The Most Popular Cinema Lenses (Part 4): Panavision, Tokina, Atlas, Canon

INTRODUCTION

While many think that only the camera is responsible for the look that footage has, the glass that is put in front of the camera has just as great an influence over how a film looks.  

In the fourth part of this series I’ll look at some popular lenses which are used in the film production industry and break down the ergonomics of each lens, the format they are compatible with, as well as their all important look, by using footage from movies shot with this glass.

Hopefully this will provide some insight into what kind of jobs and stories each lens is practically and aesthetically suited for. Let’s get started.

PANAVISION G-SERIES

Panavision launched their G-Series lightweight anamorphic lenses that covered a 35mm frame in 2007.

In a past episode we looked at another of Panavision’s anamorphic series of lenses, the Cs, which are probably considered their flagship product from the past  - being launched in 1968. The classic, vintage anamorphic look of the Cs is still highly sought after today, despite their relative scarcity and mish-mash ergonomic designs. 

The Gs were released by Panavision for DPs that prefer a slightly more updated iteration of the Panavision anamorphic look with easily workable, modern ergonomics. 

The older Cs came in different sizes, with different apertures, different close focus capabilities and different front diameters. Whereas the Gs came in more consistent sizes, with more standardised T stops and front diameters. This makes working with the Gs far easier and quicker for camera assistants. For example when changing between G-series lenses the focus and iris gears are positioned almost identical distances apart, meaning the focus motors don’t have to move.

The Gs can be shot wide open at T/2.6 and get the exact same exposure with different lenses, whereas the apertures of the Cs need to be individually tweaked between lens changes.  Their standardised front diameters means that clip-on matte boxes can be easily interchanged without swapping out the back, and their more standardised lengths and weights make balancing gimbals after changing lenses easier.

The Gs also have more subtle breathing, which means the image will shift less when the focus is racked.

The update of the Gs also carries over into their optical look. They have a higher contrast, a greater degree of sharpness, aberration control, glare resistance and overall, resolve higher resolution images, while maintaining Panavision’s beautiful anamorphic bokeh and focus falloff.

DPs such as Matthias Koenigswieser enjoy the more consistent and modern anamorphic look of the Gs. On Christopher Robin he combined the C-series and the G-series. He used the more modern Gs when shooting on slightly less sharp 35mm film, and used the softer, more vintage Cs for footage that needed to be shot at a higher digital resolution. In this way they balanced out to provide a consistent look across mediums.  

Fun fact, when I camera assisted Matthias on a TV commercial he also opted to use the Gs for a contemporary, sharper looking, anamorphic car shoot. 

Overall, Panavision G-series are great for cinematographers who need a lightweight lens that is solidly constructed, quick and easy to work with and desire a slightly updated Panavision anamorphic look that is more optically consistent.     

TOKINA VISTA

From an anamorphic lens that covers the 35mm format, to a large format spherical lens, let's take a look at the Tokina Vista primes. This set of lenses features a massive 46.7mm image circle. This means that they cover almost any cinema camera on the market, including full frame sensors and large format sensors like the Red Monstro 8K or the Alexa LF. 

They have a fast aperture of T/ 1.5 across the entire range of focal lengths. This means that when the longer lenses are combined with large format cameras, the depth of field becomes razor thin. 

They are very solidly constructed and come in consistent lengths across the range, with the iris and focus gears all being the same distance from the mount. The front diameter is standardised to 114mm. 

There are lots of well designated distance measurements on the barrel of the lens which makes focus pulling marks more accurate. Although super robust, their full metal construction and the ample glass that is needed to cover large sensors mean that the lenses are a pretty hefty weight.

The lenses are super sharp and come with modern coatings that give them very few chromatic aberrations. This means their optical qualities are far less vintage and imperfect like other large format lenses such as Arri DNAs. Their modern coatings also mean that the lenses don’t flare massively, but when hit with the right angle of light they will produce a blue, green rainbow flare.

Their look is super modern, ultra-crisp and sharp across the entire width of the frame. Even wide open at T/ 1.5 the sweet spot of the lens in focus is very crisp. They also have minimal distortion even at the widest 18mm focal length.

The Tokina Vistas are a great option for DPs that need a ergonomically designed, fast, super sharp, modern looking spherical lens that resolves high resolution images and covers large format cameras. 

ATLAS ORION

The Orion series of anamorphic lenses from Atlas was first unveiled in 2017. After first starting with just a 65mm lens, the set has now been expanded to 7 focal lengths ranging from 25mm to 100mm.

Atlas was started as a small company with the goal to manufacture professional grade anamorphic cinema lenses at an affordable price point. This may not seem all that affordable at first glance, but when compared to purchasing or renting other high end anamorphic glass, the price is significantly reduced.  

Since these front anamorphic lenses have been designed recently they feature solid, modern design with a robust housing, well spaced distance markings and a smooth focus gear. They aren’t the smallest, lightest or most compact of anamorphic lenses, particularly when compared to lenses such as Kowas, but they are solid.

All focal lengths, even the 25mm, feature an aperture of T/2. This means they are very fast for anamorphic lenses which typically aren’t as fast as their spherical counterparts. However, when shot wide open at T/2 they do lose some sharpness, with their sweet spot being closer to around T/4. 

Another great feature is that the Orion’s have very good close focus capabilities. This makes it easy to shoot close ups in focus without the use of diopters.

When it comes to their look, I’d say they have subtle vintage characteristics, but overall create a more traditional anamorphic look with good levels of contrast and no crazy focus falloff or distortion. 

So if you’re looking for a solid set of modern, fast anamorphic primes that cover a 35mm sensor, with some vintage characteristics and great close focus all at an affordable price point, then Orion’s may be the way to go. 

CANON S16 8-64mm

So far we’ve looked at lenses that cover Super 35 and large format. Next let’s take a look at a smaller format lens, Canon’s super 16 zoom, the 8-64mm.

Since this lens was designed for super 16mm film it doesn’t cover a lot of today’s modern sensors which are super 35 size or larger. However, this lens is still widely used today as the zoom of choice for 16mm film work, on the Alexa Mini in its S16 mode, or certain micro four thirds digital cameras. 

It’s 8-64mm range is about the equivalent of a 14.5-115mm lens in super 35 mode. This means that this single lens has lots of flexibility and covers a whole range of conventional prime focal lengths. Despite this long zoom range it has good close focus at 22”. This meant that it was a popular workhorse in the 90s, especially for TV work or documentaries which were shot in 16mm. 

For such a long zoom range it’s pretty compact and lightweight but it's built like a tank. The focus rotation is only about 180 degrees which makes it a good pairing for solo documentary operators. It has some distance markings on the barrel of the lens, with probably not as many distances as most focus pullers would like, but enough to get by. 

With an aperture of T/2.4 the lens is fairly fast for a zoom. When shot wide open the image does tend to get a little softer and ‘dreamier’ like a diffusion filter has been added. But if its stopped down just a bit to around T/ 2.8 the lens sharpens up. 

For a vintage zoom it's amazingly sharp which you usually want when shooting 16mm film which is a lower fidelity medium. However it isn’t overly sharp or too clinical with its vintage lens coating. 

Its solid construction, long zoom range, fast aperture, great close focus and sharp but slightly vintage look make the Canon 8-64mm a great choice for DPs looking for a 16mm zoom.