Brightin Star has officially announced the RF 50mm f/2 TRI-SIGHT manual focus lens with a selectable bokeh rendering to fit your shooting style and the scene in front of you.
As with all Brightin Star lenses for the RF mount, this is a manual focus lens. Brightin Star has had some focus on fisheye and other wide angle lenses recently, but this one seems to be a new direction for the company.
You can grab one of these direct from Brightin Star for the introductory price of $349.99.
Brightin Star’s 50mm F2 TRI-SIGHT is one of the more unique lenses that we’ve seen in a while for the RF mount. It’s a full-frame manual focus 50mm with three rendering modes selected by a ring on the barrel. There’s also a rear slot that takes drop-in inserts for shaped bokeh.
This lens was first shown at CP+ in February. The 50mm F2 TRI-SIGHT is available for the RF, E, Z and L-Mount for the launch price of $349.99 (regular price $399.99).
- Three rendering modes: SMOOTH soft focus, PRIME standard and FOAMS bubble bokeh
- 7 elements in 6 groups, with lens groups that move to reshape the rendering
- Rear-mounted creative inserts for shaped bokeh
- 11-blade diaphragm with a de-clicked f/2 to f/22 aperture ring
- Built-in retractable hood and detachable focus lever
- 0.7 m minimum focus · RF, E, Z and L-mount
One Scene. Three Looks.
The TRI-SIGHT’s main feature is the mode ring between the aperture and focus rings. Turning it shifts lens groups inside the barrel. Brightin Star says it tuned spherical aberration and astigmatism for each group position, so one optical system can produce three different renderings.
SMOOTH
Soft focus
A classic soft-focus look, with a glow around highlights and a gentle, dreamy feel. It’s aimed at portraits.
PRIME
Standard
The neutral setting, with natural, balanced rendering and good detail. Use this when you just want a normal 50mm.
FOAMS
Bubble bokeh
Out-of-focus highlights get hard, bright edges for “bubble” bokeh, similar to the look of Trioplan-style vintage lenses.
Each mode changes the focus position, so the focus scale has three sets of distance markings, one per mode, labelled S, P and F. It shows the modes really are different optical states and not just a diffusion filter.
7 Elements, 6 Groups
The optical formula is simple, which helps keep the lens small. The three looks come from moving groups rather than swappable optics.
Shaped Bokeh From the Rear
A slot at the rear of the lens takes drop-in inserts that reshape out-of-focus highlights. Brightin Star shows four shapes, each marked “Camera Side” so it’s easy to fit the right way round.
Rounded Triangle
Star
Four-Leaf Clover
Butterfly
Shaped bokeh isn’t a new thing and has been around for as long as I can remember. The difference here is you can get 4 rear inserts that will produce a different output for each of the FOAMS, PRIME and SMOOTH settings on the lens itself.
Built for Video Too
De-clicked aperture
A stepless ring for smooth, silent exposure changes while recording.
Integrated retractable hood
The hood extends from the front of the barrel when shooting and retracts for storage, so there’s nothing to take off or lose.
Detachable focus lever
A focus tab for faster manual pulls that you can remove when you don’t need it.
Geared rings
The aperture and focus rings both have cine-style gear teeth for use with a follow focus.
The front filter thread is an unusual 37.5mm, and Brightin Star sells a bundle with a matching ultra-thin filter.
Specifications
| Format | Full frame |
|---|---|
| Focal length | 50mm |
| Aperture range | f/2.0 – f/22 (de-clicked) |
| Rendering modes | SMOOTH / PRIME / FOAMS |
| Optical design | 7 elements in 6 groups |
| Aperture blades | 11 |
| Angle of view | 47° |
| Minimum focus | 0.7 m |
| Focus type | Manual |
| Filter size | 37.5mm |
| Hood | Integrated, retractable |
| Weight | Approx. 460 g |
| Mounts | Canon RF, Sony E, Nikon Z, L-mount |
Available Now
The Brightin Star 50mm F2 TRI-SIGHT is available now from Brightin Star, at the same price for every mount.
RF · E · Z · L
Brightin Star
50mm F2 TRI-SIGHT
$399.99
Focal length
50mm
Aperture
F2 – F22
Angle of view
47°
Blades
11
Optics
7 el / 6 gr
Filter
37.5mm
Format
Full Frame
Focus
Manual
Three Looks in One Lens
This isn’t a lens for people who want a clinical and perfect 50mm lens, this is geared for shooters that want to find new tools for creativity and having a nice way of adapting to what you’re shoot with three distinctive looks in one lens.
What the TRI-SIGHT gives you is a soft-focus portrait lens, a normal 50 and a bubble-bokeh lens, all controlled by one ring, plus shaped-bokeh inserts. and this is where the value lies, 3 50mm looks for $350.
This is not a lens for everyone, but if you get a bit tired by the rendering of “perfect” lenses, something like the TRI-SIGHT may be for you. I use a lot of vintage lenses for this reason.
Sample Gallery
