Tokina Cinema Vista-P Lenses Announced – Vintage Look with High Resolution

Lens News

by Jeff LochDecember 11^th, 2023

Tokina Cinema has just announced a new series of lenses: the Vista-P. These lenses are based on the already available Vista Primes. Still, the Vista-P undergoes precise tuning at the factory, adjusting the placement of lens elements to create a more vintage look through the introduction of spherical distortion. If you already have Vista Primes, you can send them to their factory in Japan for a non-reversible conversion. So, let’s take a closer look at these!

The Tokina Cinema Vista Primes were first introduced back in 2017. These lenses cover full-frame image sensors (46.7mm image circles), have a 114mm outside front diameter, a nine-blade iris, and are available in a plethora of user-interchangeable lens mounts, including PL, LPL, Sony E, EF, and MFT mount. With the recent release of the 21mm and 29mm, the Vista Primes lineup consists of 13 lenses, all with a maximum T1.5 aperture.

The Tokina Cinema Vista lineup’s main drawback is that they are large and heavy. But having already shot with them, you can tell that it’s a serious piece of glass when you have them in hand, and the image coming out of them is superb.

Over the past years, many affordable cinema lenses have been introduced and claim to have a “vintage look.” I tried a couple of these options, and while this is not generic, I can see a tendency to call some lenses “vintage looking” to hide an overall lack of sharpness, heavy chromatic aberrations, and much more. Tokina Cinema is now joining the vintage wagon by introducing a new version of their famous Vista Primes, the Vista-P Primes, but with a promise to offer you a different character while maintaining exceptional sharpness, precision, and image quality.

Tokina Cinema Vista-P Primes – features

Let’s start by saying that from the outside, the new Tokina Cinema Vista-P Primes are physically similar to the already available Vista Primes. Indeed, except for the marking that says “Vista-P” – the P stands for Portrait – you can’t tell the difference between the two.

Most of the changes are located on the inside, even if the lens design, meaning the number of elements and lens groups, remains similar. According to the company, they have “modified the original Vista Primes by moving the placement of the lens elements to deliberately introduce strong spherical distortion – a characteristic more commonly associated with vintage lenses. This is not a simple feature.”

Vintage look

From the promo video, you can tell that with the Vista-P, the edge of the frame has an interesting swirl-type distortion, while the center and overall image remain incredibly sharp and detailed. Tokina Cinema describes the edges as “Helios-44 or Petzval” looking, to which I agree.

According to Tokina Cinema, they achieved that effect and created more distortion by increasing the air-to-glass distance inside the lenses compared to the regular Vista Primes. That modification also lowers the contrast a bit.

Honestly, it’s rare when a promo video really hits me, but I’ve been relatively impressed by the images coming out of the lenses. It’s hard to describe, but I find something in the overall look that cannot be reproduced in post-production and adds so much character to the image.

Pricing and availability

At launch, the Tokina Cinema Vista-P will be available in 18/25/35/50/85mm focal lengths, all with a maximum T1.5 aperture. More focal lengths should be added soon.

The 25/35/50/85mm retails for $7499 each, and the 18mm will be $8999. I have not been able to find any information about their availability yet.

Lastly, if you already have Vista Primes, you can get them modified to Vista-P. Keep in mind that this modification is not reversible. The lens mod will cost you around $2000 per lens, and your lenses must be sent to Japan directly.

For more information, please visit Tokina Cinema’s website here.

What do you think about these new Vista-P vintage-looking lenses? What do you think about the look they produce? Have you already shot with Tokina Cinema lenses? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!