GH2 Rokinon cine lenses - how big a deal on the GH2?

O

OldCorpse

Rockin the Boat
I see that Rokinon (Samyang) are coming out with cine versions of their 8mm, 24mm, 35mm, 85mm etc. lenses. Here's the dilemma for me. I have the Rokinon 35mm and 85mm both in Nikon mounts for use with the GH2, Novoflex adapter. How big a deal is it that the 35 and soon 85 will be available in cine versions? I know longer throw, T stop counts, and de-clicked but is this something that should have me sell my 35 and 85 and re-buy the cine versions? This is for narrative work (not docu or run'n'gun). Just how big a deal is this... what's your feeling on this? If it's not that much of a deal convenience-wise, I'd rather not go through the process of selling/re-buying... what are your experiences?
 
OldCorpse said:
I see that Rokinon (Samyang) are coming out with cine versions of their 8mm, 24mm, 35mm, 85mm etc. lenses. Here's the dilemma for me. I have the Rokinon 35mm and 85mm both in Nikon mounts for use with the GH2, Novoflex adapter. How big a deal is it that the 35 and soon 85 will be available in cine versions? I know longer throw, T stop counts, and de-clicked but is this something that should have me sell my 35 and 85 and re-buy the cine versions? This is for narrative work (not docu or run'n'gun). Just how big a deal is this... what's your feeling on this? If it's not that much of a deal convenience-wise, I'd rather not go through the process of selling/re-buying... what are your experiences?
Click to expand...

Rokinon 35mm cine lens cost $550, the regular manual version cost $480
I would buy the cine versions. Smoother focus, click less aperture and true t stop rating seems like a given. Will it make your footage better, probably not, but it sure would make it nicer to handle and control + properly expose your scenes with consistency.
 
I can see big advantages if you use follow foci or matte boxes. Also if these are your only Nikon lenses and you'd prefer to have every lens focus in the same direction. Otherwise, if they're already working for you, no need to change.

Interesting that their first line is going to include 8, 14, 24, and 35mm. A great boon to m43 and BMC shooters.
 
Visual quality is good but build quality is hit and miss I had to exchange3 lenses all due to focus ring issues. One was grinding and the other 2 had some creaking and squeaking going on. Def not worth the hassle for me. If you have $ get Zeiss . If not then i guess hope you get a good lens from them. That's just been my experience. As i said though the optical quality is nice though.
 
Last edited:
Optical quality is very good indeed. I've used the 85mm extensively for stills and it's outstanding. I have not had any problems with the build, but it's true that it's plastic and can't be compared to Zeiss - but I can't speak to how lucky or unlucky you have to get to get a good one, since I got a sample of one... but jambredz above had bad luck.
 
the 14mm was my work horse for my GH-1 for a while, it stayed on there for a few jobs (the majority of the time). Recently picked up the 35 and 85 and I love them, great optically (very sharp wide open surprisingly) not bad focus throw, great feeling mechanics (compared to still lenses) all around for the price there is nothing within range that compares in my opinion. Though I would say the 14 and perhaps the 8 are not up to par with the rest of the set but that is to be expected, but I will say if you are looking for review of these dig deep and look at the tests and not the comments from random users... such as myself.

So for the lower end people who can't afford 4k plus to buy a single prime these are a good way to build a set of lenses without having to scour e-bay or something for a rare old set of Zeiss or Leica's just to pay to have them cinevised evaluated and remounted.

Happy shooting!
 
I looked at some of the photos of those lenses and they look like the same focus throw. Is it written anywhere that they really do have a longer throw? The mechanics of my 85mm lens is not very good.
 
I believe its the same exact lens but with declicked Iris and gear attached with T stop ratings. So no i highly doubt the focus throw is longer.
 
85mm rokinon - great

35mm - costs almost twice as much and not as good as the 85mm. The 85mm loses contrast at 1.4 but still good. The 35mm flares like too much even at f2 at times the lens hood is useless and you'll want to get another hood or french flag. Flare is a real problem for me but otherwise great. Focus is meh, a bit too much give on the focus ring. Also the ring is bigger than the chasis and there's empty space between the focus ring and the body of the lens to where you can press down on the focus chasis and feel the plastic give and bend since it's not right up snug against the body.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top