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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

Blair S. Paulsen said:
FWIW, many of the lenses in their database had pretty low sharpness numbers, including many of the Zeiss primes often considered wicked sharp. I'm fine with leaving plenty of headroom in lens metrics to allow for future improvements, but in this case their scaling may be misleading. Having seen Sigma's new CINE versions of the Art lenses/short zooms on a lens projector, the idea that they lack sharpness (or acutance) doesn't compute.

My 2 cents - if you think the 18-35 might be a good option for you, I'd take it for a test drive before assuming it's not sharp enough.

Cheers - #19
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Yeah the 18-35 is insanely sharp. I can't believe any test would say otherwise.
 
I believe DXO measures what a lens resolves on a given camera. The 18-35 was tested on the D500, a 20mp aps-c camera and the lens was rated to resolve about 18mp, while the sigma 50mm was tested on a d800 and resolved about 35 of the cameras 36 megapixels at full frame.

I'm not 100% sure that's correct but you'll see sharpness scores greatly increasing on similar lenses when the newer lenses are tested on a 5Dr instead of 5DmkIII
 
Curtis boggs said:
looking at this lens test the 18-35 didn't rate very well
in sharpness.

https://www.dxomark.com/lenses/bran...Options=false&viewMode=list&yDataType=rankDxo
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I've had three of the 18-35s on a projector several times and they were pretty damned sharp out to 6K (lens above 22mm). Negligible CA. The lens techs with me were quite impressed. This was the GL 18-35 model, 300 degree throw.

As far as cinema lenses go, these are pretty sharp, especially for the price.
 
Ted Parkes said:
How would you rate the Sigma 18-35 against the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM? The canon is more then double the price.
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I'm also curious about how the Sigma compares to the Canon, particularly in terms of barrel distortion. After shooting and editing some stills a few years ago on the Canon 16-35 2.8 L II, I was really disappointed by the distortion, not only barrel, but also more bizarre distortion happening at wider focal lengths like 16-20. I've since shunned the lens. haven't tried the LIII yet, though.

Can anyone comment on how the Sigma distortion compares with the Canon's?
 
Ted Parkes said:
How would you rate the Sigma 18-35 against the Canon EF 16-35mm f/2.8L III USM? The canon is more then double the price.
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It's a different lens in a different league.

16-35 covers full frame (vistavision) - this may be a consideration for some people.

If you only need to cover Super-35 (APS-C) the 18-35 is quite incredible, and while it has quite strong contrast the general rendition of Human Skin and objects within the frame is quite pleasing.

I've used The 18-35 many times cutting in with Leica Summicron C, as well as Leica R. Generally I have to say I love this lens. If it has too much contrast for you, some diffusion will help put you in the world you want to be in! (I doubt it has any more contrast than the 16-35 Canon... but compared to say something like a Cooke S4 or Speed Panchro, or even agains the Vintage Leica R's - it is fairly contrastier)
 
Dan is spot on. My experience with the 18-35 alongside Angenieux, Schneider and Cooke is that a touch of diffusion helps balance sharpness and contrast. With that in mind, the lens has cut fine with the other brands I've paired it with.
 
Hal Long said:
Dan is spot on. My experience with the 18-35 alongside Angenieux, Schneider and Cooke is that a touch of diffusion helps balance sharpness and contrast. With that in mind, the lens has cut fine with the other brands I've paired it with.
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Yup, we shot it with 1/4 HBM today, and it looked GREAT.
 
Hal Long said:
Dan is spot on. My experience with the 18-35 alongside Angenieux, Schneider and Cooke is that a touch of diffusion helps balance sharpness and contrast. With that in mind, the lens has cut fine with the other brands I've paired it with.
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I'll +1 both Hal and Dan. The Sigma 18-35mm is an amazing lens and the latest cinema version is probably the best yet. I've been playing with demos of the new 18-35 and 50-100 cinema versions at Hot Rod, and they are darn impressive for both sharpness and contrast.
 
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I own a set of the Sigma zooms. 18-35 & 50-100 in EF mount. They have been used on two commercials so far. One shot on my RED Weapon MG and another using a DPs personal Canon C300MKII. The lenses look great. Both of the DPs were very happy with them. That's all that matters to me as a supplier of gear for shoots/DIT. As long as the DP is happy and the AC can use the gear efficiently without incident we are good. There is a fare bit of focus breathing on the 50-100mm that I wish was better, however it hasn't been an issue. I also understand that the lenses at that price point should not be expected to perform mechanically as good as my Angeneiuxe lenses at nearly 3 times the cost. I make that clear to my clients. The Sigma lenses are on par image wise with the more expensive lenses for sure. Sigma did a good thing.
 
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Does anyone know when the Sigma 18-35 cinema lens will be out yet? I read somewhere that it was planned for beginning of Dec. But I can't see it in B&H or anywhere else.
 
Nick Morrison said:
Yup, we shot it with 1/4 HBM today, and it looked GREAT.
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Good to hear. The only physical diffusion filter I carry in my base kit anymore is that same 1/4 HBM. For certain projects, we'll rent a box full of diffusion filters to nail a particular look/feel. That said, on a day to day basis, with post diffusion tools having advanced so much over the last decade, the 1/4HBM has served me very well for Dragon 5K-6K acquisition situations where it makes sense to take a bit of the edge off right up front.

Cheers - #19
 
The Cinema Zoom, 18-35 & 50-100 are on sale now in the EF and E mount, I bought it from Samy's in Los Angeles. Ducols Lenses also has them available. I found the 18-35 available at B&H, but the listing is for the PL mount which is not available yet.
 
Did anyone go to the Samy's event a few weeks back and find out when the primes will be released?
 
I've had a deposit on the primes since the day they were announced and pre order was possible from Duclos! Really hope they release soon.
 
Any new news or leaks on the upcoming primes? I'm hoping these don't come in more than $3500 each, and hopefully there's some package savings by purchasing as a set. Still waiting anxiously as NAB is right around the corner.
 
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