Rokinon cine 35mm or 85mm T1.5?

hi friends im looking to make a quick decision on which of the two rokinon cine lenses to get for my production camera 4k for shooting music videos, interviews (with my Blackmagic Studio Camera) and things alike. at first i was going to get the 85mm cine but got a budget increase and decided to go for the 35mm cine instead as i have a 70-200mm canon L lens. on getting to B&H website, one of the first things i saw on the comment box for the most liked negative comment from an unhappy user:

"Disappointingly poor image quality
I used this lens on a BlackMagic Production Camera 4K. Reviewing the footage at the end of a day of shooting, I noticed that some shots suffered from ghosting around objects' edges and an overall lack of sharpness.These were the shots acquired with the Rokinon lens. The Rokinon produced wholly unacceptable results, which compromised the entire production. Shots acquired with Canon still lenses looked outstanding overall and even more so in comparison to the Rokinon's.We were shooting with the lens at 5.6 or wider, to create the depth of field we wanted. I've attached a screen grab of the results with the lens wide open (or nearly so).I would buy the Canon 35mm still lens and use a focusing-ring adapter before I'd ever use this Rokinon again."

And saw this from an obviously impressed user down the box


"I'm happy with this lens!
Bought this lens for canon 7d and BMPC 4k and I'm loving the images I'm getting. B&H as always the best products, fast shipping and everything"

After reading all these i got confused because both users use the BMPC4K and have different opinions of the lens. i'm now wondering what the 35mm cine quality looks like and should i get it over the 85mm cine

Any advice from people who use this lens (especially you Frank Glencairn if you are reading this because i know you are a fan of the samyang/rokinon lens) would be highly appreciated.

Thanks

We compared samyang vdslr 35mm to zeiss zf 2.0, and at about 2.8 they're pretty similar, nice and sharp. Samyang has very well controlled chroma aberration. 1.4 on samyang is blurry, though - I'd avoid shooting it wide open. The lens feels solid and heavy, more like cinema lens.

The 85mm from samyang I tried I didn't like at all - general lack of sharpness' even stepped down. However, I've been told that the quality of samyang glass varies very much from lens to lens due to quality control. It was the standard version without focus gears.

Hope that helps.

35mm rokinon worked perfectly fine on my 4k. Wish there was some great details i could go into but the lens is just as reliable as it was on my 550d. Amazing quality for the price.

Thanks for your replies and i must also apologize as i meant the 35mm cine T1.5 and 85mm cine T1.5. just realized after i saw your replies and knew i messed up so i have made the corrections in the original post.

Please advice me on these lenses

Thanks again

We compared samyang vdslr 35mm to zeiss zf 2.0, and at about 2.8 they're pretty similar, nice and sharp. Samyang has very well controlled chroma aberration. 1.4 on samyang is blurry, though - I'd avoid shooting it wide open. The lens feels solid and heavy, more like cinema lens.

The 85mm from samyang I tried I didn't like at all - general lack of sharpness' even stepped down. However, I've been told that the quality of samyang glass varies very much from lens to lens due to quality control. It was the standard version without focus gears.

Hope that helps.

Thanks for your reply... just want to confirm is you are talking about the 35mm cine T1.5 as this is what i was supposed to type out but forgot all about the cine part... just made the correction in the main post

Yes, they often call the cine lenses "vdslr".

Yes, they often call the cine lenses "vdslr".

ok cool .. so you love the 35mm cine over the 85mm cine... im starting to consider that now you have told me about it...

so finally is it a yes or a no for you ?

what ever you say now .. i will follow

Chris, if you already have 70-200mm covered, you need something closer to a normal angle of view. Either 24mm for a short normal or 35mm for a long normal on the BMCK4K. Of those two ciné VDSLR lenses (24 or 35mm), 35mm seems to get the better reviews.

And before you buy the 85mm, you might consider the new Samyang/Rokinon 50mm VDSLR2 lens in the future. The VDSLR2 lenses will all have their gears in the same position and I think perhaps also the same length overall so easy to manage lens changes without adjusting a follow focus and matte box.


Rick Lang
Sent using Tapatalk HD

Yes, they often call the cine lenses "vdslr".

ok cool .. so you love the 35mm cine over the 85mm cine... im starting to consider that now you have told me about it...

so finally is it a yes or a no for you ?

what ever you say now .. i will follow

I can recommend 35 1.4 but I'd advise to stay away from their 85mm.

I've gotten "ghosting" with Canon L glass, so don't be bothered by that review. He should have monitored what he was shooting.

I have both the Rokinon 35 and 85. The 35 is the best of the two and a truly wonderful lens, almost magical lens. The 85 is still quite good and I use it a lot too, but it's not quite as great as the 35. I'm sure there are variances between copies that could make one fantastic and the other just ok. I'm going through quite a battle with the SLR Magic 10mm. They've sent me two lenses so far and they both have issues. One had good close focus and clarity, but did not focus to infinity and the other focused to infinity, but had mediocre close focus clarity. I think what you pay for the most with expensive glass is quality control and consistency.

I have the 35 and 16mm lens drom Rokinon. 35 is the best lens from them by my taste. Yes in T1.5 it is blurry and ghostly but not more than any other lens at 1.5. At 2.0 you have very good results. At 2.8 it really shines! You can took the comparision here:

http://www.the-digital-picture.com/Revi ... &APIComp=0

The most disadvantage of this lens is another placement of focus ring in the VDSLR range. But Duclos has fixed it in their Cine DS series:



http://www.ducloslenses.com/collections/rokinon-primes

Thanks for all your replies ... much appreciated ... i have made up my mind to go for the rokinon 35mm cine T1.5 DS... thanks for the advices...

Chris, if you already have 70-200mm covered, you need something closer to a normal angle of view. Either 24mm for a short normal or 35mm for a long normal on the BMCK4K. Of those two ciné VDSLR lenses (24 or 35mm), 35mm seems to get the better reviews.

And before you buy the 85mm, you might consider the new Samyang/Rokinon 50mm VDSLR2 lens in the future. The VDSLR2 lenses will all have their gears in the same position and I think perhaps also the same length overall so easy to manage lens changes without adjusting a follow focus and matte box.


Rick Lang
Sent using Tapatalk HD

Thanks for your reply Rick.. yeah i saw that as well but then i saw the latest version of the 35mm cine which is now rokinon 35mm cine T1.5 DS for EF.. so i had a chat with a B&H professional and i was told it was an improved version of the previous 35mm cine T1.5 so i decided to go for the improved one.

I've gotten "ghosting" with Canon L glass, so don't be bothered by that review. He should have monitored what he was shooting.

ha .. thanks for the advice. i will not be

Yes, they often call the cine lenses "vdslr".

ok cool .. so you love the 35mm cine over the 85mm cine... im starting to consider that now you have told me about it...

so finally is it a yes or a no for you ?

what ever you say now .. i will follow

I can recommend 35 1.4 but I'd advise to stay away from their 85mm.

ok got you.. thanks i have made my choice...

I own the complete set of Rokinon Cine's, and couldn't be happier with them, including the 85mm.

The 85mm is actually one of my favorite lenses in the set, but it's more of a situational lens for me, the 35mm definitely gets more use.

I've gotten "ghosting" with Canon L glass, so don't be bothered by that review. He should have monitored what he was shooting.

I DID monitor what I was shooting. How exactly does monitoring cause ghosting to go away? Other shots I acquired under the exact same conditions with even non-L Canon lenses at similar apertures obliterated those from the Rokinon.

This lens is garbage, which you can see not only from the image I posted, but even the casual posts from other reviewers on B&H who liked the lens. For example, the guy with the guitar. Look at the ghosting along the neck of the guitar. I suppose he should have monitored the defects away too.

If you have to stop the lens down to F8 to get acceptable quality, why are you shooting on a large-format camera in the first place?

The problem with product reviews is that they tend to uncritically cheerlead for products that cost the purchasers what is often (to them) a significant amount of money. To admit the product's flaws would introduce uncomfortable cognitive dissonance. Believe me, I wanted to like this lens, because there is no competing cine lens for anywhere near the price, and using still lenses is a pain in the ass. But the product sucks. If posting a coherent review with imagery to support it isn't enough to overcome some people's wishful thinking, so be it. But blaming the messenger is just a tired and weak answer.