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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

Thanks for that update, Kyle. It seems like all 25mms have this issue. Pretty bummed because I was about to drive to Canada tomorrow to sell my lenses but now it seems I have to wait to send them in because it looks like their warranty does not transfer when sold. Wonder how long all this will take to resolve. Be sweet if they can fix the green tint while they're at it!
 
Kyle R Lancaster said:
Hi All, thought I'd give an update

Lens mount and rail flex are absolutely not causing the issue. I am using PL mount, no adapters, cranked down very firmly: the mount is rock solid. Using Nucleus-M wireless focus, so there are no forces being introduced from me hand twisting or pushing. Rods are thick stainless steel mated to a baseplate/cage that has two 3/8” screws to prevent any twist. There is no observable flex in either the lens housing or the rail

Dain from Hot Rod has been hugely responsive and helpful. He has involved their founder Illya, and they are interfacing with SLR Magic. I stopped by Hot Rod Cameras in Burbank yesterday and they inspected the setup to ensure it wasn't an obvious mistake on my part. Sure is nice to have that customer service, glad I didn't purchase through B&H

Also a quick note that made me feel better about the whole situation. Dain has experience renting many lenses and told me no lens is immune to QC issues. Lenses costing 20x more than the Hyperprimes can suffer from worse problems and reliability. He's been at rental houses that had to overhaul lenses after every rental, with those sets costing upwards of tens if not hundreds of thousands of dollars. Cine lens mechanics haven't changed all that much in the last decade, so I doubt it's a radical design that SLR Magic decided to implement that is failing

Let's hope that this issue can be fixed with a minor design or material change. I love the image from these lenses and would be thrilled to see them solve this
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Kyle, that's some great service from hotrod, nice to sanity check things.

I guess a question that we're all wondering is whether this is a QA issue for a small set of lenses or whether this is a design thing that affects all of them. We can only do that by comparing the results of each others. If you look at my video, do you see the same 'feeling' or do you think it looks different to you?

All the wireless ones do torque the lenses quite a bit though, electronic motors can apply instant on and i don't know whether the tilta can feather the speed. I'm using a PD Movie Air and have some control over the torque strength which really did make a difference. A small amount can magnify when looking through a lens. Can you try other lenses?

Shannon - you'll not change the green tint, that's just how the glass is put together and in fact i suspect it's one of the reasons that the lenses look so good. It's easy to handle though.

cheers
Paul
 
darren scott said:
My thing is this... Trying to rationalize it is futile as the 85mm shows no signs of this. That is how all the lenses should be. So whatever they did there, they need to do it with the others. They are beautiful lenses so I hope it's resolved.
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So looking at my videos do you see the same? I'm not sure, they're fine to me. So is this a QA issue perhaps?

Sorry to bang on about torque on so on, just that i'd seen it so many times on many lenses. I had an older FF on a FS700 and every lens on that from Leica, Contax, Zeiss, Sony all did it - because of the mount, not the lens. To my eye the resulting wobble looks the same.

I don't know whether focus in these is via helicoid or cam. And i asked the question to help narrow down - does the bump and move happen only at the extremes of focus (same focus position) or whenever the focus direction changes? That would help eliminate a physical point in the cam/helicoid vs a general force issue?

cheers
Paul
 
paulcurtis said:
So looking at my videos do you see the same? I'm not sure, they're fine to me. So is this a QA issue perhaps?

Sorry to bang on about torque on so on, just that i'd seen it so many times on many lenses. I had an older FF on a FS700 and every lens on that from Leica, Contax, Zeiss, Sony all did it - because of the mount, not the lens. To my eye the resulting wobble looks the same.

I don't know whether focus in these is via helicoid or cam. And i asked the question to help narrow down - does the bump and move happen only at the extremes of focus (same focus position) or whenever the focus direction changes? That would help eliminate a physical point in the cam/helicoid vs a general force issue?

cheers
Paul
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That wasn't directed at you Paul or anyone really. I've seen the same lens shift with alot of lenses especially older vintage. But these were all dslr/slr lenses. But PL mount, cinema lenses should not show this. This is a big reason I got PL mount because I was sick of lens shifting on dslr lenses. Of course its less here (except the 25mm which actually looks like an old vintage). But there may be 2 things happening here...the lens shift when the focus direction changes and that weird movement throughout the focus range on some of the lenses.
 
Here is some video of the setup. You can see the motor moving a bit, but it doesn’t appear to be because of motor torquing off the gears or a loose rod. The threads themselves bulge in and out of the housing as they spin, and that is causing the motor to move away from the lens. This is apparent in the other angles in the video if you watch the surface of the threads. (sorry for the stylized color, forgot to change my fuji out of film emulation)

 
Kyle R Lancaster said:
The threads themselves bulge in and out of the housing as they spin, and that is causing the motor to move away from the lens.
Click to expand...

And there's your problem. That isn't right. Mine doesn't do that. I originally looked at that and assumed it was the housing moving forward and back then i remembered these don't do that. I just looked at mine and moved the focus ring and they don't appear to do that. If you just move the ring manually can you see them do the same?

I suspect there are two issues here.

One is that your lens doesn't look right and there's an actual defect. The other is that some people haven't locked down their motors as well as they need to. I can see the rod flex on the last shot of yours and if you were on an EF mount for example i think that *would* move the lens and and down. Looking at the rest of your shots i think the PL is doing it's job (you could pop a clamp onto the end of your rods for a bit extra. However in your case i think the ring is visibly not centred. It's a bit difficult to tell at that speed because motion blur is obscuring.

If you were to focus on the ring and move slowly through the range then it would be a simple case of seeing it dip in and out then?

cheers
Paul
 
paulcurtis said:
Shannon - you'll not change the green tint, that's just how the glass is put together and in fact i suspect it's one of the reasons that the lenses look so good. It's easy to handle though.

cheers
Paul
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Paul, I was addressing the specific problem the 25mm has with the noticeable green tint because we have all agreed it is much more green than the other lenses. I thought maybe it could be something off with the coating but if it is in the glass itself I guess we won't fix it.

I see a distinct focus issue is everyones lens tests that shows a problem with the certain focal lengths. I'll try to test mine soon and report back. Just because the focus issues have differences doesn't mean that a faulty part inside the lens could be slightly off in different ways. I might not know lens mechanics very well but that makes sense to me.

We all spent decent money on these lenses, so I just want to have confidence in having a lens perform as it should when buying new. Not to say they aren't lovely lenses but I already can attest to this issue wasting time and missing a sales opportunity. (Couldn't risk selling a faulty lens with all of this new evidence and my buyer would not get my warranty.)

Anyone have updates from SLR Magic?
 
Hot Rod isn't receiving the response I'd hoped for from SLR Magic. From what I understand SLRM thinks it is misuse/operator error, or damage caused by focus motors. I don't think they've inspected any of the flawed lenses to reach this conclusion

Is anyone experiencing this focus shift without ever having used motors on their lens?

I noticed the issue on my latest 32mm replacement before I even put motors on (although Hot Rod may have tested with a motor before shipping to me). Either way, if these lenses cannot stand up to use with a focus motor then they have no business calling them CINE, especially when said motor is a Nucleus-M on lowest torque setting. Hot Rod said they will see SLRM around NAB and will have a stern chat with them, but as of right now SLRM just offered to send me another replacement

I am deeply disappointed by SLR Magic's stance. I love their optics but unsure if I will keep these lenses due to this QC and/or design flaw. It's a shame because I was eyeing their anamorphics and their fuji x-mount sets as well.

What do you guys think?
 
Kyle R Lancaster said:
What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

That movement of the focus ring in and out is clearly wrong. Are you able to shoot a slow version of it focusing on that ring, as something that can be sent to SLR Magic? It's like something is offset internally, and that could well explain the focus movement as well and even without examining the lenses it just looks incorrect.

You've had two lenses? And both do the same thing, that alone is odd, are you sure you didn't get the first lens back again?

Have you tried speaking to them direct and explain that your use is not unusual. I know plenty of us on here are all running FF on these.

cheers
Paul
 
Kyle R Lancaster said:
Hot Rod isn't receiving the response I'd hoped for from SLR Magic. From what I understand SLRM thinks it is misuse/operator error, or damage caused by focus motors. I don't think they've inspected any of the flawed lenses to reach this conclusion

Is anyone experiencing this focus shift without ever having used motors on their lens?

I noticed the issue on my latest 32mm replacement before I even put motors on (although Hot Rod may have tested with a motor before shipping to me). Either way, if these lenses cannot stand up to use with a focus motor then they have no business calling them CINE, especially when said motor is a Nucleus-M on lowest torque setting. Hot Rod said they will see SLRM around NAB and will have a stern chat with them, but as of right now SLRM just offered to send me another replacement

I am deeply disappointed by SLR Magic's stance. I love their optics but unsure if I will keep these lenses due to this QC and/or design flaw. It's a shame because I was eyeing their anamorphics and their fuji x-mount sets as well.

What do you guys think?
Click to expand...

Yah this is basically what they are saying. And I agree with your mindset. I also told them my lenses have been very well taken care of and if it is a case that these lesnes have to be pampered then something is wrong . Misuse with a focus motor? Um...no. Remote follow focuses are usually dead simple to operate...especially mine which is the dji focus. Aint no misuse here. They want me to send the lens/lenses to them for them to inspect it. I'm in the middle of shooting a series with them and I can't do that...also that is a huge pain in the ass. Im gonna be speaking with them more on the matter but I agree that if they cannot handle remote FF then that's weird. They are beautiful lenses optically IMO and I really like them. They tick alot of boxes for me....but yeh this could be a potential prob. We'll see. Your latest lens is very noticeable Kyle and that is a huge problem.
 
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that's great to hear. I also know that Hot Rod Cameras in Burbank is co-hosting a pre-NAB event with SLR Magic and Illya the founder was going to have a discussion with them about these lenses

Darren, did they elaborate on what 'resolve any issues' means? Replacement? Repair? Redesign?
 
Kyle R Lancaster said:
that's great to hear. I also know that Hot Rod Cameras in Burbank is co-hosting a pre-NAB event with SLR Magic and Illya the founder was going to have a discussion with them about these lenses

Darren, did they elaborate on what 'resolve any issues' means? Replacement? Repair? Redesign?
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It will be Replacement or Repair. They didn't specify which route they would take as yet. Clinton (the person I spoke with) is also meeting Andrew and Illya soon, as you know NAB is soon so alot is going on. He did say they will be dealing with this case by case and looking more deeply into the issue. It was good to actually speak with someone and someone who's first language is English so there are no miscommunications. He restored my faith in SLRmagic's dedication to their customers and product. So I'll wait and see and give them a bit of time as they sort things. It's not like I cant shoot on the lenses at the moment...I just needed reassurances that this would be taken care of.
 
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Hey guys,

I recall reading somewhere the 50mm hyperprime had a slightly different focus ring position by about 2mm to the other lenses. Was wondering if anyone with the set could confirm this, and how much of a difference it is, and what direction if so? (I've got an underwater housing lens port for the 50 and hoping to use the others without having to make a new port)
 
Steve Wall said:
Hey guys,

I recall reading somewhere the 50mm hyperprime had a slightly different focus ring position by about 2mm to the other lenses. Was wondering if anyone with the set could confirm this, and how much of a difference it is, and what direction if so? (I've got an underwater housing lens port for the 50 and hoping to use the others without having to make a new port)
Click to expand...

I've not had to adjust anything. I think it's slightly not. In the same place but not enough to have to change my follow focus.
 
Hi Guys,

new Musicvideo i shot with the SLR Magic APOs. Mostly 32mm and 50mm and some shots with the 25mm.
It was just me and the Director, so no fancy big production.

Camera was a RED Gemini with a KipperTie Pearl1 olpf.
Grading is not the best because there was no budget so i tried my best :)

 
Marcus Gelhard said:
Hi Guys,

new Musicvideo i shot with the SLR Magic APOs. Mostly 32mm and 50mm and some shots with the 25mm.
It was just me and the Director, so no fancy big production.

Camera was a RED Gemini with a KipperTie Pearl1 olpf.
Grading is not the best because there was no budget so i tried my best :)

Click to expand...

First of all I think you should stop with the disclaimers. 2ndly this looks damn good to me (hence drop the disclaimers).

I really like everything about this. I'm assuming that kipper tie olpf is some sort of diffusion? (I'm sorry I'm not familiar) Anyway the grading looks great the lenses look great the handheld is great, the lighting looks great. Thanks for sharing. Kudos to you and the director.

No 4k version?
 
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Thanks @Darren

i made a 4 Version but the artist uploaded the more compressed 1080p version and on youtube you can't change the file afterwords. But i have the 4k version now here https://vimeo.com/330188177
btw, haze was made with a pocket hazer, this one: https://www.looksolutions.com/news/83/128/TINY-S/d,produkte.html
It's not made for this but it works in mediumsize rooms.
And yes the kippertie is an diffusion olpf. You change it with the standart olpf from red. But i've also added a bit of glow in the grade.



@Ericsson
it's all without an easyrig. I have a two handle setup with the right handle being the titla handle to control the wireless followfocus with my right finger.
If you want i can post some photos of my setup.


best regards
Marcus
 
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