Canon U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, announces the launch of a new series of lenses for the company’s EF Cinema Lens lineup — the 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.
“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,” the announcement states. 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 are designed to support production workflows for a wide range of scenarios, including film, TV programs, commercials, and much more.
“When paired with full-frame or large-format cameras, these lenses fully leverage the cameras’ signature shallow depth-of-field look and provide smooth and natural background blur, helping to produce powerful storytelling imagery,” the announcement continues. The lenses are designed to maintain a bright T2.4 aperture across their entire zoom ranges allowing for image capture in both natural light and darker environments. This feature is advertised to reduce the need for intricate lighting setups, enabling more efficient and cost-effective video production workflows.
“Engineered with an optical configuration that creates the optimal placement of lens elements, including a large-aperture aspherical lens and an anomalous dispersion glass lens, the CN-E20-50mm T2.4 L F/FP and the CN-E45-135mm T2.4 L F/FP lenses help reduce the potential for color smudging and chromatic aberrations. This enables them to maintain high optical performance from the center of the image to the periphery when paired with 8K cameras,” according to the company’s release.
In addition to supporting EF-mount data transmission, the new lenses are also compatible with /i Technology from Cooke Optics. With this capability, recording metadata such as focus, zoom, aperture, and lens model can be transmitted via the lens mount for visualization on the camera itself. This additional information can help provide more efficient workflows not only during on-location recording, but also during post-production and editing.
Pricing and Availability
The Canon CN-E20-50mm T2.4 L F/FP wide-angle zoom lens and Canon CN-E45-135mm T2.4 L F/FP telephoto zoom lens are scheduled to be available in early June 2022 and early September 2022 for an estimated retail price of $21,999.00.
Canon will showcase its latest digital imaging solutions and products, including the new Flex Zoom Lens series of lenses, at the NAB Show 2022 (Booth #C4432) in Las Vegas, April 24th-27th. For more information about the new lenses and Canon’s presence at the show, visit usa.canon.com.
