Canon announces seven EF Cinema lenses

[Derrel]

One of the MOST-critical aspects of a high-end cine lens is that it be absolutely parfocal, meaning that as the lens is zoomed, the point of sharpest focus remains absolutely unchanged...that is a very tall order. The reason cine zooms must be parfocal is that cinematographers do not use autofocus, but pull focus by hand, and even more critically, the absolute SIZE of a projected image on a cinema screen means that even a little loss of focus is HUGELY noticeable. So, without AF to correct for shifts in focus as the lens is zoomed, and HUGE, 40- to 80-foot-wide image sizes seen at CLOSE, indoor distances, focusing in the movie biz is a really,really,really big deal. A separate person, called the focus puller, works with the cameraman. Notice the 300 degree focusing ring rotation on these new Canon cine lenses, and the very incremental focusing distances, like 6 feet, 6'2", 6'4", 6'7",etc,etc. The shorter distances have VERY complete, very precise distance markings.

 

[Helen B]

The primes are actually a fair bit cheaper than Cooke and Leica Summilux-C cinema primes.

 

[Derrel]

The primes are actually a fair bit cheaper than Cooke and Leica Summilux-C cinema primes.

Canon has no significant following,presence, or reputation in the cine lens market...so they're gonna do what newcomers typically do--try and undercut the established brands with a low price...just like the makers of new laundry detergents do...that market segment is so,so,so competitive and customers have brand preferences that go back, in some instances, decades; new products are often priced incredibly low. Yesterday, I bought a brand-new liquid laundry detergent, priced at 4.0 cents per ounce. Whisk, and Tide liquids were at 17.2 cents per ounce...Unlike Cooke, Canon has a photocopier division that can probably absorb some losses! lol