NiSi rounds out Athena Cine Prime set with 18mm, 40mm and 135mm lenses

Last year, NiSi teased five lenses in the then-new NiSi Athena full-frame cinema line. It included 14mm T2.4 and 24mm, 35mm, 50mm and 85mm T1.9 lenses. Now, they’ve announced three new lenses for filmmakers to get their hands on.

The three new additions are the 18mm T2.2 (buy here), 40mm T1.9 (buy here) and 135mm T2.2 (buy here). The original five lenses made quite the splash at NAB last year, and the three new additions round out the collection quite nicely.

NiSi Athena full-frame cinema primes

The big selling point of NiSi’s Athena full-frame cinema primes is their compact size and low weight. This makes them ideal for use on gimbals, where you want as easy a time balancing things as possible so as not to stress your motors and save battery life.

Not only are they smaller than many other cine prime lenses, but they’re also significantly smaller than cine zoom lenses. Of course, while those zoom lenses might be impossible to work with on a gimbal, they do offer more versatility for those who need to switch focal lengths quickly. If you can take your time, need a gimbal or want to cover multiple angles simultaneously, a set of primes makes much more sense.

All eight lenses are almost identical in size. The new 135mm T2.2 is slightly longer than the others, but it’s pretty close. They all have similar weight and weight distribution and aperture & focus gears in the same positions. This means you can swap them out without having to rebalance the gimbal.

A matching set of lenses

The new three lenses turn the 5-lens kit into an 8-lens kit. Each of the lenses in the set offers a similar bokeh presentation with a consistent look and feel to the images. And being from NiSi, it’s a pretty expensive set, with all 8 lenses costing less than a single high-end cinema lens.

The complete list now looks like this:

• NiSi Athena Prime 14mm T2.4
• NiSi Athena Prime 18mm T2.2
• NiSi Athena Prime 25mm T1.9
• NiSi Athena Prime 35mm T1.9
• NiSi Athena Prime 40mm T1.9
• NiSi Athena Prime 50mm T1.9
• NiSi Athena Prime 85mm T1.9
• NiSi Athena Prime 135mm T2.2

As with the previous five lenses, the three new lenses are available in a range of different camera mounts. These include Sony E, Canon RF, Leica L, Fuji GFX, and Arri PL. There’s no mention of Nikon Z yet, although I wonder if that might change soon, given Nikon’s recent acquisition of RED.

If you buy the sets of lenses rather than individually, they come with a 9-lens hard case. Yes, that’s right. That’s one more slot than there are lenses in the Athena lineup. Could there be another lens on the way at some point?

The above photo shows the case loaded with the 8-lens set. Given which slot is empty, in between the 85mm and 135mm lenses, this suggests that the final piece of the puzzle may be a 105mm lens. Ideally, with a T1.9 aperture and not T2.2 or T2.4.

NiSi Athena 18mm, 40mm, 135mm Specs

	NiSi Athena 18mm T2.2	NiSi Athena 40mm T1.9	NiSi Athena 135mm T2.2
Focal length	18mm	40mm	135mm
Format	Full-Frame	Full-Frame	Full-Frame
Image circle	46mm	46mm	46mm
Max aperture	T2.2	T1.9	T2.2
Min aperture	T22	T22	T22
Diaphragm Blades	10	10	10
Optics	Unspecified	Unspecified	Unspecified
Angle of view	Unspecified	Unspecified	Unspecified
Focus type	Manual Focus	Manual Focus	Manual Focus
Focus throw	300°	300°	300°
Min focus distance	Unspecified	Unspecified	Unspecified
Filter thread	77mm	77mm	77mm
Dimensions	Unspecified	Unspecified	Unspecified
Weight	Unspecified	Unspecified	Unspecified
Mounts	Canon RF, Sony E, Leica L, Fuji GFX, Arri PL	Canon RF, Sony E, Leica L, Fuji GFX, Arri PL	Canon RF, Sony E, Leica L, Fuji GFX, Arri PL

Price and Availability

The three new lenses are all available to pre-order now. Each lens is available individually or in a set in Canon RF, Sony E, Leica L, Fuji GFX and Arri PL mounts. The NiSi Athena 18mm T2.2 is available to pre-order now for $1,268. The 40mm T1.9 is also available to pre-order now for $1,268. Finally, the 135mm T2.2 is also available to pre-order now for $1,126.

Owners of the existing 5-lens NiSi Athena kit can pre-order a new 3-lens kit to round out their collection for $3,499. If you haven’t already purchased last year’s 5-lens kit, you can pre-order the entire 8-lens NiSi Athena set, including a case for $8,999.

Items are expected to begin shipping around mid-April.

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