A true cinema design specifically for Mirrorless means a truly compact lens design for modern camera movement and flexibility on set.
Veydra Mini Primes are prime lenses specifically made for today’s smaller cameras with smaller chips, most notably mirrorless cameras. Cameras such as the Panasonic GH4, GH5 & GH5s (a favorite around here) and the BlackMagic Pocket Cinema Camera are great examples of what a Micro 4/3’s camera is capable of.
The Veydra Mini Primes are available in focal lengths of 12mm, 16mm, 19mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm. All the lenses feature the same T2.2 aperture speed, and most importantly they all match when it comes to their “look”.
The 12mm, 16mm and 50mm Mini Primes on the GH5 to see how they performed and how they were to physically use. The lenses are well made and feel solid. Their compact size makes them a good match for the GH5. They feel well balanced when handholding the camera and they are easy to operate. The large focus throw is nice, and as the width of the lens barrel isn’t that big, it is quite easy to do large focus pulls without using a follow focus unit. The focus and iris rings have 0.8mm pitched gears on them and the distance between them is just the right size that you don’t ever feel like you’re struggling to tell them apart.
Why Prime Lenses?
Prime lenses are typically “faster” than zoom lenses. This means that they can let more light in through the aperture, which will open wider, allowing the image to develop quicker. This can get confusing so let me explain in more detail.
The “faster” a lens, the wider the aperture will open, which has a lower T. Stop (or F. Stop) attached to it. So, an T2 means that it is more open than an T2.8 or an T4. Most lenses will range from wide open around an T2 and close (or stop) down to a T16 or T22.
Side note: Cinema lenses are read in T Stops (or true stops) whereas still lenses are read in F. Stops. These are largely interchangeable but the difference is that an F. Stop measures the theoretical amount of light allowed through the lens compared to a T Stop which measures the actual or true amount of light coming through the aperture.
Shooting UHD 10bit 422, the lenses provided plenty of resolution and are nice and sharp, even when used fairly wide open. At T2.8, T4 they really shine and produce really nice results on the GH5.
The negative aspect is obviously they are all manual in operation and you can’t take advantage of some of the features on the GH5 such as auto focus and focus transitions.
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