It seems there is a new market niche that companies are starting to compete in – autofocus anamorphic lenses. BLAZAR was the first to announce their plan of launching an autofocus anamorphic lens (in case you missed it, watch our APEX review here), but most likely SIRUI will be the first company to bring such a lens to the market.

Whoever “the first” may be, apart from being mentioned in books dealing with “anamorphic lenses on a budget”, we as customers, don’t care as long as we get an affordable option that can deliver as advertised.

In this regard, BLAZAR did really well with their APEX AF anamorphic lenses (35mm and 50mm), meaning, the sample products that we received seemed to be very promising for S35, 1.33x anamorphic lenses. But what about SIRUI, can their new lens compete?

SIRUI 40mm T1.8 AF anamorphic lens

By now, we have gotten used to SIRUI coming up with “family names” for their lenses. The last one that we reviewed was the spherical Aurora 85mm lens (review here). However, this SIRUI lens will be the first that won’t come with a name, so I’ll refer to it in my review as “SIRUI 40mm T1.8 AF anamorphic lens”…

Upon the announcement, the lens will come in three guaranteed mounts: Sony E, Nikon Z, and FUJIFILM X. The fourth, an MFT lens, is promised to see the light of day early next year. Like its only competitor in this AF anamorphic market, it is an S35 lens with a de-squeeze ratio of 1.33x.

What to expect

The new SIRUI 40mm lens is an “electronic lens”- meaning, it needs to be connected to the camera to power up. I’m mentioning this, so you are not surprised when your aperture doesn’t physically change when rotating the aperture ring. On top, unlike the BLAZAR APEX lens, don’t expect physical hard stops for minimum and maximum focus distance. In all honesty, this is a bit of a surprise when the manufacturer itself is referring to the lens as a “prime cine” lens. But there is more to that “fly-by-wire” lens phenomenon. It means that when changing between manual and autofocus, the lens elements will NOT drive back to the last registered manual focus point. I hope I’m explaining myself well here, as it might be a bit confusing to understand. For some, this feature (which is found in the BLAZAR APEX by the way), might be extremely important, while for others, it wouldn’t matter all all. So it is very much depending on the type of work you do. As a side note, this new 40mm AF anamorphic lens does have a nice focus ring which is begging for a follow focus to be connected, but as I mentioned before, the lens focus ring will rotate endlessly so this is of course not practical.

I guess what triggered me to start my review with this paragraph are the words “prime cine” lens. When you write “cine” on a product, there are certain expectations!

SIRUI 40mm AF anamorphic lens at a glance

Fast T1.8 aperture and sharpens

We tested the new lens together with the Sony FX30 (the same way we did the BLAZAR lens) and came up with the following findings: When fully open at T1.8, anything but the middle of the lens is very soft. Close the lens to T2.8 and the center gets much sharper while the frame edges get better sharpness, too. Close it farther to T4 and you get a good balance between sharpens and aperture setting.

Now, it is important to write that pointing a lens at a chart and checking its resolution capabilities is important, but when filming in the field, it can be that some of those weaknesses are not fully interacting depending on your subject of filming.

Fast accurate silent autofocus operation

Though we received only a pre-production lens, it performed rather well! I was again surprised at how silent the lens is (same as SIRUI’s Aurora 85mm)! When it comes to AF accuracy, the lens performed well around 90% of the time, mostly because the software is still being tweaked. I had no issues at all between close-distance objects and up to 5 meters away. It is an infinity that did not show consistency in accuracy. After talking to SIRUI, they promised that the final lens version would not have this issue.

Bokeh:

The bokeh this lens is exhibiting is nice (also wide-open), although not even. One can certainly expect an oval-shaped background rendering.

Chromatic aberration: 

Chromatic aberration is definitely visible! One should be aware of it when shooting against bright objects like the sky, for example.

Lens flares: 

The lens will be offered in two versions of flares, blue and neutral (meaning, depending on the color of the source light, the lens will respond). For our testing, we got the “neutral flare version”, and I have to say that I liked what I saw. The flair distribution across the frame looks even and not distracting at all.

Focus breathing: Well controlled.

Pincushion distortion:

SIRUI is continuing to manufacture anamorphic lenses with a pincushion distortion effect (unlike BLAZAR which is contacting their lenses with barrel distortion). With this particular lens, we are told by SIRUI that the distortion level is at around 4%. As you can see from the above image, it is not that visible on the chart itself.

Lens body design:

When taking a close look at the lens body design, it seems to be identical to the newly announced Aurora 85mm spherical lens. There are two clutch buttons on each side of the lens. One for switching between autofocus and manual focus, and the other, for “clicking” or “de-clicking” the lens aperture. There is an additional button marked with “AFL”. It is an assignable button, but I left it on “focus lock” as this proved very convenient while filming. To ensure that the lens is “up to date”, like with most SIRUI lenses, there is a USB-C input connector for updating firmware if needed. Last but not least, the new lens features weather-sealing at the barrel and mount for additional rain and dust resistance.

The new lens is very compact and weighs just above 600g. The minimum focus is 0.6m which is fine, but still for getting closer to objects, one will need some rings with dioptars.

Conclusion

The new 40mm T1.8 anamorphic autofocus lens is a decent offering from SIRUI. Considering its price point, I’m sure it will satisfy the needs of many. In general, autofocus for anamorphic lenses is a “small engineering miracle” and it’s good to see competition in this niche, too! It is a very different product from the BLAZAR APEX lens(es). With its hard stops focus ring construction the BLAZARs seem to be more “filmmaking-friendly” (next to the ability to go back to the last manual focus mark). Saying this does not mean that anything is faulty with SIRUI’s new offering, it is just aimed at a different crowd. I’m sure that those doing a variety of different types of work, such as filming and photography, will be quite happy with such a versatile lens.

In terms of picture aesthetics: Don’t search for anything beyond 1.33x. If you are using the entire 16×9 sensor, 1.33x is your best friend.

Pricing

SIRUI is offering the first 1,000 lenses on Indiegogo for $639. The next tier is the Early Bird price of $699, and then, the retail price will jump to $799. Lens availability is expected at present.

What do you think about SIRUI’s newest lens? Are you eager to test the new generation of anamorphic autofocus lenses? Please share with us your thoughts in the comment section below.

Keeping up with the latest trends, SIRUI, a reputable manufacturer of lenses, tripods, lights, and accessories, has now introduced their first-ever full-frame autofocus lens for Sony E, Nikon Z, and FUJIFILM X cameras. The Sony A1 II and the SIRUI 85mm lens arrived at our office more or less at the same time. After carefully examining the A1 II, we decided against doing a review on the camera alone, since video-wise it offers almost the same as its predecessor, the original A1. Instead, we decided to pair these two together!

Sony A1 II

Sony’s flagship mirrorless camera, the A1, was introduced over three years ago. Of course, when we heard about the upcoming Sony A1 II, our expectations were high. In case you missed it, you can check out our Sony A1 review here and our Lab Test here). When it comes to video, the original Sony Alpha 1 already performed well. About two years ago, it received a significant performance boost with a firmware update that added 8K XAVC HS, 4:2:2 10-bit internal recording option. So with the new camera, one can also expect 8K recording in up to 30fps, next to 4K/60 for normal recording and 4K/120 for high-frame-rate. (240 fps in full HD).

Fast forward to today’s announcement. Now we can share that the Sony A1 II keeps the same sensor (50,1PM) and processor as the older model, but includes new features and operability inherited from the a7R V and a9 III. For example, there is a new dedicated AI processing unit to help with enhanced autofocus and recognition performance, focus map, enhanced active mode electronic stabilization, and the ability to import up to 16 user LUTs.

When it comes to the A1 II camera body, it is EXACTLY the same as the Sony a9 III, featuring a 4-axis multi-angle LCD monitor and a similar button layout.

Summary

The Sony A1 II is a nice flagship camera, but for filmmaking, with the introduction of the 4-axis LCD screen and a9 III-like camera body, it brings a bigger increase in functionality rather than picture quality (see our rolling shutter test results above). Yes, video noise levels might be a bit better and S-Log compatibility with other higher-end cameras from Sony’s line might have improved, but all in all, the video picture quality of both cameras is rather the same. We haven’t tested the camera for photography, so I tend to believe that in this department the increments are greater. In a nutshell, we are talking about an “evolution”, not a “revolution”.

SIRUI Aurora 85mm Full-Frame f1.4 Autofocus lens

On the other hand, the new SIRUI Aurora 85mm full-frame autofocus lens, is a pleasant surprise! Taking into account that this is SIRUI’s first autofocus full-frame lens, they did very well.

What not to expect

Please allow me to align expectations first. The new Aurora 85mm is an “electronic lens”-meaning, it needs to be connected to the camera to power up. I’m mentioning this, so you are not surprised when your aperture doesn’t physically change when rotating the aperture ring. On top, don’t expect physically hard stops for minimum and maximum focus distance. As with many other AF lenses, this lens is designed to be suitable for photographers first, and videographers second.

The advantages of using the SIRUI Aurora 85mm lens

Fast F1.4 aperture

We tested the lens on the new Sony A1 II and found it to be surprisingly sharp even when being wide open at f1.4. Stopping it down a notch to F2 yields a slight improvement in sharpens.

Fast accurate silent autofocus operation

I was surprised to see how fast, quiet, and accurate focusing is (And we are talking about a pre-production lens.

“Brilliant image quality”

While the term “brilliant” usually belongs to marketing, we found the following when testing the lens:

• Bokeh: very nice and smooth, cat-eyes in the corners (no traces of “onion rings”).

• Chromatic aberration: visible but well controlled.

• Lens flares: well controlled.

• Focus breathing: well controlled.

• Sharpness: sharp even at f/1.4.

• Distortion: pincushion distortion is visible.

Top this with being lightweight (540g, thanks to using an aspherical lens), and very accessible price ($499 now, and $599 early next year), and you get a very versatile portrait lens that can easily be mounted on gimbals for example.

Lens body design

Next to being optically capable, there are two clutch buttons on each side of the lens. One for switching between autofocus and manual focus, and the other, for “clicking” or “de-clicking” the lens aperture. There is an additional button market with “AFL”. It is an assignable button, but I left it on “focus lock” as this proved to be very convenient while filming.

From my experience filming with this lens, the body seems to be solid. If there is anything I can criticize here, it is the lens cap (as it doesn’t keep the lens secure or stable when placed on a table.). I’m not sure what the issue is, and why such an elementary part of the lens is so difficult to produce effectively.

To complete this offering and ensure that the lens is “up to date”, like with most SIRUI’s lenses, there is a USB-C input connector for updating firmware if needed.

Conclusion

As a company that produces lenses, SIRUI went a long way from offering simple manual focus lenses to what we have here today. I truly believe that entering the full-frame autofocus lens market can contribute to their reputation and increase their customer base. This lens is the first of an entirely new product line and as such, I’m curious to see if the quality will stay consistent in further lenses to come. All in all, it has a solid modern sharp “look” that allows putting different kinds of filters in front of it for “look adaptation”. In fact, two 67mm filters are included with this lens. One is for UV protection, and the other is a 1/4 black mist which will be very helpful in “breaking” the sharp look that is much associated with such a lens.

In the future, I hope to see an evolution of the Aurora line to suit the needs of filmmakers even more. Taking such a lens, adding hard stops, and gears will make it very desirable. SIRUI already has experience using similar optical designs in their S35 line of lenses (Sniper/Nightwalker) so hopefully the same can be done here.

What do you think about SIRUI’s move to enter the ever-growing full-frame autofocus market? Do you think that such a lens is beneficial for your production? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

Some weekends ago, I was away from home attending Sony’s Kando event in the Austrian Alps. You may ask, what does a Sony event have to do with BLAZAR APEX 1.33x autofocus anamorphic lenses? Well, the lenses we got to test are E-mount, so the invitation to this happening couldn’t have come at a better time. Before concentrating on these interesting lenses, a few words about the Kando event itself.

“Kando”

“Kando” is a Japanese word that means ’emotional involvement’ or ‘deep impression’. The gathering in the Austrian Alps reflects this meaning well, uniting creators to foster enjoyment and inspire creativity. These Kando events are global and usually exclusive to selected photographers and filmmakers who are working closely with Sony. This specific Kando event I attended on behalf of CineD was open to Sony ambassadors, imaging creators, photographers, and selected media. I have to mention that I seldom attend an event where the participants have ZERO ego. Friendliness and ambition to learn were very noticeable. The dedicated, knowledgeable Sony staff managed to put on an impressive event and bring together EXTREMELY talented Austrian and Swiss creators. This three-day event was translated into astonishing stills and short videos. (Watch this space for a link summarizing the Sony Kando event). 

I was also astonished to see the endless Sony cameras and lenses that the attendees were offered to work with. I chose the Sony FX30 for filming this weekend for numerous reasons. One was that the BLAZAR AF anamorphic lenses are suitable for APS-C sensors, and the other was the ability to (theoretically) de-squeeze the anamorphic image in the camera (more on this little fiasco later). Last but not least, the Sony FX30 is a nice little camera, and it was a good opportunity to bring it to the center of attention again.

Sony FX30 – an underrated gem

In September 2022, when the FX30 was announced, I had a friendly conversation with Kosuke-san, the product planner for this camera. Even then, we recognized that the FX30’s main competitor could very well be Sony’s own FX3…. Both cameras look identical, but the FX30 features an APS-C sensor, whereas the FX3 has a full-frame sensor. Somehow, as the market shifted to larger sensors, the FX3 became a user’s favorite camera while the FX30 seemed to be left in the shadows. In this regard, I was very happy to work with it again and be reminded of just how capable this camera is, especially when it comes to picture quality and high frame rate recording. The “Cine Line” badge on this camera makes it the most affordable product in that family ($1,798), bringing 4K recording resolution up to 120 fps. (The last firmware update brought a true 24p next to shutter angle to this camera, which was very helpful, too).

Back to my roots

For those who have been following my work, you know how much I like to approach filming in the most simple way possible. The fewer accessories, the better. I always try to make the camera as much a “part of my body” as I can so it is easy for me to work with it. This is why I prefer to work with cameras that have a built-in EVF and not use external monitors, for example. An EVF helps me to judge exposure easily and supplies an essential additional point of camera support (old fashioned or not?)…

This brings me back to the FX30. Unfortunately, both the FX30 and FX3 do not have a built-in EVF, and while for many, it is not an issue, for me, it is. To “combat” the absence of an EVF, I dug an old Kinotechnik LCDVF viewfinder from our attic and fitted it to work on the Sony FX30. (This one can be fitted with diopters, which is perfect for people who wear glasses or contact lenses). The results were very satisfying, although I was not able to swipe the LCD screen anymore (there was too much gaffer tape to secure the LCDVF frame on as I did not have a viewfinder spare frame with “fresh glue”).

Anyway, when this was done, my head was free to check how well the APEX anamorphic lenses behaved on the FX30. Although these are early sample lenses, both the 35mm and 50mm 1.33x adjusted well, and autofocusing with them was pretty much a breeze. The thing is that when attaching an anamorphic lens to the FX30 (or FX3) and setting the menu to de-squeeze the image, the following occurred:

• You lose any autofocus functionality
• You lose any SteadyShot capabilities

With this in mind, of course, I had to give up my plan to de-squeeze the image in the camera and leave it “as is” so that I had full autofocus and SteadyShot functionality.

Two other notes before concluding the Sony FX30 part of my review:

• There are only two in-camera de-squeeze options, 1.33x and 2.0x. It would be nice if Sony could consider adding additional de-squeeze options like 1.5x, 1.6x, and 1.8x to start with.

• This is a matter of ergonomics, but having the “multi selector” button on top of the camera and not where the thumb is was challenging, especially when trying to navigate where I want my focus point to be.

BLAZAR APEX 1.33x lenses

As I stated before, the samples we have at the office are pre-production units, and as such, things can change by the time they’re released. Moreover, these lens samples had slight mechanical issues that will be fixed before release.

The first thing I want to highlight is the possibilities that autofocus in anamorphic lenses are offering to many types of users. For example, photographers who are looking to capture still images that are a bit different than the ones they usually produce will feel right at home with the autofocus functionality of such a lens. And I don’t want to say “we,” but for me as a solo shooter, solid autofocus in general and particularly in an anamorphic lens is a “game-changer” feature. Top this with the optical quality of the lens, and you have a true winner. I have to warn you that while the images don’t feature extreme flares or intense distortion, you will notice natural flares that vary depending on the angle of the light source, along with a subtle bokeh effect.

The overall feeling when looking at the image is that the squeeze ratio is greater than 1.33x. “How much greater?” you might ask. Well, I will let you guys decide. Overall, these lenses are very balanced, in my opinion, and the result is pleasant imagery that uses the full 16×9 sensor size. (Can we now say goodbye to masking images on top and bottom with black bars when using spherical lenses and throwing away data?)

A bit more in-depth

BLAZAR does not create anamorphic lenses with pincushion distortion but rather concentrates on producing lenses with barrel distortion only. Personally, I prefer that method for image aesthetics, allowing lines to distort outward from the center rather than inward.

What else do we have here?

Flares: These are very modest. Nothing is being “thrown in your face.” Also, the flare color is neutral (silver), meaning the lens will take the color of the light aimed at it. As a side note, it is not that I was trying hard to “flare the lens.” I shot “normally,” intending to compose the frame the way I like it rather than looking for lights that would create streaks.

Bokeh: I find the bokeh shape to be pleasant with a narrow oval shape. Further testing might be needed against a larger amount of lights in the background.

Sharpness: The center of both lenses is insanely sharp. When looking at the edges, like with other lenses, it all depends on the T stop you are working with. As expected, at T1.8, the edges are quite soft, but by stopping down to around T2.8, you’re already on “safer ground.” I find T.4 to be the best for balancing edge-to-edge sharper images across the frame.

Focus breathing: Well maintained!

Minimum focus: It seems as if diopters for closer, more casual shots might not be needed as the minimum focus distance of the 35mm lens is 0.56cm (1.1”). For the 50mm lens, we measured 0.65cm (2.2”).

It is worth noting that both lenses have metric and imperial distance readings on them. Also, both lenses have a USB-C terminal for future firmware updates.

No lens is perfect

Of course, no lens is perfect…but the feedback I have for the BLAZAR APEX anamorphic autofocus lenses is limited to minor points, nothing fundamental or beyond the scope of their current design. I would have loved the AF/MF switch to be reversed, with AF positioned at the front. Why? Just because most AF lenses I’m working with are built that way, so it makes it somehow easier to operate instinctively. Other than that, as many of you guys indicated when we first released the news, many users have been wanting a full-frame autofocus anamorphic lens. Other than that, there is really not much to criticize here. The lens is sharp where it is supposed to be (center), and of course, the more you close it down, the sharper the edges get, too.

All in all, I would like to salute this young company for coming up with a very desirable lens and for closing the gap in terms of “ease of use” between spherical and anamorphic lenses. It is worth noting that the 50mm lens will be released first, and it will come in E-mount. Additional mounts are planned for early next year.

Final notes

For the above sample clips, I used the Sony FX30, BLAZAR APEX 35mm and 50mm. Circular ND filter provided by K&F. Viewfinder: Kinotechnik LCDVF. Please note that this loop comes in various sizes, and it wasn’t easy for me to determine which one would best fit the FX3/FX30. (The one I used was slightly smaller than I would have liked). For additional support, I used the Gitzo Mini Traveler Tabletop tripod. Yes, it is not cheap, but it has become my trusted travel companion for many years now.

The video above was edited using the latest version of Adobe Premiere, with LUTs custom-made using CineD’s LUT builder powered by fylm.ai. You can try it out yourself here.

BLAZAR did well with these anamorphic autofocus lenses, and I applaud them for being innovative and listening to what users want. Oh, and the color to match the Sony mount is a nice touch, too…

Pricing and availability

The release date of both APEX lenses is not set yet. We will update this review when we get some additional information. Price-wise, the 50mm lens will set you back $799.

What do you think about the release of the first-ever autofocus anamorphic lenses? Do you see this as a breakthrough? And in regards to their look, these lenses have a 1.33x squeeze factor, but in your opinion, do they have a 1.5x squeeze look? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.

First, the basics – the Duvo T2.9 24-300mm, priced at $31,999, is designed to cover 2/3″, 1/2″, and 1/3″ sensors in 16:9. I used it with my trusty Canon C500MKII with PL mount so that I could try it out in both full-frame and S35 mode. If you are in full-frame or S35 mode on the C500MKII, the zoom lens is a standard 24-300mm (12.5x zoom). If you use the built-in expander in S35 mode, you suddenly have a 36-450mm zoom as the focal length shifts by 1.5x. It is worth pointing out that the lens stops down to a T4.2 when zoomed in to 300mm.

The lens covers a 28.5mm Super 35 sensor across the entire zoom range or a 41.3mm sensor in full frame mode (simply click the extender back and forth to switch coverage). You’ll very quickly see heavy vignetting if you have your lens extender in the S35 setting when your camera is set to full frame, and that should prompt you to change settings either in-camera or with the little extender toggle at the side of the zoom.

The ability to hop to 300mm or 450mm in a zoom that is 6.5 lbs (2.95 kg) is exciting, and using a full-frame camera with an S35 mode seems to be the best way to increase the versatility of this zoom all around. This lens’s weight tends to settle on the wrist while filming, so I found myself carefully balancing the battery at the back of the camera to be a bit further back on the rods. That way, it felt a little more balanced on my shoulder while filming a chef run-and-gun style.

In the video above, you can see the lens in full action!

While filming this short documentary at a restaurant in San Diego, California, I found myself shooting in full-frame mode on the camera and then S35 mode on the lens to get messier edges to add a bit of a fun vignette on the closeup shots of the food. We then cropped in slightly in post to avoid seeing hard edges. It’s just a tiny creative choice there, but one that you could experiment with when you have a lens with so many options!

Initial impressions

Early in my career, I shot major league baseball in the United States. Taking the Duvo 24-300mm out of the box for the first time gave me flashbacks to that time in my work life – the exterior looks and feels like a broadcast or live-events lens. Indeed, you can’t remove the servo motor unit from the side of the lens even if you want to for more cinema-like applications.

The servo unit itself feels standard in the sense you can tune the speed of your zooms using a tiny knob (much like tension settings on a tripod), and I know every operator has a preference here. The zoom sports a large 114mm front diameter, but this lends itself to various matte box options. A quick search reveals plenty of relatively affordable clip-on matte box solutions from all your favorite camera accessories brands.

You could also use the included lens hood, a 127mm filter thread, for mounting various types of ND filters if you don’t have in-camera ND solutions or polarizer filters from brands like Tiffen, Formatt Hitech, or Urth.

FUJINON employs 0.8 pitch gears in this lens, so you can absolutely use various follow-focus options that are more standard for non-live film and television. Still, I felt very, very comfortable pulling my own focus with this setup. The front focus ring has grippy rubberized material (a highly technical term I’ve invented here) that makes focusing a breeze. You could also easily focus yourself while shouldered and wearing gloves. The focus throw of this lens also feels optimized for an operator pulling their own focus.

To power the lens and the attached servo unit, you’ll need to consider some type of 12-pin power solution. Canon, for example, has a $2000 expansion plate for the C300MKIII and the C500MKII that has a 12-pin interface for lens power, but I needed to use a D-Tap to 12-pin cable to allow for my servo to receive power. A quick Google search brings up a bunch of different cable options here, and none of them are terribly expensive.

Back focus is very easy to change with this zoom, and here is a quick explainer video that shows just how easy it is:

The FUJINON team also told me you can change the back focus remotely, but I didn’t have a live production truck available for this field test to try out that particular feature so I’ll take them at their word!

The Look

If, like me, you’ve spent years in the more traditional world of film and television away from broadcast shooting, then you won’t find that the Duvo 24-300mm has a great deal of character from a look perspective. I don’t mean this as a negative. Lately, I’ve been spending a bunch of time with some rehoused Soviet glass, and the Duvo 24-300mm is the opposite look of vintage lenses, with an evident effort made by FUJINON to control flares and reduce distortion around the edges of the glass.

As to the color, it’s mostly neutral. I found the out-of-focus areas to be lovely when shooting near the telephoto side of the range closer to 300mm. The Duvo 24-300mm is sharp, but it isn’t the sharpest zoom I’ve used. It’s well suited to filming humans in closeups and probably without the need for softening filtration.

There is focus breathing (expected on a zoom with a dramatic focal range like this), though I didn’t find it distracting. Your own particular tastes about what level of focus breathing is acceptable to you will of course play a factor here.

The look of this zoom makes sense when you think of it as a broadcast or live events solution, and if you were filming a quick-moving doc or scripted project, you could absolutely shake up the image with some type of look filtration.

Use cases

Given the $31,999 price tag, the FUJINON Duvo HZK24-300mm is likely a rental item for many, but large broadcast and live events organizations won’t shy away from that price tag as this feels like a zoom that will be in the mix for years to come.

I’ve been lucky enough to shoot many different types of genres over the years, from sports to live events to documentaries, as well as commercial and scripted projects, and I’m always looking for the one lens I can mount on my camera and never change out for the entirety of the project. The Duvo 24-300mm is almost exactly that. True, the 24mm isn’t quite wide enough in all shooting scenarios, but on the long end, I found 300mm and 450mm (in S35 mode) to be great for the types of things I usually shoot.

As a test, I plopped my tripod down on the beach and did a quick b-roll pass on everything around me – how many different types of shots could I get without moving my tripod once? The answer is jaw-dropping. I spent several minutes picking up shots all over the beach, and this speaks to where this zoom really shines. If you have a short time to get a bunch of shots before hopping back into a crew vehicle, this is the lens for you.

There is also a macro setting that allows you to quickly get extremely tight on a subject. You can see macro mode engaged on a few shots of the food in the mini-doc I shot on this Zoom.

In fact, there have been dozens of days in my career where I’ve had to grab a bunch of cutaways in some far-flung location, and the Duvo 24-300 would have been the lens for the job. Think of it – you pull over at some vista, and suddenly you are grabbing all your mountain-wide shots, your slow-motion shots of eagles flying by, a quick timelapse of some clouds drifting over a distant peak, and then maybe a medium shot of some signage and boom – back in the vehicle you go. How cool is that?

I also find the flare handling in the Duvo 24-300mm to be excellent and not distracting. That suggests it would be a good solution for live concerts where hard lights are often moved unexpectedly mid-shot with the result that they aim directly into your camera position.

Sports shooters will also find the easy-focusing Duvo 24-300mm simplifies following action by having the right hand on the servo and the left hand pulling focus. One thing to keep in mind is that the overall length of the lens is 10.6 inches in addition to whatever camera body you are using, so you do end up with a fairly long form factor.

No, the combination of this zoom and a mid-sized camera is not the lightest thing in an industry rife with small mirrorless camera options and short flange optics. Still, compared to broadcast setups of old, things are much, much easier on operators these days. Snag an Easyrig or Ergorig, and you’ll have nothing to worry about.

Conclusion

These days, FUJINON just might be the best option for servo-capable zooms for use in live events and broadcasts as many optics manufacturers are devoting their precious R&D bucks to short flange cine primes and even affordable anamorphic options, leaving FUJINON to press on in a bustling market segment that shows no signs of slowing down.

The Duvo HZK24-300mm promises to be a go-to in live events and broadcasts, and the occasional documentary or reality shooter will find much to love here, too. The ubiquitous PL mount means this will be a lens that finds a home on camera bodies for years and years to come. It will also likely retain its resale value, making that $31,999 price tag a bit easier to handle, depending on your market.

After only a few days with this Zoom, I grew to love its ease of use, operator-friendly weight, and button arrangement. FUJINON clearly listens to their users, and the results show.

What do you think? Will the FUJINON Duvo HZK24-300mm PL zoom find a place on your next production? Let us know in the comments below!

This will be a unique review for me because it will mostly discuss the purchasing process from IronGlass and the design of the IronGlass MKII housing specifically. We won’t delve too much into the look of the internal optics because this range of glass might be one of the most written about in history. The Helios line of optics, in particular, has been produced for decades. Fundamentally, the look hasn’t changed, but nearly everything else about these lenses has, thanks to IronGlass.

A core question remains: if these lenses in their original form can be purchased relatively inexpensively, how can a company justify charging thousands of dollars for the same lens? Stay tuned for my answer.

But first, a bit of history.

Helios lenses first found popularity in the late 50s. They were initially used on M42 lens mount cameras and eventually built for the Pentax K mount. Around 1969, the Helios 44-2 entered production, and to this day, it is one of the most widely produced lenses ever, making it extremely easy and affordable to acquire. Some were even manufactured in Japan over the years. Famous for its swirly bokeh, the Helios 44-2, now in MKII form, is enjoying yet another resurgence along with a few other IronGlass rehoused primes with its apparent use on Dune 2 (in the capable hands of DP Greg Fraser).

Cine-Modding versus rehousing

I wanted to quickly touch on the differences between a Cine-Mod and a complete rehousing because I see lots of confusion about this online and it might help to clarify things. Cine-Modding a lens can mean adding a simple 0.8 pitch gear to the outside of a focus ring or de-clicking an aperture ring (Duclos famously does quality Cine-Mod work, and so does IronGlass).

IronGlass goes a bit further than some with their Cine-Mod program by adding internal color and even bokeh modifications in their cine-modded optics, available in PL, E, X, EF, and M4/3 mount.

Rehousing may mean adapting a photo lens to cine applications by unifying the body design so your follow-focus can stay in place on the rods, then de-clicking the iris, expanding distance markings, and making the focus mechanics work in a cine housing. Rehousing results may vary when you look at the entire market, and some companies simply add a shell around a vintage lens and call it good. A bad rehousing job means tons of servicing requirements. A good rehousing job means these lenses, handled with care, could follow you around for most of your career.

For me, a Cine-Modded lens is one that I’d use mostly in a studio environment, but I wouldn’t rent it out or use it on a long-term job in rugged circumstances. It also isn’t something that plays well with various wireless follow-focus options on the market. You can occasionally even damage a Cine-Modded lens with the torque from a wireless follow-focus motor if you aren’t careful – likely not the case with a rehoused Cine lens.

IronGlass isn’t the only company working on rehousing projects for cine glass, but they are on the more affordable side when you compare them with other companies – even with the increase in pricing that came with the MKII designs.

Purchasing an MKII Set from IronGlass

Early on, I was interested in the Helios 44-2, but I found the varying build quality of these lenses and the quality control discouraging. A quick search of Helios 44-2 reveals a wide variety of choices ranging in price from $50-$150 for the more “mint” offerings. Having recently gone down the path of searching for a Leica R 19mm V2, I noticed that the definition of “mint” is all over the map. Some vintage optics hunters may enjoy the process of searching for nice copies, but I’d prefer someone else do the hunting, and I’m happy to pay a bit more for that.

My first order of a few MKI primes in EF mount occurred on June 30, 2021. Later on, in 2021, I added a Mir-20M to my overall order. Eventually, I learned of the MKII design effort and switched my order to MKII and PL mount at the end of 2022. Finally, my 4-lens order of 20mm, 37mm, 58mm, and 135mm arrived in late February 2024. I’m breaking down the timing here so you can also be realistic about the timeline for the arrival of these optics. Still, I want to be clear that I’m not complaining, nor do I view this extended timeframe for delivery as a negative.

For one, between my order and delivery, a large land war began in the country that IronGlass calls home: Ukraine. In these extraordinary times, the fact that IronGlass delivered this order at all is incredible, and they are now well into delivering orders worldwide.

As of May 2024, IronGlass is advertising a 16-18 month lead time on all incoming rehousing orders. One of the things that initially concerned me about my purchase is the website, which is a bit tricky to navigate sometimes, with occasionally conflicting information about lead times – something I’ve now chalked up to the fact that the entire team is occupied rehousing lenses!

Pricing

When I first submitted my order and paid through PayPal back in 2021, I was initially a bit concerned about the safety and security of my purchase because I had never worked with IronGlass before. Over time, my concerns lessened as I got to know the IronGlass team and their various fans around the world. They are a small company currently working in a conflict zone, but they do incredible work (more on that later).

One of the things that did make me feel good about my IronGlass order was the reliable response to my questions via email and chat.

With the formidable design of the MKII housing (available in EF, PL, and LPL), we also saw a corresponding jump in pricing, with each lens in the set landing at $3500 (Soviet Rehoused options if you aren’t providing donor optics). Those interested in the Carl Zeiss Jena rehoused primes should expect to pay $4000 to $4500/each with a price bump to $5000 for the 80mm T1.9 – again if you aren’t providing donor optics.

You can also trade in your MKI rehoused optics towards a significant price reduction for the MKII housings. This feels like a nice way to thank early adopters of their lenses and also means you’ll lower the per-lens price of your MKII optics to around $1900 depending on your selections at checkout.

I will leave it to you to decide if finding donor optics and shipping them to Ukraine makes sense to you, all the while acknowledging that some may find that experience an enjoyable part of the process.

For an increase of +$300/each lens, you can get these lenses in white. They admittedly look very cool based on the product imagery, but I’m not sure how well that exterior would hold up in a rental or heavy-use environment against the occasional light scuff.

The design of the IronGlass MKII

For those of you who skipped the entirety of this article and zoomed right to this section, I don’t blame you. This is the main event. Just how good are the MKII’s for use on your next project?

I didn’t have the opportunity to use the MKI versions of IronGlass rehousing, but removing the new 4-lens MKII Imperial set from its box was a pleasant surprise. The first thing that caught my eye was the etched lens markings on the hood itself. Honestly, I would buy caps from this company for other lenses in my set if they offered that down the line. They’re that spiffy.

From a visual perspective, everything from the distinct orange ring to the PL back caps (complete with the IronGlass logo) is well executed and looks good. I also took a close look at the internal glass elements from each prime, and from what I could see, the engineer both picked excellent quality donor optics and cleaned those internal elements, too.

Each lens in my 4-lens MKII set has a unified 95mm front diameter that is actually the same as my SIGMA Cine Primes, so I had several clip-on matte boxes that were already compatible. They also each have a 92mm filter thread if you have a preference for that type of filter. However, the 20mm MIR-20 does not have a filter thread (likely due to the bulbous front element, I’m guessing).

Internally, IronGlass has used a hybrid focus system that “feels like a CAM-driven focus ring,” and I can confirm that the focus mechanics all feel smooth and consistent from lens to lens. The focus rings with 300 degrees of throw have a little less tension than what I prefer, but everyone is going to have a different preference there – you definitely won’t need a high-torque motor.

The close focus has also been improved over the original stills glass in some cases, and you can see those stats on each of my four MKII lenses here:

• 20mm MIR-20 • T3.6 • CF 7»
• 37mm MIR-1V • T2.9 • CF 1’10»
• 58mm HELIOS 44-2 • T2.1 • CF 1’8»
• 135mm TAIR-11A • T2.9 • CF 3’11»

Now, I promised at the top that I wouldn’t dive too far into the look from these optics. Still, I will say that generally, they match in the sense that they are vintage glass (with some characteristic and flattering softness that goes along with that). The color is fairly consistent, though you should keep in mind that they don’t 100% “match” because they were not all created in the same original factory in the 60s using the same coatings by the same lead engineer. They are all a bit different, and I’m cool with that, though if you are filming a project with VFX, you will 100% want to film a lens grid before principle photography starts.

The optics all flare differently, and their bokeh is a little different. There might be a hint of chromatic aberration here and there at different stops and different lighting scenarios, but that’s part of what makes them fun as heck to shoot with – they have character in spades. I really encourage you to take time with each of these lenses because they are truly unique, and I’m slowly forming a preference toward different looks at different T-stops. This, of course, is all part of the fun.

What IronGlass has done, though, is they have made finding out that particular character of each lens much easier by removing the variable of a wonky iris ring or a sticky focus wheel, or a broken filter thread typical of off-the-shelf vintage glass. Their work on the MKII housings has eliminated that possible headache, so you can focus on the fun parts of cinematography and not have to worry about a $50 eBay-purchased Helios falling apart in your hands mid-shoot while a client or director looks on.

Conclusion

If I have one regret from my IronGlass experience, it’s that I didn’t purchase the Helios 40-2 85mm T1.6 when I started this journey. I’m going to have to bite the bullet and begin that lengthy waiting process all over again. But here’s the thing. I know it will be worth it.

Oh, and before I close, I have to share my favorite design aspect of the MKII rehoused lenses — a small Ukrainian flag right next to the serial number.

Have you used the first generation of IronGlass rehoused optics? Will you be adding the MKII’s to your kit? Let us know in the comments below!

Quite a while ago, when DSLR filmmaking took over, ZEISS introduced the CP.2 series, the first line of cinema lenses that was really targeted at DSLR filmmakers. I bought a set and it has served me well for many years, using it with all kinds of cameras, even when I switched from Canon to Sony many years ago. What’s amazing is that you can adapt these lenses to all kinds of mounts, and you can do it yourself, which means almost endless versatility. They also cover full-frame camera sensors from the get-go, which is not true with most higher-end cinema primes. 

ZEISS CP.2’s and CP.3’s were designed over a long period of time – and look less consistent

The CP.2s and also their successors, the CP.3’s, are amazing lenses in their own right. Yet, as always, there are some caveats: Many of the ten different Compact Prime focal lengths are still based on older lens designs, mostly made for photography lenses, and they were not all designed at the same time – which means, looking at the entire line of lenses, their look is not entirely consistent.

Secondly, having the ability to adapt these lenses to older, long flange-distance mounts like PL and EF as well as modern mirrorless mounts like E-mount means that for many focal lengths, a long tube has to be added to the mirrorless mount to get to the needed flange distance. 

Last but not least, this mount versatility also means that the lenses can’t all be super fast because of the light loss involved with the needed construction of such long mounts. 

ZEISS Nano Primes: 6 new lenses, universal T1.5 aperture, small, consistent look, entirely new design

ZEISS decided to tackle these three problems all at once by developing an entirely new line of cinema primes. And here they are: the ZEISS Nano Primes. 

What you can see immediately is their resemblance to the CP.2 and CP.3 line of lenses. When we received the Nano Primes, I didn’t immediately realize that they are quite a bit smaller, but you can see this clearly when you place them next to a CP.2 especially. 

Now, here’s what’s amazing: ZEISS launched six focal lengths of the Nano Primes at the same time, 18mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, 75mm, and 100mm, and all of them have a very fast maximum aperture of T1.5. That’s especially impressive for wide-angle and telephoto lenses, and of course, to have this consistency is extremely useful when working on sets. Having the ability to isolate subjects and objects even with a wide-angle lens like the 18 or 24mm is very useful in everyday shooting scenarios, I can’t emphasize this enough. 

Look of the ZEISS Nano Primes: Crisp focus, yet creamy bokeh

Now let’s talk about the look – of course, this is subjective, but ZEISS is known to design optically perfect lenses, favoring sharpness and clarity. In the past, some of their lenses could be seen as a bit “clinical” in their look for that reason, especially when comparing them to some more  “dreamy” or vintage-looking lenses, for example, the typical “Cooke look”. With their more recent Supreme Primes which are targeted at high-end productions, ZEISS introduced a more creamy and warmer bokeh while not sacrificing any of the sharpness, which became extremely successful. And when looking at some test footage that I shot with the new Nano Primes, I think they did a great job replicating that look with this less expensive range of lenses. They really look like they could be very complimentary to Supreme Primes in a lot of ways, or even be used instead of them in lower-budget productions. I like the fact that for once, we are not seeing another set of cinema lenses that deliver a vintage-look, like we’ve seen so many times over the last few years from various manufacturers. ZEISS is still about optical perfection, giving you an image you can tweak in post if you need to, while now already delivering a very cinematic and soft bokeh that takes away the digital edge from many modern cinema cameras. 

Technical performance of the ZEISS Nano Primes: bokeh look, sharpness, focus breathing, chromatic aberration

Let’s take a look at the technical performance of the Nano Primes. We looked at sharpness, focus breathing, and chromatic aberration. You can find the details of our technical tests in my review article on CineD linked below, but let me just state here, that the results are overall extremely impressive. Even at T1.5, all of the lenses deliver very sharp images, even in the edges.

Focus breathing is very controlled, even with the 100mm lens. It’s very hard to find weaknesses in these technical tests with the ZEISS Nano Primes, but if you force me to, it’s probably the 24mm lens that features slightly inferior corner sharpness and a little more focus breathing compared to the other lenses in the set. Yet its performance is still very, very good, it’s only when compared to the others that you can see a slight difference, which is completely negligible in everyday shooting scenarios. 

The look of the lenses, both in the real-life test shots as well as in the technical tests – is also proven to be very consistent now. You can tell that these six lenses were designed at the same time: bokeh, out-of-focus highlights, sharpness, chromatic aberration behavior, you name it – they all look very much the same with all of these lenses. As Christophe Casaneve from ZEISS pointed out in our interview (watch it here), ZEISS also had access to much more modern, fully digitized design processes now, which allows them to fully design lenses on the computer before they put them into reality. The full, very insightful interview is embedded below, in case you want to know more about the work that went on behind the scenes to create these lenses:

For a lot more technical details about the ZEISS Nano Primes, head over to our Lens Database where we already added all the focal lengths:

Close focusing distance, build quality of Nano Primes

Close focusing distance of all of the lenses is very good – they are definitely not macro lenses, but the close focus is better than what you would expect with most of the focal lengths. In the Compact Primes lineup, ZEISS added macro versions of the 50 and 100mm lenses, maybe these will be added at some point to the Nano Primes, too. 

Build quality is exceptional as you might expect from ZEISS, the weight is comparatively light but similar to most Compact Primes, but none of the six focal lengths of the Nano Primes is exceptionally heavy. Focus and aperture barrel movements are smooth and the resistance feels right. With the CP.2’s it was a bit too strong at times, something which ZEISS fixed on the CP.3’s, and with the Nano Primes, it’s just as smooth. Focus rotation is 280 degrees from macro to infinity and 90 degrees for iris on all of the lenses. 

E-Mount, future mounts (speculation), and electronic connection

Let’s talk about mounts again: At the time of the launch, the ZEISS Nano Primes were only available with E-mount. What’s great is while these lenses are, of course, fully manual lenses, the lenses still transfer lots of data back to the camera: not only aperture data and focus distance but also additional lens data for distortion and vignetting is available through the ZEISS CinCraft ecosystem for post-production purposes. That means, there will be no separate XD-version of the lenses needed like with the CP.3 lenses, they are perfect for VFX acquisition from the get-go.

While they are only E-mount now, the mount is user-interchangeable and ZEISS already announced that other mirrorless mounts will be available in the near future. Which ones exactly they haven’t announced yet, but here’s hoping it’s going to be L-mount, RF-mount, and Z-mount, all of which weren’t available for the Compact Primes, to my knowledge.

We took off the E-mount to check how easy it is to swap the mounts once other mount options will be available, and were pleasantly surprised: It’s only four screws – there were a lot more on Compact Primes – and ZEISS uses Pogo pins for the electronic connection. There is no fiddling with cables or anything like that, so this should really be safe for an owner-operator to do, even if they are not trained lens technicians. Of course, the lenses mounts can be shimmed once that will be needed for upcoming mounts, to correct the back focus. 

Now, let’s talk about the one obvious drawback of the Nano Primes compared to the Compact Primes: the inability to adapt these lenses to PL, EF, or any other longer-flange mounts. I have to admit, when I first heard that this wasn’t possible, I was surprised. But after hearing the advantages of this – faster T-stops, more consistency across the line, and smaller lenses, I quickly understood why this makes so much sense. And think about it: Even higher-end cameras like the Sony VENICE 2 or BURANO by now have an E-Mount, RED cameras feature an RF-Mount – maybe it’s just a matter of time until we have native mirrorless mounts on all high-end cameras with no need for PL anymore. The big downside of course: you cannot use adapters with mirrorless mounts because of their short flange distance, so the mount on the lens needs to be natively fitting to the camera mount. But I guess we can’t have it all…

Conclusion of ZEISS Nano Primes Review

If you are in the market for a set of consistently looking, tack-sharp, modern cinema primes with a pleasing bokeh, and if you’re predominantly shooting on Sony BURANO, VENICE or VENICE 2, FX9, FX6 or even FX3, look no further. The ZEISS Nano Primes are perfectly optimized for these cameras. And in the near future, they’ll also work on other cameras with mirrorless mounts. The ZEISS Nano Primes start shipping in May, and the set of six lenses will set you back 26,000 dollars or 23,000 Euros. 

What do you think about the ZEISS Nano Primes? Let us know in the comments below!

As a documentary filmmaker shooting mostly on full-frame cameras, I am facing a constant battle: What is the best zoom to use to stay decently small with my kit, and still be able to cover the full zoom range that I need? Usually, the answer has been photo zooms: They are small and affordable. Some of the downsides are: hard to focus manually, no smooth zoom operation, and impossible to use with a follow focus – and often inconsistent in the look they deliver across the range of several lenses because that’s not a priority for photo lenses, as opposed to motion picture lenses. 

The emergence of affordable cinema zooms

In the last few years, we have seen the emergence of more affordable cinema zoom lenses, but it’s been a much slower development than with affordable primes, simply because they are harder to make.

It’s important to point out, that many of these more affordable cinema zooms are made for Super35mm and not full-frame sensors. The reason for it is simple: It’s difficult to make a full-frame cinema zoom and keep the size, weight, and price down simultaneously.

The obvious: Laowa Ranger specs

In comes Laowa with their Ranger series and somehow they seem to have found a solution to the problem. The Laowa Ranger 28-75mm and the 75-180mm are both less than 20cm or 7.5 inches long, weigh only 1.4 kilograms or just over 3 pounds each, and both feature a fast T2.9 aperture.

Only recently, they announced even lighter versions of both these zoom lenses, which shed about 10 percent of their weight – this might not sound like a lot, but in fact, it will make it easier to balance them on a gimbal with a small camera, so that’s very welcome. 

Third lens in the Laowa Ranger line-up is coming

The zoom range is decent and covers much of what is needed in day-to-day shooting scenarios. Laowa also announced that there will be a third, wider zoom added to the lineup, covering 16 to 30mm.

This will complete the line and provide a huge range covering all the focal range needs of a documentary filmmaker like me. 

Non-digital look with pleasant sharpness

A Laowa Ranger review also needs some footage – and looking at what I got with the lenses, they strike a nice balance between sharpness and a non-digital look that doesn’t attract too much attention to itself. It seems like these are great all-rounder lenses for individual projects. The closest comparison to the Laowa Rangers will be the DZOFILM Catta zooms, which are also made for full-frame sensors, and which I reviewed earlier.

The Laowa Rangers look distinctively less “vintage” than the Catta Zooms, giving an overall sharper look, which is welcome and makes them very versatile as regular take-with-me-anywhere zoom lenses. 

Front diameter, focus throw, barrel movement

Apart from their identical weight, it’s also great that both Laowa Ranger lenses share an 80-millimeter diameter for clamp-on matte boxes and a 77-millimeter filter thread for screw-on filters. The lenses use standard .8 pitch gears for zoom, aperture, and focus barrels. When you swap between the lenses on your camera, you will not have to move the follow focus because the positions of the gears are identical on both lenses.

Distances are marked in both feet and meters on the lenses. The focus throw is 270 degrees, so maybe a little bit too much to rack focus from macro to infinity without a follow focus, but perfect to control with something like a Tilta Nucleus M remote follow focus system. When rotating the barrels, you can feel some minor inconsistencies, but nothing too noticeable, which is a decent result considering the price bracket of these lenses. 

Laowa Ranger mount options

Having a set of manual cine zoom lenses like the Laowa Ranger Cinema Zooms means that versatility is key – of course, there’s no autofocus, as is common with cinema zoom lenses, but that has the upside of interchangeability, allowing them to be used on practically any camera with their interchangeable mount.

And in terms of that mount interchangeability, they are among the most versatile cinema zooms I have ever come across. By default, the Laowa Rangers come with a PL mount, but you can swap it yourself for the included EF mount. Optionally, you can also buy RF, E, Z, and L mounts for these lenses, or you can simply use an adapter like a Metabones to adapt the EF or PL version of the lenses on a shorter flange distance mount. 

Convenient back focus adjustment without shimming

What’s great is that you can adjust the back focus of the Laowa Ranger lenses using a built-in ring at the back of the lenses, instead of having to shim your lenses when changing mounts.

That’s something we know particularly well from broadcast lenses, but it’s great that Laowa puts this feature into a cinema zoom, which makes the lives of owner-operators who use their lenses on various camera types easier, as well as saving a lot of time for rental houses as this is simply a faster process than shimming a lens. 

Covering full-frame – and beyond?

As mentioned earlier, part of the Laowa Rangers’ versatility also comes from their coverage of full-frame sensors. If you go beyond the size of a normal full-frame sensor and try them, for example, on a RED VistaVision sensor, you might run into some vignetting with these lenses.

To find out exactly if the Laowa Rangers will cover the sensor of your choice, head over to the CineD Databases and check with our Lens Coverage Tool. There, you can combine any lens with any camera sensor in any of their shooting modes to see if a sensor is covered by a particular lens. 

Sharpness tests

Building full-frame cine zoom lenses with a range of 28-75 millimeters and 75-180 millimeters in such small, almost identically-sized packages, is no easy feat – but does it come with compromises to the performance of those lenses? For this Laowa Ranger review, we ran our series of technical tests to find out.

First, let’s look at sharpness. Looking at the wider zoom lens at its starting focal range of 28mm at T2.9, we can see that the lens is quite sharp, not only at the image center but also in the corners with only minor sharpness falloff – not every lens performs this well in the corners when shooting wide open. Of course, when stopping down to T4 and T5.6, sharpness is usually getting better, but we see almost no difference in comparison to an already good performance at T2.9. 

Corner sharpness seems to decrease on the 28-75mm when zooming in further, with less sharpness in the corners at 70mm, for example, but still totally within reasonable limits. 

I see very similar, maybe slightly better corner sharpness throughout the range of the 75-180mm lens. With the longer zoom lens, corner sharpness also seems to be more consistent with hardly any visible change. 

Distortion tests

Now let’s shift our attention to distortion, and let’s look at those recordings again. At 28 millimeters with the wider zoom lens, we can see some visible barrel distortion. This is an expected compromise at the wide end of a wide zoom lens that’s built with a comparatively small diameter front element like this Laowa Ranger lens. It’s a trade-off I am happy to make as a documentary filmmaker in exchange for having a compact lens – and it’s also an issue that disappears quite quickly when zooming in. At 35 millimeters, that distortion is only minimal, and at around 50 millimeters, it disappears. 

It’s noteworthy that with the longer 75-180mm lens, there is a little bit of barrel distortion visible at 75 millimeters but much less than at the wide end of the 28-75mm lens. This means that when required to shoot at a 75-millimeter focal length, I recommend using the wider of the two zoom lenses to get less distortion. But of course, there is a similar story here with the 75-180mm lens – the distortion disappears almost immediately when zooming in from 75 millimeters. 

Focus breathing & parfocal tests, minimum focus distance, bokeh

Focus breathing within these lenses exists, but seems quite controlled. The 28-75 performs better in that regard than its longer focal-length brother, but that’s to be expected. 

One of the features that make cinema zoom lenses stand out from photo zoom lenses is the fact that they should be parfocal, and the Laowa Ranger lenses both stand out in that regard. When you change the focal length with a parfocal zoom lens, the focus at the center is maintained. With the Rangers, we sometimes observe a slight, hardly noticeable focus shift when changing the focal length, but for the price of these lenses, the performance is impressive in that regard. Making parfocal zooms is no easy task, and it’s one of the reasons why high-end cinema zooms are a lot more expensive, but the Rangers do a decent job considering their position in the market. 

The minimum focus distance for the 28-75mm is 49 centimeters or 1 foot 7 inches, and 75 centimeters or 2 foot 11 inches for the 75-180mm lens. These are quite decent minimum focus distances, especially for the wider zoom. 

Bokeh looks nice and I would call it “cinematic looking” although you can recognize the nine-blade iris by the shape of the out-of-focus highlights, especially at the wider focal lengths. Chromatic aberration is controlled but seems to be more visible with the longer 75-180mm lens. 

Conclusion: great price/performance all-rounder zoom lenses

Wrapping up my review on the Laowa Ranger, I have to say I enjoyed my time with these zooms and I think they are already finding a good spot in the market.

The price/performance ratio is certainly great as they can surely replace a lot of other lenses in everyday shooting scenarios due to their small size and weight, speed, zoom range, and look. Talking about the look they produce, I like how much they make natural-looking, sharp images that look alike, with very little distortion and hardly any other image problems. The image looks cinematic and definitely like it’s coming from much more expensive lenses. Overall, I recommend the Laowa Rangers if you are looking for cinema zooms that punch well above their weight, cover the full zoom range, and don’t break the bank. 

Do you prefer to work with Zoom or fixed focal length Cine Lenses on your productions? Did you have a chance to work with the Laowa Ranger Zoom Lenses? Please share with us your thoughts in the comment section below.

Simply put, in the beginning, there was a camera, and then lenses were created… Sounds logical, doesn’t it? One can say, essentially, this is all you need for creating your next blockbuster. Everything else can be considered as an “extra” or a “bonus” if you like. Looking at the current market situation, it seems many manufacturers have realized this, otherwise, I have no other explanation as to why so many companies have started to produce lenses. So now the market is booming with a bunch of offerings. Some are more interesting than others, but in the end, this kind of competition works best for us, the independent filmmakers, who are looking for good lens quality and value for money.

NiSi ATHENA Lenses

Earlier this year during NAB 2023, NiSi exposed their ATHENA line of lenses. And now, those lenses have finally hit the market and are being sold as a set of five, or, you can purchase the 14mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm separately. When it comes to mounts, there is a variety to choose from. For mirrorless cameras, NiSi is currently offering native Canon RF, LEICA/Panasonic/SIGMA L, Sony E, and FUJIFILM G mount options. In addition, the ATHENA lenses can be ordered to arrive with a PL mount. It is worth mentioning that the PL mount version has no drop-in filter option. So does the FUJIFILM G lenses, while the Sony E mount comes in two flavors, with or without a “drop-in filter” option. More about those “drop-in filters”, is down below.

In this review, I paired the NiSi Athena lenses with the Sony a7S III and tested what it’s like working with them while filming a mini-documentary. By the way, in case you are interested, my main “working horse” for that video was the 25mm lens. It proved to be the focal length that suited my type of work during that day best. When it comes to the Sony a7S III, I still love working with it, but I couldn’t help but notice that certain “signs of aging” are becoming a bit noticeable… Maybe the feature that I was missing most was the ability to record externally via USB-C in a “ProRes-like quality” codec.

As I previously mentioned, the ATHENA lenses will come in a variety of mounts, and while it is very easy to adapt the PL version to attach it to different mirrorless cameras, most of the ATHENA native mirrorless mounts have the advantage of having a drop-in filter feature. As far as I’m concerned, this is a welcomed solution that can help with reducing the overall camera setup size, especially when running and gunning.

Drop-in Filters

At the time of making this review, no drop-in filters were available, but lots of different filter options are supposed to hit the market in early 2024. 

Talking about these filters, I checked with NiSi if only the filter glass element itself can be sold or if it will always include the metal tray, and the answer was, “only with the metal tray”. I hope that NiSi will consider selling the filter glass element on its own, as it can maybe reduce the overall product price or even support the environment a bit. 

Now, please allow me to highlight some of the advantages of these new lenses, and I would like to start with their compactness. One has to love the compact form factor. They are nice to hold and simply feel robust. In addition, NiSi managed to pretty much control the weight of these lenses and nail it to around 890 grams (but the 14mm) for the Sony E mount version with drop-in filter, so if you are working with a gimble for example, changing focal lengths should be straightforward.

All lenses in this family are marked at a maximum T1.9 aperture, except for the 14mm which is T2.4. Having such fast lenses surely helps with achieving beautiful bokeh but please take into consideration that when working wide open at T1.9, the image tends to be a bit soft on the sides. Closing the aperture to T2.8 makes things better, but for sharper images across the frame, T4.0 is your safer bet.

It’s also very nice to see that focus breathing is extremely well controlled next to minimalistic chromatic aberration.

One spec that I like to mention with these lenses is the image circle size. Having a 46mm Image circle means that the lenses can cover full-frame sensors and beyond. For example, you can mount the PL, or G lens versions on the FUJIFILM GFX large format camera, and depending on the resolution you choose, you might have minimal vignetting on the height of the image but not the width.

What else: Lens gears are all lined up in the same position, markings are clearly visible on both sides, and we also have high visibility paint which is not glowing in the dark, yet still, very useful in different set conditions.

Lens consistency continues with the front diameter which is 80mm and the inner filter thread for attaching traditional filters like a vari-ND is 77mm. In any case, these diameter measurements help with keeping the overall compactness of the lenses.

If you opt to buy the five-piece lens set, you might consider getting the practical carrying case that can easily accommodate all lenses and even leaves some space for a future lens.

When it comes to lens distortion, some focal lengths are doing better than others, but distortion is certainly there. Yet, it might not be distracting when working in the field…

Things to consider and improve

When it comes to improvement, there are two points I would like to touch. One is the number of lenses currently offered. Of course, you have to start “somewhere”, but additional focal lengths will be a welcomed addition. NiSi already hinted at working on a 135mm lens, and I guess that this is the reason for having one additional space in the hardshell case.

The other thing I wanted to highlight is the built quality of those lenses. In general, I really like what I see, but, one of the two demo 25mm lenses gave me the hardest time when it comes to mechanical and optical reliability. I had some issues with the lens focus ring (Stiff focus at some point) and drop-in filter tray not locking well, next to having a single spot in the lens itself which caused some unwanted reflections. Luckily, I had no similar issues with the rest of the lenses in the kit. (NiSi assured me that those are isolated issues with those specific demo lenses).

Final thoughts

Throughout 2023 we have tested a good deal of lenses. Most had some kind of “vintage look” built into them. Now, while some will say that the “vintage look” is an excuse to produce optically inferior lenses, let’s give the respected manufacturers the benefit of the doubt. In this regard, NiSi chose the opposite way by introducing good clean, natural-looking optically wise lenses. Let me put it differently, the optical performance of those lenses is consistent, almost clinical, which in many ways is a good starting point as you can alter the look by yourself with some good frontal anamorphic adapters or different filtersation for example.

One thing that I’m reluctant to talk about is what NiSi calls “Micro Contrast Control“. I don’t want to talk about a subject that I only have limited knowledge of, so I’ll just say that according to NiSi, you get more life-like images with these lenses. One way to observe this is by turning your image to black and white and seeing the greater graduation with a large number of grey shades. For the sake of simplicity, may I dare say that this resembles an 8-bit vs. 10-bit picture coming out of a camera? (Like a “10-bit lens”)… :)

So all in all, for indie filmmakers, this set of lenses represents a great balance between optical performance and price!

Acknowledgment: Many thanks to Naoyuki-san who opened the doors of his Italian restaurant Cadota for my visit and allowed me to be with him for a few hours. Higashi-Nagasaki neighborhood in Tokyo is a beautiful quiet place and I truly recommend this restaurant to anyone who loves french fries. And many thanks to Jay Choma who helped with editing this lovely piece! Color grading made with CineD/fylm.ai LUT builder. Try it here.

What do you think of this NiSi ATHENA set of lenses? Do you have experience working with them? If you haven’t already, will you consider getting them? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.

These two new focal lengths are a follow-up to the existing Saturn 35mm T2.9 1.6x launched last year as the “most compact full-frame anamorphic lens ever made”, but we’ll get to that in a second.

These lenses are designed to be extremely compact and lightweight, so SIRUI only offers them in 6 mirrorless mount options: Canon RF, DJI DL, FUJIFILM X, Leica L, Nikon Z, and Sony E. However, bear in mind that the mount is not user-interchangeable. So, once you make your choice, there’s no way back.

For this review, SIRUI was kind enough to send me a Z mount version of the Saturn 50mm and 75mm so I could pair them with my Nikon Z 9. Before we dive deep into the specs and I give you my impression on how it was to film with these lenses, make sure to check out the sample footage I captured over the last few days while strolling around in Milan in the video above.

Lightweight and compact design

While there are other budget, full-frame, anamorphic options on the market, including SIRUI’s own Venus series, what really sets the Saturn lenses apart is their size and weight. The front part of the barrel is made of carbon fiber, but this doesn’t affect the overall build quality at all.

Honestly, I was really impressed when I first held these lenses in my hands. If you’ve ever worked with the SIRUI 1.33x APS-C anamorphic primes, then you know what I’m talking about.

The Saturn lenses measure pretty much the same but are lighter, even though they’re designed to cover full-frame. And this is quite remarkable.

The 35mm still remains the lightest in the series – with a weight of around 400 grams, depending on the lens mount option that you choose – but the 50mm and 75mm tip the scale at only 470g and 480g respectively. However, if you’re mounting your camera on a gimbal, even a slight 10-gram variance matters, so you will still need to fine-tune your balance slightly.

Using filters

Another caveat of switching lenses within the Saturn series is that the size of the front filter thread is not consistent across the set. Indeed, while the 35mm takes 58mm filters, the new 50mm and 75mm have a front filter thread of 62mm. This means you have to use at least one adapter ring, which is somewhat tedious.

Or, you could mount an adapter ring to all lenses and use a clamp-on matte box, for example. But to me, this makes little sense, since you would lose the biggest benefit of shooting with these lenses – the fact that you can take them pretty much wherever you go.

Focus and iris gears

On a positive note, the position of the manual focus and iris gears is unified across the set, so working with a follow focus system is a breeze. Focus markings are engraved in both metric and imperial scales. The focus ring feels quite smooth and has a throw of 120°. I think this is a good range, especially if you’re often pulling focus directly on the lens barrel as a solo operator.

On the other hand, the lenses definitely don’t shine when it comes to close focus. The minimum focus distance is 0.9m/3ft. on both lenses, so you need to use diopters if you want to get very close to your subject.

I think this is one of the biggest tradeoffs that SIRUI had to make in order to keep the size and weight of these lenses down, along with the maximum aperture of T2.9 – which can be quite limiting in low-light scenarios.

1.6x squeeze – a rare beast

Ok, but now let’s move on to what really matters – the anamorphic characteristics of these lenses. If you’re shooting on a 16:9 sensor, the 1.6x squeeze factor allows you to produce final images with a wide 2.8:1 aspect ratio – or, if your camera allows for 3:2 capture, you will end up with a 2.4:1 image.

Also, the 1.6x squeeze means that the 50mm provides the horizontal FOV of a 31mm spherical lens, while the 75mm behaves like a 47mm (horizontally).

I found myself using the 75mm more often than the 50mm, and I think that’s due to a combination of minimum focus distance and horizontal FOV. I like shooting close-ups where my subject is isolated from the background, and since both lenses have the same minimum focus distance, the greater magnification of the 75mm helped me do just that.

Unfortunately, no Nikon mirrorless camera to date supports dedicated anamorphic recording modes, nor do they have an in-camera de-squeeze function. So, if you’re like me and need an external monitor to properly display the image, just make sure that it does have a de-squeeze function built-in.

By the way, 1.6x is quite an unusual value to work with, so some basic math may be required to properly de-squeeze the image on your external monitor or inside your editing software.

Blue or neutral?

One of the most sought-after traits of an anamorphic lens is its flare, and SIRUI gives us two options here: blue or neutral. The former produces the classic blue streaks that we’re used to from science-fiction films, while with the neutral option, the flare picks up the color of the light source. Unfortunately, I only had the chance to play around with blue flare lenses, so I cannot speak for the neutral option.

I shot some isolated flare tests at different aperture values and focus distances, as these can reveal more of the “Saturn look”. As you can tell, the blue light streak takes the stage, even when light hits the front element of the lens at extreme angles. As you start panning towards the light source with the 75mm, veiling glare, and eyelash flare easily kick in. These are less prominent on the 50mm, which is dominated by spot flares instead.

As far as I’m concerned, I think these flares look “too classic” and lack a bit of personality. But that ultimately comes down to personal taste.

Optical evaluation

Both lenses are quite sharp at the center, even wide open. But if we take a look at the edges of the frame, they are a little soft at T2.9. Things get better if you stop down your aperture to T4, and at T5.6 the lenses are pretty much perfect, but I don’t see many people closing down their aperture this much.

The oval bokeh looks pretty nice and smooth, and it only gets a little irregular towards the edges of the frame. Some degree of chromatic aberration is happening, but it looks pretty well controlled.

One thing to be aware of though is that both the 50mm and the 75mm showcase a fair amount of pin-cushion distortion, which I’m not a big fan of. You can reduce this by fixing it in post or setting your camera to APS-C/Super35 mode. However, this is very noticeable in full-frame, so you should be careful with your composition, especially when placing subjects too close to the edges of the frame.

This is also true for focus breathing, as the magnification on both lenses varies quite a bit when racking focus from close to infinity, and back.

Final thoughts

Finally, let’s endeavor to answer the question: who are these lenses for? Well, the first and most obvious target is independent filmmakers. The Super Early Bird price of $999 per piece, or $2,999 for the 3-lens set, is quite appealing. And especially if you’re just starting out with anamorphic, this can be a good place to start. The lenses are easy to carry around wherever you go, and having them on you all the time gives you a lot of freedom to experiment.

However, I also think there’s a place for the Saturn lenses on slightly larger productions. Even if they might not have the strong character it takes to become the main lens choice for a DP on a high-end commercial, they can still be mixed and matched with other lenses for specific shots – especially when mounting a full-sized 50mm or 75mm full-frame anamorphic lens would just be impossible.

Price and availability

The Indiegogo campaign is live now, and the estimated shipping will start in December 2023. See the campaign here.

As always, please take into account that backing a crowdfunding campaign has its risks. We encourage you to research and remember that there is a chance for delays and changes in the final models, and some products are never delivered. Please read carefully Indiegogo’s terms and conditions before backing a project like this.

What do you think of the new SIRUI 50mm and 75mm carbon fiber anamorphic lenses? Are you considering adding them to your kit? Don’t hesitate to let me know in the comments down below!

SIRUI is a Chinese lens manufacturer that has pledged to introduce a variety of lenses, whether spherical or anamorphic, to the market at an affordable price. Let me emphasize that these are not rental items. These are all meant for the new breed of creators, be it for the ‘net’ or ‘set’, who are seeking to have their own affordable equipment. In my opinion, SIRUI is doing very well in selling the “dream of endless image possibilities”, especially when it comes to their anamorphic lenses. As far as I recall, they were the first company to introduce budget-friendly anamorphic lenses that previously took this niche market by storm.

SIRUI current line of lenses

Fast forward to today’s offering, and it seems as if SIRUI is moving forward in three directions with its optical endeavor:

• Creating small lightweight anamorphic lenses (Keep an eye on the Saturn. Additional lenses have already been teased and we will have a full review of the new upcoming 50mm and 75mm on November 27th).

• The Nightwalker: These “Cine lenses” were launched successfully a while back and SIRUI already mentioned their plan to grow and support this line with two additional focal length lenses. (See our review here).

• The Sniper line: These new APS-C/S35 autofocus lenses are SIRUI’s first attempt to enter the ever-growing lens market by offering a choice of three mounts (Nikon Z, FUJIFILM X, and Sony E), next to three lengths, 23mm, 33mm, and 56mm. As a side note, the company already confirmed that they are working on two additional focal lengths, 16mm and 75mm. Our sources are telling us that the 16mm in particular will have very little vignetting. We will keep you guys updated with further information when it becomes available.

SIRUI Sniper specs

SIRUI did its best to unify the lens specs across the line. All three lenses have an f/1.2 fast aperture, a similar weight of around 380g, and a 58mm inner diameter leans thread. By the way, we have been asked by some of you for the lens’s outer diameter but we could not get the information, simply because attaching a matte box (for example) is not really possible due to the very thin outer barrel. (I worked with the new H & Y variable lenses and found them easy and useful to work with).

When it comes to color coating, the new lenses will be available in black, white, and metallic aluminum.

OK, enough talk about “cosmetics”. You might wonder how these lenses perform on our chart. Well, as a rule of thumb, the more open these lenses are, the softer they get, and not only at the edges but in the middle, too. This is not surprising at all, especially when considering their aggressive price point. If you want to make sure that your images are sharp, consider f/4 as your starting point (f/2.8 will do as well but by sacrificing a bit of sharpness in the middle). This observation holds true for the entire set.

SIRUI Sniper 23mm

I gathered some images below that my colleague Florian took showcasing the lens with a resolution chart.

First, let’s see how sharp this lens is (just to back up what I wrote above).

Now, let’s see how the lens renders out-of-focus points of light, or what we call “bokeh”. As you can see, the bokeh is not unified across the image. What starts as a circle in the middle ends up as a leaf shape on both edges.

SIRUI Sniper 23mm Bokeh. Image: CineD

SIRUI Sniper 33mm

From an optical standpoint, this lens may slightly outperform the other two, but in practice, it’s the one I’ve used the least. For filming, the 23mm (currently the widest in this family of lenses) and the 56mm (the strongest tele of the trio) were my “workhorses”.

SIRUI Sniper 56mm

Funnily enough, this is the lens I used most while filming, simply because it allowed me to get closer to (the friendly) people out there. The bokeh test below clearly shows what I had suspected – the 56mm has some sort of “halation effect” to it. (All three lenses have it, but it comes out strongest on this lens in particular). At times, when working with a wide-open aperture, it felt like I was filming with a “built-in” 1/8 Pro Mist on the lens. I’ll come back to this phenomenon a bit down the road, but first, let’s look at this 56mm lens against our resolution chart:

As you can see in the above image, color fringing and unwanted color shifting on the edge of objects are very noticeable in some lighting conditions. The same goes for the 23mm and 33mm lenses.

On a positive note

I may have sounded a bit harsh so far, so to sweeten the pill a bit, let me say that the focus breathing is very well controlled. Also, the build quality seems to be very decent, and last but not least, the image that comes out of these lenses reminds me almost “one-to-one” of what I saw and felt when working with the SIRUI Nightwalker. I would not be surprised if both SIRUI’s Sniper and Nightwalker share the same lens elements. It also makes sense when the manufacturer wants to be cost-effective.

In the field

Evaluating a lens based on charts and similar metrics can be somewhat deceptive. Although I can’t argue that the lens quality is far from perfect, it’s still easy to appreciate the images produced by these lenses. If you are wondering “How can that be?”, well, the answer is very simple. At times, optical perfection equals a “lack of (image) identity”. And believe me, I’ve seen it over and over again with lens manufacturers who are aiming for the top by trying to make the sharpest possible lens and more. I’m not suggesting that using cola bottle glass will create “image identity,” but in this specific case, many of the obstacles I listed above contribute to crafting a distinct image. Also, depending on your personal taste or artistic needs, isolating your main object from its background is very easy thanks to the fast f1.2 aperture. (Don’t forget to use a strong ND filter to help you with that)…

OK, lots of words so far, but what about the autofocus performance of these new lenses? Well, it is a bit of a mixed bag.

Sniper autofocus performance

Before I continue to share my experience, I need to highlight that for this review, I was working with a FUJIFILM X-H2 camera. I’m pointing this out because I do not know if the autofocus works well with any of the Sony E or Nikon Z cameras. Even more so if you are a FUJIFILM user and are considering purchasing these lenses – make sure that the camera you are using is listed by SIRUI as qualified. For example, I tried working with the FUJIFILM X-S20, but the camera and lens did not communicate well at all. The result was that the autofocus was constantly searching. (To be fair, this camera is not yet on SIRUI’s list). I reached out to the company and SIRUI said they are working hard to expand the list of compatible filming devices. By the way, if you’re wondering whether the lens can receive future firmware updates then the answer is yes! This can be done via the USB-C connector found on the lens body itself.

Most of the time the Sniper lenses worked OK with the FUJIFILM X-H2. Sometimes the lens decided to “take a break” and didn’t quite cooperate with my desire to focus on a specific point, but overall, it was OK. Even the focus changes between two objects were executed nicely and without any noticeable focus breathing! I also liked the ability to get rather close to an object and still be able to focus on it (especially with the 23mm lens).

However, the electronic communication between the camera and lenses is not only for autofocus, and this is where the Sniper lenses tend to fall short. Modern mirrorless cameras are small and perfect for street photography/filming. Top this with the ability to engage the camera’s in-body image stabilization system (IBIS) and here you have a great run-and-gun device that, in theory, should work with non-stabilized lenses, too. I wish that this was the case with the Snipers. Even after dialing the correct focal length in the FUJIFILM camera itself, it felt as if it had zero effect on the IBIS. The results were severe as I had “micro jittering” in many of the clips I took. (As a side note, to me it always looks as if stabilizing shaky images is easier to fix than micro jittering. If you know of a good solution for that, beyond Premiere warp stabilizer or Davinci Resolve, don’t hesitate to let me know).

My solution was to work with a tripod, but it seemed to go against the idea of working with a compact camera and lens. (For the type of documentary work I usually do I don’t use gimbals, but in this specific case, they could be helpful).

In summary, concerning this specific point, I hope SIRUI can revisit and assess if there’s room for improvement in the communication between the lens and camera, not just limited to autofocus.

Conclusion

In all honesty, I’m a bit torn. The Sniper lenses from SIRUI are far from being optically perfect, yet, there is something in their images that is very engaging! (Call me a “romantic guy”, but that “creamy/dreamy” look when filming wide open is rather appealing). If communication between the camera and lenses can be improved, they can become a truly valid option in the creator’s arsenal as their price is hard to beat. The early bird price for each lens starts at $299, or $849 for the entire set of three lenses.

At the end of every crowdfunding-related article, we remind you to please be aware of the risks when backing a project on a crowdfunding platform. Also, please read the platform’s terms of use and remember there can be significant delays when delivering the product. Some projects don’t get delivered at all.

many thanks to the Pan Note Magic band and other artists for allowing me to film them.

What do you think about the new SIRUI Sniper lenses? Would you consider getting them? Yes/no, please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below.