Hi, Carl here for ProAV TV and today we are
taking a look at two of Sigmas new line of
Cinema lenses. These are the 18-35mm T2 and
50-100mm T2, the cinema versions of their
popular stills lenses which i’m sure most
of you are familiar with.
In my opinion these two particular lenses
stand apart a bit from the rest of sigmas
cinema range. The other lenses are all full
frame, a series of primes and one full frame
zoom. These two lenses only cover a super35mm
sensor, just like the still lens versions.
But means you get a longer focal length than
the full frame zooms, and that fantastically
wide max aperture of T2. Having T2 zoom lenses
at this level is unheard of. We have had several
advancements in the low end cinema zoom world
recently, with Fujinons 18-55mm and Canons
18-80mm and more. But none of these lenses
have managed to get down to T2. This means
you can let in far more light, and of course
get a shallower depth of field. So its the
T2 max aperture that really makes these lenses
special.
Now that wide aperture does come with a trade
off. My first impressions are that these are
quite heavy lenses. The 18-35 weighs around
a kilo and a half, and the 50-100 comes in
at 1.8kg. This isn't really that heavy in
the world of cinema zooms. PL mount lenses
like Canons CN7 and Fujinons Cabrio line up
often weigh nearly 3 kilograms so if you come
from that world, the Sigmas will be very light.
However, if your used to using stills lenses,
these are going to feel quite heavy and substantial.
They do however feel fantastically solid and
robust. These should be real workhorse lenses.
The lenses are clearly marked on both sides
to make life easy for assistants. They have
a nice 180 degree focus throw which I found
very easy to pull focus with when I used them
on the URSA Mini Pro video, even though I
was doing it by hand with no follow focus.
I was surprised to find that the zoom ring
also has a 180 degree throw as well. Which
means it takes longer to zoom, but that you
can be quite accurate with your focal lengths.
So for narrative work, particularly visual
effects when things like that are quite closely
monitored, that could be a nice touch.
So lets take a look at how they perform optically.
Both lenses seem very sharp, even wide open
at T2. It looks like there is some slight
vignetting on both lenses when wide open,
but nothing too serious.
Now we move onto Focus Breathing, and this
is where we can really see the difference
between the two lenses. The 18-35mm has very
little focus breathing, both at 18 and at
35mm. Unfortunately the same cant be said
for the 50-100mm. As you can see here, this
lens does breath quite noticeably, particularly
at the wider 50mm end. This is a shame and
is the main flaw with this lens in my opinion.
Its certainly not a deal breaker, this lens
still has lots going for it. But it is something
you will need to be aware of when using it.
A lot has also been said online about whether
or not these lenses are par-focal. And general
consensus is that technically they are not
guaranteed to be par-focal. As you can see
here though they basically are, so I would
treat these as if they are parfocal lenses.
They are close enough for me.
These are lovely lenses, theres no doubt about
that. I really did enjoy using them and I
was very pleased with the results. They are
not perfect, but then what product is? At
the end of the day, these are affordable cinema
zooms with a T2 aperture, and we have to keep
that in mind. They are basically the only
option you have if you need fast cinema zooms
on a budget. So for that reason, I think these
will be very popular lenses.
What do you think of the sigma cine zooms?
Let me know in the comments section, and i’ll
see you in the next video.
