Normally when I am sent a review lens, it turns up in its manufacturer’s retail packaging.
But regular readers will know that recently I have had the joy of playing with a Fujinon 50-135mm T2.9, and THIS arrived in a protective waterproof and hermetically sealed Pelikan type case, with the lens nuzzled safely inside in a swaddling of foam rubber.
Not surprising considering it costs over $5K to buy. But I am reliably told for a lens of this quality and pedigree, that is actually a bargain.
Now, I do not pretend to be an expert on high level lenses, well not the technical aspects anyway. But having been around the traps a bit, photographing and videoing in a multitude of different disciplines from motor racing and rallying to fishing, on-set TV programs to documentaries and tutorial videos to travelogues with smatterings of other things thrown in for good measure such as weddings (ugh), deb balls (bigger ugh) and Aussie rules football (which was taxing and fun!)
And I can see quite clearly that in the non-sport areas where a bigger zoom is generally needed, this lens married to a suitable camera would be simply magnificent. And by suitable we are talking the upper level 4/3rds and mirrorless jobbies such as those from Sony, Canon, Red and of course, Blackmagic Design.
By the way as this lens is apparently based on the Fujinon Cabrio line of cine lenses, that is a hell of a pedigree to boast of (and live up to).
I’d like to have tried it on my Blackmagic Design Pocket Cinema Camera Pro 6K, but while there is an MK adaptor for the RF mount (as well as a 4/3rd adaptor), at this stage I cannot put it on the EF mount my PCC 6K Pro has. Here’s hoping to futures, although I do not know if this is technically feasible.
I had access to a Canon EOS R6 for a short period (with an RF mount) and whilst I didn’t have it long enough to put the Fujinon 50-135mm T2.9 completely through its paces, my base observations were that the 4K imagery was excellent with bugger all distortion I could see, and very, very little chromatic aberration. You’d have to be excessively picky to think otherwise in my opinion.
I admit I did do some checking around of my peers thoughts on this lens, they having more experience than me at this level as I said at the start. I could not find a single skerrick of criticism anywhere; the only thing ever so slightly consistent was the observation that with a long focus throw of 200°, focussing may cause some issues when going from one limit to the other.
Apparently, there is a dedicated lens support unit from Zacuto for the Fujinon 50-135mm T2.9, oddly enough, called the Zacuto Scissor Lens Support and it costs around USD$190 from my research.
If you want the full technical specs of the Fujinon 50-135mm T2.9, then Videop;ro has ‘em all on their website at https://www.videopro.com.au/p-10680-fujinon-mk50-135mm-t29-lens-sony-e-mount.aspx
Film, Video & Virtual reality 