With these lenses, you’ll barely need to swap your glass. For our “Deals of the Week,” we found three cinema zooms you won’t want to miss.
Imagine you’re on set, things are moving fast, and you need to swap to a different focal length. With primes, you’d need to grab your lens kit, remove the lens you have on your camera, then replace it with something else. Maybe you’ll get the right one, maybe you won’t.
With cinema zooms, all you need to do is twist the zoom ring, and you’re done. While they won’t always have fast apertures or be cost-effective as primes, cinema zoom can save you time on set. And like we always say, that’s money in your pocket you can use on other things.
Tokina Cinema 11-16mm T3.0 (PL Mount)
The Cinema 11-16mm T3.0 with PL Mount is a wide-angle zoom lens for APS-C or Super 35-sized sensors and features a PL lens mount. The lens uses the same distortion-free design and optical performance as Tokina’s 11-16mm f/2.8mm DSLR lens and puts it into an all-metal housing optimized for video and digital cinema use. The housing provides manual focus control with an easy-to-read distance scale, and a de-clicked aperture ring for smooth iris pulls. The focus, aperture, and zoom rings all have standard cine-style gears for use with follow-focus systems.
In addition to the new housing, the lens also has been updated with a parfocal design that allows you to maintain focus on your subject while zooming. The Tokina 11-16mm T3.0 utilizes two super-low dispersion and two aspherical lens elements to produce images with high contrast and sharpness, while multilayer coating helps minimize flare and ghosting. Filmmakers will also get some great focal lengths if shooting on Super 16.
Tokina Cine ATX 11-20mm & 25-75mm Zoom Kit (PL Mount)
For more variety, here’s a kit with a pair of zoom lenses to cover 90% of the range you’ll need for any production. the Tokina Cinema ATX 11-20mm T2.9 Wide-Angle Zoom Lens features a super-wide field of view and cine-style design elements. It covers Super 35mm image sensors and is a parfocal lens, holding focus throughout zoom moves. The Cinema ATX 11-20mm maintains a constant T2.9 aperture throughout its zoom range, eliminating the need for exposure compensation as you zoom.
Interchangeable EF, LPL, MFT, Nikon F, and Sony E lens mounts are available separately for swapping with the PL mount, expanding the lens’s compatibility with additional cameras.
In addition, the Tokina 25-75mm T2.9 Cinema Lens sports a 36mm image circle that covers Super 35 and some larger image sensors. Designed to match the Tokina Cinema 50-135mm T2.9 Mk II and 11-20mm T2.9 zoom lenses, the 25-75mm zoom lens features a constant T2.9 maximum aperture, limited focus breathing, and low distortion. With this pair, you’ll have practically all your needs covered if you’re shooting in Super 35.
Venus Optics Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9 Cine Lens (PL Mount)
The Venus Optics Laowa OOOM 25-100mm T2.9 Cine Lens features focus scales marked in feet and has an interchangeable PL lens mount. It is designed to deliver a vintage look in both color rendition and bokeh performance. The lens features a 4x zoom range, and it covers Super35 with a greater than 33mm image circle from 25 to 100mm.
This enables the lens to be used with a wide variety of cameras and sensors, including those that define Super35 with a larger image circle such as the RED MONSTRO in 6K, GEMINI in 5K, and HELIUM in 8K. The lens also covers the ARRI ALEXA Mini in 4K. The lens comes with a PL mount attached, which allows the lens to be used with a variety of digital cinema cameras.
In addition, the PL mount is interchangeable and can be swapped out with the included E and EF mounts, which makes this an incredibly versatile lens that will last you for years as you switch mounts and camera bodies.
Diffusion, Variable ND, and Streak Filters from Moment (Honorable Mention)
Moment has been making some amazing gear for creatives using smartphones, DSLRs, and Mirrorless cameras. Now that you have a lens for your next project, you’ll need a filter to really make get the best image you can.
No lens kit is complete without ND filters. This variable ND filter is available as a 2-5 stop or 6-9 stop, and is necessary for controlling your exposure. Made with premium Schott B270 Pro Cinema Glass, these filters are crisp edge to edge without color fringing or cross-polarization. The filter rings are precision machined from aerospace-grade metal, delivering the durability we expect when shooting.
Moment Variable ND Filters also feature a unique flared geometry, allowing you to see your ND number from behind the viewfinder. This provides fast, precise control over your shots in tricky lighting without moving from behind the camera. Made to shoot on the go, the filters also feature hard stops at both ends of the range to prevent unwanted cross-polarization for the cleanest image possible.
The Moment CineBloom Diffusion Filters are the secret sauce for capturing dreamy, film-like footage. Escape the clinical, ultra-sharp look of digital with this specialty glass. Available in densities of 5%, 10%, and 20%, they not only catch and bloom light but soften hard edges and provide a smoothing effect on skin tones, making wrinkles less noticeable.
The glass itself is made by fusing a microlayer of NanoBlack particulates between two layers of top-grade Japanese filter glass, allowing us to maintain full image quality. The ring of the filter is precision machined from aerospace-grade metal and designed to be thin enough to stack underneath another filter without compromising the field of view. This means you can use an ND or VND on top of it for shooting cinematic frame rates and capturing motion blur.
For faking the anamorphic look, the CineFlare Filters are the next ingredient you’ll need. Available in both blue and gold options, they will help you create eye-catching cinematic looks with the camera and glass of your choice. Made from precision-machined aluminum, the housing is fully rotatable, so you can adjust the flare angle however you like. You can even stack them with a CineBloom Filter for an ultra-dreamy look.
What’s your favorite lens and filter? Let us know in the comments!
