ARRI Ensō Prime lenses look to bring tunable flexibility to new markets

While around half the price of ARRI’s Signature Primes, the 14 new ARRI Ensō Prime lenses still have the air of a ‘reassuringly expensive’ prime lens about them.

First things first, ARRI is not about to go head to head with the growing plethora of high quality but (relatively) cheap Chinese Prime lenses. The Ensō Prime lenses are still ARRI glass and are going to cost you a decent amount of money. 

The phrase ‘reassuringly expensive’ was the tagline in the UK for Stella Artois lager for many years. By our reckoning, you would need to swap somewhere in the region of 8588 cans of the stuff if you were hoping to barter them for a new Ensō Prime, which look to be coming in at around $14,000 each.

Half the price of a Signature Prime, sure. But not exactly cheap.

So, what do you get for your money? The are 14 lenses in the new range covering 10.5 to 250 mm (350/500 mm with Ensō Extenders). Different looks are available via external lens tuning with Ensō Vintage Elements which attach to the back of the lens. They also feature a 1:4 magnification ratio for exceptionally close focus.

The Core set includes six focal lengths and Vintage Elements Kit and is available for pre-order now for around $86,000 or local equivalent (again, it’s worth pointing out that the Signature Core set is $168,000).

ARRI says that the Ensō lenses combine German precision engineering with Japanese optical excellence, and that’s where the name comes from after the circular Zen calligraphy symbol. There is some barnstorming marketing behind all that. "Creating an Ensō with a single brushstroke is an expression of nowness that requires emptying one’s mind of distractions and fully committing to the creative flow,” writes the company. “ARRI Ensō lenses embody this philosophy by instilling the confidence to put aside technical concerns and focus on capturing the moment.”

Aiding that fluid, Zen-like state on set, gear rings are in the same position on all 14 of the Ensō focal lengths, most of which are T2.1 and have a front diameter of 95 mm, so they can be swapped on the camera without disruption. The focal lengths in the core set (18, 24, 32, 47, 75, and 105 mm) will obviously be the most frequently used, but the wide-angle 10.5 and 14 mm, as well as the telephoto 250 mm (350/500 mm with its included 1.4x/2x Extenders) will allow Ensō shooters to meet even the most extreme visual demands.

That impressive magnification ratio of 1:4 on most focal lengths is equivalent to 10” close focus on the 32 mm, which is only 3.7” from the front element. This facilitates beautiful close-up work, for example on product or food shoots, and the minimized breathing means focus racks have no discernible impact on framing. ‘Stunning bokeh’ and fall-off round out the lenses’ emotive focus characteristics.

For projects that require a different look, the Ensō Vintage Elements are interchangeable optics that attach magnetically to the back of Ensō lenses. They come in more powerful strengths than your typical filters, producing images that ARRI says are sharper in the center and therefore easier to focus, but with a stronger detuned effect at the edges of frame. They have encoded chips that convey metadata about shifts of focal length, T-stop, and focus to the camera, and from there to on-set monitors and postproduction. Focus scale changes caused by the Elements can even be compensated for automatically with the ARRI Hi-5 hand unit, whether crews decide to use the included lens shims or not.

It’s all very impressive. The full kit of six Vintage Elements comes as standard with ARRI’s core set of six Ensō lenses. It includes three positive Elements of different strengths, producing smeary, soft-edged bokeh in the background and Petzval-like image swirl at the corners of frame. The three negative Elements have the opposite effect; out-of-focus background highlights have diffuse centers and bright outlines that overlap to create an edgier, more intrusive feel. The kit also includes an Ensō Creative Adapter, which lets users invent their own unique Elements for personalized external lens tuning. It comes with three retaining rings that allow different thicknesses of glass or other material to be used and held securely.

The core set of ARRI Ensō Prime lenses is available to order now with the other lenses in the series to presumably follow next year. They will begin shipping in November.

Technical Data