Rokinon XEEN Full Frame Cine Lenses have Landed at a Bargain Price

Rokinon/Samyang are officially in the full frame cine lens arena and it looks like these first three the 24mm T1.5, a 50mm T1.5, and an 85mm T1.5 are going to make a big showing. Rokinon has been making very good stills and geared lenses at an affordable price. I don’t know any of my shooter friends that don’t own one or haven’t at least tried them. The 85mm is my favorite. What’s this XEEN all about? Are they rehoused $2495 Rokinon/Samyang? Sort of. The XEEN have a new lens coating to help with flare and chromatic aberrations but yes they are the same optics. They are not rehoused. The body of these are precision made to work precisely and accurately as a cine lens. That’s where the price goes up. These are specialty lenses but you have to put it in perspective when you say rehoused. It’s not a fair statement. Kind of face slap in a way. A lot of work goes into making a cine lens. The throw has to be longer for precise focus. The distance markings accurate and the build has to be better for longer life on a set. A true set will have the same length and front diameter so lens changing with follow focus and mattebox attached is simple without changing positions. So yeah. It’s going to cost more for all these type of features.
The XEEN seem to be taking aim at the Zeiss Compact Prime CP.2 50mm/T2.1 Makro Cine Lens at $4900. This puts the XEEN at half the price. Now thats a big deal. They are now the most affordable cine lenses on the market. Lets take a look at the features these new XEEN have. One I like is all three have the same max T-stop. Again important if you need to make a lens swap but the lighting is set for maximum T-stop.

• 50mm Lens Covers Full-Frame Sensors
• Internal Focus Design
• 14 Layer Anti-Reflective Multi-Coating to Suppress Flares & Control Aberrations
• Dual Side Focus and T-Stop Scales
• 11 Blade Iris
• 5 Different Mount Options. Arri PL, Canon EF, Nikon F, Sony E, or Micro 4/3

These three XEEN Cine Lenses look very promising. If you like Rokinon lenses and always wanted a true cine versions you just got your wish but like any specialty device that’s created for precision use it’s not going to cost a few hundred more than a geared stills lens but at half the price of the CP.2 it’s definitely opening doors for the smaller budget filmmaker. Hopefully I can get my hands on a set to play with. I don’t use cine lenses much in the work I do but when you need the features they have cine lenses make shooting much easier. Not clear to me is if the mounts will be user swappable in the future. I think it would be a great option to be able to change them without sending them to Rokinon.

SEOUL, August 10, 2015 – A professional video-cinema lens brand, XEEN was announced today. The XEEN series consists of a 24mm T1.5, a 50mm T1.5, and an 85mm T1.5. It provides outstanding optical performance for 4K+, and a bright T1.5 aperture. Three more lenses will be announced next year, to complete a line of professional cinema lenses.

The brand XEEN is named after ‘scene’ and ‘seen’ with ‘∞, x’ as the first letter of brand for ‘infinity.’ “There are unmet needs for video-cinema lens with superior image quality for broad range of consumers from enthusiastic productions to professional director of photography. We believe XEEN will provide infinite experiences of video and filmmaking. Now with a T1.5 aperture and outstanding optical performance, producers can concentrate solely on realizing their creative power,” stated Jay M. Kwon, executive marketing director at XEEN.

XEEN lenses come in 24mm, 50mm, and 85mm focal lengths. The lenses not only work with full frame cameras but also with Super 35, APS-C and APS-H cameras. Three more lenses are planned for release next year for a complete set of six lenses for professional video and cinema productions.

The main characteristics of XEEN lenses are their outstanding optical performance for 4K+. Specializing in professional cine lenses, XEEN is a brand launched by Samyang Optics. The newly announced lenses are designed with Samyang Optics’ know-how and have outstanding optical performance for 4K+. In addition, the XEEN lenses feature X-Coating Technology ensuring maximum image quality.

The T1.5 aperture is another major feature of the XEEN line of cine lenses. XEEN lenses reliably deliver high quality footage with clear contrast and impressive colors, even under less-than-optimal lighting conditions. The large aperture also creates a pleasing bokeh effect for a cinematic look.

Harvey Glen, a director from England, called XEEN lenses “impressive,” and described his as a “very sharp lens with bright T1.5” A German director, Frank Glencairn, proclaimed the XEEN series as ‘the game changer’ in the cinema lens market, made to deliver “nothing but amazing image quality.”

Created to deliver infinite possibilities, the XEEN lenses will be globally available in mid-August. The recommended retail price is USD 2,495. Visit the official website (http://www.xeenglobal.com) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/xeenglobal) for more details.

About XEEN

A professional video-cinema lens brand, XEEN aims to provide superior optics, for maximum user satisfaction. The name XEEN comes from the experience of ‘scene’ and ‘seen’. The first letter is replaced by an ‘X’, which represents infinity; limitless experiences and possibilities. With bright T1.5 apertures and outstanding optical performance for 4K+, directors are free to concentrate on the only thing that matters – realizing their creative power. A masterpiece of both from and function, made to meet the needs of professional video-cinema producers and creators, XEEN blazes a new trail in the professional lens market. Discover XEEN. Created something unexpected. For more details, please visit the official website (http://www.xeenglobal.com) and Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/xeenglobal).

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Filed in: 4K • Featured Post • Lenses • New Release
Tagged with: Rokinon • Rokinon/Samyang • Samyang • XEEN