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  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Sigma Cinema Lenses

I don't know... full frame compact true cine hand built lenses with f1.4 across the board with MP and Summilux IQ (and speed) but half the size and ( less than)1/5 (20%) price sound like a good deal to me. Unless we are lens snobs... wait- we ARE lens snobs!!! and we let incompetent producers pick our tools for us ;-)
Never mind, continue.....
 
Dean Butler said:
That's more than I was expecting price wise. They may well be worth it. Do you think there's a chance they'd sell them discounted in a set?
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Probably not discounted if you see how they sell their Cine zooms in a set (18-35, 50-100)
Part of Sigmas success with their Art stills versions is that they are insanely good for the price, no other lens can really compare if you compare overall quality vs. price. On the cine side I'm not convinced people will go crazy in the same way the stills guy did. I'm personally leaning more towards Celeres at €3600/lens.
 
Can anyone chime in how the Sigmas feel compared to a set of CN-Es? I got the 24, 35, 50 and 85 but I'm not sure if it would be a good idea to sell them and get these or keep my CN-Es. I own the 35mm Sigma ART still lens which I feel looks really nice, but more things need to be better for it to be a viable choice to change to. First, I don't know if the other lenses in the series stack up optically to the wonderful 35mm ART still (which the 35mm should be based off)? Then there's the question of how much these breathe (the zooms breathe way too much)? Will they give you more for their price than CN-Es gives you? And how do they feel when working with a follow focus (is the focus pulling hard on longer distances with the degree it has?)?
 
I'd never trade my ART for CN-E lenses.
The whole fullframe ART primes are consistent in every way. They don't breath.
I just purchased the 85mm, so I'm not prepare to share too much informations about it. But with some shoots with it, it is the same workhorse as the others.
With a Latitude it's just too good to be true, but it is.
With a regular manual FF, well, they are still lenses, so it's a no-go.

I just don't understand why the PL version don't have motors inside, it's a bummer.
 
Bérenger Brillante said:
I'd never trade my ART for CN-E lenses.
The whole fullframe ART primes are consistent in every way. They don't breath.
I just purchased the 85mm, so I'm not prepare to share too much informations about it. But with some shoots with it, it is the same workhorse as the others.
With a Latitude it's just too good to be true, but it is.
With a regular manual FF, well, they are still lenses, so it's a no-go.

I just don't understand why the PL version don't have motors inside, it's a bummer.
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Are you talking about the Sigma Cine Primes or the ART still lenses? Because I was asking about a comparison between the Sigma Cine Lenses and the CN-Es. The ART prime I own breathe but it's because it's just a still lens. The CN-Es are in my opinion the best mid-range Cine primes, but that's only because I haven't seen enough of the Sigma Cine Primes yet. Therefor the questions.
 
Jacek Zakowicz said:
I don't know... full frame compact true cine hand built lenses with f1.4 across the board with MP and Summilux IQ (and speed) but half the size and ( less than)1/5 (20%) price sound like a good deal to me. Unless we are lens snobs... wait- we ARE lens snobs!!! and we let incompetent producers pick our tools for us ;-)
Never mind, continue.....
Click to expand...

Are you sure?

I don't get to be able to test these sort of lenses here- I'm in desert of Cine Glass. I do own Canon EF L and Sigma Art still lenses, and the Canons might be less sharp, but better at handling contrast with a more 3D picture, maintaining the highlights and the shadows well controlled.

The Short film Sigma posted showed what I'm getting with my arts: they are excellent for night and low light shooting, but on bright daylight and high contrast situations they seem to create a big challenge to help keep a natural and good looking contrast between highlights and shadows. I'm no expert, but this really is the experience I get with these lenses. Again, great bang for the buck, crazy sharp, and excellent in low light situations.

Also this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JkIf9qLKrXs

Seeing from this excellent test the Master Primes are the Holly grail for a reason, and the summilux are on the same championship, but everything else is just one or two steps bellow. I was really impressed with the Xeens though. Would love to see a test of the Zeiss Otus lenses, but this is a cinema lens test, so its understandable.
 
I think a lot of it is the allure of shooting the glass with a price tag of a house.
Direct comparison blind test could change your perception. Not saying it absolutely will but it could.
Besides- Sigma art at $500 a piece vs MP $25000 a piece- really?!!! you can buy 50 sigmas for one MP - 50!!!!
And no matter what you do can't even get FF coverage on the MP ;-)
Get real .....
 
As someone who is familiar with the ART series and had the ability to test the Cine zooms this past weekend on my S-W (with EXPLOSIONS!!!!!:thumbup:) I'd like to completely disagree with those comments. There is an unbelievable amount of control in the image contrast on a hot day. We were shooting in direct sunlight for the majority of the day, wide open for most of it, and at no point did I think those lenses weren't producing a sharp image, manageable amount of contrast, and beautiful skin tones. The key here is everything else - how much light are you giving the lenses wide open/colour pallette/ND choices and your overall exposure/sensor + how much contrast are you lighting with? Can always hit the negative side with a little bit of light or the opposite to taste, IMO they should be measured in terms of what you are doing with them when you have a reasonable amount of control vs what they look like outside on a sunny day wide open with nothing other than where you decide to place the talent as your lighting choice.

Comparing those to Summi's or Ultra's/Masters is just ridiculous. You don't measure the performance of your Honda Civic against a Lamborghini. For $5k, those are amazing lenses that should be the first stop for every owner/op that wants cine lenses but doesn't want to have to sell their kid for it.

Can't post any frames just yet but if anyone is interested I can upload the video when it's been cut and you can be the judge.

*The 50-100 breathes like an overweight hungry man in a donut shop, worse from midway through the range to infinity, close focus is manageable.
*Flares are gorgeous, there is definitely a sweet spot - easy to control how much you want to see
*18-35 is pretty bulky in terms of gimbal use, they are made well you'll definitely be running a heavy setup.
 
Yes every lens is like a paint brush if you use an artistic comparison. It still needs a craftsman that knows how to use it and is very intimately familiar with it. That takes time. In todays instant gratification world that's a forgotten and somehow "shameful" quality. These lenses have a great potential and are capable of incredibly detailed natural looking image . But they won't do the operators job for them. Neither will MPs...
 
Jacek Zakowicz said:
I don't know... full frame compact true cine hand built lenses with f1.4 across the board with MP and Summilux IQ (and speed) but half the size and ( less than)1/5 (20%) price sound like a good deal to me. Unless we are lens snobs... wait- we ARE lens snobs!!! and we let incompetent producers pick our tools for us ;-)
Never mind, continue.....
Click to expand...

My reply was to this particular post. Its definitely not Master Prime or Summilux IQ. That's misleading. I never said anything about the Sigmas being "bad Lenses". Just that don't overhype them. They are no better in certain aspects than the Canon Cine Primes. They have better specific attributes and some worse than similar priced lenses.

I would also take a good look at the Tokinas. The Toking 11-16 II is one of my favourite wide angle lenses on Red and would really love to see the results of their new cine primes.
 
Sergio Perez said:
My reply was to this particular post. Its definitely not Master Prime or Summilux IQ. That's misleading. I never said anything about the Sigmas being "bad Lenses". Just that don't overhype them. They are no better in certain aspects than the Canon Cine Primes. They have better specific attributes and some worse than similar priced lenses.

I would also take a good look at the Tokinas. The Toking 11-16 II is one of my favourite wide angle lenses on Red and would really love to see the results of their new cine primes.
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All lenses have advantages. I happen to like small, fast, sharp FF lenses.
Don't care much about breathing because when I was starting out all lenses were breathing and DPs used that to tell better stories sometimes, very skillfully I must add. Apparently these days breathing is a mortal sin. So be it....
 
Did anyone at NAB throw the 14 (or even an Art 14 in EF Mount) on VV? I'd love to know what coverage is available...
 
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