Canon Expands its EF Cinema Lens Lineup with New Super 35mm Sensor Compatible Flex Zoom Lenses
Canon announced today the launch of two new additions to the FLEX ZOOM LENS series of EF Cinema lenses—the CN-E14-35mm T1.7 L S wide-angle zoom lens and the CN-E31.5-95mm T1.7 L S telephoto zoom lens. In addition, four new relay kits have been announced —the RL-S1, RL-S2, RL-F1 and RL-F2, as well as a relay kit exchange service for switching between cameras with full-frame and Super 35mm compatible sensors.
The two FLEX ZOOM LENS series models, released in 2022, support digital cinema cameras equipped with full-frame sensors. Now, Canon is expanding its product lineup with the addition of a wide-angle zoom lens and telephoto zoom lens designed for Super 35mm sensor cinema cameras. The new lenses make possible natural background blur, thus helping to create powerful visual imagery. Canon now provides zoom lenses that cover the same range as its six existing prime (single focal length) lenses. In addition, Canon’s four FLEX ZOOM LENS series models are compatible with the new relay kit exchange service. The lenses are compatible with EF or PL lens mount exchange and support each transmission protocol[1], providing flexible support for video production work that serves a variety of cameras and shooting styles.
Designed for the pursuit of cinematic beauty, these new wide-diameter lenses achieve superb optical performance compatible with 8K cameras while maintaining the style and ease of use of Canon’s EF Cinema lens series. As a result, they can be used with Super 35mm sensor cameras to shoot movies, TV dramas, commercials and a wide range of other video content. Moreover, the lenses maintain a bright T1.7 aperture[2] across their entire zoom ranges, enabling operators to create powerful, shallow depth-of-field shots.
A relay kit is an optical component that changes a lens’ image circle. With the RL-S1 and RL-S2 relay kits, wide-angle and telephoto zoom lenses that have been available as of 2022[3] which are compatible with full-frame sensor cameras, can be used with Super 35mm sensor cameras. On the other hand, the RL-F1 and RL-F2 relay kits enable lenses used with Super 35mm sensor cameras to be compatible with full-frame sensor cameras. With Canon’s Flex Zoom Lens series of lenses and relay kits, customers’ valuable lenses have become much more versatile.
Availability
| Product | Release date |
| CN-E14-35mm T1.7 L S (EF mount) | Late June 2023 |
| CN-E14-35mm T1.7 L SP (PL mount) | |
| CN-E31.5-95mm T1.7 L S (EF mount) | Late October 2023 |
| CN-E31.5-95mm T1.7 L SP (PL mount) | |
| RL-S1（CN-E14-35mm T1.7 L S/SP relay kit） | Late June 2023 |
| RL-S2（CN-E31.5-95mm T1.7 L S/SP relay kit） | Late October 2023 |
| RL-F1（CN-E20-50mm T2.4 L F/FP relay kit） | Late June 2023 |
| RL-F2（CN-E45-135mm T2.4 L F/FP relay kit） | Late October 2023 |
[1] The EF mount employs the EF mount transmission protocol, while the PL mount employs /i Technology from Cooke Optics and/or eXtended Data from ZEISS, both widely used in the filmmaking industry.
[2] The f-number of a lens refers to the level of brightness calculated based on focal length and lens aperture. The t-number, more commonly used to describe the brightness of cinema lenses, incorporates a lens’ f-number along with the measure of light transmission.
[3] The CN-E20-50mm T2.4 L F/FP (released in June 2022) and the CN-E45-135mm T2.4 L F/FP (released in September 2022)