Review: CHIOPT XTREME ZOOM 28-85mm T3.2 Cine Lens

Review: CHIOPT XTREME ZOOM 28-85mm T3.2 Cine Lens

CHIOPT, a young Chinese lens manufacturing company, has recently announced and released the Xtreme Zoom 28-85mm T3.2, the first lens in the Xtreme series. Let’s take a look. We have been lucky enough to get hold of one to put it through its paces.

Build and design
SPECS
Lens Mount : PL/EF/E
Minimum T Stop: T3.2(F2.8)
Aperture Range: T3.2-T22
Minimum Focus Distance: 0.7 m
Zoom Ratio : 3x
Image Circle : ∅46.0 mm
Gear MOD & Pitch: Focus: 0.8 MOD / 32 Pitch
Weight: 2.7Kg(PL) / 2.75Kg(EF) / 2.8Kg(E)
Dimensions (W x H) : 114 x 228 mm(PL) × 229(EF) × 254.5(E)

At the first glance, we have been surprised by its quality. The CHIOPT Xtreme ZOOM 28-85mm T3.2 is very well made and constructed. The outside of the lens casing is a hard metal and it has been designed in a matte black finish for greater hardness and strength and enhanced resistance to handprints and oil stains.

The CHIOPT Xtreme is a full-frame lens that comes in different flavors of mounts of PL, EF and Sony E-mount, but the mounts are also swappable if needed. If you are using mirrorless cameras, you can take advantage of adapters from EF to RF, L and so on, but also make use of specialty adapters with a built-in ND or speed boosters.

By the way, the weight of the lens is dependable on its mount, being 2.75kg for the EF-mount for instance. This is not a light lens by any stretch of the imagination, however, considering its focal range and constant T stop it is understandable.

Instead of making two different versions of the 28-85mm T3.2, CHIOPT has placed the metric scale on the left side of the focus ring, and the imperial scale on the right side. The focus ring is followed by the zoom ring and the aperture ring. When it comes to the focus ring, we found that the operation is very smooth and the focus rotation is 288-degrees. The zoom ring is more heavily dampened than the focus ring but this is fairly common with cine zooms because you don’t necessarily want to accidentally bump the focal range. The aperture ring is also easy to use.

We now know that the lens has 9 aperture blades and the front lens diameter is 114mm, making sure the amount of light up to T3.2 at each focus range. In addition, the lens diameter makes it available for more accessory choices such as ARRI, SmallRig lens hoods and more.

Lab tests
CHIOPT doesn’t list how many groups and elements are in the optical design, but we can predict its optical performance through a series of theoretical tests. Now for the following tests we shot on LUMIX S1H with the CHIOPT Xtreme ZOOM 28-85mm T3.2 (EF-mount).

001 Sharpness
For the sharpness test, we set the lens at 28mm, 50mm and 85mm respectively. And at each of them, we took shots at an aperture range of T3.2 through T22 for analysis. Now here are 100% crops at the center and corners for your reference.

28mm

The lens set at 28mm/T3.2 can produce a sharp result at the center yet a little soft looking at corners. Sharpness at corners will be slightly improved when the lens is stopped down by 1 stop and keep pace with central sharpness when the lens is stopped down to T11 or so.

50mm

Similarly, the lens set at 50mm/T3.2 can produce a sharp result at the center yet a little soft looking at corners. But sharpness at corners will be largely improved when the lens is stopped down by 2 stops and be equal to central sharpness when the lens is stopped down to T8.

85mm

Notice that the lens set at 85mm/T3.2 can’t produce a sharp result both at the center and at corners. But sharpness will be materially improved when lens is stopped down to T4 and be equal to central sharpness when the lens is stopped down to T8.

To sum up, the lens set at 85mm might give you sharper results at T4 or less than at its widest aperture setting of T3.2. At small apertures, it yields sharper images at corners.

002 Lens blur
At 28mm, you need to be careful about how bokeh turns out, as it cannot blur away everything in the background or foreground like large focus ranges do. At F3.2, a few bokeh appears with the appearance of the angles between the aperture blades. When the lens is stopped down to F8 or less, starburst faculae show up.
28mm

At 50mm/T3.2, circular and soft faculae appear, while the angles between the aperture blades are visible which will be lessened as the aperture shrinks.
50mm

At 85mm, there is a blurry and dreamy background! At the same time, the angles between the aperture blades become relatively pronounced at T3.2. At T11, obvious starburst faculae show up.
85mm

003 Lens flare
The lens flare has long plagued Chinese optical manufacturers due to reflection in the interior of the lens barrel. The following test shows that the lens will produce a bulk of flares and end up with a diffused circle at the edges of the frame, when used wide open. Of course, you are recommended to avoid the problem by using a lens hood. However, lens flare is very much a personal thing and whether you utilize the flares this lens produces for cinematic expressions only you can decide.

004 Breathing
According to CHIOPT, the Xtreme 28-85mm has well-controlled breathing as mostly seen in other cinema lenses. We tested out the lens at maximum aperture, and while there is a very small amount of breathing, it is very well contained.

005 Distortion
Video shooting places very high demands on distortion as even mild distortion can be magnified and then leads to an unpleasing result. For the test, we have turned off in-camera distortion correction in advance.

28mm

50mm

85mm

At 28mm barrel distortion is fairly noticeable and at wider focal lengths some slight pincushion distortion shows up. It may not be excellent in distortion suppression, however, there is not such a big problem in real-world use.

006 Vignetting
At first, at 28mm you can see the visible vignetting at T3.2, which slowly decreases as the aperture is shrunk. At T5.6, there are almost no vignetting in the image.

Secondly, the vignetting at 50mm witnesses a large improvement which almost disappears when the lens is stopped down to T4.

At 85mm, the lens performance is very similar to the 50mm effect.

Real World Thoughts
With the zoom ratio of 3x, the lens supports a wide range of focus lengths. A combination of a lens support, a lens hood, a follow focus and the lens will further maximize efficiency.

28mm

50mm

85mm

The Xtreme 28-85mm T3.2 can fully meet the needs of 4K feature footage which has sharp performance at the center.

The CHIOPT Xtreme is also parfocal, meaning that when you zoom in or out, the focus stays at the same spot.

Thanks to well-controlled breathing, you can achieve signature zoom effects, so your audiences can stay focus.

It’s worth to mention that there is a blurry and dreamy background at 85mm! When keeping forefront flowers in focus, the subject can be blurred to a proper extent considering the close distance between them.

Verdict
Nowadays, a majority of directors give preference to prime lenses, but actually zoom lenses are proven to be efficiency boosters and cost savers. Free from the tedious process required for prime lenses, the CHIOPT Xtreme ZOOM 28-85mm T3.2 really comes as a pleasant surprise.

What’s more, the Xtreme ZOOM will retail for $2899 USD which makes it incredibly good value for money. CHIOPT also has plans to release a 75-250mm T3.2 full-frame zoom. It is good to see more competition in the affordable full-frame cine zoom space. If you are looking for a solidly made full-frame cine zoom with a decent focal range, the CHIOPT Xtreme 28-85mm T3.2 is a good option. It’s not in the best league, but it still gets the job done for far less money and that is its biggest appeal.