Clint Milby & Jake Fruia
New pro camcorders weren’t the only thing Canon had to talk about at NAB. They were also presenting their new 35mm cinema prime lens, as well as well as free firmware upgrades for their Cinema EOS line of cameras. Once again, Canon’s Chuck Westfall was gracious enough to walk us through.
EOS 35mm Cinema Lens
Looking to fill a “…strategic optical need between Canon’s 24mm and 50mm lens offerings”, the 35mm lens will deliver 4K optical performance. As with the other lenses in Canon’s line, the 35mm will possess a 11-blade aperture diaphragm, and will be available in EF-mount.
As with the other Cinema Prime lenses, the 35mm will have a 300-degree rotation focus ring, switchable focus metrics, and share the same uniform gear positions, eliminating the need for adjustments to support gear and other accessories just from changing the lens. It is expected to be available later this year at a yet undisclosed price.
Pending Firmware Updates for 5D Mark III, C100, C300 and C500
There will be three: the first quite soon, in about a week on April 30th, the second in June 2013, and the third in October 2013, all free of charge.
The April update brings the much requested external HDMI recording to the 5DMkIII. Chuck informs us it will be clean HDMI at 8-bit 422. There will also be an update for the photography end, allowing Canon’s telephoto lenses with to continue past their current aperture limit of F8.
The June update will incorporate ACES color management compatibility software for the C500, simplifying color grading when using multiple cameras.
Lastly, the October update will bring new 1440×1080 recording at 35Mbps to the C300, as well as some interesting one-touch functions for focusing and adjusting aperture brought over from the C100.
You can find out more about Canon, their Cinema EOS line, Cinema Prime lenses, and more at www.usa.canon.com