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Tokina Cinema announces 21mm T1.5 & 29mm T1.5 Vista-P Lenses

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Tokina Cinema has expanded its Vista-P series with the addition of the new 21mm T1.5 and 29mm T1.5 cine lenses. In common with other Vista-P lenses, they have a unique vintage character combined with high resolution, super fast aperture, and modern lens handling.

KPC 3107PL Vista P 21mm Side 1x1 1

The lens’s resolution exceeds traditional vintage optics, and they provide large format coverage and an ultra-fast T-stop that few vintage cinema lenses offer at wider focal lengths.

KPC 3109PL Vista P 65mm Side 1x1 1

Stopping the lens down reduces this effect for a more conventional rendering. This allows the cinematographer to achieve a cleaner, more modern look from the same lens.

The duo joins the existing Vista-P series to form a complete set of eleven lenses that share the same T1.5 T-stop and cover Vista Vision-sized sensors.
The complete range now includes:

  • 18mm T1.5
  • 21mm T1.5
  • 25mm T1.5
  • 29mm T1.5
  • 35mm T1.5
  • 40mm T1.5
  • 50mm T1.5
  • 65mm T1.5
  • 85mm T1.5
  • 100mm T1.5
  • 135mm T1.5

The 35 mm and longer lenses have an area of definition that can be used on even larger formats.

The Tokina Cinema Vista-P lenses are derived from the design of the well-established Vista line of primes used on hit shows like Ted Lasso, Loki, Killing Eve, and The Gentlemen.

Tokina Cinema Vista Primes have been a popular choice for customization and ‘de-tuning’ by third-party manufacturers and rental houses, trying to get a less perfect image towards the edge of the frame, which is typically done by modifying the air gap between the easily accessible elements at the rear of each lens. Adding shims can move these elements further apart and does have a mild effect. To get the greatest noticeable effect, more spacing is needed between other elements deep inside the lens, which is not possible with this kind of relatively simple modification. Due to this popularity, Tokina Cinema has decided to re-engineer the Vista Primes themselves as a factory option.

To achieve this look, Tokina Cinema has repositioned the elements throughout the design, not just at the rear of the Vista-P lenses. By moving the placement of the lens elements it has deliberately introduces strong spherical distortion. which is a characteristic more commonly associated with vintage lenses. The modifications create a lower contrast and increased distortion effect.

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Screenshot 2023 12 07 at 10 12 18 AM

At first glance, the Vista-P primes look physically similar to the existing Vista lenses, but optically they have quite a different look. At the edge of frame, the look is similar to famous vintage lenses like the Helios-44 or Petzval with their swirl-type distortion, while overall the look is cleaner and more modern, with resolution that exceeds traditional vintage lenses.

Apart from the difference in character, the Tokina Cinema Vista-P lenses retain all the other key advantages of the regular Vista Primes. They exhibit virtually no focus breathing and have image circles with a 46.7mm area of definition that can cover all large format cinema cameras. The lenses share the same 114mm front O.D. and nine blade iris, and come in PL, LPL, Sony E, EF or MFT mount.

With the Tokina Cinema Vista-P series, the spherical distortion effect is most noticeable at the Vista Vision/Full Frame intended area of definition. The effect can be lessened at the edge of the frame if Super35 or smaller formats are used.

Factory Modification

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Because of the complexity of the modification it has to be performed at the Tokina Cinema factory in Japan. The Vista-P series will be available as brand new lenses already fully modified when purchased, or as an upgrade to the existing Vista prime lenses which requires the lenses to be returned to Tokina Cinema and sent to Japan for modification. Once done, the conversion is not reversible as to do so would be uneconomical.

Price & Availability

The Tokina Cinema Vista-P lenses will be available to order immediately at Tokina Cinema authorized retailers.

The Tokina Cinema Vista-P 21mm T1.5 costs $8999 USD
The Tokina Cinema Vista-P 29mm T1.5 costs $8999 USD

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