Hello dear PV collagues!
I post here because we are in Barcelona and here we are still waiting to have some Xeen in the city. But we are planning to buy them because of the very good reviews we found on internet, so we wanted to ask here if someone of you has worked with them and can answer us this two questions:
1.- Are optically better than Samyang/Rokinin Cine T1.5? In which way?
2.- What about Xeen versus TOKINA CINE_ATX? (11-16mm T3; 16-28mm T3; 50-135mm T3)
Thanks a lot in advance. Anything you could tell us about Xeen will help us a lot!
Friendly regards from Barcelona.
PR
Global optics brand, Samyang Optics, has announced the release of 2 new lenses: XEEN 14mm T3.1 and 35mm T1.5. These two lenses, along with the existing 24mm T1.5, 50mm T1.5 and 85mm T1.5 lenses, create a perfect balanced five-lens-set for filming video and cinema with the outstanding image quality from resolving power for 4K+ production.
XEEN is a specialized brand in professional video-cine lens launched by Samyang Optics in 2015. The XEEN lenses are designed with Samyang Optics' know-how and have outstanding optical performance for 4K+ with the X-Coating Technology, ensuring maximum image quality to create a cinematic look.
The 24mm x 36mm negative size allows XEEN to not only work with full frame cameras, but also with Super 35, APS-C and APS-H cameras. The lenses are available in five different mounts - PL, EF, F, E, and MFT and two different focus scales - metric and imperial units. Also, the aluminum metal housing is known for its reliability in various shooting conditions.
Most of the XEEN lenses come in a bright T1.5 aperture. The lenses deliver high quality footage with clear contrast and impressive colours, even under less-than-optimal lighting conditions. The large aperture also creates a pleasing bokeh effect for a cinematic look.
“Thanks to the rise of multi-channel networks, the demands for video creation is internationally surging and the expectation of video quality is also increasing,” stated a XEEN official. He continued, “to satisfy the international needs, we have completed the first five lenses which deliver a high-quality cinematic image.” As an answer to the future product plan, he carefully disclosed that two more XEEN lenses will be announced in the second half of the year.
Created to deliver infinite possibilities, XEEN 14mm and 35mm lenses will be globally available in early March.
These lenses feel fantastic, there is no play whatsoever and perfect resistance in both focus and iris movement.
They look great. Too bad it's really out of my budget range.
Prices go even lower
It seems like things are not as bright as planned
Rokinon/Samyang offers $300 instant rebate for one lens and $1.500 instant rebate if you get all three lenses.
Some XEEN disassembling
Samyang Xeen 24mm, 50mm, 85mm
SONY FS7
Tiffen ND 0.9
filmconvert plugin
Kodak LUT
This is quite normal if you manufacture small numbers with massive mechanical demands (probably involving a lot of manual work). Look at the prices for "Hollywood" Zeiss Contax C/Y lens 28mm f2.0 and it's cine counterpart at the time. Optically identical.
On set, you want identical housing for quick swapping of lenses in a setup with FF and matte box, when every minute counts. This applies to a high-value production where five minutes of delay can already cost hundreds (if not more) because of the number of people, including well-paid actors, hanging on waiting for you.
If this scenario doesn't apply, I don't think it makes much of a difference to use Xeens or their video lenses. Maybe – and this is speculation on my part for sure – Samyang is aiming at people from the lower end who want to look professional by using such lenses and are willing to waste money for it, or at people from the higher end who want to own such lenses with cine mechanics and found out that the big brands are not that much superior. Have a look at the discussion at reduser.net where folks found out that the Sony PL lenses of the second version (the first was crappy in mechanics) found out that they were quite a steal when discounted for some time.
Serious comparisons will tell…
If you want sturdy standard sized lenses - you can't.
hmm... you could buy the whole 4 lens 'Cine DS' kit for less than one of these http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1107509-REG/rokinon_cine_ds_lens_for.html
@Vitaliy...obviously they'd have to do something to justify 5x price increase.
It is not "it looks", they are same. Coatings may be better, but it is very minor.
Prices comes from construction quality and also analogs prices.
It looks like the optics in the new lenses are the same as those found in the existing Samyang video oriented lenses but with new Multi-Nano-Coatings to reduce flare and ghosting.
...whoa....that's a stiff markup !
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