Nightwalker in the Daytime
Sometimes, even a test shot is a keeper. A killer smile, and a little moment is all it takes.
I’ve always thought it’s really important not to delete a damn thing. I go back after a while and look at old shoots. Looking at things after a while, with a fresher set of eyes means you sometimes discover little gems you missed on the first pass through your edit.
NIGHTWALKER BY SIRUI
I picked up the ‘OG’ set – 23mm, 35mm and 50mm. Since this set was release, Sirui have also released a 16mm and 75mm – and I think it’s highly likely I’ll add these to my kit bag in the near future, but more on that later.
Optically, it’s fair to say these lenses have some ‘character’ – and by that, I mean they are not perfect by any means. They’re not razor sharp all the way through – but they are pretty darn good. There’s a bit of CA, particularly wide open, but that’s pretty avoidable, and in all honesty, I didn’t buy these to be used at T1.2 all the time. I’m pleased with the images that come out of these. They have some ‘life’ and not just a pure, super perfect but bland image.
I love the fact that as most cine prime sets are, they are consistent in size, weight, filter size etc. I knew I’d want to use these on a gimbal, and these factors mean I am not rebalancing every time I need to change a lens. Focus and aperture rings are smooth, though I’d probably prefer them with a smidge more resistance – they can feel a little loose when using handheld with no follow focus.
They work perfectly with the focus motors on the DJI RS-4 Pro (above), and I’m planning to add a second motor soon, when the creator combo is available.
They are small, light and versatile and I’m looking forward to using them more on client shoots soon. In the meantime, I’ve started to do a few very short instagram reels – where I head out with the camera and laptop for the afternoon – find a spot to play about with the camera at – and shoot and edit a reel before coming home.
On this occasion, I wanted to see how easy they were to work with handheld, and also to check out where I could get to with colours – so I figured I’d go find some actual colour, in the Botanic Gardens glasshouses in the West End.
This already made it on Insta a couple of weeks back, but here’s the 16:9 version of that reel. All on the X-H2, shot in Flog-2, graded with original Fujifilm LUTs in post in FCPX, and for this one, I used the Sirui 35mm T/1.2 Nightwalker exclusively.
So, am I happy? Yes. Are they perfect? No.
But nothing is, and for the price, the flexibility and actually darn solid quality, they are a steal. I’ll have a lot of fun with these.
