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.