Forcing An Issue.
My full frame cine lens journey has been one of luck and excitement, the MFT one though has felt forced and less blessed.
I am hoping that will change soon.
The 35 and 50 Spectrums were a dead-set bargain at less than half price, the IRIX also on clearance gave me a lens that I would not have otherwise even looked at.
I needed a MFT lens to make the format cine relevant so I went with the Sirui 24 and it is fine, but did not feel like the hefty Spectrums, so it left me feeling a little under done. AF seems to be the logical direction with MFT, the G9.2 to be specific and the Sirui has been floating around for a while looking for a B-cam job (which it has done).
To make things better or possibly worse, I bought the Vision series 12mm as a cine-wide angle, because at the time (pre 14mm Spectrum), it was the only option and it gave all three cams a matching cine lens at once.
The lens came at a reasonable $400au (about what I paid for the two Spectrum lenses together). I got that 7Art heft and it felt good. I mounted it on a G9 and noticed the mount was quite loose. Tried another, same deal, maybe a little less and when removed it caught slightly like some lens adapters.
I toyed with returning it, but it did not seem to effect the lenses optics or functioning such as they are, so I decided it was a reasonable compromise buy in a possibly poorly planned direction and in a little bit of a funk I cut it a hole in my cine lens case and moved on.
Buying two Hope series lenses, I decided to give it another go, maybe tighten the mount, maybe shim it and also really test it properly to see if it is the all-purpose wide angle I need in a serious MFT kit. I am suspicious that it is incorrectly attached, so I might fiddle.
The Hope series has a 10mm, that is too wide for my needs and is the only lens in the range that gets some mixed reviews (seems it is not as fast as it says it is).
The Vision series are a mixed bunch. Some are stable lenses (35), some have “character” in abundance (25 and 50). The 12mm seemed to be more like the Spectrums, reliable, stable and well corrected like the 35. The light above is late evening and warm overhead, so no colour cast at play. Close focus is meant to be excellent.
Sharp, little CA and at 7cm’s it is to do those creative close-expansive shots. It seems to be very easy to focus and focussing does not make the mount rock, even on the loosest camera mount, only the tighter aperture ring does a little.
The edges above are interesting, but not unpleasant.
Really nice wide open at T2.9.
Sharp centre, smooth background, but a little distortion.
Nice colour, muted and gentle like a cine lens should be.
Lovely sun stars stopped down. The edges are now pretty good as well.
Same T-stop (T5.6) and close focus with all the effects. Well controlled, good contrast in a difficult situation and decent flare. Overall very exciting results. I like a lens you can push, that does not fall apart and behave erratically when you do.
So, a good lens, maybe even a superior budget cine lens, much like the Spectrum or even Hope lenses. A keeper and enough I feel in this space. I may still add the Hope 16mm to the set as there is a big hole to fit it in, but maybe not.
If I get another lens it may even be the 35 T1.05 Vision.