a blog by Matthew Duclos
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”
The increasing popularity of Fujifilm’s cameras for quick, nimble motion picture work has begun another trend in the mirrorless realm – using legacy legacy lenses for cinematic work. Similar to the popularity of the Sony E-mount ecosystem, the X-mount features a similar shallow flange depth that makes adapting older SLR lenses a breeze with a plethora of cheap, accessible adapters. But what if you wanted an affordable, purpose built cinema lens for the X-mount system without using cheap, flimsy adapters? Continue reading “Fuji X-Mount for Veydra Mini Primes Coming Soon”
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”
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”
Zeiss has had a busy few weeks with the announcement of the new autofocus Batis primes as well as the Milvus line of lenses that replace the outgoing “Classic” ZF.2 and ZE primes with a more modern, ergonomic housing including two brand new optical designs in the Milvus 50mm f/1.4 and Milvus 85mm f/1.4. Then, only a few weeks later Zeiss announced their 21mm f/2.8 Loxia lens designed specifically for Sony FE mount cameras. A wide-angle Otus lens had been rumored for almost a year and we’re finally able to talk about the newest member of the venerable Otus line of primes. Continue reading “Zeiss 28mm Otus Officially Announced”
Rokinon posted a not-so-subtle hint at their upcoming Xeen product line to their Facebook page earlier today. The photo shows a Xeen branded pirate ship blasting a Zeiss CP.2 and Canon CN-E out of the water. Not much mincing of words there. Continue reading “Rokinon Takes Aim with New Xeen Cinema Prime Lenses”