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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 :)

SLR Magic APO HyperPrime mini review

So I spent an afternoon at SLR Magic with Andrew and some of his team to check out the entire range of APO Hyperprimes, including the pre-production 32mm!

I can only say they're a very impressive cine lens set, especially at this price point there is NOTHING that comes close! For owner/operators a no brainer imo.

The 32mm has the same physical size as the rest of the set, very impressive close focus and is just in every aspect on the same high level as the other lenses. I only had an hour or so that I could take out of my schedule and only did some informal testing with the 4 lens set but from my short time with them I can now say for sure they're what I've been looking for and I will invest in them sooner (not later).

Also finally got a chance to test the 2x anamorphic lens set (for M4/3 mount) and they look much better (optically) than from what I've seen posted online, although I'm not sure if the barrel distortion is a bit too much for me.

Andrew said the 32mm will be announced at NAB as mentioned by John here earlier but also that it will be available pretty much at the same time or shortly after, to say the lens I was testing today is pretty much production.

Also extremely impressive was the EF mount adapter. The best PL to EF option by far! It's not an adapter as you know from other manufacturers but you rather unscrew a part of the PL mount and screw on the EF mount. It's low profile and pretty light weight, super fast to change and nicely made. Definitely a no brainer for EF camera owners.

Also the M43 mount is extremely well made to high tolerances, it's low profile and felt very reassuring.

Having used some SLR Magic lenses very early on when Andrew started out and seeing what they make today it's very impressive and they do Hong Kong proud to be the only company to make proper cinema glass here and on a high level!

Here two pictures from today, will do some proper testing and use the lenses in the near future on a real production which will be the testing grounds. Will post again then.

... linked Facebook photos don't seem to show up here .. you can see the photos on my FB page..
https://www.facebook.com/oberdorfermarc/
 
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Did someone test the SLR Magic APOs against Schneider Xenon FF and Zeiss Milvus? That's the three sets where i can't decide which to buy.
Don't know anybody who has the SLRs here in Berlin, Germany to test.
 
Marcus Gelhard said:
Did someone test the SLR Magic APOs against Schneider Xenon FF and Zeiss Milvus? That's the three sets where i can't decide which to buy.
Don't know anybody who has the SLRs here in Berlin, Germany to test.
Click to expand...


I feel the same way, also against the sigma cine.
 
Xenon have terrible color fringing

SLR Magic are APO, if you haven't tried an APO lens in an area where APO shines, it is quite revealing, Xenons in particular fail miserably at chromatic aberration

But Xenons have nice rainbow flares, but guess what, so does the 50 SLR Magic APO

never used Milvus so can't speak to that

But just buy the 50 to test, you can always resell, but you won't...
 
VS sigma Cine

Apples and Oranges in my opinion

Sigma are GREAT all around, but very little what i call "character"

Honestly it'd be great to own both sets
 
Marc Oberdorfer said:
For owner/operators a no brainer imo.
Click to expand...

Well, maybe not such a no-brainer if you have to consider what prime lenses clients will request and what prime lenses clients will be comfortable with as a result of their familiarity with lenses. "SLR...what?" is a likely response and you are going to have to sell clients on these lenses. Because the SLR's are uncommon and at this point rather obscure, you aren't necessarily going to impress by having them listed on your website as lenses that you have available. That matters to some.


I think any potential buyer should keep in mind that these are "boutique" lenses ( as are Celeres ). From a small company with a relatively short history and not much name recognition. There is no guarantee that a full set will ever come to be. With the announcement of the 32mm we are moving closer to a full set, but still not guaranteed. And the longevity of SLR Magic itself is a function of one man's drive and interest. Andrew is doing amazing things and from what I can tell he is at times largely doing it by himself and through sheer force of his own will. But therein lies the risk. With the big-boys in the biz you can be more confident that they will be around for a while. The future of Zeiss isn't dependent upon one individual's drive and passion.

There is nothing wrong with buying boutique lenses. But that is what they are. Name-recognition of a prime lens set and popularity of a prime lens set are not just superficial concerns. If you are looking to get a rental return on the prime lens set(s) you own, you'll want to go with something that is widely known and in high demand. That isn't the SLR Magic APO Hyper Prime Cine lenses ( not to be confused with the SLR Magic Hyper Prime Cine lenses- those are MFT lenses. ) If right now you own a set of Sigma Cine's, you could get rentals on them easily. You'd be hard pressed to get many rental calls for the SLR APO's, even if there were a full set at this time.

That naming- "SLR Magic APO Hyper Prime Cine" isn't helping to market the lenses. I might have gone with "SLR Magic Prestos" instead. :smiley:
 
I just call them APO Hyperprimes when talking abut them. Yes they are not a big name brand, so you won't get calls asking specifically for them. But if you are an owner op and want some good looking lenses with character (important to me) in PL that are affordable there's no other options in this price range. Like none. To me they are so inexpensive I'd argue it's a no brainer to own these even if you have master primes. They are cool lenses

32 will be avail at NAB
 
APO HyperPrimes work for me.

The best way to support the work that Andrew and SLR Magic is doing is simply to get more customers buying and the bigger the lens set the easier that would be.

Very much looking forward to getting the 32 when that ships.

I'd love to see an 18 next rather than the 135, but who knows.

Marc, great write up. That EF adapter, does it look like the 32 will only work with their adaptor?

cheers
Paul
 
Billy Jim said:
Would like to know what character these ( Nisi - Kinefinity - Bokkelux ) lenses have compared to APO HyperPrimes.
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They look interesting, similar size and weight to the HyperPrimes and as you linked these are the Bokkelux lenses. The specs are identical even though the Bokklelux project is dead.

When that first appeared they looked good. There are some samples on youtube. Of course these may have been tweaked but the OOF looks creamy here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1r78lcxYz-Y

and performance looks great here too

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZbzsmqksj0

Available next month, so it will be interesting to see.

cheers
Paul
 
SLR Magic introducing MicroPrime 35mm & 50mm T1.2 and 25mm T1.5 Cine lenses at NAB 2018
 
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Billy Jim said:
https://instagram.com/p/BhU7yLNhyMV/
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Saw that on fb too but no detail really. I mean SLR Magic have a whole range of cine primes for S35 and lower, mostly emount and m43, so no idea whether these are anything different. They're not PL for sure, but could be EF, i can't really tell from those mounts.

But only 25/35/50 as well...

cheers
Paul
 
Hmm, I don't get it, these cover full frame like the APO hyperprimes but they come in E mount and are a stop faster. What gives?
 
Jake Wilganowski said:
Hmm, I don't get it, these cover full frame like the APO hyperprimes but they come in E mount and are a stop faster. What gives?
Click to expand...

E-mount - very short distance to sensor therefore you can get these kinds of speeds and performance, much like Leica M glass.

Too short for us though.

What they ought to have done is to make it M mount compatible, then that's just enough space for us to use as well, and they'd have been really interesting...

I can only hope that they don't focus solely on these types of lenses, the APOs offer something quite unique in the market.

cheers
Paul
 
Billy Jim said:
Would like to know what character these ( Nisi - Kinefinity - Bokkelux ) lenses have compared to APO HyperPrimes.
Click to expand...

The NiSi lenses are very well made and have a nice housing.
However the breath more then i can accept in a cinema lens.
Also they aren’t very dimensional, kinda flat.
Focus fall off and bokeh is nice.

The APOs are much nicer in my opinion.

Tried them both during NAB the last two days.

My opinion after looking at several sets of
lenses is the Tokina Vistas are king!!
 
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