Does the Zeiss 3.9mm Digiprime actually exist?

[Raymond Zrike]

I’ve seen the 3.9mm in the brochures and mentioned in various forum threads, but I can’t find any sort of trace of it having been sold anywhere. Has anyone seen it in the flesh? I would love to get my hands on one—would be pretty neat for super-16 with an Abakus adapter.

[Evan Walsh]

It does, a few were just auctioned off a few weeks ago from VER/PRG

https://www.soldtiger.com/m/lot-details/index/catalog/430/lot/59467/Zeiss DigiPrime 3.9mm T1.9 Cine Lens?url=%2Fm%2Fview-auctions%2Fcatalog%2Fid%2F430%3Fpage%3D8

[Raymond Zrike]

Great find! Crossing my fingers it’ll end up on eBay or this forum. I can never seem to be able to find these auctions until after the fact.

[Evan Walsh]

Something to consider, the Abakus (1.32x) and HDx1.4 (1.4x) adaptors would make the 3.9mm effectively a 5-5.5mm T2.8-ish + any softness or CA an optical adaptor may introduce. 

If you're only after an ultra wide lens for s16 you may have an easier time hunting down the Optex 4mm T1.8, Optex 5.5 T1.8 or Century 6mm T1.9 w/ the front 4.5mm adaptor. 

 

[Raymond Zrike]

I’ve only seen the Optex and Century lenses go for $5k+ while the Digiprimes regularly sell for less than $1k, so that’s mainly why I was hunting for it. It would obviously be more expensive than the other Digiprimes, but I’d expect someone who understands the market to put it up for around $2k.

The HDx1.4 and Abakus adapters don’t really add CA or softness if their own; they obviously enhance the CA already present from the lenses, but it’s not much of an issue given the Digiprimes are already so heavily corrected. I have the HDx1.4 (it actually extends the focal length 1.35x according to the spec sheet) already and I’ve got the Abakus coming in in a few days, so I should be able to do some further tests.