DZO Vespid vs Nisi Athena vs Iris Cine - Which is Better?
Introduction
I want to invest in a set of compact, affordable cinema primes. There are a lot on the market, but the three that caught my eye were the DZOFilm Vespid, Nisi Athena, and Irix Cine lenses.
Spoiler alert, I did the tests and bought a set of lenses already. I’ll go over that at the end of the video, but these are what I wanted in my lenses, and the tests I did to make my decision.
What I Want In My Prime Lenses
First off, what I wanted in my set of lenses. I wanted a set of lenses that are fast, have a little bit of character. Not over the top but are not be overly sharp like a photo lens. If I need a sharp lens, I’ll use my G-master glass with autofocus or rent the more expensive Sigma primes if I have the budget for a 1st ac.
It’s very important that the lenses have a consistent look and color throughout the set. I don’t mind soft edges or flares wide open, but I want them to clean up around T/4 or 5.6.
What I initially thought
Going into this review, I wrote down why I chose these lenses in this price point.
Irix: I’m most excited to test this lens, it’s maybe starting to creep out of the compact category with it’s weight and size compared to the other lenses, but at T1.5 that's to be expected. I expect this lens to be clinically sharp, maybe too sharp for what I want.
Athena: I love the small size of this lens, and I’ve heard a lot of YouTube hype about this. I expect this to have a good balance of character and sharpness.
Vespid: I’ve used the vespids before, but never done a proper comparison of a set. The size and build quality is great. I think this will have the most character.
Aperture Ranges
When it comes to aperture ranges, the
Let’s keep this in mind when talking about image quality next.
Image Quality
When it comes to the image quality, taking an unopinionated response first, speeding through some charts. Pause this if you need to.
Athena: Wide open at T1.9, the athena has a lot of chromatic abberation throughout the frame, and edges are very soft. Vignette is gone by T4. The center is sharp wide open, but the ca makes it look a little soft, ca less apparent and sharpens up at T2.8. The edges sharp at T4. The edges of the frame have signs of color fringing throughout the aperture range if you’re really pixel peeping, but I wasn’t able to notice it at 100% between T4 and 5.6.
Vespid: The center is sharp wide open. The Vespid has some chromatic abberation in the corners until T5.6, but the color fringing is very subtle, and looks more like the fringing is in the out of focus areas. That could be why the edges take until T5.6 to sharpen up. Vignette is gone by T4.
Irix: Heavy Vignette wide open. Vignette is gone by T4. The center is sharp wide open, but with distracting chromatic abberation. This is gone by T2. Surprisingly, the edges are sharp, even wide open at T1.5.
I was very surprised it took the Athena until T2.8 and the Vespid until T4 to match the sharpness of the irix at 1.5.
I was also surprised at the chromatic abberation on the Athena, because I thought the Vespids were going to have the worst color fringing of the three - but that wasn't the case. The Irix lens had some color fringing wide open in the center, but very little in the corners and it was gone by T2.
The Vespid seems to have the worst distortion out of the three, with the athena in a close second and the Irix lens having the least.
All of these lenses are sharp in the center wide open, but I wouldn’t use the Athenas or Irix lens wide open because of the distracting chromatic abberations. The color fringing is so bad that it makes both lenses look soft in my opinion. I think the widest I’d go with these lenses is T2 or 2.8 for the best image. Maybe this is why the Vespids start at 2.1, because it doesn’t have this issue as much? Just a thought.
Either way I was very surprised at the test results.
Color Shift
When it comes to colors, the Athena and the DZOFilm Vespids are pretty close - while the Irix lens is very warm. Not going to go over this very much, shot my color chart and here are the results. The Vespids are a little warm, the athenas are a little warm and green, while the Irix is just way off. My white balance was on manual, my lighting didnt change and all ambient lights were off. Tested the Irix twice and these were the results both times.
Very surprised at the color shift in the Irix. It’s so bad that it’s obviously distracting to me.
Character & Focus Breathing
When it comes to focus breathing and lens characteristics,
Irix: Sharp. Feels more clinical. Noticeable focus breathing, but the color cast is really off-putting.
Vespid: Warm overall. I think the center being sharp wide open, while the edges taking until T5.6 to really clear up make this lens have a different feel to it. The focus plane is wider, but the edges are still soft - it’s a different look. Not much focus breathing.
Athenas: Slightly warm and greenish. Feels neutral overall. Sharp wide open, more focus breathing than the Vespids, but not by much. To me, this skews a little more clinical than organic.
Minimum Focusing Distance
Here are the minimum focusing distances:
Athena 35: 11.8" / 0.3 m
Vespid 35: 12” / 0.3 m
Irix 30: 13.4” / 0.34 m
Flaring & Bokeh
Here are some comparisons for the flaring and bokeh of these lenses. These are pretty subjective - and the phone flashlight in a dark room is as extreme as it’s going to get for any of these lenses. I’ll also include some sun flares on these lenses. The daylight footage was all filmed at T2.8 on all the lenses.
Lens Set & Mount Options
Another thing to consider when buy a set of lenses, is the focal lengths and mounts that they have available. When it comes to cinema lenses, I like to use PL lenses, and adapt them to whatever camera system I’m working on. But here is a chart of all the focal lengths and mounting options available for these three lenses. I’m not going to read these one by one, but I like how many options are available for each of these lenses now.
Irix Cine: EF, PL, RF, E, Z, L, MFT, and X mounts. Mount not swappable. 86mm threads.
DZO Vespid: PL or EF. Mount is User Swappable. Rear ND and artistic set option. 77mm threads.
Nisi Athena: PL, E, EF, RF, L, G. RF and E mount have drop in filter. PL focus extends rear of lens. Not swappable. 77mm threads.
Irix: 43.3mm image circle
Vespid: 46.5mm image circle
Athena: 46mm image circle
Shimming & Maintenance
Speaking of changing lens mounts, swapping mounts usually comes with some shimming. The Vespids are very easy to convert from ef to pl and shim as needed. The Athena’s and Irix lenses wont need to be shimmed since the mounts are fixed and you can’t replace them.
Focus and Iris Rings
While using these lenses hand held for a few shots, I realized there are huge differences in the focus and iris rings.
On the Nisi Athena, I love the tension of the adjustments. I absolutely hate adjusting the focus by hand, though. The focus ring's design is very narrow, and the lens body behind it does not move like the Vespids. My hand gets caught on the edge of the front of the lens. I really don’t like this design. Since the lenses are so small, you can totally use them handheld just like a photo lens, but you’ll want to use a follow-focus here.
On the DZO Vespids, I absolutely love the focus and iris tension. 270 degree focus throw. Easy to adjust, but is also precise. Love that body of the lens in front of and behind the focus ring also adjusts the focus. I don’t focus on the barrel of the lens often, but I prefer this design when I do.
For the Irix, the focus ring is very stiff and difficult to rotate hand held. 300 degree focus throw. Works fine a with follow focus. The iris ring is very close to the mount though. I’m using the DZO octopus PL to E mount, and the mount interferes with the iris ring since it’s so close to the mount. If you’re using a PL adapter with this lens, make sure it has the proper clearance if you’re using iris motors.
Size & Build Quality
Nisi Athenas: very light and compact. Feels like it could be a well-made mirrorless lens. One downside to the smaller design on the PL mount versions, is that the back of the lens by the mount moves when you’re focusing. These lenses also come in mirrorless mounts that don’t do this and you can use rear ND’s, but you’re not able to use rear NDs with the PL mount version.
Vespids: A little and heavier than a photo prime lens. Heavier, better build quality and about the same size.
Irix: Huge and heavy. Much larger compared to the other lenses. Was more difficult to use handheld on the RS4 Pro, but not impossible. There is a mount on the bottom of this lens, and since the lens is pretty large already, I had to take the lens mount off of the lens to get it to fit on the RS4 Pro.
Lens Caps
The Irix and Athenas have great, solid-feeling lens caps. The DZO Film’s lens caps work. But they just don’t feel as secure as the Irix or Nisi’s caps. The DZO’s are plastic while the others are more rigid and feel like they protect the lens better if they fall. They are more difficult to get off though. This is picky, but it is a difference.
Pricing
All of these lenses are pretty affordable in the scheme of cinema lenses, but here are the current prices of each lens and lens set. Specialty lenses like the macro lenses are more expensive, but this is the average price and they may fluctuate over time.
Athena: $1,198 - 5-lens kit: $5,798
Vespid: $1,399 - 7-lens kit: $6,500
Irix: $1,195 - 5-lens kit: $5,799
Which Did I Buy?
When it comes to which lenses I would choose, I went with the DZOFilm Vespids. They have that character I’m looking for wide open, but they also clean up is you stop down the lens. If I need clinical precise lenses for now, I’ll either be shooting with the vespids from T5.6 to T10 if I’m working with a team, or using my photo glass for those super sharp results working alone, and I need autofocus.
All of these lenses are a fantastic value as well. I originally wanted a set of very clean Sigma high-speed cine primes, but the fact that you could buy the 5-lens Irix set, 5-lens athena set and 7-lens vespid set for the price for a 5-lens Sigma set is unbelievable. I bought a set Vespids for the wide range of focal lengths, ability to shim and swap the mounts, minimal focus breathing, and overall look. For some reason, I found myself liking the way the Vespids looked at T4 when filming people. I liked that I can get a bit of a look without being wide open. There is something unique to that.
If I was filming more products than people, the Athen’s clean up faster and are even lighter and smaller. I could see myself owning a set of these lenses as well, due to their small size, and clean look - even if they have some chromatic abberation in the edges of the frame. I don’t think you’d notice past T2.8 unless you were really zooming in and looking for it. And if a shoot demands that, I can rent higher end cinema lenses.
If I shot more very precise product videos or sharp table top stuff in a studio, I could see the Irix lenses being more attractive, but then again the color cast is very off putting. One of the reasons I’d buy a set of cinema lenses is for a consistent look throughout the set. After my tests, I went online and read that the other irix lenses have color casting issues as well and they don’t match with each other. Disclaimer, I have no tested this, so take this with a grain of salt, but when you’re moving fast and want a consistent look in your monitor when shooting and swapping lenses, this is a hard stop for me. Their sharp, but I’m going to have to pass on the Irix cine lenses.
The Vespids have already started to pay for themselves on shoots, and I’m looking forward to using these lenses more. I really do like the Athenas too though, I could see myself actually purchasing a set of Athena’s if my clients want a more clinical look than the Vespids can provide, but don’t need Sigma high speed lenses. Owning a set of Cinema lenses also allows me to use them on my own personal projects and get more familiar with them over time. Right now, it doesnt financially make sense for me to own a set of Sigma Cine Primes, as they would take too long to pay themselves off with the clients I currently have. Their just not looking for that right now.
I’m going to be making a video about the lenses that I chose for my 7-lens Vespid set, I kind of made a non-standard kit of lenses - so be sure to subscribe on Instagram or check back to the website to check that out when I can post it.