Two Illumina S35mm T1.3 Primes.
More lenses! Crikey, RED builds an affordable PL-mount camera, Sony and Panasonic bring out even more affordable PL-capable cameras, and suddenly there are PL-mount (or interchangeable-mount) lenses everywhere!
The complete set of five Illumina S35mm T1.3 primes: $33,000.
This batch of five fast, rather affordable PL-mount primes is from Luma Tech, which has them built by the Leningrad Optical & Mechanical Corporation (LOMO) using Schott glass from Germany. All the lenses cover S35mm / 5K sensors, and all are f/1.2 and T1.3. Nice, big, bright marking, smooth mechanical action, and the two I looked through made crisp, clean images with attractive bokeh.
Canon’s two new PL-mount cine zooms, on an Alexa and an F35.
Canon introduced two new PL-mount cine zooms. The 14.5-60mm T2.6 holds its max aperture through the zoom range, while the 30-300mm T2.9 has a slight bit of ramping past 200mm or so. The images they made on the show floor looked fine, with a pleasing bokeh. Mechanically, the controls have the perfect amount of fluid-like damping, with no stiction yet with a consistent and predictable resistance.
Canon 30-300mm T2.9 zoom, right (“dumb”) side view.
Canon 14.5-60mm T/2.6 zoom, left (operator) side view.
One thing to note: the operator-side markings are white, designed to be illuminated by a camera-mounted light. The “dumb” side marking are glow-in-the-dark green, so the 1st AC relegated to the dark side of the camera still has a chance to see his focus settings.
Zeiss CP.2 prime with native MFT (micro four thirds) mount on a Panasonic AG-AF100.
Zeiss CP.2 prime with native E-mount on a Sony NEX-FS100.
Carl Zeiss expanded the CP.2 Prime lineup, adding native MFT (Panasonic / Olympus) and E (Sony) mount to the existing PL, Canon EF, and Nikon F mounts.
Cooke 100mm T2.8 Panchro on an NEX-FS100 via PL-mount/E-mount adapter.
Cooke now has three ranges of PL-mount lenses, with varying max apertures and prices to match:
• PANCHRO lenses open up to T2.8; a 25mm costs $7,400.
• S4/i lenses open up to T2; a 25mm costs $17,400.
• S5/i lenses open up to T1.4; a 25mm costs $20,700.
Cooke 5/i T1.4 primes, with gold trim and internally-lit focus scales.
The S4/i and S5/i lenses add Cooke’s /i lens metadata system, and the S5/i adds internally-lit, dimmable focusing scales.
Of course, I should also mention the following shipping (or nearly so) product lines:
• UniqOptics (previewed at NAB 2009).
• Schneider Cine Xenars (glimpsed at NAB 2010).
• Leica Summilux-C (unveiled at the 2009 Band Pro Open House).
Finally, those looking for full tilt/shift controls on a cine camera have an alternative to the hard-to-get Arri Shift & Tilt system:
Horseman TS-Pro tilt/shift bellows system makes any compatible camera a view/technical camera.
Yep, Komamura, maker of the Horseman line of technical cameras, now has a bellows system for cine cameras! Band Pro carries it in the Americas, Europe, and Israel.
FTC Disclosure
I attended NAB 2011 on a press pass, which saved me the registration fee and the bother of using one of the many free registration codes offered by vendors. I paid for my own transport, meals, and hotel.
No material connection exists between myself and the National Association of Broadcasters; aside from the press pass, NAB has not influenced me with any compensation to encourage favorable coverage.