Press Release:
The Company’s First Set of PL-Mount Cinema Prime Lenses Merge the Art and Science of Cinematography
MELVILLE, NY, April 3, 2019 – Covering the core range of focal lengths that cinema professionals desire, Canon U.S.A. Inc., a leader in digital imaging solutions, is excited to announce the company’s first set of seven cinema prime PL-Mount lenses, aptly named Sumire Prime. Pronounced “Soo-mee-ray,” the word is of Japanese origin and is associated with a floral gentleness and beauty. Sumire Prime Lenses offer a unique artistically pleasing look with gentle and beautiful skin tones and smooth bokeh, designed for use with large-sensor cinema cameras, including 35mm full-frame cameras such as the EOS C700FF Cinema Camera.
In addition to bright T-stops and Canon’s renowned warm-color imagery, a unique optical design introduces a nuanced look as the lens aperture approaches its maximum setting – subtly modifying the textural renderings of the human face closeup. It also smooths the transition to the fall-off portions of the scene resulting in a pleasing bokeh. This combination adds emotional expressiveness and provides creative flexibility to create a memorable scene.
“Sumire in Japan is the name of a flower, and like the petals of a flower, our lenses are most beautiful when fully opened. This is the inspiration behind the Sumire look,” said Kazuto Ogawa, president and COO, Canon U.S.A., Inc. “The feedback from cinematographers is crucial and their voices have been heard loud and clear – they asked Canon to introduce a set of PL-mount cinema prime lenses. We went a step further and our new Sumire Prime Lenses produce the beautifully cinematic and unique images professionals desire. We can’t wait to see how the lenses will contribute to the art of filmmaking.”
The new set of seven Canon Sumire Prime Cinema Lenses include the following:
Preorder the new Sumire lenses from Adorama:
- CN-E 14mm T3.1 FP X $7410
- CN-E 20mm T1.5 FP X $7410
- CN-E 24mm T1.5 FP X $7410
- CN-E 35mm T1.5 FP X $7410
- CN-E 50mm T1.3 FP X $7410
- CN-E 85mm T1.3 FP X $7410
- CN-E 135mm T2.2 FP X $7410
All Sumire Prime lenses feature an 11-bladed iris and bright T-stops that allow users to capture images that feature a more natural circular-like bokeh from both maximum to minimum aperture. The use of an odd number of iris blades also helps to diffuse light rays and produce what is generally considered a more sought after, artistically pleasing and cinematic look with warmer colors. The lenses also achieve uniform color balance throughout the lineup, helping to reduce the need for post grading, even when a production is frequently changing lenses.
The highly durable Sumire Prime lenses feature the same outstanding operability and reduced focus breathing as Canon’s well-established EF-Mount Cinema Prime Lenses. Manual operation provides users with the resistance they desire to make precise changes in focus. A 300-degree focus rotation angle and gear position is consistent across the entire Sumire Prime series of lenses – eliminating the need to adjust gear positions when changing lenses.
“The new Sumire Prime lenses are the perfect blend of science and art,” says cinematographer Matt Porwoll, who shot the first U.S. footage with the lenses. “The bokeh comes alive in ways that weren’t occurring with other lenses I’ve used. Lens flares have a dynamic feel to them, rather than behaving in a formulaic manner. I wish I had these on my last project!”
The Sumire Prime Lenses are compatible with the complete lineup of Canon Cinema EOS full-frame and Super 35mm 4K cameras, including the EOS C700 FF, EOS C300 Mark II and EOS C200. In addition to Canon cameras, the new lenses are also compatible with the latest full-frame and Super 35mm PL-mount cameras from leading manufacturers. Additionally, the mount on the Sumire Prime Lenses is interchangeable and can be converted from PL-Mount to EF-Mount at a Canon Factory Service & Repair center. A Canon representative will be able to perform the service or even revert back to original PL-mount upon request at an additional cost*.
Availability*
The Canon CN-E24mm T1.5 FP X, CN-E35mm T1.5 FP X, CN-E50mm T1.3 FP X and CN-E85mm T1.3 FP X lenses are scheduled to be available in Summer 2019. The Canon CN-E14mm T3.1 FP X lens is scheduled to be available in Fall 2019. The Canon CN-E20mm T1.5 FP X and CN-E135mm T2.2 FP X lenses are scheduled to be available in Winter 2019/Spring 2020.
Preorder the new Sumire lenses from Adorama:
- CN-E 14mm T3.1 FP X $7410
- CN-E 20mm T1.5 FP X $7410
- CN-E 24mm T1.5 FP X $7410
- CN-E 35mm T1.5 FP X $7410
- CN-E 50mm T1.3 FP X $7410
- CN-E 85mm T1.3 FP X $7410
- CN-E 135mm T2.2 FP X $7410
but that price tag... ouch..
Were see how they perform when we can get a set on our projector & MTF bench plus have shot some material.
I would say these are probably quite comparable to Schneider-Kreuznach Cine-Xenar-3 set of lenses which ARE BEAUTIFULLY MADE !!! They are about in the same price range and quality level.
See Cine-Xenar-3 link:
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I should note though that some pretty severe competition is coming out pretty soon now, so Canon had better start delivering in terms of the price vs quality ratio!
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Would they be good as Photography lens (if money was no object)
I'm pretty sure Canon is using NEW optical formulas and glass compositions to ensure compatability with DCI 8K (8192 by 4320) pixel imaging which means you need a SHARPER LENS than what was/is on the Canon CN-E line-up. This means that the Canon C300 Mk3 PROBABLY is getting a new 6K and/or 8K sensor upgrade this year to take advantage of the new lenses. That also means a big jump in pricebecuase of all those newly require glass reformulations.
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Now, if you want an autofocus lens, then yeah, you'll need to wait a bit. I suspect we'll see some of these designs on the R-mount.
Have you looked at the demo’s? “Anti-Sharpness” was the priority with these. They have less contrast and ”halate” on purpose wide open. “Resolving” more detail for higher resolution sensors was not the priority. I’d also have to see some definitive documentation that these are a completely new design. If they are, they missed a good opportunity to align(or at least close the gap on the extreme ends) the set with regards to aperture speed. Especially the 14mm. They seem like a very specialized design/specific purpose use instead of something like the original CN-E’s or Ultra Primes or Master Primes or Sigma’s, etc. where it’s a clean lens and if you need to ‘dirty it up’ you can easily do it with filtration. I understand that the soft, low-contrast, highly-susceptibile-to-flare look is en-vogue right now(Tokina just introduced a speciality version of their Cinema Vistas with just a single coating on the front element to reduce contrast and make the lens flare), but eventually people will want ‘clean’ glass again. I’m sure some great work will be done with them and I can see their use in the right situation/context/mood, etc., but I’d personally rather own a clean lens that can be made “soft” with filtration than a lens that is always going to be like that. I guess I’ll just stick with my set of original CN-E’s.
All I really wanted was a set of CN-E’s with a user swappable mount to go from EF to PL. Canon says that the mounts can be swapped on the Sumire’s, but it has to be done by Canon or an authorized service center AND both the PL and EF mounts are dumb(no date contacts).
It's also $7000. Many of these lenses share their optical formulas (or close enough to) with their EF counterparts, it just surprises me that Canon has a functional full frame formula that is available on EF mount (CN-e) but hasn't translated that into an L series prime. But I guess it's only been out for a year, maybe the RF development has put them off releasing a still version.
My suggest is to goto Duclos Lenses and get on their Cine-Mod program where you can get photographic lenses such as the SUPER SHARP Zeiss Otus or Sigma Arts series STILL photo lenses turned into real cinema housings which will fit on Super-35 systems (i.e. C200, C300mk2, etc).
CINE-MOD®
You supply the lenses for modding or you buy them already finished from Duclos. I actually believe that that when the Zeiss Otus lenses ($5000 per lens) are cine-modded that they are actually SHARPER than the Zeiss/Arri Master Primes (which much more expensive at $220,000 to $260,000 for a set!) You're getting ULTRA SHARP cinema glass in a package that $200,000+ cheaper! What a deal!
I don’t really need any Cine modded lenses. I’m pretty happy with the lenses I have now: a set of CN-E primes and the 17-120. My comment wasn’t really about needing super sharp lenses, it was that Canon actually designed the Sumire’s to actually be “less sharp”, if you will.
And yes, I’ve heard that the Otus lenses are ridiculous. I’ve also had the Sigma Cine 105 T1.5 for a demo, which is based on the 105mm f/1.4 ART, I believe, and it’s another awesome lens.