The Intriguing Sony 28-135mm Cine Lens – Exclusive Hands-On Interview

by Sebastian WöberSeptember 17^th, 2014

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We had the chance to get some hands-on experience with Sony’s new and long-awaited FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS cine lens and talked directly to Sony’s cine product manager Sadanobu Ueda who explained all the details about the new lens on (see above) and off camera.

Why is this lens important?

Many users of large sensor cameras, be it dslr video users or those who use larger cinema cameras, have had to resort to photo lenses for large sensor video use.

The new Sony FE PZ 28-135mm F4 G OSS cine lens is the first dedicated video lens for large sensor cameras.

Here’s a list of the most important features:

• It has an ideal zoom range for most applications ranging from wide angle to close-up focal lengths.
• It has a continuous aperture of F/4.0.
• The lens can be controlled with accessories like motors or manual follow focus units due to it’s geared design, yet the focus rings are rubberised for easy handheld use.
• The focal length can be controlled with a built-in zoom rocker (zoom). The built in motors can also be controlled remotely from cameras with a zoom rocker (Sony FS7).
• With the flip of a switch the  aperture can be clicked or de-cllicked for smooth operation.
• The lens features an optical image stabiliser.

Hands-On Experience

We had some hands-on time with a prototype of the lovely new lens and we can tell you that it truly is a lovely and sharp lens. Unfortunately we are not allowed to publish the footage we shot, but will reveiew the lens more in-depth in the future.

The aperture F/4.0 seems to go all the way through, unlike Canon’s own and frequently used Canon 24-105mm that gets darker at the far end.

The images appear very sharp and clear and we couldn’t see any obvious chromatic abberation or softening at F/4.0. We were told it is made for 4K applications.

The optical image stabiliser behaved very nicely and smoothly and a lot like the one we know from the Canon 24-105mm, probably even a little better. We could use the 135mm focal length and get an extremely stable image from a handheld A7S.

A very very welcome feature is the fact that you don’t lose focus when you change the focal length. So you can zoom all the way in to focus and zoom out again to retain a focused image, just like on a proper ENG lens.

The declicked aperture is a wonderful feature to have. Overall the lens feels very well manufactured and strong.

What we didn’t like so much was its size and weight. The Canon in comparison is definitely a more compact lens. Also we realised that the zoom was always motor-controlled. So even if you change the focal length with the zoom ring on the lens itself, it’s always a motor inside that actually controls it resulting in less precise and slower focusing possibilities.

The lens will be available early next year and cost $2.499. It is already available for pre-order.