NiSi Athena Rewind Released – Two Personalities in One Lens Set

Lens News

by Jeff LochMarch 16^th, 2026

Subscribe to News - Lenses

NiSi has just released a new full-frame cinema lens set, the Athena Rewind, which inherits features from their well-known Athena primes. This five-lens kit consists of a 14mm T2.4 and 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm lenses, all at T1.9. The Athena Rewind claims to give you a warm, vintage character when wide open and to be fully clinical at T5.6/T8. So, let’s take a closer look at them!

NiSi announced their first cinema lenses, the original Athena, back in April 2023. At that time, the lenses received mixed feedback online, especially for being “too clean”. Indeed, over the past couple of years, we have seen more and more affordable cinema lenses leaning more towards a “vintage look.” We reviewed the NiSi Athena here if you want to learn more about it.

At a personal level, I didn’t really get the complaints the NiSi Athena got at launch. I prefer lenses that are optically superior, deliver sharp images, and have no crazy chromatic aberrations or “character” out of the box. Indeed, it’s easier to add filters to a lens to make it more artistic and suit your project than the other way around.

Anyway, in September 2024, NiSi listened to the market and released the Athena Tuned series, a limited-edition model with a softer look and a more “vintage” feel. Then, in September 2025, the Athena Tuned Glow was released with a warmer look. A month ahead of NAB, the company is introducing yet another variation of their famous Athena lenses: the NiSi Athena Rewind.

NiSi Athena Rewind – features

Similar to all NiSi Athena, Athena Tuned, and Athena Tuned Glow, the Athena Rewind consists of five focal lengths: 14mm T2.4, 25mm T1.9, 35mm T1.9, 50mm T1.9, and 85mm T1.9. The specs of the Athena Rewind are similar to those of their siblings.

In a nutshell, the Athena Rewind covers full-frame image sensors (46mm); they have uniform weight and physical dimensions across all focal lengths, a 300-degree focus throw with fluorescent scales, a rear filter mount, and a 77mm front filter thread (except for the 14mm). However, please note that they will only be available with a PL Mount.

Two personalities in one

The main concept behind the Athena Rewind lens set is that these lenses will change their personality as you stop them down. Here is how NiSi describes them:

Wide open at T1.9, each lens produces a warm, vintage character with amplified aberrations, softened resolution, and enhanced foreground and background blur complete with halo effects on highlights. As the aperture is stopped down, these characteristics progressively diminish. By T2.8, cinematographers reach a balanced sweet spot between stylization and sharpness, and by T5.6 to T8 the lens behaves close to a modern, clinically clean cinema lens.

I’m not the easiest to convince when it comes to lenses, especially when I haven’t seen them in person, but NiSi’s description of the Athena Rewind reminds me a bit of lenses with “not so great” optical design back in the day. Indeed, having a soft, wide-open lens that sharpens when you stop down is not new.

However, NiSi mentions that the flare intensity is “significantly increased” compared to the standard Athena primes. Furthermore, at wide apertures, the Rewind series produces a bubble bokeh, more pronounced on the 35mm and 50mm lenses. Last but not least, the Athena Rewind is supposed to match the standard Athena Prime set in terms of color rendering.

Price and availability

The NiSi Athena Rewind lenses are available now as a five-lens kit with a purpose-built hard case for $5,999, or you can get them individually for $1,269 ($1,399 for the 14mm T2.4) to add some flavors to your existing Athena lens kit.

For more information, please visit NiSi’s website here.

What do you think about those new Athena lenses? Have you already shot with NiSi lenses? Do you prefer clean or vintage-looking lenses? Don’t hesitate to let us know in the comments below!