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New Canon CN-E Primes?

Christoffer Glans

Christoffer Glans

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I saw a deal on Canon CN-E primes with a set of 3 for around $10900, which is extremely low, so I'm wondering if there's something new coming which pushed the prices on these down? Don't want to jump into it if there's something else that's coming?
 
Always something else coming, count on it :)

I would love to see canon make Cine EF lenses with all the electronics still inside and then good focus rings on the outside with a good 360 deg spin. They could easily do it and it´s nuts that they do not see the market for such lens. Instead they take out the motors out of their still glass and rehouse them as cine lenses... Really odd if you ask me.

Canon made the K-35´s how long ago? was it in the 50´s or 70´s I don't remember ?

Still a set of K-35´s beats all their new lenses in price and quality. Must feel really shitty to work at canon lens department and know that what they do is not even on par with what was done in before people even had calculators. :)
 
Do you mean the K-35 are actually better or that they have a character that is more pleasant? Because the optical quality of the CN-Es aren't that bad, I think they are pretty good actually, in my own opinion far better than the CP.2s.

From the SALT III test, the K-35 seems a lot worse than the CN-E. I'm not talking about the character, since in pure technical terms, even the Hawk anamorphs are really bad. I'm talking pure optical performance and "cleaness".

But I'm with you on the electronics, seems odd that they have a series of cine primes only with EF mount but without motors. Still waiting for cine lenses with smooth internal focusing, instead of the jerky-business still lenses I've worked with show. This is why I'm wondering about the pricedrop for these sets, if there's something new coming, like, CN-Es with internal motors.
 

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Blair S. Paulsen said:
100% agree that a set of Canon lenses for cinema use - WITH precision internal motors (where the servos can be turned off as desired) would be awesome. Especially if they are full frame and EF mount...

Cheers - #19
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Aren't they full frame now? I think they are since they are based on the still primes (which in my opinion are the best primes you can get for still photography (just my own personal opinion based on pure optical quality, can't beat the character-lenses though, as I call them).
 
CN-E (the primes) are full frame.

But are you guys sure the motors would hold up to the additional weight/torque needed to drive the housing + the additional distance? And what happens when you have a follow focus engaged and 'auto focus' the camera?
 
Making lenses with both electronic features of Still lenses and mechanical qualities of cine lenses makes no sense to me.
You end up with heavy, expensive complicated lenses that the :
a.cine guys don't want the electronic features
b. the light weight gimbal, drone, steadicam run and gun guys can't live with the weight, size and price.
Complete BOMB of a product if you ask me....
 
Yeah, I think that if there's gonna be internal electronics they should be in lenses without any manual focusing, completely sealed housing, almost waterproof, that would make sense.
But still, internal focusing that has good manual focus as well still has it's place, even if they become big and heavy. I mean, the Master Primes are heavy and big but they are far more preferred than any smaller lenses. Just being able to use internal motor focusing for any hand-held or steady work is really nice, while still being able to pull manual focus, which is preferred for it's instant speed.
 
Jacek Zakowicz said:
Making lenses with both electronic features of Still lenses and mechanical qualities of cine lenses makes no sense to me.
You end up with heavy, expensive complicated lenses that the :
a.cine guys don't want the electronic features
b. the light weight gimbal, drone, steadicam run and gun guys can't live with the weight, size and price.
Complete BOMB of a product if you ask me....
Click to expand...

I disagree. All EF still lenses I got my hands on are flimsy, bend when pushed can not hold a matte box and wobbles when pulling focus etc. My FD lenses has far better builds than most EF lenses, still they are not solid but far better. I can not see that it would be too difficult for canon (which made quite amazing stuff with the EF tech and also made some of the very best geared cine lenses) to build lenses that had both and that did not get overly sized etc.

Canon made the K-35´s They are small, and if If you take a K35 apart and take the lens unit out of the housing, it´s actually super tiny and to make EF motors inside such housing and have it with "a clutch" per say, so you could engage or disengage the EF function would to me be fairly easy to do. But I´m no lens doctor, most lenses I rip apart I can not even get back together again, so this just speculation from my side, but if they could do it I think there would be quite a market for it, especially with the built in tech that sits in weapon and raven. Not all want to use EF motors but just getting the meta data from the EF mount would be huge.
 
Björn Benckert said:
I disagree. All EF still lenses I got my hands on are flimsy, bend when pushed can not hold a matte box and wobbles when pulling focus etc. My FD lenses has far better builds than most EF lenses, still they are not solid but far better. I can not see that it would be too difficult for canon (which made quite amazing stuff with the EF tech and also made some of the very best geared cine lenses) to build lenses that had both and that did not get overly sized etc.

Canon made the K-35´s They are small, and if If you take a K35 apart and take the lens unit out of the housing, it´s actually super tiny and to make EF motors inside such housing and have it with "a clutch" per say, so you could engage or disengage the EF function would to me be fairly easy to do. But I´m no lens doctor, most lenses I rip apart I can not even get back together again, so this just speculation from my side, but if they could do it I think there would be quite a market for it, especially with the built in tech that sits in weapon and raven. Not all want to use EF motors but just getting the meta data from the EF mount would be huge.
Click to expand...
I'll quote Burt Rutan here after I wrote him a letter about an electric car idea I had a few years ago:
"Great Idea!!!
Build it and I'll check it out!!!" ;-)
 
I am definitely curious why the CN-E primes are not availble directly with a PL mount (Duclos proves the optical desighn allows it)... I kind of assumed that canon didn't want a direct comparison with the more complete and dedicated cine offerings... But it could be that they had something more cine planned?
 
They made them in Canon mount only to promote their eco system. Simple. Much like Red. I think this was/is the correct decision. Not everyone has to like it and they are ready for the consequences...
 
Jacek Zakowicz said:
They made them in Canon mount only to promote their eco system. Simple. Much like Red. I think this was/is the correct decision. Not everyone has to like it and they are ready for the consequences...
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...their Eco system is working fine without this confusion. Cine zoom in both and primes not? It would have been less confusing and just as suporting if they just priced the Cine primes higher. People are price sensitive.

Ps your particular dog is showing itself;-)
 
Matthew Quinn said:
love my CNE lenses.. so does everyone i work for, so do my friends who rent them all the time... THAT is a good price basicly a free lens
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Are you experiencing any problems because they are only EF? Based on Björns comment on the less robust mount and "movement" while pulling focus?
 
Christoffer Glans said:
Are you experiencing any problems because they are only EF? Based on Björns comment on the less robust mount and "movement" while pulling focus?
Click to expand...

My 1st loves them...

oh yah edit.. for that price you could have them Mounted for PL by dulcos
 
Question is still, are there something new coming from Canon that might be the reason for a certain price drop? Is it good to get these or are they possibly coming out with something new? Like PL versions, or like a new Cine version of the 35mm which they just released as a version II for their L still lenses?
 
Don't know what's cooking in R&D at Canon, but the price drop could be an adjustment to market conditions. My guess is that Canon has not sold a ton of the CN-E primes, not because they're overpriced for they offer (maybe a little), but because a lot of the target market will just buy the L-Series still versions because they are 1/3 to 1/2 the cost with similar optical performance. Don't get me wrong, the CN-E primes are far better for narrative work and vastly preferred by 1st ACs/pullers - but people love to save a buck.

With the larger image circle on the 8K Weapon, full frame primes like the CN-Es and Schneider Xenons might gain popularity. That said, most of the hard core DPs will stay with Cooke, Leica or Zeiss because they are great lenses with known characteristics.

There's also the relative strength of the US dollar vs international currencies, so that could be a factor as well.

Cheers - #19
 
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