Canon USA Showcases Full Lineup of Cinema Lenses at Cine Gear LA 2023

An interview from the 2023 Cine Gear Expo in Los Angeles with Paul Hawxhurst of Canon USA. At NAB, Canon launched additional lengths to their Flex Zoom Lens series of lenses, which were developed to create cinema-style productions with greater workflow efficiency. The first lenses in the series are the CN-E20-50mm T2.4 L F/FP wide-angle zoom lens and the CN-E45-135mm T2.4 L F/FP telephoto zoom lens. The Canon Flex Zoom lens series was first introduced in 2022 to support full-frame digital cinema cameras. Today, the CN-E14-35mm T1.7 and CN-E31.5-95mm T1.7 expand the Flex Zoom series to include support for Super 35mm cinema cameras. The new lenses, available in interchangeable EF and PL mounts, help produce video with beautiful and natural background blur that is desired by many end-users.

Designed in the pursuit of cinematic beauty, the new large-aperture lenses feature both high-level optical design and performance while maintaining the style and ease-of-use of Canon’s EF Cinema lens series. With the introduction of the zoom lenses featuring focal length ranges of 20-50mm for wide-angle and 45-135mm for telephoto, Canon now offers zoom lenses that cover the same range as its six existing prime (single focal length) lenses. The versatility of these new lenses supports efficient production workflows for a wide range of scenarios, including film, TV programs, commercials, and much more.

Canon’s 8K CINE-SERVO lens, the CINE-SERVO 15-120mm T2.95-3.95 EF/PL (CN8x15 IAS S) supports Super 35mm and Full-Frame sensor cameras, making it ideal for a range of cinema and broadcast productions. With its versatile focal range from a wide 15mm, up to an impressive telephoto range of 120mm, the lens can further extend up to 180mm via the built-in 1.5x extender. To support future productions, 8K optical performance can be maintained across the full focal length, providing consistently high image quality across the entire frame.

The CINE-SERVO 15-120mm T2.95-3.95 EF/PL (CN8x15 IAS S) features Canon’s renowned warm color science, matching the existing range of Canon’s cinema lenses – and an 11-blade aperture, producing a beautiful, round bokeh. Offering outstanding optical performance – and breathtaking image quality for HDR, 4K, and 8K productions – the lens supports EF mount communication and advanced metadata capture with support for Cooke /i Technology™. The PL mount version of the lens is also the first Canon CINE-SERVO lens to enable both ZEISS eXtended Data™ (XD) communication and Cooke /i Technology™. Featuring the same 16-bit encoder found in Canon’s broadcast and existing CINE-SERVO lenses, which provides accurate lens position, zoom, focus, and iris metadata, the information and communication functions between the lens and camera are paramount for VFX, virtual, and cinema productions.

The high-end CINE-SERVO 15-120mm T2.95-3.95 EF/PL (CN8x15 IAS S) is available in both EF and PL mount, featuring a powerful and detachable servo motor drive unit. This adds to the versatility of the lens as it allows for live production and documentary-friendly Studio and Field- operation. The drive unit’s ergonomic hand grip and zoom rocker make on-the-go, shoulder/ENG-style shooting easy. With the drive unit’s two 20-pin ports for attaching zoom and focus controls and a third 20-pin that provides 16-bit encoded metadata for virtual systems, the lens also fits nicely into a tripod-mounted studio-style configuration.

The set of seven Canon Sumire Prime Cinema Lenses include the following:

CN-E14mm T3.1 FP X
CN-E20mm T1.5 FP X
CN-E24mm T1.5 FP X
CN-E35mm T1.5 FP X
CN-E50mm T1.3 FP X
CN-E85mm T1.3 FP X
CN-E135mm T2.2 FP X

All Sumire Prime lenses feature an 11-bladed iris and bright T-stops that allow users to capture images that feature a more natural circular-like bokeh from both maximum to minimum aperture. The use of an odd number of iris blades also helps to diffuse light rays and produce what is generally considered a more sought after, artistically pleasing and cinematic look with warmer colors. The lenses also achieve uniform color balance throughout the lineup, helping to reduce the need for post grading, even when a production is frequently changing lenses.

For more information please visit: http://www.USA.Canon.com