KIPON recently announced its new COLIBRI cine lenses. These were designed as a high-quality, affordable solution for cinematographers looking for a prime cine lens set that won’t empty their wallets.
The COLIBRI cine lenses cover full frame sensors, but they don’t state the image circle coverage on their website. The lenses will be available in the following focal lengths and T stops:
- 24mm T2.5
- 35mm T2.5
- 50mm T2.5
- 75mm T2.5
- 90mm T2.5
KIPON states that the mechanical and optical designs were created in Germany, however, they are made in China.
The COLIBRI cine lenses feature a compact and lightweight design, and they come in the following mounts, Canon RF/Sony E/Panasonic L. This makes them a good option for users of cameras such as the RED Komodo, Raptor, Sony FX9, FX6, FX30, a7S, α7S II, a7S III, Canon R5C, R5, R6, R6II, C7, and Panasonic S5 II, S5 II x, S5, S1H, BS1H, etc. The mounts don’t look like they are interchangeable. It is a little strange, at least in my opinion, that companies make a cine set of lenses that aren’t available in PL mount.
Kipon states that the lenses have a specially designed linear star shape iris with 10 aperture blades that help them create unique bokeh with a cinematic feeling (their words, not mine!) They also have a focus rotation of 300 degrees and they are claimed to be using a Swiss-made bearing system. All 5 lenses feature the ability to use 77mm front screw-in filters.
Weight & Size
The 24mm and 35mm are the same length (70mm / 2.75″), and the 50mm, 75mm and 90mm are all 90mm / 3.54″ long. As far as weight is concerned, below you can see how much all the lenses weigh in their various mounts:
| Sony E | Canon RF | Panasonic L | ||
| 24mm | 484g | 478g | 480g | |
| 35mm | 409g | 404g | 406g | |
| 50mm | 499g | 494 | 498g | |
| 75mm | 553g | 545g | 550g | |
| 90mm | 550g | 542g | 548g |
The lenses are all under 550g, and their compact size is sure to appeal to a lot of shooters.
Minimum Focus Distance
| MOD | ||
| 24mm | 9.5″ / 24cm | |
| 35mm | 13″ / 33cm | |
| 50mm | 20″ / 50cm | |
| 75mm | 2′ / 60cm | |
| 90mm | 2′ 3″ / 70cm |
The minimum focusing distance of all the focal lengths can be seen above.
Competition
There is a ton of competition in the affordable cine prime lens space. Lenses that could be considered competition come in the form of the DZOFilm VESPID, Meike FF Prime Cine, SLR Magic MicroPrime Cine, Rokinon Cine DS, 7artisans Photoelectric Spectrum Prime Cine Lens, Viltrox S, IRIX Cine, Rokinon XEEN, and Rokinon XEEN CF just to name some of them.
Price & Availability
The KIPON COLIBRI Cine Lenses are now available to pre-order in a set for $9880 USD. Deliveries are expected to start on March 1st. This price makes the lenses just under $2,000 USD. This does make them fairly expensive compared to a lot of their main competition.
