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Nov 22, 2023

Canon CN

Canon has announced the launch of two new Super 35mm lenses in its Flex Zoom

Canon has announced the launch of two new Super 35mm lenses in its Flex Zoom line-up, the CN-E 14-35mm T1.7 L and CN-E 31.5-95mm T1.7 L.

It is quite ironic that as soon as the ARRI ALEXA 35 came to market there is suddenly a lot more S35 cameras and lenses being announced. The CN-E 14-35mm T1.7 L S / SP and CN-E 31.5-95mm T1.7 L S / SP are the fastest Super 35mm lenses on the market with these focal ranges. Canon claims that they offer incredible optical performance to support a wide range of uses and shooting scenarios.

These two new zooms join the existing full frame CN-E 20-50mm T2.4 and CN-E 45-135mm T2.4 lenses in the Flex series.

With the CN-E14-35mm T1.7 L and CN-E31.5-95mm T1.7 L offering a fast constant aperture of T1.7 you will be able to interchange and use them with fast primes on the same production. You could also make a strong case for using them instead of primes for fast-paced productions that need to get through a lot of pages each day.

Canon states that the CN-E 14-35mm T1.7 L and CN-E 31.5-95mm T1.7 L lenses feature a compact and lightweight design, however, they weigh 3.3kg / 7.27 lb and 3.5kg / 7.71 lb respectively. This is not exactly lightweight, but given their fast constant T stop it is still reasonable.

You can't have your cake and eat it too. If you want a fast constant aperture then that is going to have to be offset with increased weight and a limited focal range.

Both lenses feature an 11-blade iris and industry standard 0.8 pitch gears on the iris, zoom, and focus rings.

The lenses feature an interchangeable mount design that enables them to be switched between EF and PL mounts.

The flange back can be adjusted when changing lenses. The adjustment mechanism has a cap that prevents unintentional shifting of the flange back. Adjustments can be made using a flat-head screwdriver.

Additionally, in a first for Canon's cinema range, these lenses can take advantage of Canon's new interchangeable relay kits. The new relay kits are the RL-S1, RL-S2, RL-F1 and RL-F2.

The relay kit enables the lenses to be switched from Super 35mm to Full Frame and back again, however, this can only be done at a Canon-authorized service center and it will incur a fee.

These relay kits can be used to turn the CN-E 20-50mm T2.4 and CN-E 45-135mm T2.4 lenses into a 14-35 T1.7 and a 31.5-95mm respectively.

This is very similar to what Angenieux does with its EZ Zoom series.

Both lenses support efficient lens metadata workflows including Cooke /i Technology, and ZEISS eXtended Data via PL mount, alongside 4-pin Lemo connectivity. This is invaluable for virtual productions, where positional information is needed to ensure virtual backgrounds react as a natural background would to the perspective of the camera, as well as for post-production VFX workflows. Furthermore, electronic lens communication with chromatic aberration and peripheral illumination correction, as well as a Dual Pixel Focus Guide for manual focus assist via EF mount is available when used with compatible cameras.

The CN-E 14-35mm T1.7 L S / SP, RL-S1 (CN-E 14-35mm T1.7 L S / SP relay kit) and RL-F1 (CN-E 20-50mm T2.4 L F / FP relay kit) will be available in late June 2023 and the CN-E 31.5-95mm T1.7 L S / SP, RL-S2 (CN-E 31.5-95mm T1.7 L S / SP relay kit) and RL-F2 (CN-E 45-135mm T2.4 L F / FP relay kit) will be available from late October 2023.

The pricing for the lenses is as follows:

Despite their weight and size, these new zooms offer a T-stop that we haven't seen before on S35 zooms with those focal ranges. While they won't be for everyone, they are sure to be a popular choice in TV and film productions where fast zooms are required.

Matthew Allard is a multi-award-winning, ACS accredited freelance Director of Photography with over 30 years' of experience working in more than 50 countries around the world.He is the Editor of Newsshooter.com and has been writing on the site since 2010.Matthew has won 48 ACS Awards, including five prestigious Golden Tripods. In 2016 he won the Award for Best Cinematography at the 21st Asian Television Awards.Matthew is available to hire as a DP in Japan or for work anywhere else in the world.