Canon has been around for a while and has been releasing some amazing cameras that keep obliterating milestones. Just look at the new EOS R5 C, which has cemented 8K as the new benchmark for all other cameras.
The company has also created some amazing lenses that are highly sought after for photography and video alike. Their cinema lenses alone rival some of the biggest lenses makers in the industry. The EF mount has become so widely adopted that many camera manufacturers either offer an EF mount, or only come in an EF mount.
Today, Canon gives another one-two punch to the competition with the Canon Flex Zooms, a pair of the fastest cinema zooms on the market.
Canon Flex Zooms T2.4
The new Canon Flex Zoom series will be another addition to the EF cinema glass market and will include the CN-E 20-50mm T2.4 L, as well as the CN-E 45-135mm T2.4 L.
Both of these lenses will be available in either EF or PL Mount. They are made to cover full-frame cameras with a focal range that encompasses around 5 to 7 lenses, depending on which brand you use for comparison.
20-50mm T2.4Credit: Canon
At T2.4, these are some of the fastest cinema zooms on the market.
While Sigma does offer a full-frame cine zoom at T2.2, it only covers a range of 24-35mm. That pales in comparison to what Canon is bringing to the fight.
45-135mm T2.4Credit: Canon
Zoom, focus, and aperture rings are all geared and match between the two so swapping them won’t mess up your camera setup. They’re also the same size and similar weight, so pairing them with a gimbal and Steadicam will be a great solution.
The new lenses feature a large-aperture aspherical lens and an anomalous dispersion glass lens that helps reduce the potential for color smudging and chromatic aberrations. With Canon’s experience in lens design, the new lenses maintain high optical performance from the center of the image to the periphery, even when paired with 8K cameras.
They’re Smart to Boot
The new frontier in lens design is making them smart, something that Cooke has been doing with its i/Technology protocol.
The new Canon Flex Zooms support a similar protocol for EF-mount data transmission, and if you get a PL version, the lenses will support Cooke’s /i Technology3 instead.
Both of these smart functions give compatible cameras the ability to record metadata such as focus, zoom, aperture, and lens model, which also provide a visualization on the camera itself. This addition provides necessary information for creatives to have more efficient workflows on-location recording but also during post-production and editing. Especially for VFX-heavy productions.
Smart ProtocolCredit: Canon
Should You Get Them?
If you hate lugging around a full lens kit and work on VFX-heavy productions, then—heck yes.
Canon’s cinema primes are robust workhorses that fit into any type of production. If its new zoom line is anything like the primes, they’ll be a solid choice for your project.
xBoth lenses are set to be available in June 2022 for the 20-50mm and early September 2022 for the 45-135mm.
The estimated retail price is $21,999, but that could fluctuate in the next few months.
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