Canon Intros Lenses for 4K Needs, Bridges 3D With Cable

The promise of for 4K as a production format continues to gain momentum as Canon U.S.A. has introduced two advanced-design PL-mount lenses, the Canon FK14.5-60 wide-angle cine zoom lens and the Canon FK30-300 telephoto cine zoom lens, that address emerging 4K production standards.

The company says the precision-matched lenses incorporate breakthrough Canon optical designs that simultaneously optimize and enhance multiple imaging attributes while minimizing optical aberrations and distortions. Both feature a totally new Canon optical design that virtually eliminates focus breathing.

The wide-angle FK14.5-60 maintains its T2.6 maximum aperture over the entire focal range, and with the virtual absence of focus breathing offers new freedom in exploring novel picture creation. The telephoto FK30-300 complements the wide-angle FK14.5-60 in larger studios while also servicing many outdoor shots with exceptionally vivid imagery.

Also  new is the HDgc Portable HD zoom lens with 2x built-in extender. The KJ20x8.2B portable HD lens’ built-in 2x extender is an important imaging feature previously seen only on relatively higher-end HD lenses. As a result, the KJ20x8.2B offers ENG shooters and other camera operators greatly improved subject-framing flexibility. The new KJ20x8.2B is also Canon’s widest (8.2 mm) lens in the affordable 20x zoom class, and it covers a generous range of focal lengths, particularly when combined with its built-in 2x extender expanding its 8.2mm-164mm focal length to 16.4mm-328mm.

And Canon’s new 3D Bridge Cable, together with the Company’s new ergonomic Digital Drive Unit and 3D Lens Adjustment Software, improves interoperability and precision in synchronization of zoom, focus and iris positions of the lens pairs. The Company’s new ergonomic Digital Drive Unit incorporates Canon-developed, ultra-compact rotary encoders capable of 0.1um position detection which produces 16-bit resolution of the positions of zoom, iris, and focus controls.

Most of Canon’s HDTV Zoom Lenses are equipped with 16-bit resolution Rotary Encoder Devices, which provide precise synchronous lens control by simply connecting the two lenses with a 20pin-20pin single cable. This 3D Bridge Cable will allow simultaneous control of a pair of lenses from one zoom and focus controllers.

The “3D Lens Adjustment Software” is intended to make stereoscopic tracking of the zoom, focus and iris even more precise, and allow appropriate offsets to be easily made using the Digital Drive Unit’s display to compensate for minor zoom and focus tracking differences between any two lens pairs. Together with the 3D Bridge Cable, the software will also make it possible to use standard lens controllers. The software can be installed to the conventional lenses at Canon service centers for the customers who purchased the 3D Bridge Cable.