Rokinon cine lenses arriving!

Duke M.

Duke M.

Veteran
I was looking for a cheap fisheye for an FX shot and thought of the Rokinon lens since a lot of their lenses (not all) are decent and reasonably priced. while looking I found that they have a cine version of the 8mm fisheye. I ordered one but I can't really comment on the build quality or mechanics yet. Its not a fast lens and I don't expect great optics on a fisheye, but I bought a new one for $300.

I found this cine lens idea interesting since I can't really afford cine lenses and Rokinon's 35mm and 85mm F1.4 lenses are actually pretty darn good. The ones I tested were right up there with Nikon glass and sharper than some other brands cine glass.

I then found that Rokinon is planning to release a 35mm T1.5 cine lens on August 15th at B&H for about $550. Plus the 85mm T1.5 is planned for Sept. I expect they have the same high resolution as their manual photo lenses, but declicked, with gears, etc.

(I also see they have a 14mm and 24mm but I don't know about them. The photo 24mm is reputed to be a little soft.)

Obviouly these won't compete with the very best lenses, I can see this as being the beginning of a decent cine lens set, thats faster than the Russian lenses and very inexpensive.

Has anyone else heard more?
 
I use "stills" version of 35/1.4 and 85/1.4 with great success... Good for F3, with long focusing travel and nice performance. I was forced to get some kind of primes while waiting for "never released" Birger EOS mount for my Canon high speed primes... I got both lenses used on online forums. Great buy! Recommend!
When I mount them on my Optitek adapter, the become "declicked"...
 
I have the Optitek adapter too, which is nice for a smooth aperture transition, but the markings on the optitek aren't very accurate. With these I'll be able to read the T settings accurately.

The 35 and 85mm cine version of the lenses are planned. I hope they do a matching 50mm cine lens.
 
True, Duke...
when I got mine last year, there was no other version... I might upgrade to cine version, when they start selling. But I rather invest in that Birger adapter, sell all Rokinons and Tokinas and Nikons and use my Canon set... A man can dream?...
 
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I'm interested in whether the Rokinon cine lense will just have de-clicked iris's ( no big deal) or whether they will have a much longer range of focus travel with accurate markings. If the latter they will definately fill a void in the low end market and will be quite attractive. I compared the Rokinon 35mm f1.4 to my nikon Zeiss f2 Z. It wasn't as good especially wide open but it wasn't bad. A long focus throw might make a difference to me at those prices.
 
Hmm... Comparing photos of new cine lens T1.5 to Rokinon F1.4 the focus markings are spread quite a bit further apart. That sounds good.
 
Tata Steva said:
True, Duke...
when I got mine last year, there was no other version... I might upgrade to cine version, when they start selling. But I rather invest in that Birger adapter, sell all Rokinons and Tokinas and Nikons and use my Canon set... A man can dream?...
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I think the F3 is so far down on Birger's list that with a 3-5 year obselecence cycle you'll be out of luck. But I'm just guessing based on their total lack of posting any info of any kind.
 
Duke M. said:
I think the F3 is so far down on Birger's list that with a 3-5 year obselecence cycle you'll be out of luck. But I'm just guessing based on their total lack of posting any info of any kind.
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Yeah, I know...
the only hope that I have is the recent mentioning of it in Sony's new F3 brochure...
 
where did you see that the 85 was coming out in cine gear? I only saw the 35mm on bh... and I see no info on their site.

I would LOVE to see this as a 24, 35, 50, 80 set that would be awesome for a cheap cine prime kit


What do we know about these, So far I only see 8mm Cine and 35 cine... any info on the future of different mm in cine conversions?
 
hunter richards said:
They should make a 50 1.4- probably wont, but they should. Really like their 85mm 1.4.
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I asked Rokinon if they were making a 50mm T1.5 cine to go with the 35mm and 85mm cine lenses and they said they are working on it.

@Filmdude, there is more info on the other lenses on their facebook page. They are coming out with 14mm, 24mm and 85mm cine lenses in addition to the other ones.
 
Duke M. said:
I asked Rokinon if they were making a 50mm T1.5 cine to go with the 35mm and 85mm cine lenses and they said they are working on it.

@Filmdude, there is more info on the other lenses on their facebook page. They are coming out with 14mm, 24mm and 85mm cine lenses in addition to the other ones.
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Oh this is all lovely news, I found what im waiting for next. I've been saying and saying for years if someone just came out with affordable cine style lenses they would hit huge. They better plan on making a ton of them before they release, otherwise they will have a huge backorder on them.

If anyone from their camp is reading, once you have all of them out, keep selling them individually, dont lock them into a set-only. It's really annoying when you fall in love with a few different types of lenses but can never buy them because they are locked into an expensive set.

Needless to say, im pretty sure I'll buy them all, its a no-brainer at these prices, and the glass isn't bad either. Maybe it might not have the most great mechanics and other things, but heck it beats using horrible canon and nikon setups. I'll take purpose built lenses over jerry-rigged stuff with addon gears any day.
 
Okay if they all come out in Sept... the 14, 24, 35 & 85... I did ask on the FB page if they're working on a 50 & 100 or 135 and they said yes... but in the meantime... wondering what would be a good 50 to use in the mean time... to bad they don't make a 50 still lens...
 
FilmDude said:
Needless to say, im pretty sure I'll buy them all, its a no-brainer at these prices, and the glass isn't bad either. Maybe it might not have the most great mechanics and other things, but heck it beats using horrible canon and nikon setups. I'll take purpose built lenses over jerry-rigged stuff with addon gears any day.
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You just hit on my two gripes about certain lenses.

1) sometimes the add on gears slip and your careful focus measurements with the follow focus get ruined resulting in a ruined shot or wasted time.

2) DSLR lenses often don't have hard stops. If you hit where a stop should be the ring slips and your careful focus measurements with the follow focus get ruined resulting in a ruined shot or wasted time.

For me the reversed focus direction is a non issue. If you have a reversable FF you can make it turn any direction that you want.

I am curious as to the quality control. Some people say the Rokinon are a little softer wide open, but some reviews say they are just as sharp as Nikon.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed. My 8mm cine lens arrives in a few days.
 
hunter richards said:
Great news on the 50 then- thanks! If the 100 is a macro I'll spill my kim
chee..
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Well let me remind you, that this is a nikon/canon mount lens... which of course you know... but what I forgot (being as I was a film stills photographer for most of my life) was that theres a nice benefit to having that mount... EXTENSION TUBES! I forgot all about those things up until yesterday when I rediscovered them and remembering how lovely it was to use. Basically ANY canon/nikon lens can be turned into an amazing macro lens with just a few seconds putting on an extension tube between the lens. So yes... technically that 50 already has great macro capability. Might not be scaled right for it, but then again when working in macro I dont think measuring distances is really an issue then, its usually a monitor checking situation because of the dof is so thin. There's no glass in an extension tube, so there is 0 loss in quality too.

I think you also might lose a stop with extension tubes, but at T1.5 I think I speak for us all when saying an extra stop on that is not hurting anyone. So that might help anyone wanting macro for these type lenses. A cheap $40 extension tube kit can get you AMAZINGLY close up shots. I'm talking almost touching the front element close.
 
boy those are cheap, i still would spend a little more for a quality name brand extension tube set, I'm sure they work fine, but having a better machined product might last longer and not have any light leaking issues in the future.

There's a way to stick a small piece of paper in the latch on a G lens that holds the iris open, I used to do this when using my macro extension tubes. It will hold the iris open and allow you to use G lenses. You can even vari the opening with a little know how and some good skills with cutting small balsa wood at different lengths to slide into the little latch hole. You wont know exactly what f stop your at, but you'll be able to visually see the different on the meter and calculate it as a T stop that way. This way you can get different apertures with a G lens with an extension tube with not much skill. Use to do it all the time.
 
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