Despite being expensive, hard to come by, and potentially incompatible with your camera of choice, vintage prime lenses have helped develop the signature look of classic 70's films such as Rocky, Jaws, All The President's Men, and The Godfather. On the indie side, the look and feel of films such as Barbara Loden's Wanda has been an influence on contemporary auteurs.

As a cinematographer, getting your hands on a set of classic primes, flaws and all, can lend a unique atmosphere to even the most digital cameras, but that's hard to achieve without expensive lenses from the eras themselves.

Sigma's answer to this problem is its new Classic Art Prime series of lenses. The company will officially be announcing at this year's IBC in September, but they offered a sneak peak at their event in Tokyo last week.

To re-create the look of vintage classic cinema, Sigma designed the lenses with fewer lens coatings but will include modern cine lens features to satisfy the needs of contemporary filmmakers.

The 'Classic' lenses will be released for Sigma's 10 full-frame prime set, from 14mm to 135mm. The set includes: 

  • 14mm T3.2
  • 20mm T2.5
  • 24mm T2.5
  • 28mm T2.5
  • 35mm T2.5
  • 40mm T2.5
  • 50mm T2.5
  • 85mm T2.5
  • 105mm T2.5
  • 135mm T3.2

Not a whole lot is known about Sigma's Classic Art prime lenses, so look out for more details in September 2019 during IBC.

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