Thanks to Canon i had the opportunity to test out the Canon Cinema Lenses.I had the :
CN-E24mm T1.5 L F
CN-E50mm T1.3 L F
CN-E85mm T1.3 L F
Firstly this is my very first time got my hands dirty with a cinema lens. Still learning bits & pieces here & there, still my intuition to adjust the aperture at the camera body whereas it is actually at the lens DOH! I’m not here to review the lenses but to share what i think are the differences with the EF lenses that i own. I’m the person who doesn’t pixel peep. I usually evaluate by the practicality and image quality of using a gear. My 1st thought opening the box, this lens is HUGE! I would say nearly 3/4 times the width of my 50mm f1.2 L. Holding the lens in my hand makes me shiver of happiness and scariness if I ever drop it, each one costs around RM16,000 – RM18,000.
What is new for me is the Aperture ring situated just after the EF mount, i’ve somehow fell in love with the aperture ring, rotating the ring changes your aperture value and what you can see is a very smooth aperture transition not like we are used to on HDSLR. Another ring on the lens is the focus distance, both the aperture and focus ring has threads so you do not need a focus ring to put on the lens. Finally my CInevate Durus follow focus comes out of my dusty box! I have not used it for a very long time as most of my work needs to be light rig, the Durus is too heavy to put on my run & gun rig. The markings on the lens are neon green color as it glows in the dark for easy focussing. You would also notice that this lens is measured by T-stop instead of F-stop. i’m no technical guy to explain in detail but you can read a simple explanation from this website :
Here I’ve put together a test video for 2 of the lenses. I did not test the 24mm as Hafez had it mounted on his 5DMK2 with Kessler Motorized Head for shooting BTS timelapse. It was actually quite challenging for me running the test, I thought using the available light in our office’s courtyard would give me an all day long natural light, but i forgot about how fast the shadow moves in! Tried my best maintaining the same exposure for the same shot on each lens as the lights was moving very fast. I would say there are 2 tests which i miss focus!sorry about that!
Canon Cinema Lens Test from ShutterSpeak on Vimeo.
After the test,honestly i can’t really see much difference in sharpness in the edited video but i can say the Cinema Lens is much more sharper than the EF lens because i normally turn on peaking on the C300 for focusing, but i didn’t for the cinema lens. There are a few areas like details & textures retained better using the Cine lens, the cine lens has a slight tint of yellow but not really obvious. I love the aperture ring the most, really useful when shooting interviews outdoor and the light suddenly changes, I can just adjust the exposure without the flickering. Would i love to own these? I would love too! I would see it suits for documentary shoots, the image coming out of it is tack sharp. It’s a 4K lens! I’ve been working with EF lenses on tons of TV works, never disappoint me not even once but the Cinema size lens also helps when using mattebox which is a problem for EF lenses as it has different sizes. these 3 lenses has nearly identical width, height & depth. A much detail test should be done but i would just leave it to the pro pixel peepers. Priced at the range of RM16-RM18K, it would take me sometime to own 1 set of these lenses. I would rent it from rental houses for now…
Camera : Canon C300 EF mount
Recorder : Samura Atomos
Lenses : CN-E50mm T1.3 L F & CN-E85mm T1.3 L F, EF 50mm f1.2 L & EF 85mm f1.2 L
Kenko Macro adaptor
Timelapse Camera : 2x Canon EOS 5DMK2, GoPro Hero 2
Lenses : CN-E24mm T1.5 L F , EF 17-40mm f4 L
Kessler Motorized Head
BTS Photos : Canon EOS 7D
Lenses : EF 24-70mm f2.8 L