Canon expands Cinema Prime Lens family

Canon announced the introduction of two new lenses for its Cinema EOS Prime Lens line. The new lenses are designed for movie-production usage and are specially built to deliver great optical performances.

Canon introduced the CN-E 14mm T3.1 L F wide-angle prime lens for its Cinema EOS camera line-up. (Click on image to make it larger.)

The new CN-E 14mm T3.1 L F and CN-E 135mm T2.2 L F single-focal-length lenses are built especially for 4K/2K high-quality video recording. They are joining the other five lenses that form the Canon Cinema EOS System for professional digital cinematography.

The lenses integrate advanced materials and coatings, used to meet the high optical performance levels that 4K (4096 x 2160 pixels) video productions need. The lenses are equipped with 11-blade aperture diaphragm that, according to Canon, is ideal for achieving great “cinematic” bokeh effects.

Canon’s new Cinema EOS prime lenses are also water-resistant, in order to withstand all the shooting conditions a film production might have. This ability comes at a price though, as the two new optics will take a significant amount out of a customer’s pockets.

The CN-E 135mm T2.2 L F is a bright telephoto prime that delivers superior image quality. (Click on photo to make it bigger.)

The Canon Cinema Prime lenses are different from the “ordinary”, photography ones, as they offer motion-picture production characteristics, like a 300 degree rotation focus ring, for precision focus control.

They also offer highly visible engraved focus scales, for greater operability. The focus markings can be switched at any time from standard labeling to metric. The new lenses are fully compatible with EOS C500, EOS C300, EOS C100, and EOS-1D C digital cinema cameras.

Other Cinema EOS Prime lenses released by the Japanese company are: CN-E 24mm T1.5, CN-E 50mm T1.3, and CN-E 85mm T1.3.

The CN-E 14mm T3.1 L F single-focal-length lens is expected to be available in April 2013 for an estimated price of $5,500. The CN-E 135mm T2.2 L F single-focal-length lens is expected to be available in May 2013 for an estimated price of $5,200.