Zeiss Unveils Cine Lenses Built for the GFX Eterna 55, Ursa Cine 17K, and Alexa 265
Zeiss has been very busy in the cinema lens segment ahead of the Cine Gear Expo in Los Angeles this weekend. Alongside new Horizon 2x Anamorphic lenses for full-frame cameras, Zeiss unveiled Panoptes 65 lenses that, as their name suggests, cover large-format 65mm cinema camera sensors.
“Geared toward a diverse range of productions, these lenses carry the hallmarks cinematographers have long trusted and come to expect from Zeiss, combined with a carefully balanced aesthetic for the 65mm format: natural colors, forgiving skin textures, gentle focus fall-off and a silky bokeh,” Zeiss explains.
Its new set of Panoptes 65 lenses covers 10 focal lengths, ranging from 25 to 180mm, each featuring a fast T2.2 aperture. All the lenses sport the same general design and unified positions for iris and focus rings, plus mostly standardized front diameters. The 35, 40, 45, 55, 70, 90, 100, and 135mm primes have 95mm front diameters, while the 25 and 180mm lenses have 114mm front diameters.
Lengths range from 144 to 165 millimeters (5.7 to 6.5 inches), and weights are around 1.6 to 2.2 kilograms (3.6 to 4.8 pounds).
As Zeiss explains, it has a rich history of medium- and large-format imaging, both still and motion picture alike. Zeiss has made many lenses for Pentacon Six, Hasselblad 500 series, Contax 645 cameras, and more.
“Renowned for their beautiful image rendering, Zeiss has continually advanced optical design, lens coatings, and precision manufacturing for large image circles. Zeiss benefits from this deep experience in controlling aberrations, color, and bokeh at medium format scale to create beautiful lenses for the modern 65 mm cinema format, delivering a distinctive, emotionally engaging look that meets the most demanding standards in premium large format cinematography,” the company explains.
Many popular cinema cameras benefit from 65mm-format coverage, including the Fujifilm GFX Eterna 55, Arri Alexa 265, Blackmagic Design Ursa Cine 17K 65, and even full-frame and S35 cameras. Panoptes 65 lenses, which feature a 59.9mm image circle, completely cover all the cameras above.
Zeiss promises well-balanced optical character with high resolution, smooth contrast, natural color, gentle focus fall-off, and silky bokeh. The company adds that distortion and chromatic aberrations are minimized.
The Zeiss Panoptes 65 lenses are now available to preorder. Most of the lenses are $20,950, while the 25mm and 180mm primes are $25,500. For those keeping score at home, the full set of 10 primes would set filmmakers back $218,600. These are more likely to be rental options for most creators, as with many high-end cinema lenses.
Image credits: Zeiss
