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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

Out of curiousity I checked the 25mm APO Hyperprime and 25mm APO Microprime specs on SLR Magic's site and it seems there are at least some differences in lens construction and amount of diaphgram blades. Also the Microprimes cover a slightly larger image circle?

http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+HyperPrime+CINE+APO25PL
http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+MicroPrime+CINE+APO25EF

Same discrepency with the 32, and the APO has a shorter MFD
http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+MicroPrime+CINE+APO32EF
http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+HyperPrime+CINE+APO32PL

Build looks nicer on the Hyperprime, as well as having that PL or EF choice.
 
Ericsson San Pablo Chu said:
Out of curiousity I checked the 25mm APO Hyperprime and 25mm APO Microprime specs on SLR Magic's site and it seems there are at least some differences in lens construction and amount of diaphgram blades. Also the Microprimes cover a slightly larger image circle?

http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+HyperPrime+CINE+APO25PL
http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+MicroPrime+CINE+APO25EF

Same discrepency with the 32, and the APO has a shorter MFD
http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+MicroPrime+CINE+APO32EF
http://www.slrmagic.info/product/APO+HyperPrime+CINE+APO32PL

Build looks nicer on the Hyperprime, as well as having that PL or EF choice.
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Well unless those pages have inaccurate information the optical formula for those are totally different (elements & groups)

cheers
Paul
 
John Brawley said:
Those web pages aren’t made by SLR magic.
They’re made by their UK agents.
JB
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It would be odd to say they're the same and publish utterly different.

Highlights the fact that there is no official source for slrmagic - their dot com site doesn't even have these ones on...

I find it frustrating that you can have such a fantastic designer/fabrication and they just don't get the exposure or marketing to help push them

cheers
Paul
 
Here are some shots I was messing with from a project I shot. No sound or anything ..I just wanted to put some clips together and colour grade them. This was shot on my Pocket 4k with PL to MTF speedbooster for the p4k. The really wide running shots and the wide of him sitting int he tree are with the Tokina Atx 11-20 PL mount lens. Shot with 1/4 hollywood blackmagic diffusion. All natural light in the day shots, not even a bounce. Night shots were lit with a RGB LED (no idea the brand).

https://vimeo.com/376849178/6491dd4dcb
 
So I have the Sigma Cine prime set I just picked up month ago. Love them as a work horse lens set. But they are so clean and sharp for everything. I am interested in a second set for a more stylized look from time to time. I miss my old Nikon AIS primes I used out of necessity of being cheap when out of college. But the focus breathing on them drives me nuts. I have a set of Rokinon and worked with them a bunch over the last few years until I could afford the sigmas and they have a more vintage color but they just feel lifeless. Can't place it but they just seem boring and cheap. Even when I have done side by side test with friends and SALT VV - VistaVision Lens Shootout also felt the same results when looking at the Xeen.

So I am interested in looking into SLR Magic APO MicroPrime Cine that are not all available yet. There whole line up is confusing. But are there some good samples and review yet on these?
 
Alexander Sutton-Hough said:
So I have the Sigma Cine prime set I just picked up month ago. Love them as a work horse lens set. But they are so clean and sharp for everything. I am interested in a second set for a more stylized look from time to time. I miss my old Nikon AIS primes I used out of necessity of being cheap when out of college. But the focus breathing on them drives me nuts. I have a set of Rokinon and worked with them a bunch over the last few years until I could afford the sigmas and they have a more vintage color but they just feel lifeless. Can't place it but they just seem boring and cheap. Even when I have done side by side test with friends and SALT VV - VistaVision Lens Shootout also felt the same results when looking at the Xeen.

So I am interested in looking into SLR Magic APO MicroPrime Cine that are not all available yet. There whole line up is confusing. But are there some good samples and review yet on these?
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Well i spoke with Andrew (the owner) and he said the optics are the same on the Micro APO as the APO hyperprimes.... Just less rotation for focus, smaller lens size, lighter weight and no PL (for now). So it should look similar or the same as these you see here.
 
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Hows the breathing? What are the characteristics of it compared to modern and vintage lenses? So far I get a sense of smoother silkier bokeh, softer and more flare and haze like filters are added.
 
John Brawley said:
The APO Microprimes and the APO lenses are exactly the same optically.

The only difference is the amount of barrel rotation. 300 degrees with the APO and 180 on the Microprimes.

That’s it. And I think they’re also doing them in PL now as well.
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https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=MicroPrime apo&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma

The APO Microprimes seem to only be in EF mount, is PL mount coming later this year? (same price?)


Aaron Lochert said:
My take:

Branding is all over the place. The name Hyperprime is essentially meaningless, when we've got PL mount FF cinema lenses at a "slow" speed with premium (for SLR Magic) APO optics, MFT lenses at a fast speed that aren't very cinema friendly, and one random E mount all using the same name. APO is a type of lens design, so it doesn't make sense to brand a lineup with this if you ever plan on using APO designs for other lenses. It'd be like naming a type of car a V6 because it has that kind of motor in it. Microprime seems to refer the body style at this point, but when the MFT mount lineup has different focal lengths and speeds than the E mount ones, you've already lost people. "Micro" also doesn't mean they're small because they make smaller lenses than these. Micro also doesn't necessarily refer to Micro Four Thirds, so that can be confusing there. And then the APO Microprimes which are like a perfect mashup of the APO Hyperprime optics with the slimmer housings of the Microprimes, you again have a confusing thing because they're to similarly named to the inexpensive E mount ones.

I still feel like the PL ones are the way to go. Adaptable to everything else. Best optics, despite being "slow". But Speedbooster-able or straight adaptable to smaller formats if you need. The new EF mount ones are exciting because of the price, slight weight/bulk savings, and EF is still reasonably accepted everywhere. But PL is still more standard and those are still adaptable to EF if you need.

And finally, as an aside, SLR Magic as a brand name is strange, as they seem pretty focused as a company on cinema applications. And prior to these new EF native options, everything else they've done has been for MFT, E mount, and more recently PL, which don't have a reflex mirror system. Just weird stuff going around as a company. They need some reorganization I think.
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I agree, I own a couple of SLR magic lenses and I've been following the brand for years, yet even I find them confusing and hard to keep track of what they're doing! (and yes, what a weird name! I feel for their new series of PL lenses they should have released them under a new brand name back when they came out. Would've helped their marketing immensely)

If I'm finding it difficult, what hope is there for their average consumer to make sense of it all??
 
John Brawley said:
I think from what I understand talking to Andrew is that the 300 degree rotation makes the manufacturing much more difficult. These days, with modern remote focus units able to "re-map" the distance anyway, 300 degrees is much less of a must have feature.

By making them "only" 180 degrees, which is still a lot more than most stills lenses, They can greatly reduce the manufacturing complexity and the size of the housings.

Andrew told me he can make a few microprimes in the same amount of time it takes them to make a single APO prime.

Same lens optically, same performance. Just less focus rotation. So unless you really really need that 300 degree rotation, the microprimes make a lot more sense and are less expensive for them to build as well. Which is cool considering they are the same optics.

I think of this as a natural evolutionary step, and the only downside isn't something that most people will be hurt by at all.
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180 degrees is also better for people who are shooting without a follow focus and are pulling focus handheld by themselves.

180 degrees is a nice middle ground where you have more fine control than a stills lens, but also you don't need to twist your hand all the way upside down for big focus pulls! Which even if you have super flexible wrists, you can't do if you're also shooting handheld with the camera at the same time


Tommaso Alvisi said:
- to make the new APO Micros with metric markings too
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Yes, include both metric and imperial on the same lens! Then they only need to have one SKU, and if you're traveling/selling your lenses from one country to another, it doesn't matter.

Tommaso Alvisi said:
- to make the PL Mounted version with a "thin throated" mount under 7mm so it can be easily adapted to EF
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Or even better, just make the option to swap the mount out from PL to EF by the user!
 
David Peterson said:
Yes, include both metric and imperial on the same lens! Then they only need to have one SKU, and if you're traveling/selling your lenses from one country to another, it doesn't matter.
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but then the markings would be really small...

maybe offering an optional adhesive or magnetic premarked top sleeve in metric would be the faster option of they don't want to modify their assembly line.

David Peterson said:
Or even better, just make the option to swap the mount out from PL to EF by the user!
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No, the PL to EF adapter and a thin PL mount (under 7-8mm) on the lenses is the best way and they already do that on the HyperPrimes.

1 adapter and you're set and also quick to swap (instantaneous in fact) instead having to buy one kit for each lens and time consuming to do the swap.
 
Not really if using a cam with locking EF mount (mandatory imho) and a quality EF to PL adapter like the C7 full Stainless Steel one...same sturdiness but way more versatile and much quicker.
 
David Peterson said:
Proper adapter kits which swap out the mounts, would be more robust however
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Do you own any of these lenses with the adapter? Its very robust and smart design. Literally takes seconds to change...which can be done in the field as seen here (me doing the swap)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGC34155qXU&feature=youtu.be . I have one for each of my lenses (they come with each lens). As long as you have a locking EF mount everything is fine. Normal EF mount as some play...but that's not a fault of the adapter. That's just EF mount by nature.
 
Alexander Sutton-Hough said:
Hows the breathing? What are the characteristics of it compared to modern and vintage lenses? So far I get a sense of smoother silkier bokeh, softer and more flare and haze like filters are added.
Click to expand...

The APO Hyperprimes have really well-controlled breathing. As for shooting into lights, don't be afraid of them. They flare like Cooke Panchros. If you're used to Zeiss T*, it might shock you, but for most of what I shoot, if I'm shooting into the sun, I want to see some flare.

The big difference for me is the APO bokeh. I have the APO Hyperprime set and the Zeiss CP.2 super speeds, but the CP.2s hardly come out of the case anymore, except the 135mm and 15mm.
 
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