Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Zeiss Compact Primes CP.2



I have been high on HDSLR technology for the past year. But I did not expect it to catch on this fast.  Carl Zeiss has just endorsed this growing market segment with a professional line of lenses specifically geared to these lightweight hybrids.

The company just introduced a new line of lenses with interchangeable lens mounts called the CP.2.  It offers great flexibility, enabling the filmmaker to use just one set of lenses for both traditional film and professional digital cameras as well as for HDSLRs.  Currently, the lenses are only available in EF (Canon) and PL mounts, but will soon be adaptable to the F (Nikon) mount as well.


The current lens range are as follows: 18mm/T3.6, 21mm/T2.9, 25mm/T2.9, 28mm/T2.1, 35mm/T2.1, 50mm/T2.1 and 85mm/T2.1.  All the lenses cover the full-frame image format (24 x 36mm), ANSI Super 35 and normal 35 image formats except for the 18mm which only covers Super 35 and normal 35.  The line features standard housing dimensions, standard focus and iris gear positions, longer focus rotation, consistent front diameter and manual focus -- features found in high-end professional cinema lenses. It also features a nine-blade iris and a "sweet-spot effect" for APS-C sensors. Coupled with superb Zeiss optics, these lenses are the perfect lenses for any cinematic or commercial application.

The individual prices are currently unavailable, but would probably range from $3,800 for a single lens and up to $28,000 for the current set.

Here is an interview by Cinema5D in this year's NAB on the new Zeiss lenses:


--Photos from Carl Zeiss Cinematography. Video by Cinema5D from You.Tube.

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