Sony AF Cinema Glass Signifies A Changing Of The Guard

[DBounce]

With the recent announcement of the Sony FE C 16-35 T/3.1 G series lens, it would seem that in Sony’s eyes, the time of manual focus is approaching an end. Granted, the new series of cinema glass does allow for manual focus. But perhaps more significant, is that these new lenses are designed first as AF lenses, with optional manual features. Combined with Sony’s newest AF technology, these new lenses should prove to be an impressive  and flexible option when compared to more traditional manual only glass.

 

 

[User]

T3.1? I guess they needed the majority of space inside the lens for electronics rather than light transmission. Pity. But hey, good thing for those cleaner ISOs.

The autofocus on the FX9 is impressive, no doubt this lens is aimed at that. Though I wonder how long it will be until we see their ad campaign hailing 'a return to the basics' offering full manual focus lenses?

[Andrew Reid]

They are stills lenses with breathing and a huge mark-up.

[kye]

3 hours ago, User said:

T3.1? I guess they needed the majority of space inside the lens for electronics rather than light transmission. Pity. But hey, good thing for those cleaner ISOs.

The autofocus on the FX9 is impressive, no doubt this lens is aimed at that. Though I wonder how long it will be until we see their ad campaign hailing 'a return to the basics' offering full manual focus lenses?

The T-stop of a lens is often just a little slower than its F-stop, so I would suggest these are the cine version of F2.8 lenses.

3 hours ago, Andrew Reid said:

They are stills lenses with breathing and a huge mark-up.

Maybe this one rehoused 16-35/2.8?  The extra space and size would allow for the power-zoom functionality which doesn't seem to be present on the still lens, as well as equalise filters and weight across the range.

[newfoundmass]

The only market for these are the YouTube generation of filmmakers that value auto focus over everything. 

[thebrothersthre3]

There's definitely going to be a market for better AF cinema glass. Not sure if this is it but it'll happen sooner or later. Sony and Canon aren't putting auto focus in their higher end cameras for no reason. 

[KnightsFan]

I don't know anything about these lenses' performance specifically, but AF in cine lenses as a good thing (if it doesn't compromise MF ergonomics). Extra versatility is always welcome. I'm just waiting for someone to pair an internal lens AF motor with a wireless follow focus wheel that behaves the same as current wireless follow focuses with external motors, but with fewer wires and no extra module requiring a power supply.

[Mako Sports]

I think its to keep people firmly engrained in the Sony ecosystem. There are still a lot of folks running around with FS7 and FS5s with adapted EF glass/CNE lenses.

It would be nice if lenses like these brought down the price of lower end cine optics. Like Zeiss CP.2s and CP.3s

[newfoundmass]

I still don't see much of a market for these outside of the YouTube generation of filmmakers that think they need auto focus, but even then is there much of a reason for those people to pay a premium for them when capable stills lenses are available? 

 

 

[Mako Sports]

2 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

I still don't see much of a market for these outside of the YouTube generation of filmmakers that think they need auto focus, but even then is there much of a reason for those people to pay a premium for them when capable stills lenses are available? 

 

 

People still buy canon CNE primes and zooms. Which are more expensive than the stills lenses. So yes there is a market. 

[newfoundmass]

But those are Canon lenses. Does Sony have that kind of reputation? 

[thebrothersthre3]

2 minutes ago, newfoundmass said:

But those are Canon lenses. Does Sony have that kind of reputation? 

You create a reputation by consistently putting out good products tho. Gotta start somewhere.

With the FX9 and FX6 it would make perfect sense.

 

[kye]

 

21 hours ago, Mako Sports said:

I think its to keep people firmly engrained in the Sony ecosystem. There are still a lot of folks running around with FS7 and FS5s with adapted EF glass/CNE lenses.

It would be nice if lenses like these brought down the price of lower end cine optics. Like Zeiss CP.2s and CP.3s

I agree that it's to keep people in the ecosystem.  That's one of the reasons I like adapting manual lenses to mirrorless, it means that I'm not kept inside an ecosystem - specifically I have access to almost all of the gems from the past, and at greatly reduced pricing compared to what they cost when new.

6 hours ago, newfoundmass said:

I still don't see much of a market for these outside of the YouTube generation of filmmakers that think they need auto focus, but even then is there much of a reason for those people to pay a premium for them when capable stills lenses are available? 

I don't think this is just about YouTubers.

Think about it like this - if you can do something better than the tech (and have time and attention to do so) then it's better to do it manually, otherwise you're better letting the tech do it.  Very few people would have been worse for focusing than the early CDAF systems, especially considering they'd completely ruin shots regularly, so this wasn't a real factor in film-making.  However, now we have DPAF / PDAF combined with face-detect and eye-detect that can be adjusted to transition smoothly at a user-specified rate.  The tech has developed so that it's now better at pulling focus than quite a lot of people, and many of those people are working pros who are just trying to get through each job smoothly to get a pay check and feed their family.  Yes, in Hollywood there are DPs that can pull focus better than an "A to B in X seconds" AF mechanism, and with the budget to have a dedicated focus-puller you're better off with that, but this is by far the minority of productions.  

Most pros are working on lower budget docs, TV shows, or ENG, and having something be able to reliably acquire focus and keep it is good enough for them.  Things like pulling focus from one object to another isn't that common a move, and most shots don't even need that to happen.

YouTubers are very vocal about AF and flippy screens and all that stuff, but it matters to the majority of working pros too, and they're too busy out there making the majority of what we watch to come on these forums and talk about it, or to make videos about how many buttons their camera has and upload them on YT.

[Mokara]

On 9/21/2019 at 3:28 PM, newfoundmass said:

The only market for these are the YouTube generation of filmmakers that value auto focus over everything. 

Youtubers are not going to buy these lenses, they cost about $7-8k. They are obviously for Sony's new pro video cameras, which have AF as one of their selling points.

[DBounce]

41 minutes ago, Mokara said:

Youtubers are not going to buy these lenses, they cost about $7-8k. They are obviously for Sony's new pro video cameras, which have AF as one of their selling points.

Some YouTubers have the budget for these, but most do not. I like the concept of these lenses,  but if they are merely re-housed stills lenses,  then the price,  which is likely to be around $5k each, is extremely high. 

[Otago]

The first person to pull that focussing command out of the E mount and reliably map it to a focus motor will make a killing! It's strange that the clip on motor looks to run the iris and zoom but not the focus, is it an internal ultrasonic motor or a hidden gear ?

The latest Canon RF lenses and Panasonic L mounts seem to have very little breathing, it will be interesting to see if Sony follow suit with their new cine style lenses. 

[DBounce]

2 hours ago, Otago said:

The first person to pull that focussing command out of the E mount and reliably map it to a focus motor will make a killing! It's strange that the clip on motor looks to run the iris and zoom but not the focus, is it an internal ultrasonic motor or a hidden gear ?

The latest Canon RF lenses and Panasonic L mounts seem to have very little breathing, it will be interesting to see if Sony follow suit with their new cine style lenses. 

At $5k a pop, they better have breathing under control.