Film Riot’s Ryan Connolly has bravely compared a $500 Rokinon lens to a $25,000 ARRI Master Prime lens. This comparison aimed to show if there are any noticeable differences between them. The findings are surprisedly fascinating, encouraging, but obvious.

An essential brave debate

That’s right! This is not a real-world debate, but a dry comparison. We even don’t dare to seriously compare between a rehoused Rokinon to the mighty ARRI Master Prime. However, Ryan did, but to stimulate your thinking rather proving any point. However, this is an essential brave discussion. The Master Primes are heavy duty cinema workhorses, and the Rokinon are… Rokinon. Nevertheless, with proper lighting and web compression, you should not reveal which is which. A good cinematographer can make you have a hard time distinguishing between them, especially when the video is published on highly compressed media.

When your footage looks sharp on YouTube, it doesn’t mean that it will look sharp on the big screen (=movie theater).

Rokinon vs. ARRI Master Prime

Filmmaker Ryan Connolly from the legendary Youtube channel, Film Riot, has published the comparison of the Rokinon to the ARRI Master Prime. Both of them were mounted on Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro. The tests were performed on various conditions, from studio to location, including keying. To make the story short, the Rokinon performed insanely well. Almost no differences were noticed. The only major difference was the quality of the bokeh. However, it was noticeable only when enlarged (see the screenshot below). Besides that, it’s very challenging to know which is which.

This is an essential brave discussion. The Master Primes are heavy-duty cinema workhorses, and the Rokinon are… Rokinon. Nevertheless, with proper lighting and web compression, you should not reveal which is which.

Social media is not a high-end media

It’s true that they’re some outstanding gorgeous films on YouTube. But let’s not forget that your video is going to be heavily compressed. Yes, you can shoot stuff for YouTube using top-tier high-end cinema cameras and lenses. Nonetheless, the quality of this precious material will be significantly reduced. If so, utilizing low-end lenses might be a smarter choice, when you use YT as your primary channel.

True cinema glass is made for the big screen

When your footage looks sharp on YouTube, it doesn’t mean that it will look sharp on the big screen (=movie theater). The math (and the canvas) doesn’t lie. For theatrical screening, you must use the big guns, including those $20,000 and beyond pieces of glass. And that’s a fact we all need to remember. Top tier companies like ARRI, Cooke, Panavision (and more), develop their lenses for the big screen, and not less than that. And not for YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook (a super compression platform), and even not for your fancy home-theater TV. In other words, this comparison should be screened in a movie theater. Nevertheless, if social media is your bread and butter then low-end glass might be a smarter choice. And that’s the main conclusion!

Watch Film Riot’s comparison below:

Product List

Here’re the products mentioned in the article, and the links to purchase them from authorized dealers. 

• ARRI Master Prime lenses
  • BUY on B&H
• Rokinon Cine Lenses
  • BUY on B&H
  • BUY on ADORAMA