PREAMBLE I'm in the middle of shooting the thriller series Capelli Code, which we're shooting in 3.2K on the ALEXA Mini and Amira, as well as the Sony CineAlta SCL-PK6/M Primes. The six-lens set is available in Switzerland for a total of CHF 8,036.10. An unbeatable price for PL lenses of this type. Of course, this also pleases the production company, provided the quality is right and I wanted to convince myself of that in this test:
THE LENS TEST
In my test, I compared the Sony CineAlta (SCL-PK6/M) lenses with the popular Cooke S4/i . Sony has certainly been inspired by the multiple award-winning Cooke design. Moreover, because the Cookes are among the most popular lenses available on the Swiss market, I found them ideal as comparison lenses. Not quite ideal are the different focal lengths (21mm Cooke / 20mm Sony and 75mm Cooke / 85mm Sony). Therefore, and because I like the Zeiss HS MKIII lenses, I also compared the 85mm with the Zeiss lens.
The test shots were taken consecutively on the same ARRI Amira. The simple color grading of the images from both lenses is identical, no masks or secondaries were used. However, since the T2.0 shots had a slight green cast due to the Tiffen ND filters and the internal filters of the Amira, these shots were graded to match the T5.6, but exactly the same for both (Sony & Cooke).
The video has no commentary or sound. I want to let the video speak for itself and not manipulate your analysis in any way. My opinion about the Sony lenses can be found below.
MANUFACTURING
The lenses are solidly manufactured and can withstand even extreme shooting conditions. However, we found that the focus markings had a slight deviation between the left and right side of the lens. This was annoying, we had to re-mark all the lenses.
COLOR CAST
In direct comparison, the Cookes have a slight color shift into the green and the Sony lenses into the magenta color space. This shift can also be seen with the vector scope in Davinci Resolve. It´s not a problem as long as you are working with the same lens set. The shift can easily be corrected directly in camera with +/- green. By the way, this is also an easy solution to correct the green of the ND filters even before grading.
BOKEH
Bokeh is probably the most distinct feature of a lens and is not as easy to create in Postproduction as lens flares or vignettes. It's not just the lens that affects the appearance of bokeh, but also the blades of the iris. The number and shape of the blades determines the look of the bokeh.
IRIS BLADES
Sony = 9
Cooke = 8
The SCL-PK6 lenses produce most nice round bokehs with their nine rounded blades, the Cooke cannot keep up here with their eight straight blades: Corners and sometimes even teeth reminiscent of a circular saw appear.
I personally really like the Cooke bokeh. It brings this slight retro look with it. However, I dare to doubt whether the Cooke's octagon bokeh is a sign of quality for the viewer. The Sony lenses are clearly part of the look of digital cinema. Today's photo lenses usually have around eleven rounded blades and thus circular bokeh. This is because, in general, a circular aperture image and thus the Sony bokeh is considered inconspicuous and pleasant.
The only exception for me is the Sony 135mm, which forms strong ellipses towards the edge at open aperture. With the Cooke, these remain rather round.
However, this is only the case when the aperture is open. As soon as the aperture is closed, the characteristic octagon bokeh immediately reappears on the Cooke.
In general, the Sony 135mm convinced me the least in terms of look, image quality and behavior during focus shifts. There are clear differences between the Cooke and the Sony, especially when it comes to shifting the focus, and I clearly like the Cooke better here.
SENSITIVITY & VIGNETTING
With the maximum aperture of T 2.0, I quickly reached the limits with the Sony Lenses when shooting during twilight. I would have liked one more aperture stop.
In addition, the CineAlta lenses vignette more at open aperture than the Cooke. However, the vignette is much softer and not visible anymore at an aperture T 2.8. The 21mm and 25mm Cookes have unpleasant dark corners on the 3.2K sensor. Although this is not the case with the Sony lenses, I still recommend using the lenses with an aperture of T 2.8 or higher, as the image is simply exposed more homogeneously from this aperture onward.
SHARPNESS & DISTORTION
The CineAlta are very soft, but they outperform the Cookes with consistent sharpness all the way to the edges. The Cookes become noticeably blurry towards the edges and are unsuitable for 4K shooting in my opinion. With both lens sets, there is no distortion up to the focal lengths of 20mm and 21mm, respectively.
LENS FLARES
The Cookes are popular for their beautiful lens flares, but the Sony lenses don't have to hide either. Focus Puller Andreas Schneuwly worked with the Sony lenses for the first time on our project. Like me, he was very surprised by the beautiful Sony lens flares.
WEIGHT in KG:
Focal length | 21/20mm | 25mm | 35mm | 50mm | 75/85mm | 135mm |
Sony | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.1 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.4 |
Cooke | 2.0 | 1.6 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 1.75 | 2.25 |
The CineAlta are heavier than the Cooke S4/i, but still much lighter than the Zeiss Master Primes or even the Cooke 5/i.. Weight matters most when using the lenses with a gimbal, like the MōVI, where every gram counts. Even though the Sony lenses are quite heavy, we made it work for our setup with the Alexa Mini and the MōVI M15.
FRONT DIAMETER in mm:
Sony 114
Cooke 110
The SCL-PK6 series have a very large front diameter of 114mm, but since the lenses are all the same, there is no disadvantage. Only for the 2.5cm longer 135mm lens the compendium has to be adjusted. Focus and aperture rings are equidistant from the mount on all six lenses, allowing for quick lens changes.
CLOSE FOCUS DISTANCE from lens in mm:
Focal length | 20/21mm | 25mm | 35mm | 50mm | 75/85mm | 135mm |
Sony | 70 | 70 | 80 | 300 | 680 | 900 |
Cooke | 85 | 64 | 170 | 330 | 584 | 564 |
SCREW-ON FILTER
Five of the Sony lenses have an M 95mm Filter Mounting Screw for screw-on ND or Clear filters. However, the 20mm, which I often use with the MōVI and for which I would have preferred a screw-on filter, has no thread for it. Why Sony didn´t include it on this lens is a mystery to me.
CONCLUSION
The Sony CineAlta SCL-PK6 lenses are unbeatable in price/performance ratio. The soft fall off, beautiful bokeh and lens flares actually make them a must-have. They are definitely underrated by the industry. Firstly, because Sony made the mistake of launching the lenses with a really horrible plastic body. Secondly, because the prejudice that Sony products carry an unattractive digital film look still persists. But just as a Sony F65 doesn't have to hide from an Alexa in terms of image quality, the CineAlta SCL-PK6 lenses don't have to hide from their competition. In the end, we can be glad that there was no strong demand for the lenses, so the price could drop by well over 50%. I am happy to recommend the lenses, not only for productions with a small budget.
THANKS
For their support during the test I would like to thank Oliver Eberle (Eberlefilm),
Sepp von Arx and Susanne Frei von Arx (Leuchtturm) as well as my assistants Noman
Tarar, Agota Dimen and Martin Wohlgensinger.
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