Tokina Cinema has expanded its Vista-P series by adding new focal lengths: 40mm, 65mm, 105mm, and 135mm.
These new additions join the existing 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses in the series.
Design and Characteristics
The Vista-P lenses are designed to offer cinematographers a unique combination of vintage character and high resolution. They produce images with a vintage-like character towards the edges of the frame, while maintaining high resolution in the center.
These lenses are popular among cinematographers for customization and ‘de-tuning’ by third-party manufacturers and rental houses. This customization often involves modifying the air gap between lens elements to achieve a less perfect image towards the edges. Due to this popularity, Tokina Cinema has re-engineered the Vista Primes to offer these characteristics as a factory option.
Modifications and Effects
Tokina Cinema has repositioned the lens elements throughout the design of the Vista-P lenses, introducing strong spherical distortion, a characteristic often associated with vintage lenses. These modifications result in lower contrast and increased distortion effects. Optically, the Vista-P primes provide a look similar to famous vintage lenses like the Helios-44 or Petzval, with swirl-type distortion at the edges, while maintaining a clean and modern look with high resolution.
Key Features
Despite the differences in character, the Vista-P lenses retain the key advantages of the regular Vista Primes. They exhibit virtually no focus breathing and have a 46.7mm image circle that can cover all large format cinema cameras. The lenses share the same 114mm front outer diameter and nine-blade iris, and are available in PL, LPL, Sony E, EF, or MFT mounts. The spherical distortion effect is most noticeable in the Vista Vision/Full Frame format, and can be lessened in Super35 or smaller formats.
Factory Modification
The modification process is complex and must be performed at the Tokina Cinema factory in Japan. The Vista-P series lenses are available as brand-new lenses or as an upgrade to existing Vista primes, which must be sent to Japan for modification. The conversion is not reversible due to the costs involved.
Price and Availability
The new Tokina Cinema Vista-P lenses are priced as follows:
- 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm: $7,499 USD each
- 18mm, 40mm, 65mm, and 105mm: $8,999 USD each
- 135mm: $9,999 USD
For existing Vista primes, the modification will cost around $2,000 USD per lens, plus shipping.
About Tokina Cinema
Tokina Cinema is a part of Kenko Tokina Co., Ltd., which has a rich history in optical manufacturing dating back to the 1950s. Tokina specializes in producing high-quality lenses for digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) and mirrorless cameras, focusing on both cinematography and photography markets.
News source: Tokina Cinema
