles such as Toy Lens, Hyperprime, Noktor, etc.. Recently, the Chinese manufacturer has made their way into the cinema lens market with fully manual, “cine” lenses. Continue reading “SLR Magic’s 50mm “CINE” prime”
In this post, we’re going to take a quick look at the Canon 50-1000mm Cine-Servo – a lens that some may consider impractical or unnecessary. I disagree! A few weeks back I had a client that was considering adding Canon’s new super zoom to his kit. He does a lot of wildlife and nature documentary work but didn’t think that 1,000mm was a reasonable range. If you asked me that same question six months ago I probably would have agreed. However, after some hands-on time with the lens here in the shop, I’ve definitely found the silver lining. Continue reading “Quick Look: Canon 50-1000mm Close Focus Performance”