The new SIGMA cinema lenses made a splash back in September when they announced the upcoming line would be priced very, very reasonably at $3,999.00. The below short film “Blur” was shot with both the 4K ready 18-35mm T2 and 50-100mm T2 SIGMA cinema lenses on the ARRI Amira:
The film has heart, but is at its core a test of the new SIGMA cinema glass in an actual field shooting environment, and clearly a very dusty and windy environment at that.
Yohei Tateishi, Director of Photography of “Blur”, on shooting with the SIGMA zooms for the short film:
There is no faster zoom lens in such a compact form. That is a huge plus for indie filmmakers who need to shoot run and gun style and have limited access to lighting gear. We shot in a real trailer house in Lancaster, CA and only had one day to shoot everything interior. This location gets strong gust typically afternoon time so sometimes I have to work with only available light coming from the window. I had HMIs but shooting at T2.0 picks up details very well. For the arguing scene, I shot the entire scene handheld. I think it couldn’t have happened if we had longer zoom or primes.”
Below is a short behind the scenes video that goes into more detail on how the lenses were used and how they performed on set:
For more on these lenses my colleague Nino Leitner was hands on with the new glass at IBC in September.
Specifications on both zoom lenses used in the film:
Want to get your hands on one? Both the 18-35mm T2 and 50-100mm T2 begin shipping on December 9th. I know what is first on my Christmas list this year and I’ll be watching this handy live Christmas countdown clock until then.
