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CML 2025 Test: Affordable Lenses

39 lenses tested in August 2025: mostly “affordable” lenses but with some high-end glass included to show what proper lenses look like. “Affordable” in this case means primes less than $5000 (sometimes much less) and zooms below $6000.

The player shows two synchronized tests for comparison. Use the “Start”, “Focus”, “Flares”, and “Fade” buttons to jump to those cue points. For best results, wait for the tests to load and buffer before playing, scrubbing, or jumping to a cue point. Use a test’s “View” link to open it in a new Vimeo player.

You can browse the entire test collection here, or just enjoy all the flares.

Testing performed at Hot Rod Cameras in Burbank by Danna Kinsky and David Carstens (DPs), Moxie Harfield (AC), Andy Lemon (DIT), and Cricket Peters (Gaffer/Grip). Roberto Schaefer and Adam Wilt produced and directed; Illya Friedman and Dain Fuentes arranged for and obtained the lenses, lighting, and camera support.

All lenses, whether Super35mm, full-frame, or large-format, were tested on a Blackmagic Design URSA Cine 17K 65mm with a 2.18:1, 50.81 mm x 23.32 mm sensor. This let us capture each lens’s entire image circle. We’ve rendered out “cropped” and “full” versions of each test; the cropped version uses the nominal coverage area of the frame (S35, FF or LF), while the full version has framing marks for these active areas burned in. The full versions let you see how far these lenses can stretch, and often show interesting flare patterns well outside the nominal coverage area.

As the terms S35, FF, and LF are imprecise, we used the 16x9 areas of two ARRI cameras and the URSA as our references:

For spherical lenses, we assumed a 16x9 capture; for anamorphics, we assumed a 2.39:1 crop of the desqueezed 16x9 image.

Each lens was tested wide open and at T4. The T4 tests are “as shot” with no grading other than level matching, so you can compare lens colors. The open clips are graded to match the T4 clips as the ND filters used imparted a yellow cast; for accurate color comparisons look at the T4 clips only.

Each lens was framed for S35, FF, or LF capture based on our reading of the manufacturer’s description; however the dividing line between FF and LF is open to interpretation. Several of the lenses we’ve tagged as FF might just as easily be considered LF. We show the stated coverage (image circle or rectangular frame) when that information was readily available.

Some tests are imperfectly focused at the starting or ending points. To verify sharpness, scrub to the middle of the test, during the focus pull (a full 4K render is available using the “View” link).

A “CF” note on the slate indicates a lens’s close focus distance. Not all lenses have CF notes because we didn’t think to add them until we had already tested a few lenses.

Some clips show skipped or repeated frames; these clips had speed changes in post so that they hit their marks at (roughly) the correct times.

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