Fujinon Premista Lens Evaluation and Review

[Mark A. Jaeger]

I recently made arrangements to demo the Fujinon Premista 28-100mm and Premista 80-250mm lenses. I shot some tests on the Monstro at 8K. I decided to make a short/quicky video reflecting what I did and what I found. You can find it on YouTube at https://youtu.be/7JrmvWn2xW4.

The bullet: This is great glass. Not inexpensive but wonderful in how they perform.

I hope the information helps.

 

[Misha Engel]

Thank you.

 

[Clint Lealos]

Nice review Mark! That 28-100 looks pretty incredible.

 

[Karim D. Ghantous]

Wow man. I WANT THESE. I mean, I wouldn't use them but... I just want them, you know?

This is more evidence that S35 is probably the sweet spot for cinema. These lenses as amazing as they are (did I mention that I wanted them?) are just massive.

VistaVision is a better film format than it is a digital format. Still a PITA but you're getting double the surface area for a proportional gain in fidelity. With digital, you're not always getting double the image fidelity, even though the Monstro is no question the best cinema sensor right now.

It would have been comical to see you compare them to rangefinder lenses. That would have been an eye-opener. ;-)

 

[Michael Tiemann]

Methinks the Tokina 16-28 kinda completes these lenses. I wonder if Fujinon will make a Premista 18-45 or 16-40...

 

[Stephen Reizes]

Heres a quick test of the 80-250 Premista compared to the Supreme 85, 100, 135, 150 and Ultra Prime 180 all at T2.9 https://vimeo.com/438732450 Spltting hairs I would say that the Premista shows some some pin cushioning and shading in the corners (at 150 for example). There are also some minor onion ring artifacts as well as unusual mechanical vignetting at longer focal lengths (mechanical vignetting is common in many full from lenses wide open). Overall the contrast, colour rendition and saturation are very impressive.

I have it on good authority that Fujinon is planning a wider zoom and a longer zoom. They are undecided with respect to the longer zoom whether to build a larger more full range lens or a smaller limited long zoom lens to compliment the 2 existing Premistas.

 

[Mark A. Jaeger]

I would truly love a super-telephoto with the Premista characteristics. I have a Nikon 600mm f/4 that only works in manual mode without VR. It has recognition issues on the Monstro - a real PITA. As I doubt RED will ever fix the Nikon issues I would love to have alternatives.

Question for the Canon folk: Does the 600 or 800 Canon work WITH IS?

 

[Michael Tiemann]

At what frame size does this mechanical vignetting go away? 7k? 6k?

At what aperture does it go away? Is there a sweet spot of aperture and frame size that gives round bokeh to edges like the Supreme Primes?

 

[Stephen Reizes]

The tests I shot were on the Mini LF at full frame. The Supremes as well as other full frame high speed lenses all tend to have mechanical vignetting (cat's eye bokeh) wide open. Geoff Boyle's tests of full frame lenses are worth a look https://cinematography.net/CML-FF-Lens-Tests-2019.html Here are frame grabs from the Premista vs Supreme tests, unfortunately the photo titles didn't upload. The lens info is slated in the in-focus image which is followed by infinity focus and near focus https://photos.app.goo.gl/g5Cap9p3gjg5LgWK9

 

[Ron Steinberg]

At what frame size does this mechanical vignetting go away? 7k? 6k?

At what aperture does it go away? Is there a sweet spot of aperture and frame size that gives round bokeh to edges like the Supreme Primes?

Remember that Stephen shot the Supremes 2 stops down from wide open so they had the advantage over the Premista's in this test. The Supremes starting at 50mm and longer also display cats eye bokeh on full frame when they are shot wide open, it clears up by a 2/2.8 split.