NiSi has announced its new Athena Prime Rewind full-frame cinema lenses that were purposely designed to shift their optical personalities depending on the T-stop you are using.
When used wide open at T1.9, the lenses are claimed to deliver a warm, vintage-inspired character with softened resolution and halo effects on highlights. Conversely, once you start to stop them down, the look progressively becomes more modern and clinical. According to NiSi, the sweet spot between the two different looks is T2.8, and by the time you reach T5.6 to T8, the look completely changes.
The Athena Prime Rewind five-lens PL mount kit includes a 14mm T2.4, 25mm T1.9, 35mm T1.9, 50mm T1.9, and 85mm T1.9, which ship in a purpose-built hard case.
The whole ethos behind the set is to give users a way of adjusting the visual feel of every shot without swapping glass or adding filtration. While this is true, it also means that the set won’t give you a unified look if you are moving between different T stops. This is something you need to take into account.
At wide apertures, the Rewind lenses are said to produce a distinctive bubble bokeh with bright edges and darker centers in out-of-focus highlights. This effect starts to taper off by T4. According to NiSi, the bubble bokeh is most notable when using the 35mm and 50mm focal lengths.
The intensity of the flares is claimed to be significantly more than the standard Athena Prime. The Rewind lenses have warm-toned flares and some barrel distortion, all while maintaining the same color rendering as the standard Athena Prime set.
NiSi claims that the Rewind and standard Athena lenses can be used together without requiring extensive color correction in post-production.
Just like the standard Athena series, the Rewind series covers a 46mm imaging circle, and the set features matched weight and physical dimensions across all focal lengths, enabling easy lens changes without gimbal rebalancing or matte box adjustments.
Every lens in the set includes a 300-degree focus ring with fluorescent focal scales as well as a rear filter mount for gel and creative filter use. The lenses are also said to have minimal focus breathing and the same chromatic aberration levels as the standard Athena Primes.
Pricing & Availability
The NiSi Athena Prime Rewind series is now available through authorized NiSi cinema dealers. The lenses will be offered as a complete five-lens kit with a purpose-built hard case, as well as individually for cinematographers looking to add specific focal lengths to their existing setup.
- NiSi ATHENA PRIME Rewind Full Frame Cinema Lens Kit with 5 Lenses– $5,999 USD
- NiSi ATHENA PRIME Rewind 14mm T2.4 Full Frame Cinema Lens (PL Mount)– $1,399 USD
- NiSi ATHENA PRIME Rewind 25mm T1.9 Full Frame Cinema Lens (PL Mount) $1,269 USD
- NiSi ATHENA PRIME Rewind 35mm T1.9 Full Frame Cinema Lens (PL Mount)– $1,269 USD
- NiSi ATHENA PRIME Rewind 50mm T1.9 Full Frame Cinema Lens (PL Mount)– $1,269 USD
- NiSi ATHENA PRIME Rewind 85mm T1.9 Full Frame Cinema Lens (PL Mount)– $1,269 USD
