Last week we let you guys now about the new cine lenses that Rokinon was planning on releasing soon and as of today they are officially announced. The XEEN Cine lenses from Rokinon/Samyang (in the UK) share the same optical design as their Cine DS brethren, but don’t be fooled – the XEEN are proper cine lenses. The latest Cine lenses from Rokinon come standard with 114mm front diameter, all metal housing, 200 degree focus rotation, dual focus marks, and also available in EF, Nikon, MFT, Sony E mount and most of all the highly desired cinema standard PL mount. The new lenses also feature new coatings, which theoretically should help reduce image artefacts. Lens guru Matthew Duclos has a really informative write-up on his blog – you should check it out here.
The XEEN Cine primes will cover full-frame sensors like the one on the Sony A7s and Canon 5D Mark III and also resolve 4K and 5K resolutions. Currently, the first three focal lengths available will be the 24mm, 50mm, and the 85mm all at T1.5. The rest of the line-up, if I had to guess, will be supplemented by a 14mm, 35mm, and a 100mm macro version ported from the Cine DS line, but again in a proper cine housing like the rest of the XEEN line-up.
B&H have also just shared their first hands-on experience with the new XEEN Cine Primes.
For further chart tests and the full write up – visit their blog here.
Features
- 24mm/50mm/85mm Lens Covers Full-Frame Sensors
- Internal Focus Design
- Full Manual Focus (No Auto focus)
- Multi-Coating for Color Consistency
- Dual Side Focus and T-Stop Scales
- 11 Blade Iris
- Cinema Gearing for Focus and Iris
- 200° Focus Rotation
- 114mm Front Diameter
Here are the newly release full specs of the XEEN Cine Primes
| Focal length | 24mm | 50mm | 85mm | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Maximum T-stop | T1.5 | T1.5 | T1.5 | |
| Negative size | 24 mm X 36 mm | 24 mm X 36 mm | 24 mm X 36 mm | |
| Angle of view | Full Frame(1:1x) | 84.1° | 46.2° | 28.4° |
| Super 35 | 61.2° | 31.2° | 19.0° | |
| APS-C (1:1.5x) | 60.4° | 30.8° | 18.7° | |
| APS-C (1:1.6x) | 57.3° | 29.0° | 17.7° | |
| Micro Four Thirds (1:2x) | 47.6° | 23.6° | 14.4° | |
| Focusing range | ∞ to 0.25 m | ∞ to 0.45 m | ∞ to 1.12 m | |
| Front size | Φ114mm | |||
| Number of blades | 11 | 11 | 11 | |
| Size | PL | Φ117.6mm x 113.7mm | ||
| Canon EF | Φ117.6mm x 121.7mm | |||
| Nikon F | Φ117.6mm x 119.2mm | |||
| Sony E | Φ117.6mm x 147.7mm | |||
| Micro Four Thirds | Φ117.6mm x 146.5mm | |||
| Angle | Focus angle | 200° | ||
| Iris angle | 40° | |||
| Weight (without Lens cap) |
PL | 1,180g | 1,160g | 1,245g |
| Canon EF | 1,180g | 1,160g | 1,245g | |
| Nikon F | 1,135g | 1,115g | 1,200g | |
| Sony E | 1,185g | 1,165g | 1,250g | |
| Micro Four Thirds | 1,185g | 1,165g | 1,250g | |
Here’s a little lens comparison test our friends at Film Cyfrowy sent us, in which the Rokinon XEEN 50mm is compared to the Zeiss CP.2 and Canon L series equivalent.
50mm – SAMYANG XEEN vs ZEISS STD vs CANON L from Film Cyfrowy on Vimeo.
The XEEN Cine lenses from Rokinon/Samyang are expected to ship August 13th and sell for $2,495 a piece in the US and £1,999 in the UK. The XEEN do offer substantial savings over rival Canon CN-E primes (about $4,500), Zeiss CP.2 (on par price wise with the Canon CN-E’s), Schneider Xenon’s ($4,000 – $5,750 each), but whether they’ll justify the price bump over the Cine DS line is yet to be determined.
Then there are also Italian makers Lock Circle, who have a really beautiful line of Cine primes they call the XM line (based on older Zeiss Distagons), read about them here, which seem to cost about the same as the new XEEN… It would be nice to see how the Lock Circle XM perform against the XEEN’s.
B&H Links:
Xeen 24mm T1.5 Lens for Canon EF Mount / MFT / Nikon / Sony E / PL mount
Xeen 50mm T1.5 Lens for Canon EF Mount / MFT / Nikon / Sony E / PL mount
Xeen 85mm T1.5 Lens for Canon EF Mount / MFT / Nikon / Sony E / PL mount
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