DZOFILM Vespid Prime Cine Lens Review

Review DZOFilm's cinema lenses Vespid Prime. Because it is for Micro Four Thirds mount, it can be used with cameras such as BMPCC 4K, Panasonic GH5 and GH5S with Blackmagic Design. Cinema lenses are interesting! I borrowed a DZO Film cinema lens for review. I attached it to the Blackmagic Pocket Cinema Camera 4K (BMPCC4K / Pokecine 4K) and actually shot it, so I will tell you about the features of the lens and what the cinema lens is like.

Main specifications and features of DZOFilm cinema zoom lens

DZOFilm Vespid Prime cinema lenses are for Micro Four Thirds mounts. Both are zoom lenses, and if you have these two lenses, you can use a wide range of focal lengths from wide-angle to medium telephoto.

Full-scale cinema lenses at a price that even individuals can buy

Cinema lenses are so expensive that they were once used only in professional video production, but DZO Film has developed cinema lenses at a relatively low price for personal use. It is about the same reasonable price as a still lens.

Also, because it is for MFT mount, it can be used with various cameras such as Panasonic and Olympus single-lens cameras, as well as BMPCC 4K with Blackmagic Design.

With the advent of the explosively popular cinema camera BMPCC 4K and the advent of reasonable cinema lenses, including DZOFilm, we are entering an era where movie equipment is available even at the personal budget level. An increasing number of people are getting cinema cameras and cinema lenses, from young people aspiring to the video industry, amateur camera fans to those who are currently active as professionals.

Various adjustment rings that are typical of cinema lenses

DZO Vespid Prime have four types of adjustment rings.

The front ring is the focus ring. It has a moderate weight and is easy to adjust. In addition, the rotation angle is as high as 270 °, so delicate focusing is possible.

Next is the zoom ring. Adjust the focal length. The rotation angle is 100 °.

And the aperture ring. Both can be adjusted from T2.9 to T22 (like the so-called F value). There is no click feeling.

The last ring closest to the mount is the back focus adjustment ring. You can fine-tune the back focus (distance from the rearmost end of the lens to the sensor) according to the camera. You can achieve perfocal specifications by adjusting this (perfocal will be explained later). This ring can be fixed so that it will not move once it has been adjusted.

Aperture ring is indicated by T value instead of F value

In general, the aperture is indicated by the F value for photographic lenses, but in the case of cinema lenses, the T value is indicated instead of the F value. These are similar concepts but have different meanings.

The F value is the focal length divided by the effective aperture. It is a concept designed to make it easy to calculate the amount of light entering, and the brightness is halved each time the F value is √2 times.

However, it is not enough to look at the focal length and the size of the effective aperture to actually calculate the amount of light that reaches the camera sensor. Because it ignores the transparency of the lens. The lens for the camera is a combination of many lenses, and the light is reflected many times. In other words, the light is usually attenuated in the middle.

The F value is a number that assumes 100% transmittance. Even if the F value is the same, the actual amount of light may differ depending on the lens.

On the other hand, the T value is calculated based on the amount of light that actually enters in consideration of the transmittance. It represents more accurate brightness. It is customary for cinema lenses to display this T value.

For example, Sigma, which develops and sells optical equipment, makes it for stills and cinemas. The still lens is "18-35mm F1.8 DC HSM" and the cine lens is "18-35mm T2". Since Sigma has announced that both lenses have exactly the same optical design, we can see that both lenses have an open aperture of F1.8, but a T-value of 2 to indicate brightness.