During NAB 2018 (which ended last week), a new French company called Skybeam introduced what it calls the smallest Cine lenses in the world. A series of three metal lenses for Sony E-mount, M4/3 and Fuji X mount APS-C cameras. Our colleague Johny from Cinema5D had a chat with Yannick from Skybeam to learn more about what is behind these tiny lenses.
Just like with the SLR Magic MicroPrime Cine (FF) lenses that were also announced in NAB this year, and to some extent the Veydra mini primes (that we reviewed recently and and as we have seen provide mostly micro 4/3 coverage), these new lenses are meant to be small, light, high-quality prime Cine lenses that are affordable for videographers and aspiring filmmakers.
The three lenses that were announced in NAB are:
- 25mm T2 (225g/7.9 oz).
- 35mm T1.8 (225g/7.9 oz).
- 50 T2 (235g / 8.2 oz).
All three lenses have a 49mm filter, 0.8 pitch gears, very close focusing distances (0.15-0.30m) with 10 aperture blades and could be ideal for gimbal or drone usage as well as general purpose run and gun type of shooting.
Skybeam also admitted having plans to make more lenses including Full Frame ones and add mounts (including EF/PL mounts) in the future.
We will definitely like to give these lenses a try later on this year and see if it is indeed possible to make an inexpensive high-quality lens in such a tiny form factor.
Finally pricing, The new Skybeam lenses will be priced around $720 / € 579 (the 25mm T2 lens is already available for order on Mazon France).
While NAB 2018 is over (see our full coverage of the show here) there are still lots more interesting stuff that we want to bring you from the show in the next few days and as always, if you don’t want to miss any new photography product be sure to check out our product photography section on our photo gear channel.
Iddo Genuth 
You can support LensVid by shopping with our affiliate partners
Affiliates: Amazon, B&H, Adorama and E-bay.
Why should you trust us?