Best Lenses for the Red Komodo-X


The best lenses for the Red Komodo-X for video and cinematography, period

The Red Komodo-X comes with a Canon RF mount.

It has a small enough flange focal distance so it can be adapted to work with lenses designed for other mounts.

However, let’s look at what one gets with the native RF mount.

What are the advantages of a Canon RF mount with the Red Komodo-X?

The Canon RF mount has a short flange distance of 20mm. We’ll talk about third-party lenses and adapters a bit later on, but there are two important things one has to know about the RF mount:

  1. It’s better if you worked with lenses specifically designed for the RF mount. Lenses made for the RF mount can be made with wider apertures and better corner to corner sharpness along with minimal light falloff.
  2. Canon RF lenses have a 12 pin connection which provides more information and a quicker communication between the lens and the body. This allows for improved autofocus and IS (Image stabilization).

Canon hasn’t designed cine lenses for the RF mount, so we’re restricted to using photo lenses, which also gives us autofocus. These are native lenses made for the RF mount.

What is a “native” lens?

A “native” lens is one specifically designed for the Canon RF-mount system, and which allow the following:

  • Full control of autofocus, image stabilization, iris, zoom and focus control.
  • Electronic metadata like iris, focal length, distortion, fall-off, focus, etc.
  • Continuous auto focus for video.

The biggest advantage of owning native lenses is that it’s designed specifically for the new sensor and camera design. If you want the best autofocus performance, you need RF lenses.

What native lenses are available right now?

As of this writing, these are the lenses available or imminent for the Canon RF system:

Primes

  1. Canon RF 28mm f/2.8 STM (Amazon, B&H)
  2. Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  3. Canon RF 50mm f/1.2 L USM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  4. Canon RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  5. Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM (Amazon, B&H)
  6. Canon RF 800mm f/11 IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  7. Canon RF 600mm f/11 IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  8. Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM (Amazon, B&H)
  9. Canon RF 16mm f/2.8 STM (Amazon, B&H)
  10. Canon RF 135mm f/1.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  11. Canon RF 100mm f/2.8 L Macro IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  12. Canon RF 24mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  13. Canon RF 600mm f/4 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  14. Canon RF 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  15. Canon RF 800mm f/5.6 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  16. Canon RF 1200mm f/8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)

There are no prime lenses made for the APS-C (or Super 35mm) sensor.

Canon has decided to ignore the f/1.4 aperture completely as of now. It’s either f/1.8 STM or f/1.2 when available.

Zooms

  1. Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L USM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  2. Canon RF 24-105mm f/4L IS USM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  3. Canon RF 24-240mm f/4-6.3 IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  4. Canon RF 15–35mm F2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  5. Canon RF 24–70mm F2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  6. Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  7. Canon RF 24-105mm f/4-7.1 IS STM (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  8. Canon RF-S 55-210mm f/5-7.1 IS STM (Amazon, B&H) – we’re not sure this lens covers the Komodo sensor. Need to verify this.
  9. Canon RF 100-300mm f/2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  10. Canon RF 100-500mm f/4.5-7.1L IS USM  (Amazon, B&H) Learn more.
  11. Canon RF 100-400mm f/5.6-8 IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  12. Canon RF 70-200mm f/4 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  13. Canon RF 14-35mm f/4 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  14. Canon RF 15-30mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  15. Canon RF 24-50mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  16. Canon RF-S 18-45mm f/4.5-6.3 IS STM (Amazon, B&H) – we’re not sure this lens covers the Komodo sensor. Need to verify this.

If I had to pick two lenses I would pick:

  • The Canon RF 15–35mm F2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H). This gives us an equivalent focal length of 20-48mm at about an f/3.2.
  • The amazing Canon RF 28-70mm f/2L USM Lens (Amazon, B&H) which gives us an equivalent focal length of 38-96mm at about an f/2.8. This lens doesn’t do so well in autofocus.

Are Canon RF lenses good for video?

It depends!

I’ve shot a feature film the Canon EOS R5 (Amazon, B&H) and I can tell you relying on autofocus with RF lenses is the wrong way to go. The Autofocus on the Komodo-X is nowhere near the level of the R5.

I can also tell you manually focusing RF lenses is not easy. I tried that for a few days, and went to cine primes because it just isn’t practical. The optical quality of the lenses are stellar, though.

The two most important questions to ask are:

  1. Do you really need autofocus?
  2. Are your shots going to have sufficient light (for accurate autofocus) and with subject-movement controlled (so you can completely rely on AF)?

The manual focus ring can be customizable. For photography, the ring can be set to focus by wire.

RF lenses allow users to change the rotation direction (clockwise or anti-clockwise) of the focus ring and control ring to match their preferences. Besides, the focus ring rotational sensitivity during manual focusing can also be customized. By default, it is set to “Varies with rotation speed”. Sensitivity of the focus ring will depend on the speed at which the ring is turned, the focus will change by a greater degree when the ring is turned faster; while slower rotation allows fine focus adjustments. Another option “Linked to rotation degree” is also available in which the focusing distance will be directly proportional to the rotation degree, regardless of the rotation speed. This option can provide the same control characteristic and sensation similar to cinema lenses. 

Source: Canon

Second, each RF lens has a Control Ring at the front of the lens for customizable aperture, ISO, or other adjustments.

You can manage with an RF lenses, especially if you’re a solo operator. Otherwise, it’s hard to recommend them. The big disadvantage is there are no wide angle options!

What are the best lenses for the Red Komodo-X for Video?

Prime lenses

Why prime lenses?

The single greatest advantage prime lenses have in general is they can open wider than zooms. You can go down to f/1.2 if you wanted to, with RF lenses, and even f/0.95 with third-party lenses. 

This makes it a great option for low light cinematography. And there’s really no excuse for not having at least one prime because they also tend to be cheap without sacrificing quality. Another advantage of prime lenses is they are usually lighter than zoom lenses (comparing the same price range).

The third advantage of prime lenses are they have lower breathing, while the zoom lenses (photo) breathe and are not parfocal.

Best image quality for 4K and 6K

  1. Super wide angle: No options.
  2. Wide angle: A few cheap options for Chinese manufacturers, but you’ll have to be very careful about the image circle. They are designed for APS-C sensors but the Red Komodo-X has a larger-than-Super35mm sensor.
  3. Normal: Canon RF 35mm f/1.8 Macro IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  4. Telephoto: Canon RF 50mm f/1.8 STM (Amazon, B&H) and Canon RF 85mm f/2 Macro IS STM (Amazon, B&H)
  5. Super telephoto: Canon RF 400mm f/2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)

If money were no object and you needed to restrict yourself to 50mm and 85mm, then I whole-heartedly recommend the Canon RF 50mm f/1.2 L USM (Amazon, B&H) and Canon RF 85mm f/1.2 L USM (Amazon, B&H). The problem is if you need other focal lengths they’re unlikely to match the optical characteristics of these two lenses.

Overall, I would hesitate to recommend Canon RF primes for the Red Komodo-X due to a lack of wide angle options. It’s just not practical.

Zoom lenses

Here’s what I recommend:

  1. Widest: Canon RF 15–35mm F2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  2. Mid-range: Canon RF 24–70mm F2.8 L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)
  3. Telephoto: Canon RF 70-200mm f/2.8L IS USM (Amazon, B&H)

These lenses would give you a consistent optical performance at a similar wide-open aperture for matching.

Extenders

Canon has two extenders for the RF mount:

  1. Canon Extender RF 1.4x (Amazon, B&H)
  2. Canon Extender RF 2x (Amazon, B&H)

I recommend the 1.4x for the extra reach. The 2x is really a compromise.

Adapters and third-party lenses

How do you know if a lens can be used or not? First, you need to know what the flange focal distance is.

Here’s information on each mount, in increasing order of the focal flange distance:

MountFocal Flange Distance in mm
Z Nikon Z-mount16
C C-Mount17.526
EF-M Canon EF-M mount18
E Sony E-mount18
FZ Sony18
MFT Micro Four Thirds mount19.25
RF Canon RF-mount20
L Leica L-mount20
M Leica M mount27.8
FT Four Thirds mount38.67
FD Canon Manual FD mount42
EF Canon EOS EF mount44
EF-S Canon EOS EF-S mount44
LPL Arri LPL-mount44
A Minolta/Sony A-mount44.5
K Pentax K-mount45.46
F Nikon F-mount46.5
R Leica R-mount47
PL Arri PL mount52

Third-party lenses come in their own lens mounts. So you need some sort of adapter that comes between the lens and the camera. This adapter does three things:

  1. It connects two mounts that naturally don’t fit together, and
  2. It makes up for the flange focal distance.
  3. Optional: Provides contacts that allow you to control aperture, zoom, focus, etc., from the camera itself, like the EF-EOS R adapter (Amazon, B&H).

There’s no glass in the adapter, no lens or optics. It’s just hollow inside.

The Canon RF mount has a flange focal distance of 20mm, so any lens that has a higher flange focal distance than this in the above table can be adapted.

You can adapt Canon EF lenses, older Canon FD lenses, Leica M lenses, PL-mount lenses and of course Nikon F-mount lenses and others. I’m pretty sure there are all kinds of adapters for every lens combination.

All this makes it really hard to give a recommendation because people pick lenses for a multitude of reasons. Personal taste and aesthetics factor big time in any decision.

However, it is hard to argue against this next list in terms of performance and value for money. The package is unbeatable in my opinion.

The three EF-EOS R adapters

Canon has three EF-EOS R adapters (Amazon, B&H) so you can use Canon EF lenses with the Red Komodo-X.

All adapters offer full control over Canon EF lenses:

  • All adapters retain Canon in-lens IS (image stabilization), autofocus control, sharpness, color rendition, and contrast. 
  • Each is weather sealed to prevent dust and moisture from entering (assuming the lens is also weather sealed) 
  • Full compatibility with Canon EF and EF-S lenses as well as most 3rd party lenses. Sigma offers full compatibility; Tamron limited compatibility (with no new updates as far as we could find).

Here’s the list of adapters:

No.TypeKey InfoBuy
1“Basic” AdapterHas full control, cheapest option(Amazon, B&H)
2Control Ring AdapterAdds a control ring to control ISO, Aperture, Exposure Compensation, etc.(Amazon, B&H)
3Drop-in Filter Adapter with Variable ND filterHas a slot in the adapter to use rear filters. In this case a variable ND filter.(Amazon, B&H)
4Drop-in Filter Adapter with Circular Polarizer filterHas a slot in the adapter to use rear filters. In this case a circular polarizing filter.(Amazon, B&H)

Which is the best EF-EOS R adapter for video?

This is tricky, because it depends on what your needs are. And for video, there are hidden costs you should be aware of.

Let’s start with drop-in filters.

The hidden costs of drop-in filters

I would not pick the circular polarizer (though it is useful sometimes) because for video work the subject is always moving, and you’ll only be able to get the benefit of the polarizer at a particular angle in relation to the sun.

With the drop-in filter adapter, if you don’t want to use a variable ND, you don’t have to, but it’s a great option to have in your kit if and when the need arises. You get from 1.5 to 9 stops, which is an amazing range.

Can you use the drop-in filter without the variable ND filter? No, you can’t. You’ll leave a large gaping hole in your filter. You need to purchase the Drop-In Clear Filter A (Amazon, B&H), and that is an additional expense.

It’s basically about the money. Total expense for a drop-in filter:

Drop-In Adapter with Variable ND A (1.5-9 stops)$399
Drop-In Clear Filter A$129.95
Circular Polarizer A (optional)$249.95
Total, with and without the polarizer$529 ($779)

What is the cost of a high quality Variable ND filter? A 77mm B+W XS-Pro Digital ND Vario MRC-Nano Filter costs about $185 at the time of this writing. You can buy cheap step down adapters for other filter sizes.

But here’s the thing: You only get 1-5 stops. The higher range you need, typically the more expensive it gets. If you buy cheaper filters there’s the serious risk of color shifts and IR pollution, not to mention other variable ND filter artifacts. Read more in my guide to lens filters.

So seriously, even though it seems expensive, the Drop-in filter adapter is a great deal. No need to deal with step-down rings, and no need to worry about wasting time changing it in the field.

The hidden cost of the control ring adapter

Next we have the control ring adapter. There’s an important feature you need to know about video.

Control Ring clicks are audible and can be picked up when recording video. Canon offers a Control Ring Modification Service to make the rings adjust silently for an additional fee:

The control ring on RF lenses and the Control Ring Mount Adapter EF-EOS R includes a “clicking” action when used. While this can be helpful to confirm changing settings, it can also impede video recordings as the “clicking” sound may be captured as audio. EOS R series camera owners can choose to have this function removed, and even re-applied if needed later on, with Canon’s control ring modification service.* 

RF Lenses $79.99
Control Ring Mount Adapter EF-EOS R $59.99
Tax and freight fee are NOT included. * All pricing is subject to change.

Canon
Price of Control Ring Mount Adapter$149.99
Cost of Modification Service$59.99
Total$210

This is a good option if you ride the aperture often. But in my opinion, the combination of EF lenses in cinema use is rare. Most times you don’t need to change the aperture or ISO, so you really don’t need the control ring adapter.

It’s only useful in run and gun situations, where you are using the camera in a handheld situation with one hand on the lens to ride the aperture or ISO. I would seriously consider investing in RF lenses for this feature, and not really consider it for EF lenses – specifically for video work.

If you need a de-clicked lens, you can get a cine-mod service done, or better yet, just use cine lenses.

And then there’s the risk of moving the control ring by mistake during operation. This is rare, but the issue is, unlike a aperture ring or focus ring on a cine lens, when you shift this, there’s no visual aid to tell you it has shifted.

Which leaves us with two options:

Basic adapterGet this if you don’t regularly use an ND filter, or don’t like the compromise of a variable ND filter. Better for short films, feature films and web-series. For maximum image quality.
Drop-in filter adapter with variable ND filterUseful if most of the time you are using a variable ND filter, shooting outdoors, etc. E.g., weddings, corporate videos, events, news, documentaries, etc.

The best third-party lenses for the Red Komodo-X for video

Prime lenses

If I’m recommending a lens, it should be available to purchase for most people worldwide, must be serviceable, and must offer tremendous value for money without sacrificing quality. 

Right now, only one series meets all of these requirements: The Sigma Art series with a Canon EF mount (or RF mount if it becomes available):

For super-telephoto, nothing beats Canon’s own line.

When should you pick prime lenses with manual focus?

When you can and want to control the focus, that’s when. 

Professionals use follow focus systems, but even if that’s overkill for you, you need to ensure the focus ring on the lens is solid, smooth and reliable enough to consistently nail focus. The Red Komodo-X has focus peaking, edge focus as well as a zoom-in feature, so you can nail focus by looking at the LCD.

What do you get with cine lenses?

Generally speaking, you get the following benefits with cine lenses (though not all might be true):

  1. Less focus breathing.
  2. Some zoom lenses are parfocal.
  3. The construction is solid and designed for heavy use under many scenarios. Being heavy, they also don’t shake much on touch.
  4. Manual focus rings are precise so a focus puller can use tape to nail focus. You can also use wireless follow focus systems standardized for this.
  5. The aperture ring is de-clicked so you can smoothly ride the aperture during a shot.
  6. The size, shape and weights are very similar so you can swap lenses without readjusting balance on gimbals, steadicams, cranes, etc.
  7. True cine lenses should be color matched, so they cut well together.

For a better understanding of cine lenses and why are they such a prized possession of a professional, consider reading the article below before diving in the vast castle of glass.

What is a Cine Lens and Why must it be different from a Photo Lens?

Canon RF to PL Mount Adapter

The Komodo RF to PL Adapter with Electronic ND Filter Pack integrates the same electronic ND (neutral density) control used in the Red V-Raptor S35 XL into a robust PL-mount solution for the Red Komodo or Red Komodo-X.

This pack includes an RF to PL lens mount adapter, an electronic ND filter with a 2- to 7-stop range, and a clear filter with integrated buttons.

The adapter also supports Cooke /i lens communication and and ZEISS XD data pass-through.

Cine lenses come in both primes and zooms. Let’s look at them one by one.

Recommended cine prime lenses for the Red Komodo-X

None of these lenses are made for the Canon RF mount. You would need an adapter with these.

There are four sets which I would suggest. For the best possible quality it’s a toss between these two:

  1. ARRI Master Primes – A set of 16 lenses made by ARRI in collaboration with Zeiss. The BEST in the business.
  2. Leitz Cine Summilux-C – For optimal low-light performance, excellent color rendition, and consistent color and contrast, look no further than this.

For bang for your buck I recommend:

  1. The legendary Cooke miniS4/i T2.8 series, or
  2. The more modern Sigma Cine lens set, available in both EF and PL versions.

I prefer the Sigma Cine lens set. The range is just great value for money, and it goes up to T1.5. Plus the choice of mounts:

I would use these with a PL to Canon RF adapter (Amazon, B&H).

Recommended cine zoom lenses for the Red Komodo-X

These are the best lenses you could buy for your Red Komodo-X:

If you’re happy with Canon lenses for the EF mount, then these are my recommendations:

  1. Canon CN-E 15.5-47mm T2.8 L S – for wide angles.
  2. Canon CN-E 14.5-60mm T2.6 – for general work.
  3. Canon CN-E 30-105mm T2.8 L S – for telephoto work.
  4. The most popular lens among wildlife documentary filmmakers: Canon CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9

Cheaper cine zoom lenses for the Red Komodo-X

These zoom lenses are rehoused still glass, but have really proven the test of time and are well-loved by many filmmakers:

I think the above set would make most people happy. These are for Super 35mm sensors but you still might want to check if they cover the large Super 35mm sensor of the Red Komodo-X.

Anamorphic Lenses

I have only one recommendation and that is the ARRI Master Anamorphic lens set.

Anamorphic Zoom Lenses

For an anamorphic zoom lens I two recommendations –

  1. ARRI Anamorphic 19-36mm T4.2 – If you want go ultra wide.
  2. Angenieux Optimo Anamorphic 56-152mm T4

Vintage Look Lenses

For a lens to be labelled vintage it must be designed to mimic older lenses (it can’t be accidental).

These are my recommendations if you want this look –

That’s it! These are my suggestions for the best lenses for the Red Komodo-X for video and cinema work. Hope you found it useful!

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2 thoughts on “Best Lenses for the Red Komodo-X”

  1. Thank you for all the work you did to put this comprehensive list together! This was spot on and ultimately the info I was looking for all in one place!

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