PL mount glass is the industry standard but has always been expensive. For our "Deals of the Week," we found three options that won't break the bank.
Venture onto any production with a budget, and you'll see a camera with a PL mount. Sure, there are exceptions here and there, but the standard has always been PL.
However, that kind of kit had, at one point, come at a cost. As companies have found ways to make cheaper alternatives, PL mount lenses have also become more affordable.
For our Deals of the Week, we have some killer zoom options. There's even a macro option too!
Venus Optics Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9
The Venus Optics Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9 has been a popular zoom choice amongst budget creatives. It features focus scales marked in feet and has an interchangeable PL lens mount that can be swapped out with the included E and EF mounts.
It is designed to deliver a vintage look in color rendition and bokeh performance and features a 4x zoom range that covers Super35 with a greater than 33mm image circle from 25mm to 100mm. This enables the lens to be used with various 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.
Tokina Cinema 11-16mm T3.0
Tokina has always had killer glass. The Cinema 11-16mm T3.0 in PL Mount is no different.
It's a wide-angle zoom lens for APS-C or Super 35-sized sensors that uses the same distortion-free design and optical performance of Tokina's 11-16mm f/2.8mm DSLR lens. Put into an all-metal housing that is optimized for video and digital cinema use, the housing provides manual focus control with an easy-to-read distance scale and a de-clicked aperture ring for smooth iris pulls. The focus, aperture, and zoom rings all have standard cine-style gears for use with follow-focus systems.
In addition to the new housing, the lens also has been updated with a parfocal design that allows you to maintain focus on your subject while zooming. The Tokina 11-16mm T3.0 utilizes two super-low dispersion and two aspherical lens elements to produce images with high contrast and sharpness, while multilayer coating helps minimize flare and ghosting.
Sirui Jupiter Full Frame Macro
The Sirui Jupiter series is the only full-frame lens on this shortlist. But it also has some unique capabilities that make it stand out from the others: macro. It also features an aperture range of T2 to T22 for a deep or shallow depth of field.
The lens is constructed of 13 elements in 10 groups, creating a smooth, circular bokeh with minimal focus breathing. The focus ring can rotate up to 220°, and both focus and iris rings have 0.8 MOD cinema-standard gears for intuitive manual controls.
Focus distance and iris marks are displayed in both meters and feet. The lens has a minimum focus distance of 9.4" for compatibility with many matte boxes and adapters. A 92mm filter thread with a filter pitch of 0.75 allows you to attach filters of your choice further to customize the light quality and effects of the lens.
Which is your favorite off this list? Let us know in the comments!
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