Canon L vs Rokinon Cine Glass

So, I currently have a Canon 24-70 f2.8 L and a Canon 10-22 lens for my 7D. I'm thinking this is a pretty good range for the BMCC (I'm hoping one day my back-order may go through). The thing is, I really hate the fact that the 24-70 expands/contracts when you zoom in/out, which makes it a pain with a matte box. I also hate that you can just keep turning the focus ring with no stopping point - making it easy to lose your focus marks. The 10-22 I really love though it has the same focus ring issue.

I was thinking I could sell both and get a full set of Rokinon Cine glass which would be more ergonomic as far as focus pulling and such - with built in focus gears and manual control. For the price, they're obviously much cheaper lenses, though. I'm kinda wondering what some of you might do - would that be a bad move for me as far as image quality with the BMCC?

I should say that also I don't really love the look of the 24-70 either. Not sure why, I moved from Nikon film cameras a while back and I always liked my Nikon glass better. Thanks for any opinions!

NFS and Marco Solario did an article about this before:

http://nofilmschool.com/2012/11/samyang ... ma-camera/

As it turns out the Rokinon glass (at least the 35mm anywhos in this article) is just fine for the BMCC, and some, like me, prefer the way it resolved.

Where they compare the Rokinon 35 to the 35mm L series prime. And to be totally honest, I actually like the color palette and "less sharp" resolution of the Rokinon compared to the L glass. L series glass is amazing for stills, but sometimes TOO SHARP, in my humble opinion, is not the clinical, almost sterile, effect you want on video.

Not to mention that the Rokinon comes with geared focus rings and clickless aperture. It's a great budget lens set for the BMCC. Though, you'll definitely need to get something for the wide end. Like the Tokina 11-16 or Sigma 8-16

What's the intended use? 100% film work?

I'm a firm believer in buying the right tools for the right jobs.

If you are using your 7D primarily for video, then the short comings of the still glass you have will get quite frustrating and may even start effecting your workflow.

Sell your still lenses, invest in some quality film lenses. That's my advise.

sean

PS: I always found Nikon glass to be somewhat warmer than Canon glass. (and Zeiss to be ice cold lol)

NFS and Marco Solario did an article about this before

Thank you for sharing, Innerspark, but just to clarify, NFS was NOT part of the article and merely reformulated what I wrote (I'm not entirely pleased about the situation as it's not the first time they've done this to my works) rather than giving a paragraph blurb and pointing to my article in a clear manner. For the full article with all the high-rez comparison images, please visit the source of the article at my blog:

http://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=774

It is reasons like this (and may more) that I have been reluctant to continue sharing my hard work on the internet.

Thanks!

Hmm, thanks very much for the info. Thanks Marco for the writeup too - very helpful.

I'm seriously considering flipping the switch on this one. The limited photography I do is usually related to my film (working lighting techniques, helping actors with head shots, etc). I can always get a kit lens and leave it on the 7D. My "real" glass is for film work.

I own the exact same lenses you and recently bought a set of Rokinon cinema lenses. I can tell you right now best investment I've ever made! They perform a lot better than the L series and provide a more 'cinematic' feel in post. Obviously once again left up to personal choice, but having used zeiss CP, Ultra's and Master primes, i can say from my personal opinion that they stand up against the CP's quite nicely!

Ok the 35 is fine, but I'm currently looking for an 24mm lens and from what I've heard that one is kinda sucky from Rokinon. You own the 24 L canon Marco, don't you?

...For the full article with all the high-rez comparison images, please visit the source of the article at my blog:

http://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=774

It is reasons like this (and may more) that I have been reluctant to continue sharing my hard work on the internet.

Thanks!

Sad, unfortunately our loss; you've made such a generous and valuable contribution in promoting the BMCC including identifying where it excels and where it can fall short. We all appreciate those efforts you've made on our behalf.

The standards of conduct in the blogosphere are deplorable and the Internet seems to be unconcerned with the originators of content. Wonderful that we all have the ability to post what we want but unfortunate that some bloggers have misused that privilege. I don't have a blog so I feel free to cast the first stone!

Perhaps another alternative to withholding your work, when you find copyright abuses of your material try sending an e-mail to the writer or commenting on the article either requesting all your material be removed or asking the author to prominently post a link to your original material at the beginning of his or her article about it.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

i can say from my personal opinion that they stand up against the CP's quite nicely!

awesome, thanks for the info! i'm pretty sure i'm gonna put up the old glass for sale and pick these up. I've wanted a set of primes instead of zooms anyway so this could work out perfectly.

...For the full article with all the high-rez comparison images, please visit the source of the article at my blog:

http://www.onerivermedia.com/blog/?p=774

It is reasons like this (and may more) that I have been reluctant to continue sharing my hard work on the internet.

Thanks!

Sad, unfortunately our loss; you've made such a generous and valuable contribution in promoting the BMCC including identifying where it excels and where it can fall short. We all appreciate those efforts you've made on our behalf.

The standards of conduct in the blogosphere are deplorable and the Internet seems to be unconcerned with the originators of content. Wonderful that we all have the ability to post what we want but unfortunate that some bloggers have misused that privilege. I don't have a blog so I feel free to cast the first stone!

Perhaps another alternative to withholding your work, when you find copyright abuses of your material try sending an e-mail to the writer or commenting on the article either requesting all your material be removed or asking the author to prominently post a link to your original material at the beginning of his or her article about it.

Rick Lang
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

Thank you for the very kind words, Rick! The good thing is that I'm not stopping from sharing my production experiences with the BMCC entirely, I'm just starting to do it in different, more controlled ways. The things is, I've always loved sharing experiences about my findings in both the technical and creative, especially back when Creative Cow first started in early 2000. The only thing that bothers me about putting my work out there is theft, copyright infringement, and plagiarism.

Back on topic, the Rokinon lenses are quite nice for the BMCC for the most part. I'm not a big fan of the 8mm lens (I prefer the Sigma 8-16 or Canon 8-15 for different reasons), and the 85mm feels a little cheap, but the 35mm and especially the 14mm are very nice. I haven't had a chance to play with the 24mm yet. The 14mm is the closest to a real cine lens that I have felt... extra long focus twist, heavy build, HUGE front glass... it's very nice. And since you're not using the entire image circle, you don't have to worry about edge softness as you normally would on a 5D or the like. If I was on a tight budget and I was starting my lens collection over specifically for the BMCC, I'd take a very serious look at the Rokinons. Now all they need to do is build a 50mm, a 135mm and a couple of constant aperture zooms. They'd rake in the dough.

Hi there,
I´ve just bought the Samyang / Rokinon 24mm cine ft1.5
Very nice lens. This is not a real life test just a couple of quick handheld shots on the way home after the store.
800 ISO T1.5
I had to turn the exposure down half spot in Resolve, at 1600 the screen was brighter than what I could see naked eye.

Shot on the Blackmagic Cinema Camera in RAW 2.5k with the Rokinon 85mm t1.5 Cine Lens.

This lens is truly spectacular for its price and has an extremely smooth focus ring and sharp images... way more than what I was expecting! It really is a fun lens and what I mean by that is that I loved the smoothness of it that much I just wanted to keep doing focus pulls on everything... very simple and quick because of the dial aperture.

Graded in Resolve and edited in FCPX.

I'm thinking about Rokinon (Samyang) 14 mm T3.1, 35 mm T1.5 and 85 mm T1.5, and Sigma 50 mm f/1.4.

This BMCC (EF mount) is mostly going to be used for promotional videos, documentaries about my country (some landscapes, too), about my political party (rough translation of its name: None of The Above), we'll have footage from meetings, announcements, conventions, street actions (performances, flyers etc.), some portraits...

Is this the right choice? Are there any issues with the workflow?

Just shot an entire feature film using the Rokinon cine glass and we were blown away at well they handled.

I've said it once, I'll say it again, I really enjoy using the Rokinon cines on the BMCC! Best part is, they work perfectly on ALL FOUR Blackmagic cameras. The same cannot be said for any electronic aperture lens, or lenses with an image circle smaller than S35 (e.g., MFT lens will not work on BM4K).

@Nopo: I haven't used that specific Sigma 50 f/1.4, but I'm sure it's great. Just realize it will only work with the BMCC EF and BM4K, and not the BMCC MFT or BMPCC (unless you invest almost $2k for the electronic EF-to-MFT adapter made by MTF Services... the cost of the BMCC itself!). I've been at a loss of logic as to why it's taken Rokinon such a long time to release at 50mm cine model. It'll sell like crazy.

I've said it once, I'll say it again, I really enjoy using the Rokinon cines on the BMCC! Best part is, they work perfectly on ALL FOUR Blackmagic cameras. The same cannot be said for any electronic aperture lens, or lenses with an image circle smaller than S35 (e.g., MFT lens will not work on BM4K).

@Nopo: I haven't used that specific Sigma 50 f/1.4, but I'm sure it's great. Just realize it will only work with the BMCC EF and BM4K, and not the BMCC MFT or BMPCC (unless you invest almost $2k for the electronic EF-to-MFT adapter made by MTF Services... the cost of the BMCC itself!). I've been at a loss of logic as to why it's taken Rokinon such a long time to release at 50mm cine model. It'll sell like crazy.

It's the picture quality out of them that blew us away. For the cost they should be a must buy. That 50mm when it's released is going to make the perfect lens set for any indi film makers. Now we just need some zooms from them.

If I had known earlier that I'll buy a BMCC (thanks to the price decrease in august...) I would have bought a set of Rokinon/Samyang Cine lenses for this camera. With the price of the Zeiss ZF.2 25mm 2.8 I could have bought almost 3 lenses

Ok the 35 is fine, but I'm currently looking for an 24mm lens and from what I've heard that one is kinda sucky from Rokinon. You own the 24 L canon Marco, don't you?

The 24 Cine is just fine. I own the 35mm, 24mm, and 14mm

The 35mm is amazing and really sharp wide open. The 24mm is almost just as good but slightly less sharp wide open.. however it gets sharp pretty fast as you close the iris.. the 14mm is really soft wide open and my least favorite in the set.. You could probably find a better alternative than their 14mm..

A friend of mine took the camera, went and tried Rokinon/Samyang 14, 24, 85 (the shop didn't have 35) and Sigma 50. Really good stuff. The only thing I dislike is the fact that we'll have to work differently with cine lenses and this Sigma.

@Nopo: I haven't used that specific Sigma 50 f/1.4, but I'm sure it's great. Just realize it will only work with the BMCC EF and BM4K, and not the BMCC MFT or BMPCC (unless you invest almost $2k for the electronic EF-to-MFT adapter made by MTF Services... the cost of the BMCC itself!). I've been at a loss of logic as to why it's taken Rokinon such a long time to release at 50mm cine model. It'll sell like crazy.

Aforementioned friend and I are sorry Rokinon/Samyang doesn't have 50 mm cine lens, but for other reasons. We're not planing on getting BMPCC, but we are planing on using manual focus and continuous aperture change. And also, plans do change.

It's the picture quality out of them that blew us away. For the cost they should be a must buy. That 50mm when it's released is going to make the perfect lens set for any indi film makers. Now we just need some zooms from them.

Right. Thanks for the info, Michael. Quick (disorganized) test gave a hint, but was not enough for me. It's good to see what you, Marco, Brad and others have to say about these lenses. Altogether, we're definitely going for Rokinon/Samyang... My only problem now is 50 mm... Such a hole!

Interesting topic...

I am looking at the rokinon lenses, especially the 24 and 35. The problem is the Sigma 18-35 has now caught my eye and would give me the focal range of both of the above rokinons at nearly half the price..

Anyone have any recommendations on what I should go for?

Interesting topic...

I am looking at the rokinon lenses, especially the 24 and 35. The problem is the Sigma 18-35 has now caught my eye and would give me the focal range of both of the above rokinons at nearly half the price..

Anyone have any recommendations on what I should go for?

The Sigma does look like a great lens. I think it will leave you wanting something more at the wide angle. 18 is not really very wide unless you're getting the 4k model.

I did sell my Canon glass and get the Rokinons and have not regretted it. But the convenience of a zoom lens is definitely something to consider as well depending on what you are shooting.

I agree that that doesn't cover me for a wide angle.. More so comparing its focal range on its own to that of the too rokinons and knowing which one is the best on terms of picture quality and sharpness..

I agree that that doesn't cover me for a wide angle.

Looking at what we've got with a 14 mm cine lens today, I believe 10 mm would be commonly desirable.