F3 comparsions of Rokinon 35mm T1.5 Cine and Nikon 35mm F1.4 AI-S.

[Duke M.]

I shot two video clips at 42" from the sensor. Both wide open. The tripod, camera and chart did not move. If the Nikon is actually 35mm then the Rokinon is actually 33mm or so. This was shot at Cine2, Rec 709. The lighting was not changed so you can compare brightness and contrast.

I used the focus assist on a TV Logic monitor to set focus as closely as possible for each lens. At this distance (42") the Nikon was much softer than the prior test at 18". I saved in PNG format to be lossless.

First the chart titles say it all. The first ones are 1:1 pixels with Nikon on the left.



Next the Nikon blown up 290% and the Rokinon blown up 275% so they are the same size for easier comparison.



Finally the two charts. This was far enough away the charts were just in the center of the picture so this is a crop of each.

When uploaded both of these images were 862 wide, but on the forum they look a different size. I don't know why.

My conclusion is the Rokinon is brighter, has more contrast, and is sharper. It does have a little more CA, but its barely noticable until blown up and even then minimal.

 

[Lenilenapi]

Duke - yes to the charts. More useful info. Now - why are they orange? Is your color balance right? If not that will affect how much CA is visible.
I'm nopt surrised as the Nikkon 35mm f1.4 is bad wide open, though someone here says he has found good ones. It improves massively when stopped down though.

 

[Jason Davenport]

+1 Test at all stops.

 

[bill totolo]

How is a CCTV lens beating all these Nikon, Canons, and Zeiss lenses?
Kudos to Samyang.

 

[Duke M.]

Duke - yes to the charts. More useful info. Now - why are they orange? Is your color balance right? If not that will affect how much CA is visible.

Yes, the color balance was set to daylight while the actual light is incandescent. All my lighting is daylight balanced so I didn't think to change it when using the regular room lights.

 

[Duke M.]

+1 Test at all stops.

There isn't really a need to do so. The differences between the two are less pronounced in less demanding circumstances. The Rokinon remains a little more contrasty, but much less so when the Nikon is stopped down. The Nikon also sharpens up very nicely when stopped down. They are both very good lenses.

 

[Duke M.]

Matt Duclos reports the Rokinon 35mm cine lens has a field of view closer to that of a 30mm, ie wider than the Zeiss 35mm.

 

[WestView Digital]

Hey Duke, thanks for the tests. I was looking at the Rokinon at B&H and it mentions manual aperture control. Are you using a prolock adapter? How does the Rokinon aperture ring work with the prolock's aperture ring? Which do you use? Does it interfere at all?

 

[Duke M.]

Hey Duke, thanks for the tests. I was looking at the Rokinon at B&H and it mentions manual aperture control. Are you using a prolock adapter? How does the Rokinon aperture ring work with the prolock's aperture ring? Which do you use? Does it interfere at all?

I'm using the prolock and it doesn't interfere at all. The aperture in the lenses is spring loaded and controled by a little arm that sticks out. It doesn't matter which one you use, the prolock or the lens ring to engage that arm.

Just rotate the one you're not using out of the way and use the other one. The lens ring is a little longer throw, better marked and easier to use, but both are perfectly usable.

That being said I usually control the aperture with my waveform monitor so I don't really look at the markings unless I've got a script supervisor logging the aperture settings, which is really more a film necessity thing than a video thing but its what they learn in school.