ACADEMY ULTIMATE GUIDE TO LENSES
BUDGET CINE PRIMES
A major consideration when buying cine lenses is the sensor size they will cover. Some, like the very affordable Veydra or Kowa ranges, are for Micro Four Thirds sensors such as those in the Panasonic GH5S and Olympus OM-D series. They are small and compact, ideal for the smaller MFT cameras. All the features of a premium prime cinema lens but at less than half the price: this is the promise Korean lens brand Samyang makes of the Xeen range of super-fast glass for full-frame cameras. servo-assisted, electronically remote- controlled, parfocal design zooms with built-in image stabilisation and metadata communication. They don’t have any of this, which leaves themwith the simple task of completely focusing on offering a pure cinema lens at an affordable price. The range is 14mm, 16mm, 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 85mm and 135mm in a family that’s designed for consistency in size and optical performance, in terms of look and colour. The lens housings are made of aluminiumwith standard 0.8M ring gearing, but unfortunately there is no weather sealing. Every lens has the same front diameter of 114mm and the gear rings are in the same place, so it’s fast and easy to switch lenses without having to adjust follow focus rigs. The fast apertures are controlled by a de-clicked ring, and the lenses are available marked in metric or imperial distance scales to suit your preference. Xeen’s range of cine primes are at the opposite end of the scale to
“All the features of a premiumprime cine lens but at less than half the price”
The Xeen’s colours do tend towards a very slight green cast, but this is easily sorted in post production so is not of any real concern. Flare is well controlled. For a more affordable option, they are great performers. Samyang recently revealed a new series of smaller, lighter Xeen primes called the CF range, made with carbon fibre composite in the lens barrel. A Sony E mount version will cost £1999/$2495 when they hit the market. Swiss brand Irix has also recently hit the market with a small but growing range of cine primes that are affordable and good quality. Only three lenses are currently available, but this will expand soon as filmmakers demand a whole set of matching optics.
They also come in Canon EF, Sony E, Micro Four Thirds, PL and Nikon F fittings. These may be a budget offering – the Xeen 50mm is £1554/$1445, for example – but feel like a quality bit of kit. The bayonet fit is precise with no play, the focus ring has a large, 200° movement that allows for ultra-precise and smooth focusing, with a lovely mechanical feel. There is some drop-off in resolution at the edge of the frames, as you’d expect, a tiny bit of chromatic aberration and some slight barrel distortion. But in a lens at this price point, the optical performance is very, very good. The bokeh is smooth, although as you open up the lens aperture it does change from circular to slightly egg-shaped. But it’s nothing that would worry most users.
IMAGES Samyang’s Xeen range fits full-frame cameras, whereas the smaller Kowa and Veydra MFT lenses are smaller and even more affordable
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