Rokinon Cine DS primes
Posted by Corne Scheepers on Sunday, October 8, 2017
Since I started using a Sony NEX-FS100 a few years ago as my primary camera I started looking at lenses. To be honest I had (and still have) a lot to learn because as a video guy I grew up with camcorders that already had glass on the front of the camera. You never removed it. You just turned the focus ring, pressed the zoom rocker and off you went.
Then came the DSLR video revolution and suddenly everyone got into cine-style filming. That included me.
I used a Canon 50mm prime for most of my interview filming for a few years with acceptable results. It connected to the FS100's E-mount by means of a Metabones adapter. But it wasn't a cinema lens - you knew that the moment you started doing things to it it wasn't meant to do, like trying to hang a full-sized matte box on the filter threads. Plastic lens rings don't like all that!
Then I pulled the trigger on B&H deal a few months ago that really helped me to step up my filming game - I ordered a set of Rokinon T1.5 Cine DS primes. The set includes 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses and for the type of projects I need to deliver this is about all the glass I will ever need. You can really see the difference between cine and photography glass when you put them side by side: cine lenses are much heavier and sturdier, they have uniform filter threads and equally-spaced focus and iris rings so you need not change your camera setup between lens changes.
Above: have that follow focus unit set up perfectly? Well there's no need to change any of that if the DOP decides he wants a longer lens on the camera for the next shot. Just put on a new lens and the follow focus gears still line up perfectly.
The Rokinons all have de-clicked iris rings meaning your can smoothly set that without the annoying "clicking" you get when changing the f-stop on a photography lens. And on that topic - cine lenses are measured in T (Transmission), not f-stops. The Rokinons have all been precisely calibrated to T1.5.
I'm really impressed by the results I've been getting with these. Depth of Field is fantastic when you shoot fully open at T1.5.
Keep in mind though that when using these it will be cinema-style filming - everything, absolutely everything, is manual! No auto focus. No f-stop/T reading in your viewfinder either, you have to check that on the lens. But if you're really looking at getting that much sought-after cine look for your corporate videos, cine glass is a must-have.
Then came the DSLR video revolution and suddenly everyone got into cine-style filming. That included me.
I used a Canon 50mm prime for most of my interview filming for a few years with acceptable results. It connected to the FS100's E-mount by means of a Metabones adapter. But it wasn't a cinema lens - you knew that the moment you started doing things to it it wasn't meant to do, like trying to hang a full-sized matte box on the filter threads. Plastic lens rings don't like all that!
Then I pulled the trigger on B&H deal a few months ago that really helped me to step up my filming game - I ordered a set of Rokinon T1.5 Cine DS primes. The set includes 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm lenses and for the type of projects I need to deliver this is about all the glass I will ever need. You can really see the difference between cine and photography glass when you put them side by side: cine lenses are much heavier and sturdier, they have uniform filter threads and equally-spaced focus and iris rings so you need not change your camera setup between lens changes.
Above: have that follow focus unit set up perfectly? Well there's no need to change any of that if the DOP decides he wants a longer lens on the camera for the next shot. Just put on a new lens and the follow focus gears still line up perfectly.
The Rokinons all have de-clicked iris rings meaning your can smoothly set that without the annoying "clicking" you get when changing the f-stop on a photography lens. And on that topic - cine lenses are measured in T (Transmission), not f-stops. The Rokinons have all been precisely calibrated to T1.5.
I'm really impressed by the results I've been getting with these. Depth of Field is fantastic when you shoot fully open at T1.5.
Keep in mind though that when using these it will be cinema-style filming - everything, absolutely everything, is manual! No auto focus. No f-stop/T reading in your viewfinder either, you have to check that on the lens. But if you're really looking at getting that much sought-after cine look for your corporate videos, cine glass is a must-have.
Tags: "rokinon" "cine-look"
