a blog by Matthew Duclos
Laowa has unveiled its Nanomorph 1.5x LF Anamorphic series, designed to cater to filmmakers seeking full-frame anamorphic lenses at a competitive price point. Promising professional-grade optical performance, the Nanomorph LF lineup introduces compact, lightweight lenses with a consistent 1.5x squeeze ratio and customizable flare options. Here’s a detailed look at what these lenses bring to the table.
Continue reading “Laowa Introduces 1.5x Full Frame Anamorphic Primes”
Over the past year, a fresh batch of exciting lenses has emerged, adding new flavors to the ever-evolving lens industry. While these releases have certainly stirred the pot, as the saying goes, the technique you use can make all the difference in the final dish. Now, Sirui enters the scene with their bold campaign for the 40mm T1.8 1.33x AF Anamorphic Prime, leaving us to wonder: Will this new ingredient enhance the overall recipe, or will it be a flavor that fades into the background?
Don’t worry there are no more references to food going forward.
Continue reading “The Sirui 40mm T1.8 1.33x is Anamorphic AF”
Cooke Optics has just expanded their acclaimed S8/i Full Frame (FF) lens range with the addition of the highly anticipated 21mm T1.4. This new focal length extends the versatility of the S8/i line, enabling cinematographers to capture stunning wide-angle shots while maintaining the signature look that Cooke is known for.
Continue reading “Cooke Adds 21mm T1.4 to S8/i Line”
What an exciting past couple of years we’ve had right? I mean regarding lenses. You got that? Okay good.
Yes, even in the past year alone we have had some incredible new products come out that have showcased the evolution of the cinema lens technology. Compact full frame cinema lenses have gained popularity for their portability, optical quality, and ability to deliver stunning visuals without compromising on performance. Never before have quality optics and this much variation between them been accessible to filmmakers. We pulled a few options in this category from our inventory to take a look at what they have to offer you.
To preface, this list only contains a few of the many Full-Frame/Vista Vision lenses on the market. Including s35 and even anamorphic lenses for sale would be exhausting and we don’t have enough coffee around today. We’ll save them for future blogs though. Stay tuned for that.
Now, let’s dive in.
Continue reading “Lens Guide: Compact Full Frame Cine Primes”
Sirui has expanded its Nightwalker lineup with two new additions designed to enhance the creative capabilities of filmmakers and content creators alike. With a plethora of mount options including: Sony E, Canon RF, Fuji X, Micro Four Thirds, and L-Mount versions, these primes appear to be the Swiss army knives of the affordable compact cine lens category.
Continue reading “Sirui Nightwalker 16mm & 75mm T1.2 Primes”
NAB. The stage on which brands throughout the industry showcase their newest products shined extra bright this year. However, as a shop specializing in optics, we had our focus on the new lenses out on the floor. Enter the new DZOFilm Arles Primes VV cine primes.
Continue reading “First Look: DZOFilm Arles Cine Primes”
It’s been quite a while since Zeiss released a new cine lens. In fact, the Supreme Primes were the latest addition to the Zeiss cine family. A few focal lengths have been added such as the Supreme 15mm and if we want to really stretch Zeiss portfolio additions, we can also include the Supreme Radiance – Zeiss’ answer to the vintage lens craze. Aside from those, there really hasn’t been a whole lot of buzz out of the German lens manufacturer. That’s about to change!
Continue reading “Zeiss Announces Nano Primes – Fast, Compact, Cine Primes for Mirrorless Cameras”
Sirui, a renowned name in the budget cine lens market, has just launched an exciting new line of compact cinema-style lenses under the name “Night Walker.” Designed to cater to cinematographers and filmmakers on a budget, the Night Walker series features three versatile lenses, including 24mm, 35mm, and 55mm focal lengths, each boasting an impressive T1.2 aperture. These lenses are compatible with APS-C and Super35 sensors, offering exceptional low-light performance without compromising image quality.
Continue reading “Sirui Launches Campaign for Nightwalker Primes”
Exciting news from Swiss-based lens manufacturer Irix with the announcement of development of a new addition to their popular cinema prime lens series. Since their inception in 2019, Irix has been dedicated to providing filmmakers with the highest quality lenses suitable for a wide range of cameras. Their existing cine lens lineup already boasts an impressive array of focal lengths, but the forthcoming 65mm T1.5 lens is set to fill a crucial gap in their product offerings.
Continue reading “Irix Adds 65mm T1.5 to Cine Prime Line”
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”
Right on the heels of their 150mm Cine Macro announcement, Irix is obviously hard at work filling out their new line of cinema lenses. Newest to the family is the 11mm T4.3. The lens will feature several cine-standard features as well as some clever notable new ones. Let’s take a closer look.
Continue reading “Irix Adds 11mm T4.3 to Cine Line”
Tokina joined the cinema market with their Vista Primes which were met with open arms for their excellent image quality and coverage. But for many cinematographers, the lenses lacked character or personality. They were simply too clean or “clinical” as I’ve come to refer to them. But that changes with the Vista One primes.
Continue reading “Vista One – More Character from Tokina Cinema”
Today, Arri officially announced their new, keeping up with the Jones’s, Alexa LF (Large Format). More importantly, the announcement wasn’t just a new camera, but a new system. This means new camera, new mount, and new LENSES! I suppose the new camera is large format compared to other cameras, but what about the new lenses? How do they fare in comparison, on paper at least, to other cinema lenses currently on the market? Let’s take a look at the new Signature Primes from Arri. Continue reading “Arri’s New Signature Prime Series “Large Format””
Duclos Lenses hosted another Duclos Lens Lab at RED Studios Hollywood several weeks ago. This time we focused on Zeiss’ new CP.3 line and the workflow associated with the eXtended Data features, exclusive to the CP.3 XD primes. Continue reading “Duclos Lens Lab: Zeiss CP.3 eXtended Data Workflow Recap”
I know… Another Rokinon post. What can I say? They’re in high gear and don’t show any signs of slowing down anytime soon. Samyang, the magicians behind the Rokinon line of photo and cinema lenses have another new line of primes. Several months ago they announced their native E-mount auto-focus lenses which I completely ignored since they don’t really interest me (google it if auto-focus E-mount primes interest you), but Rokinon has just begun shipping two primes in a new line they’re calling “Speical Performance” or “SP” for short. Currently, these two lenses consist of a 14mm f/2.4 and an 85mm f/1.2. I spent a few weeks with the new 85mm so let’s give that a closer look Continue reading “A Closer Look at Rokinon’s New ‘Special Performance’ Line of Primes”