A Broke Filmmaker’s Guide To Affordable Quality Cine Lenses

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Published: November 25, 2019 | Last Updated: September 22, 2025

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This guide helps you select cine lenses that align with your creative vision and budget constraints. I have divided brands and manufacturers into budget, mid-range, and professional categories. I have included a wide-angle, normal, and telephoto lens within each category and brand.

This is partially to explore options so you may begin building a lens kit. In selecting your first set of lenses, I strongly recommend ensuring you have variation in focal length and trying to stick with one brand.

Note: Unfortunately, I can’t show images of the lenses due to copyright rules.

Low-Budget Cine Lenses

So, let’s look at three affordable brands to start building your first kit of cine lenses: SLR Magic, Rokinon, and Meike.

SLR Magic

SLR Magic is a UK-based manufacturer known for offering affordable, well-built lenses. The warm tint and soft corners help create a cinematic look. These lenses also share the same filter thread diameter, making it easy to swap filters, and all are very compact and portable.

While the lenses I have selected are for a full-frame sensor and Sony E-Mount, they manufacture different lenses for all types of sensors. This series is for the Micro Four Thirds image sensor and Fuji X Mount. If you don’t have those, you can always use adapters.

Overall, SLR Magic makes great lenses.

SLR Magic MicroPrime Cine 25mm T1.5 Lens For Sony E-Mount

Aperture: Maximum T1.5 | Minimum Focal Distance: 10” / 0.25m | Filter Thread: 82mm | Weight: 1.65 lb / 750 g | Length: 3.43” / 87 mm

The SLR Magic Cine 25mm F/1.4 lens is a beautiful wide-angle lens for full-frame sensors. It is available in the Sony E-Mount, but you can also get this cine prime for MFT and X-Mount.

Its compact size, relatively low weight, and sturdy build make it a great option for filmmakers on the go. All the MicroPrimes have the same size, making them a great interchangeable lens choice if you use a matte box.

SLR Magic MicroPrime Cine 35mm T1.3 Lens for Sony E Mount

Aperture: Maximum T1.3 | Sensor coverage: Full Frame | Filter Thread: 82mm | Weight: 1.54 lb / 700 g | Length: 3.43” / 87 mm

Like the 25mm, the SLR Magic Cine 35mm is available for Sone E-Mount, MFT, and X-Mount. It’s a great wide-angle lens for full-frame sensors, and if you are shooting with an APS-C sensor, its equivalent field-of-view will be that of a nifty-fifty 50mm lens. Between the selected SLR Magic lenses, another added benefit is a consistent filter thread diameter.

SLR Magic MicroPrime Cine 50mm T1.2 For Sony E-Mount

Aperture: Maximum T1.2 | Sensor coverage: Full Frame | Filter Thread: 82mm | Weight: 1.54 lb / 700 g | Length: 3.43” / 87 mm

The SLR Magic Cine 50mm lens is the nifty-fifty in this series. Like the other options, it offers great optical image quality at this price point. It is light and sturdy to carry around, making it a great choice if you want to buy only one cine lens for your full-frame camera.

SLR Magic MicroPrime Cine 75mm T1.5 Lens For Sony E-Mount

Aperture: Maximum T1.5 | Sensor coverage: Full Frame | Filter Thread: 82mm | Weight: 1.54 lb / 700 g | Length: 3.43” / 87 mm

The SLR Magic Cine 75mm lens is a great budget telephoto lens. Like the other options, it is light and sturdy enough to carry around. However, the crop factor may make this lens difficult to use if you shoot on anything besides a full-frame sensor. For example, an APS-C sensor will read 112mm, which may be too telephoto for typical shooting conditions.

Rokinon

There is confusion about Rokinon and Samyang lenses and whether or not they’re the same brand. This confusion is caused by Samyang’s partnership with companies that sell them under private labeling. Rokinon does not manufacture the glass, so besides the labeling and perhaps a few small adjustments, Samyang and Rokinon Glass are essentially the same.

With good reason, Rokinon is one of the most recognizable budget cine lens brands. Though they are heavy and have minor issues with the build quality, they are good options at this lower price point. The colors match great between lenses, their fast speed allows for great lowlight shooting, and they offer great color.

As is expected with lower-priced glass, there are some minor issues with vignetting and lens breathing. Also, they won’t produce the sharpest corners on the market, especially if you plan to shoot with the aperture completely opened up.

As Rokinon is much more recognizable in the United States, I have selected three Rokinon lenses for 24mm, 50mm, and 85mm. The lenses listed below are for a Canon EF mount, though the same lenses can be found for various mounts.

Rokinon Cine 24mm T1.5 For Canon EF Mount

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 9.8” / 25cm | Filter Thread: 77mm | Weight: 1.4 lbs / 615 g | Length: 3.8” / 9.7 cm

The Rokinon Cine 24mm T1.5 lens is an incredible and affordable full-frame wide-angle lens in many different makes and models. Though I listed the specs for the Canon EF mount, it’s also available in MFT, Nikon F, Sony Alpha, and Sony E mounts.

Rokinon Cine 50mm T1.5 For Canon EF Mount

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 1.5’ / 0.45m | Filter Thread: 77mm | Weight: 20.3 oz / 575 g | Length: 2.9” / 7.37 mm

Built for full-frame sensors, the Rokinon Cine 50mm lens is hard to beat a normal-length lens. It is available in many different mounts. These lenses are slightly heavier and larger than the SLR Magic lenses.

Rokinon Cine 85mm T1.5 Lens For Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 3.6’ / 1.0m | Filter Thread: 72mm | Weight: 20.5 oz / 580 g | Length: 2.84” / 7.22cm

The Rokinon Cine 85mm T1.5 lens can create a very shallow depth of field and is a good starter telephoto lens.

It is a full-frame lens, so converting it to other sensor sizes will increase the equivalent focal length. As with the other Rokinons, it is available in various mounts, so adapters shouldn’t be necessary for most cameras.

Meike

Meike lenses are durable, provide great image quality and value, and limit problems such as vignetting and focus breathing. However, the limited focal length options limit your options if you are trying to build a kit.

Depending on your camera, you may also need a lens adapter. A high-quality and durable adapter is strongly recommended since the Meike’s weight can be cumbersome and cause mounting issues.

Meike 12mm T2.2 Cinema Lens For MFT Mount

Aperture: Maximum T2.2, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 8.66” / 22 cm | Filter Thread: 77mm | Weight: 1.33 lbs / 606g | Length: 3.50” / 89mm

The Meike 12mm Cine Lens is a full-frame, MFT mount wide-angle lens. Although the equivalent focal length for a full-frame sensor is 24mm, it still offers a wide-angle field of view. This durable lens produces a great image, but it is only available for MFT mounts.

Meike 16mm T2.2 Cinema Lens For MFT Mount

Aperture: Maximum T2.2, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 7.87” / 20 cm | Filter Thread: 77mm | Weight: 17.3 oz / 490g | Length: 4” / 101mm

Like the 12mm lens, the Meike 16mm Cine Lens is full-frame and only offered for an MFT mount. It is another great wide-angle option for filmmakers on a budget.

Meike 25mm T2.2 Cinema Lens For MFT Mount

Aperture: Maximum T2.2, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 9.8” / 24.9 cm | Filter Thread: 77mm | Weight: 1.23lbs / 557g | Length: 3.56” / 90.4mm

The Meike 25mm T2.2 is a wide-angle designed for full-frame cameras. Using it on a micro-four-thirds sensor gives you an equivalent focal length of 50mm, giving you a nifty fifty. Unlike the 12mm and 16mm lenses, the Meike 25mm CT2.2 Cine Lens is available for an MFT mount, E-mount, and X-mount.

Irix

While not as commonly seen as Rokinon and Canon, Irix Cine lenses are relatively affordable cine lenses, good quality, and produce a very nice cinematic look.

The lenses are also available in various lens mounts, meaning you won’t have to purchase an adapter. Irix lenses feature what you’d expect in cine lenses: consistency between their lenses, gears for focus pulls, and an adjustable aperture.

These lenses also have a solid build quality, are weather-sealed, and have minimal distortion. If you’re looking to build a cine lens kit, Irix is a great point of entry.

IRIX Cine 15mm T2.6 Lens with Canon EF-Mount

Aperture: Maximum T2.6, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 9.84” / 25 cm | Filter Thread: 86 mm | Weight: 1.97 lbs / 895 g | Length: 3.5” / 89 mm

The Irix Cine 15mm T2.6 lens is a very solid wide-angle lens. It is weather-sealed and features very durable construction. A consistent filter thread size between the Irix family (except the 150mm macro lens) makes these lenses great for building a kit. Plenty of ergonomic features, such as fluorescent markings and a ¼” support foot to stabilize the lens, also help set these lenses apart.

IRIX Cine 45mm T1.5 Lens with Canon EF-Mount

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 1.3’ / 0.4 m | Filter Thread: 86 mm | Weight: 2.49 lbs / 1.13 kg | Length: 4.41” / 112 mm

The Irix Cine 45mm T1.5 lens is a great cine for a solid price. With a high-speed aperture, this lens can produce beautiful images, create a shallow depth of field, and produce beautiful bokeh if that’s what you’re looking for. Like the 15mm lens, this 45mm cine lens has all the cine features you’d expect and Irix’s solid and durable build.

Mid-Range Cine Lenses

Now, look at some of the best cine lenses at the mid-range price point. Various small video production companies around the globe use lenses in this category. We will look at Rokinon Xeen lenses and Tokina Cinema ATX zoom lenses.

Rokinon Xeen

Regarding price and quality, Rokinon Xeen lenses are the big brothers of the Rokinon lenses above. They offer sharper images, richer color, and smoother and more ergonomic focus and aperture gearing at that added price.

If you want to take your work to the next level, Rokinon Xeen lenses may be for you. They are rather heavy and bulky, though, so be aware of that if you’re coming from smaller, low-budget cinema or photo lenses.

Below are the specs of three different Xeen lenses for a Canon mount. These lenses are also available for MFT, Nikon, Sony, and PL mounts.

Rokinon Xeen XN24-C 24mm T1.5 For Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 10” / 25cm | Filter Thread: 114mm | Weight: 41.6 oz / 1.2 kg | Length: 4.8” / 121.7mm

The Rokinon Xeen XN24-C cine lens fixes the problems in the cheaper Rokinon models. It is built for a full-frame sensor and is also offered in MFT, Nikon, PL, and Sony FE mounts. These lenses are sturdy with smooth gearing but – as mentioned – also quite heavy.

Rokinon Xeen XN50-C 50mm T1.5 For Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 1.5’ / 0.45 m | Filter Thread: 114mm | Weight: 40.9 oz / 1.2 kg | Length: 4.8” / 121.7mm

This lens is a great normal-length lens. Also offered in MFT, Nikon, PL, and Sony FE mounts, the XN50-C 50mm lens is readily available for most mounts. It offers a clear, sharp image at a budget still available for many independent filmmakers.

Rokinon Xeen XN85-C 85mm T1.5 For Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 3.6’ / 1.1m | Filter Thread: 114mm | Weight: 43.0 oz / 1.2 kg | Length: 4.8” / 121.7 mm

The Rokinon Xeen XN85-C Cine Lens is a telephoto lens that is a great addition to any kit. Built for a full-frame sensor, it is offered in the same variety of mounts and has the same great features as the XN50 and XN24 lenses.

Tokina Zoom Cine Lens

The Tokina Cinema ATX lenses are a great option for an affordable zoom lens. Parfocal and with a constant maximum aperture of T3, they offer many of the benefits of zoom lenses at an affordable price.

However, their limited availability in terms of mounts can be an issue, especially as adapters can mess with focus. Finally, the rather extreme focal lengths they cover limit your options when you want a more normal focal length.

Though zoom cinema lenses are more expensive, these options are relatively affordable and offer a variety of focal lengths for shooting. The Tokina lenses we’re looking at are for Canon mounts, though other options are available.

Tokina Cinema ATX 50-135mm T3.0 For Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T3.0, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 39.4” / 1m | Filter Thread: 114mm | Weight: 3.4 lbs / 1.5 kg | Length: 6.12” / 155.5 mm

The Tokina ATX 50-135 Cine Lens is a great option for anyone looking for an affordable zoom cine lens. It is a full-frame lens covering focal lengths from normal to telephoto. It is offered in a PL and Canon EF mount, though anything else will require adaptation.

Tokina Cinema ATX 11-20mm T2.9 For Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T2.9, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 0.98’ / 0.3m | Filter Thread: 86mm | Weight: 2.43 lbs / 1.1 kg | Length: 3.92” / 99.5 mm

The Tokina ATX 11-20mm cine zoom lens is full-frame and parfocal, offering many great qualities in zoom cine lenses at a relatively low price. The wide-angle lens is offered in Canon EF, MFT, PL, Nikon F, and Sony E mounts.

Affordable High-End Cine Lenses

Now we will look at some of the higher-range cine lenses still used by many independent filmmakers. These Cine Lenses offer professional quality and are found in many projects, from commercial work to narrative and documentary filmmaking.

Sigma Cine Zoom Lenses

The next two lenses we will examine are also zoom lenses. For the money, Sigma Zoom lenses are some of the best zoom cine lenses you can get. These lenses cover almost all the focal lengths needed in everyday shooting and effectively limit most of the problems associated with zoom lenses.

Though they are large and heavy, Sigma Zooms can replace a full lens kit well, especially for run-and-gun filmmakers who find themselves changing lenses far too often. If you are a documentary filmmaker and shoot on location, the Sigma Zooms are great lenses to pick up.

Sigma offers these lenses natively for PL, Canon, and Sony mounts.

Sigma 18-35mm T2 High-Speed Zoom Lens For PL, Sony E, and Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T2, Minimum T16 | Minimum Focal Distance: 11” / 27.94cm | Filter Thread: 82mm | Weight: 4 lbs / 1.81 kg | Length: 6.12” / 155.5mm

The Sigma 18-35 zoom cine lens is wide-angle for Super 35 sensors. It is great for documentary filmmakers and filmmakers with little time to swap lenses. It is offered for PL, Canon EF, and Sony E mounts.

Sigma 50-100mm T2 High-Speed Zoom Lens For PL, Sony E, and Canon EF

Aperture: Maximum T2, Minimum T16 | Minimum Focal Distance: 3.17’ / 96.5cm | Filter Thread: 82mm | Weight: 4.27 lbs / 1.94 kg | Length: 7.92” / 201.2 mm

The Sigma 50-100mm zoom cine lens is also for Super 35 sensors and offered for PL, Canon EF, and Sony E mounts. It covers focal lengths from normal to telephoto and is paired with the 18-35mm zoom lens. You will have a very usable variety of focal lengths with just two lenses.

Canon CN-E Cine Lenses

Canon CN-E cine lenses are some of the highest quality cine lenses available at a somewhat reasonable budget for independent filmmakers. Though you could probably buy a car for the price of building a kit of these lenses, their price tag is not without reason.

These lenses are for a Canon EF mount and full-frame sensor, so an adapter and conversion will be required if you intend to use them with different mounts and sensor sizes. They are ruggedly built and quite heavy (comparable to the Xeens above).

If you have a camera with a Canon RF mount, check out the Complete List Of RF Mount Cinema Lenses.

Canon CN-E 24mm T1.5 L F Cine Lens

Aperture: Maximum T1.5, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 12” / 31cm | Filter Thread: 144mm | Weight: 2.6 lbs / 1.2 kg | Length: 4” / 10.2 mm

The Canon CN-E 24mm cine lens is a wide-angle, full-frame lens built for Canon EF mounts. It is a professional-quality cine lens that will give you a professional image. These lenses are quite heavy and are best suited for controlled environments.

Canon CN-E 50mm T1.3 L F Cine Lens

Aperture: Maximum T1.3, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 18” / 45.7cm | Filter Thread: 114mm | Weight: 2.4 lbs / 1.1 kg | Length: 4” / 10.2 mm

The Canon CN-E 50mm lens is a great “nifty-fifty” lens built for full-frame Canon EF mounts. The same filter thread diameter, form factor, and optical design shared between the CN-E lenses allow for a kit of these lenses to be easily swapped without any adapters or changes in image quality.

Canon CN-E 85mm T1.3 L F Cine Lens

Aperture: Maximum T1.3, Minimum T22 | Minimum Focal Distance: 3.16’ / 96cm | Filter Thread: 114mm | Weight: 2.9 lbs / 1.3 kg | Length: 4” / 10.2 mm

A great addition to a kit of CN-E lenses, the Canon CN-E 85mm Cine Lens will give you a telephoto option that shares the same strengths as the 24mm and 50mm options. If you are looking for a professional quality telephoto cine lens, it is hard to go wrong with this option.

Summing Up

The lenses I’ve presented in this article are some of the best and most affordable cine lenses. While a simple Rokinon lens will often do a great job, a zoom lens may be more functional if you plan on shooting projects that involve hiking or require little or no time to set up.

Regardless of your needs, it is important to consider the law of diminishing returns when selecting your lens.

If you’re picking up your first cine lens, any of these options will surely be an improvement over a kit lens or a cheap still lens. However, as you move from Rokinon’s to Rokinon Xeen’s to Canon CN-E’s, the added benefits you’re paying for become smaller and smaller, from smoother gearing to subtle improvements in sharpness and color.

While the nicer build quality is great, don’t be discouraged or intimidated by the price tag if you can’t afford it. Cheaper brands can still produce great images if used correctly.

Another note is that the conditions you’re shooting in greatly improve the lens’s quality. Before you pick up a Canon CN-E lens, ensure you can provide good lighting and a steady camera since none of these lenses have in-built optical image stabilization. Even a great lens will do little to save a poorly exposed or shaky shot, so you need some image stabilization for the best results.

The most important thing to remember is that picking the right lens comes down to your needs and style. If you prefer a brand or know which lens you’ll pick up after reading this, leave a comment below and let us know.

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