Why buy primes when all you need is one lens? Our Deals of the Week showcase three solid options for filmmakers.
Okay, there are many reasons to buy primes over zooms. Most often, primes perform better and are cheaper, even if you do have to get more than one focal length to get the same versatility. However, modern cine zooms are incredible feats of engineering that not only perform well, but make creatives super effiecient on set. That can save you time and money on set, which can make or break your project.
Also, you can't do a dolly zoom with a prime, now, can you?
Tokina 25-75mm T2.9 Lens
The Tokina 25-75mm T2.9 Cinema Lens sports a 36mm image circle that covers Super 35 and some larger image sensors. Designed to match the Tokina Cinema 50-135mm T2.9 Mk II and 11-20mm T2.9 zoom lenses, the 25-75mm zoom lens features a constant T2.9 maximum aperture, limited focus breathing, and low distortion. It has an easy-to-read distance scale measured in feet and a clickless aperture ring for smooth iris pulls. The focus, aperture, and zoom rings all have standard 0.8 MOD cine-style gears for use with follow focus systems.
This zoom lens has a 95mm front diameter for use with professional matte boxes and has a filter thread size of 86mm. Its lens mount is interchangeable with separately available Canon EF, MFT, and Sony E mounts.
Angenieux EZ-1
The Angenieux EZ-1s come in either 11-40mm and 30-90mm focal ranges with a PL mount and interchangable rear lens-groups to fit Super35 and FF/VistaVision sensors. The lenses are fast, with a T/2.0 in Super35 and T/3.0 in full-frame/VistaVision. Swapping between the rear lens groups doesn't affect the physical length of the lens, minimum focus distance, or 3x zoom ratio. However, the full-frame rear lens group does change the lenses from a 30 to 90mm zoom that covers Super35 to a 45 to 135mm zoom that covers the full-frame/VistaVision aperture, and 15 to 40mm to a 22 to 60mm for the wider sibling.
The lenses have 3 manual lens control rings: focus, iris, and zoom. Each ring features cine-style 0.8 MOD gear teeth, for compatibility with follow focus units and lens control motors. The 114mm front diameter allows you to work with a wide variety of rod supported matte boxes.
Venus Optics Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9
The Venus Optics Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9 Cine lens is a fairly new peice of glass on the market. (At least when compared to Angenieux.)
It features focus scales marked in feet and has an interchangeable PL lens mount. It is designed to deliver a vintage look in both color rendition and bokeh performance. The lens features a 4x zoom range, and it covers Super35 with a greater than 33mm image circle from 25 to 100mm. This enables the lens to be used with a wide variety of cameras and sensors, including those that define Super35 with a larger image circle such as the RED MONSTRO in 6K, GEMINI in 5K, and HELIUM in 8K. The lens also covers the ARRI ALEXA Mini in 4K.
The lens comes with a PL mount attached, which allows it to be used with a variety of digital cinema cameras. In addition, the PL mount is interchangeable and can be swapped out with the included E and EF mounts. The 9-blade iris provides for a natural-looking bokeh and helps contribute to the vintage look, which, while not overly contrasty, still has snap and sharpness. The lens features a close-focus limit of under 2', which makes it a flexible choice for tighter close-ups and allows you to shoot in limited-space environments.
All three lens rings feature cine-standard gearing for ease of use with available lens control accessories such as follow focus units and lens control motors. The lens features a 100mm front and includes a 100 to 114mm step-up ring.
Honorable Mention - The OOOM White Edition
This is literally the Venus Optics Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9, but in a nice white color. It's the same lense in and out, but has the looks to back up the image.
If you like showing off on set, then this is a nice alternative to the standard black version.
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