Samyang Adding to Budget Cinema DSLR Lens Line with 14mm T/3.1, 24mm T/1.5, and 35mm T/1.5

Samyang (also known as Rokinon in the U.S.), is adding to their cinema DSLR lens line with three new lenses, a 14mm T/3.1, 24mm T/1.5, and a 35mm T/1.5. Since Samyang's lenses were already all manual lenses, it wasn't too much of a stretch to add focus gears for a follow focus and declick the iris ring to allow for smooth exposure pulls. They have already released one cine-modded lens so far, the 8mm T/3.8.

Here is what Sebastian at cinema5D said about these lenses:

Before you get really excited keep in mind that these lenses are very affordable and while their build quality has been good for photography and HDSLR shooting we don't know if these lenses will take the force a follow focus or even remote focus can sometimes put to these lenses.

The 8mm T/3.8 Fisheye was the first in the cine line, but it was definitely the most unconventional choice among their lenses to be the first to receive that treatment. Now they are adding a 14mm T/3.1, 24mm T/1.5, and 35mm T/1.5. If you are wondering why there is a T instead of an F, T is the way cine lenses are rated, and it refers to actual light transmission, rather than just the physical opening of the iris. Since no lens is perfect (meaning there is some light lost to optical imperfections and physics), the T-stop calculates this lost light and gives an actual transmission number so that you can get more accurate exposure information.

I personally would get these lenses in the Nikon F mount since they are all manual anyway, and could be adapted to the Canon mount with a relatively simple mechanical adapter. If you've got a Sony DSLR with an Alpha mount, however, you'd have to get these lenses in the Alpha mount as neither the Nikon nor the Canon can be adapted to that mount.

As far as performance, they should be identical to the non-cine versions since these are just manual modifications to the lenses (as far as I know). Depending on who you talk to you, the 24mm and 35mm are either great lenses or not-so-great lenses, which usually means actual performance is somewhere in the middle. I've seen tests comparing the 24mm vs. Zeiss lenses and they do very well in the center and better in the corners once you stop down a few stops. Since DSLRs throw away so much information in video mode, chromatic aberration (color fringing) will actually be a bigger factor than how well the lenses resolve detail.

Here are some breathing samples of the 35mm T/1.5 lens:

Either way, these could be a great starter set for a cinema style workflow, especially because of their low price. The 35mm T/1.5 is available right now for $550. The 14mm and 24mm lenses do not have definite pricing, as they are set to be released sometime in September. Without the cine-mod, the 14mm is currently $400 and the 24mm is just about $680.

These three focal lengths would actually work very well with the Blackmagic Cinema Camera, since they would roughly translate to wide, normal, and short telephoto lenses (which also happen to be very close to the three focal lengths I like to use the most).

What do you guys think?

Links:

• 35mm T1.5 Cine Lens for Nikon F
• 35mm T1.5 Cine Lens for Canon EF
• 35mm T1.5 Cine Lens for Sony Alpha

[via cinema5D]