The proliferation of digital cinema cameras over the past half-decade has seen an accompanying expansion in new cine lens designs and Canon has become an increasingly active player in this exciting new arena by developing nine new cine lens models in just the past year alone. The February 6th Canon Live Learning Event, titled Image Quality and the Contemporary Cine Lens, was put together to keep professionals updated and aware of what Canon has been and will be working on in this field. It was headlined by two experts who were able to talk through these developments and share their experience and knowledge.   

Canon U.S.A.’s resident optics expert, Larry Thorpe, discussed current aspirations in video image quality and how these bear upon contemporary cine lens design with the crowd in attendance at the Canon Live Learning Event. His thorough presentation detailed the realities of modern lens design and manufacturing while also  placing a special emphasis on optical Modulation Transfer Function (MTF) and its relationship to perceived picture sharpness. 

Larry Thorpe – Image Quality and the Contemporary Cine Lens Part 1 from Createasphere on Vimeo.

Larry Thorpe – Image Quality and the Contemporary Cine Lens Part 2 from Createasphere on Vimeo.

Afterward, Steven Poster, ASC and President of the International Cinematographers Guild, talked through his recent experiences on-set and showed a color-grading presentation that showcased exactly how changing the stops on a lens can change the entire look of a piece. 

Stephen Poster: Image Quality and the Contemporary Cine Lens from Createasphere on Vimeo.

To end the evening both of the evenings presenters joined Tim Smith to take questions from the audience which ranged from what sort of new developments Canon is working toward to where we'll be able to see Steven's most recent project.  

Q&A with Larry Thorpe and Stephen Poster – Image Quality and the Contemporary Cine Lens from Createasphere on Vimeo.

This was a Canon Live Learning Event. Learn More