So the $6k “meister” version of this is way better. Very professional. The less costly Xeen is more reasonable esp if you aren’t getting hired for a Spielberg movie. It’s also significantly lighter weight than the meister lens. Why is this important? This one you can more easily handle on a hand held rig however remember the important part…. Manual focus means you need to stabilize the camera AND twist that dial or use your focus wheel and have that camera stabilized some other way. Don’t neglect this important fact. When you get into good cine lenses there becomes less and less of a way for you to take on the “do it all” photog role - you start to need a crew. This starts to apply once you truly step into the manual focus world of cinema and T lenses instead of F lenses.

Great build solid, all is smooth, nothing crazy as far as the picture quality but better then your regular canon lenses.

With "inexpensive" cinema products like lenses you have to be super careful about the quality - sometimes they aren't built well to stand the test of time, clarity is limited to certain F or T stops versus being useable through the entire range, or there's poor color. But the Rokinon Xeen 35mm is amazing. The focus and iris gears move smoothly. The lens feels well built and sturdy. And the optics are much better than what I've expected - most reviews I've read were negative or average. While these might not be as cool (color wise) as Canon's CN-E line or the Zeiss CP.3s, they stand on their own feet in their own realm. Warmer look, softer image wide open but still sharp. Not as sharp as the Sigma Art 18-35 or 50-100, but not as clinical which gives the Xeen's their own character and feel. To sum it up, the lens is very buttery in both operation and optics. Bokeh is really nice with a blooming look wide open and a star like flare at about T 2.8 forward. Lens flare is very attractive as well with colorful circles that streak across the image and don't come off as distracting. Everything about this lens feels intentional and well thought out. This doesn't replace my current lenses from Sigma and my vintage Soviet lenses (Jupiter, Helios, etc.) but it gives me a new collection of lenses to grab and extent my look library. I highly recommend these for narrative productions with a warmer, down to earth feel, talking head, and most commercial or industrial uses. These might be on the heavier side for run and gun, doc filmmakers, but worth a shot right? And I wouldn't use for wedding videography unless you don't mind the weight, manual operation, and long focus throw. If I had to give it a score... 9.2/10.

Using this lens with my URSA Mini 4.6K sensor (since the original, and now on the Pro G2). The Xeen's slight green-leaning color rendition neutralizes wonderfully on Blackmagic's magenta-sensitive sensors. Skin tones look wonderful; the lens isn't overly-sharp, which pairs nicely to BMD's extra sharp lack of OLPF.People talk a lot of negative talk about Rokinon and their Xeen line, but I've had many directors, producers, and fellow DPs say "This looks awesome. What lenses are you using??" only to be very surprised by my answer.And at this price, it's worth actually owning a set (instead of being stuck renting 100% of the time)!