$4000 vs $500 Cinema Lens Shootout: Rokinon Cine DS vs Canon CN-E

A $4,000 Canon cinema lens versus a $350  Rokinon cinema lens. Let's put 'em head to head. All right cinema prime lenses are one of  those things that if you are a videographer   you eventually are going to come into and then  desperately desperately want to find a way to   start incorporating these more and more into  your projects I know a lot of you out there   have RF and EF L glass for Canons or you have  some really great Sony lenses uh Leicas whatever   like that but the thing is all these all those  lenses are primarily designed principally for   photography and they just happen to be able to get  some really good video and I'll be honest they're   great the auto focus is great the sharpness is  great but sometimes you're going to want to get   a cinema lens look on your project and when it  comes down to it the lens is so so critical in the   look and feel of your project now cinema lenses  let's start this off by saying all right all right   there's a subjective component to cinema lenses  they are beautiful the quality is superb but   cinema lenses all have a very unique personality  and language and flavor, and every lens Zeiss CP3s   are different than Canons and ARRI Signature  Primes have a very very distinctive look   than Cooks all of these little paint brushes  of light that you use really come through in a   cinema lens and so I think it's important for you  as a filmmaker to start looking at cinema lenses   now this is one of my all-time favorite cinema  primes and this is the Canon CN-E EF mount line   of primes now this is a 24 and you can kind of  look at it here I'll I’ll put it up right here   you can see just how well marked and thought out  and ergonomically balanced that thing is the gears   all turned super smooth uh very very easy to focus  pull on this just a beautiful, beautiful lens. Love   the quality, love the characteristics, just love  the subjective vibe of it. The problem you run into   with this lens is that it's very expensive this  is a $4,000 lens so if I wanted to get a six lens   set of these the 14mm the 24mm the 35mm the 85mm  and the 135mm that's going to cost me over $20,000   and so not every production I have justifies that  kind of expense but I still wanted to get that   kind of cinema prime look sometimes even on some  of my smaller budgets and that's when I discovered   the Rokinon cinema primes I have a 24, 35, and  85 uh of this and a 50 and I've really been   using these for the last couple years and I'll be  honest these things are $350 they are dirt cheap   but I really really like the look of them  um and just to give you kind of a reference   the six of these cost me over twenty grand I can  get six of these lenses for less than $2,250   at least on B&H right now so the prices on these  things I mean this thing is literally 1/10   of the cost of this and my question was how do  they compare head to head oh hey and one more   note about this the way I'm testing this is I  kind of see this almost every lens out there   looks great at f8 I mean even even a $50 lens  looks pretty good at f8 where I really see   you test the lens and push it is when you  open it wide out both of these lenses are   T/1.5 so I'm going to be doing these tests  at their maximum aperture because in theory   that is really where you should start to see  the money difference between these two lenses so   let's jump out there get some  tests and compare these puppies   face to face head to head all right let's go. Okay  so here we are and right off the bat you know   I put these two images right here I'm starting  off the Canon CN-E 24 versus the Rokinon Cine DS 24 Once again these are all gonna be at T/1.5  just to really push these lenses to their   breaking point I guess and the first thing you  can notice right here is that both images look   really nice. You know there's not like a  huge difference between these two lenses now   two things strike me right away as I look at this  the first is the bokeh and if you look here the   Canon does have this really beautiful circular  bokeh at 24/1.5 and the Rokinon has a sort of uh   it's a little more football shaped I think that's  just from the shape of the blades in the iris   so the bokeh still works it's kind of  nice it's kind of like almost a pseudo   anamorphic thing going on here which is kind of  interesting but it is different you definitely   see that difference the other thing that I do  notice between the Rokinon and the Canon just from   the start is that it looks like the Canons let in  just a little more light it's a little bit just a   hair brighter maybe about a quarter stop brighter  and you'll also notice the contrast difference   between these two lenses now both of these are  really good contrast but I just still if you look   here in the shadow side of Han Solo's face it just  looks like there's a little smoother uh little   less contrast over here versus over here now when  I zoom in what I find is really interesting if I   come over here to the Canon you know you can see  that really nice smooth bokeh and the shadows fall   off really really nice and what's good about this  this is why you want to go for a cinema lens on a   digital camera it's this creaminess that you get  it's still a digital lens or it's still a digital   sensor but the cinema lens kind of creams it out  and takes some of that harder digital look off that   now if I come over with the Rokinon I thought  the Rokinon does a really good job with it too.   You can really see it's still smooth and creamy  maybe just a tad softer than the Canon but they   both do really really good job and also if you  look here in the bokeh you will see uh just a   little bit more of a kind of a a pattern here  in the bokeh whereas the Canon while it has it   is just a little bit creamier now if I jump here  to 35 this is what I found to be an interesting change, too. On the 35mm there's actually  a crop difference between the two lenses now   the Rokinon DS actually has a tighter field of  view than the Canon CN-E now between these two   lenses I'm going to trust the Canon uh just  because it's a $4,000 lens versus a $350   lens so it looks like the Rokinon Cine even  though it says is a 35 it actually looks like   it's probably closer to about a 42 or 38 or  something like that I don't know but it looks   a little closer and once again you can see  the Canon lens is just a little bit brighter   you can see the contrast difference and once again  the bokeh um now you still have the round bokeh   here in the Canon but there's just a slight bit of  a shape here but once again in the Rokinons kind   of one of their signature looks here especially  on those wider ones that you do have this   football shaped bokeh here which is nice but if  I come in now at 200% again you can see the Canon   looks beautiful and creamy and then when I come  over here to the Rokinon it looks beautiful and   creamy too it's a little more there's a little  dreamier touch I think to the Rokinon but I think   it holds up really well and even if I come over  here and look at some of these uh marks and these   digits like on the color checker it's still plenty  crisp and sharp uh as it is over here on the   Canon and then when I come to the 85 you'll see  this is interesting too now the 85 actually had   a farther on the Rokinon did not have as short  a focus distance as on the Canon so I pulled   the camera back that's the difference in size  but if you look here both of these cameras have   just really really nice round circular  bokeh that kind of football shape here   is not apparent on the 85 but you do see a light  difference between the two cameras um definitely   the Canon just lets in a little more light than  the Rokinon and when I jump in here the other   thing too just once again look at the contrast  between my filters the contrast is just a little   a little smoother there on the Canon Canon  lenses and you know when I come in here you   can really see once again that kind of smooth  creaminess uh on the Canon you can see the   letters here and this little chart may be a  little bit softer that's just a little bit off   but then when I come over here the Rokinon still  looks really good um really nice bokeh at this   point and look at that I just think that looks  really good too if you compare the two of them I guess I get the edge to Canon but not by much  I think the Canon camera colors are a little bit   warmer but it's just really really close call. Okay,  well still lives are all well and good but at the   end of the day we need to look at these lenses  with people and skin tones I think that's one of   those things that if you're using cinema lenses  that's probably where you're going to be using   them a lot for and so what I did here is because  this is a manual focus lens I can't autofocus on   myself I brought my partner, Bob, there say hello  to Bob, and basically what I did is I would   focus on Bob and then try and stand beside him  in the same focal plane and try and get this test   here now 1.5 is a really razor thin focal area so  maybe a little bit soft at times so that's that's   not Bob's fault, that's mine. So let's go ahead and  take a look here at these things side by side now   as you can see once again the lenses side by side  look really really uh close I mean still great   quality you're getting from both of the lenses  there are a couple things you'll notice here   one you do notice the bokeh in this situation  is just a little bit more round and that little   more football shape than the Rokinon I do  feel you definitely see the color difference   um especially in this wider shot there you know  the Canons tend to have a little bit more of a   warmth to them uh which is great for skin tones  and you can see that both in my skin tones here   and if you look here on the blue wall the  blue on the wall is just there's a little   more magenta back here than there is in the blue  in the wall back here on the Rokinon and that's a   very characteristic thing of Canon cinema lenses  it's one of the reasons why people love them   uh for skin tone so much now if I come in here to  200% you know what you can see is you know   I don't have a super hard digital edge uh looks  really really good um but the Rokinon looks great   too I think that's a really really good  look and here is actually something   that really really surprised me if you come  down to my t-shirt here my life is measured   in T stops you will actually see in the fine  lines because I'm slightly out of the focal range   just a tiny bit of chromatic aberration there and  if you come over here on the Rokinon there is none   it's really really clean and I was actually really  surprised that there was more chromatic aberration   on the Canon cine than there was on the Rokinon  you can see the 35 shows up really really well   uh once again you know as I pause it you can  just see I i feel like the Canons they let in   just a little more light than the Rokinon I feel  like this is a true 1.5 and I just feel like this   might be like maybe like a 1.6 maybe but  you can see the light difference there   on my skin tones and when I zoom in here if you  look both lenses you know have that really kind of   creamy look that you're going to  want to get on your skin tones   so I think both of them look really really nice  but once again look at this if I come down here   there's a little bit of chromatic aberration  here in my shirt and if I salute over here   to the Rokinon I don't have that in the fine  lines of the shirt I mean look there's that   and then there's that and you can really if I can  try and get them almost in the same frame here you   can just see that slight telltale pink chromatic  aberration here in the Canon that is not in the   Rokinon that really really surprised me I'm going  to jump up to the 50 so you can look at it on the   50. and in the 50 you know once again the contrast  a little bit smoother here in the Canon cine   a little bit more just a hair darker I think once  you get to 50 though the bokeh look at that both   of those bokehs are really really nice really  really pretty if I jump down into 200 again you can see the skin tones are really  nice uh nice and bright here on the Canon   uh nice and creamy on the Rokinon I really think  they're both good but if you look again once   here you can see a little bit of chromatic  aberration here around my beard and on my sleeve   and if you look here at this little light  behind my shoulder there's a tiny bit of   chromatic aberration on the Canon that is not  on the Rokinon and if I pop into 400 I'll just   really emphasize this here there's a little tiny  bit of chromatic aberration here on my sleeve   and shockingly it's much much it's not really even  there on the Rokinon and I think you can see this   here even on the still lives that I did so if  you look here on the chart if I if I jump down   really tight into the Canon you can see the part  of my lens that is in focus there's no chromatic   aberration but the parts that are softer you do  get a little chromatic aberration in there now if   I come over here to the Rokinon you have it but  it's actually you do have chromatic aberration   in the autofocus areas as well but it's just  a little bit less pronounced there than it is   in the Canon which means you have just a little  more leeway for chromatic aberration I was just   very very shocked now if I come back here to the  85 once again I really think the 85 you do see   a difference in the luminance value  between the two lenses remember   these lenses were shot at exactly the same right  but you can really see the difference here um   between it and there's just a little more light  and I think if you come up though the skin   still looks creamy and smooth on both of these  lenses and if you look I mean let's be honest the   uh you can see the difference in the bokeh but the  Rokinon just looks great I think it's got a nice   kind of dreamy look to it and the Canon is nice  and creamy but both of these lenses do a great job   of taking off the digital edge of your picture  now the last test I wanted to do was I basically   put up another still life and I just wanted to see  what happened on the edge of the frames here for   my lenses so I basically took uh a camera put them  on the edge of the frame and then what I wanted to   do is I just wanted to come in and look at the  edge of each of these frames and kind of compare   the sharpness at the edge because I think  this is another area that you want to see   how your lens performs and if you look here I'm  starting off with the 85 just to look at the 85   and what I have here is both of the  lenses look pretty good but look at this   they both look really nice but I  would almost say in this situation   the Rokinon is toe to toe with the  Canon lens distort sharpness at the edge   of the lens now I also have just a tiny  tiny bit of chromatic aberration here   on the line around my care bear and you can see  that little bit of chromatic aberration here as   well it's just I wouldn't say one is better than  the other it's just a little more pronounced   maybe on the Canon now if I come to the other side  what I found really surprising was I actually feel   you have chromatic aberration on both of them  because we're just slightly off but look at this   the Canon is nice and creamy but look I feel  like the Rokinon is just a hair bit sharper   at the edge of the frame so once again  the Rokinon which is one tenth of the cost   actually does a fantastic job of holding its  sharpness to the edge of the frame which I   thought was just really awesome um now if I  come here to the 50 I'll do the same thing here   on the 50 I'm gonna jump over to 200 percent  and if you look at the 50 at 200 percent   I feel and remember I focus on the same  place here guys that the Rokinon is just a   hair bit sharper on the 50 as than the Canon uh  you know now I'm pixel peeping here guys that's   the other thing to remember but I really feel that  the Rokinon holds up great on the corners and if I   come to the other side you know you'll look you  know the Canon is still nice and creamy but if   you want just pure sharpness I really feel the  edge of the crocodile holds up slightly better   than the Canon and you know guys I i think what  this just shows me is that you know chromatic   aberration isn't everything and one of the  things about these Canon lenses is remember   I started this off by saying that cinema  lenses are subjective they're just an overall   quality to it and you can pixel peep these lenses  all day long but some days there's just a point in   what you feel the overall image feels like and  I think the Rokinons are great but there's just   something about the subjective quality to me about  this Canon image if I look at it as a hole and   don't pixel peep it that still appeals to me so  I'd still say the Canon wins but man the Rokinon   really really holds its own against this really  really nice cinema lens okay so there you go   really really interesting test huh and I will  be honest I was actually completely blown away   by the Rokinon cinema lenses I did not expect  these little $350 lenses to not only hold its   own against the Canon cinema but to actually beat  it in chromatic aberration and in some case match   it for sharpness when it was wide open 100% shock  especially since these lens are 1/10 the   money now even though I love these lenses there  are some caveats if you are a filmmaker who's   looking for a great look and don't have to break  the bank I would definitely recommend getting   the cinema lenses from Rokinon however there are  certain areas that the Rokinon still falls apart   and that is as far as robust mechanical engineering the Canon cinema lenses these   things are designed for every day shooting and  that makes a huge difference if you are doing   um $20,000 plus productions and you're  doing multiple ones a month then it makes sense to   get this simply because of how robust these lenses  are however if you're a shooter that's shooting   maybe one commercial a month and one commercial  every couple months and want that cinema lens   then this Rokinon cinema lens is going to  be great they are much much more fragile I   can tell you just from personal use I've already  broken a couple of these just from putting stuff   in bag they're very very uh much much lighter  constructed weight than even my Canon L lenses   so and for $350 it's kind of what you expect and  the reality is you can actually break 10 of these   before you equal the cost of one of these so yeah  if you are a filmmaker looking for that to up your   game these are going to be a fantastic and great  option. So, man, I was completely surprised by this   um really really fun to put these two lenses  together let me know your thoughts on what you   think and um yeah go out there keep on shooting if  you have any questions leave me a note down below. Alright.

Channel: Deaf Director

Views: 23,452

Keywords: Bryan Redding, Indie Film, Film Production, Indie Filmmaker, DIY Filmmaking, Film Tutorials, Deaf Director, Deaf Film, HoH Creatives, Film Gear Reviews, Cuban American Filmmaker, Latino Filmmakers, Latino Directors, Rokinon CIne DS, Rokinon Cine DS Review, Rokinon Cine DS vs, Rokinon Cine DS vs Canon CN-E, Canon CN-E, Canon CN-E vs., Canon CN-E quality test, Canon CN-E review, rokinon cine lenses canon, Rokinon Cine lenses EF, Canon CN-E Primes

Id: b5W0VFnTY6w

Length: 21min 27sec (1287 seconds)

Published: Mon Mar 08 2021