Canon UK announced a new Cinema EOS telephoto servo zoom today -- it's a 20x 50mm, that's right, 1000mm at the telephoto end. Press release, photos at Canon announces Cinema EOS CN20x 50 IAS H E1/P1 (http://www.dvinfo.net/news/canon-announces-cinema-eos-cn20x-50-ias-h-e1p1.html)

That should be great for wildlife use.

And it has a built-in 1.5x extender for a max. focal length of 1500mm... needless to say, it won't be cheap.

That should be great for wildlife use.

Geez, no kidding. I know what happens when I put the 100-400mm "dust pump" on my XL-H1A, with it's inherent 7.2X crop factor and then add in a 1.4X Extender. (tends to freak out the women lounging around the swimming pool) I can't even imagine the magnification I'd get with this 1000mm lens. Yeah, probably doesn't matter either for what it will cost. $18,000 my guess.

Mark

Edit: Okay, now that I've seen it. Change my guess to $30,000.

This lens looks to fill a void in 4K sports production. I wonder if they'll make a box-style, broadcast lens from these components.

For now, if you want an S35 image circle and long throw, you need a 2/3" sports lens with S35 optical adapter. This lens removes the loss from the adapter optics and might just deliver 4K resolution to the sensor.

Another hurdle on the path to 4K broadcast has been cleared.

"The new Canon CINE-SERVO 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9 Ultra-telephoto Zoom lens is expected to be available in the first quarter of 2015 for a suggested list price of $78,000. "

I have received the Canon USA version of this press release, and it has much more info than the earlier version (including pricing and availability), so I've updated that page accordingly -- at the same link:

Canon U.S.A. Introduces Ultra-Telephoto CINE-SERVO Zoom Lens (http://www.dvinfo.net/news/canon-announces-cinema-eos-cn20x-50-ias-h-e1p1.html)

Change my guess to $30,000.

Unfortunately, you're still way off... read it and weep.

Looks like the closest I'll ever get to one will be at some trade show.

D'oh, simul-post! Cheers to both Marks,

Yeah, probably doesn't matter either for what it will cost. $18,000 my guess.

Mark

Edit: Okay, now that I've seen it. Change my guess to $30,000.

Now that's optimism for you! My guess is £60,000. Even at that price I get the feeling they'll struggle to keep up with demand to begin with - loads of rental places will want them I'm sure - for sports and wildlife it's absolutely what we've been crying out for.

Steve

A few other things of interest - most notable that it's available in PL AND EF mount - so could be good for stills to (with APS-C sensors at least). Not sure if the mount is switchable but I doubt it. The servo unit comes off so you can ditch it if you don't need it - I never use them but I know lots of wildlife colleagues that swear by remote zoom on the pan bar - I think years shooting Super 16 and not having servos must be why I don't use it. The tripod support collar looks nice - right at the front of the lens for best support - one slight issue there for wildlife is that's a bit awkward for use in hides, not sure if there anywhere else to put the lens support further back. T stop is 5 at wide end and 8.9 at long end so about 2 stops slower than the HJ18 (with which it's pretty comparable but for S35) - but you get about 2 stops extra with the larger sensor so that balances out nicely. Even so, for low light work still lenses will still win - especially as with just about all of these long range zooms you tend to need to stop down at least 1 stop at the long end for ideal performance, whereas a Canon 800mm is f5.6 and performs top notch wide open. Can't argue with the versatility of a 20x zoom range vs a prime though for sure!
Steve

Not sure if the mount is switchable but I doubt it.

I can almost guarantee that it isn't -- none of their other lenses have interchangeable mounts.

I'm sure you're right - I wonder why though? I thought it's because of the different electronic contacts, but I'm sure the contacts in the lens could remain the same while having different ones in the mount? Maybe to do with strength? Although if properly implemented it shouldn't be a problem. Back focus / collimation issues? Maybe they see it as needlessly complicated for very little demand?

Steve

could be good for stills to (with APS-C sensors at least).Indeed, the new CN 20x 50 reminds me of the long-discontinued Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6 prime, of which only a handful were ever built, at a price that exceeded the cost of this lens. On an APS-C camera such as the EOS 7D Mk. II, the 35mm field of view equivalent would be 2400mm with the 1.5x extender engaged.

Several stops slower though. There was one for sale just a couple of weeks back here www.mpbphotographic.co.uk - Used Secondhand Canon EF 1200mm f/5.6 L USM (http://www.mpbphotographic.co.uk/used-equipment/used-lenses/used-canon-fit-lenses/canon-ef-1200mm-f56-l-usm-1) but it's gone! Certainly wasn't me that bought it!
Steve

Maybe they see it as needlessly complicated for very little demand? I'll bet that's the case here. I've always known Canon to be steadfastly conservative in this regard... their engineers in Utsunomiya (http://www.pref.tochigi.lg.jp/kogyo/english/voice/049.html) probably shudder at the thought of user-interchangeable lens mounts. Surely they'd rather sell you one of each, EF *and* PL.

Utsunomiya... I've driven past that Canon facility a few times and asked some bi-lingual Japanese friends if Canon gives tours. Nobody seems to know for sure, but doesn't think so.

BTW - I was talking "street" price.

I can almost guarantee that it isn't -- none of their other lenses have interchangeable mounts.
Chris, as you know, Canon Service will change the mounts on the existing zooms for $1200...so I suspect they'll have that available for these beauties.....

Jim Martin
EVSonline.com

To me the big question is why is Canon continuing to solely focus it's video zoom lens efforts on the high end and rental market. They've sold countless C100s and C300s to small producers like most of us here, people who were shooting with XL series cameras just a few short years ago. Servo zooms on these cameras were relatively cheap and ubiquitous in the market.

Sure it's harder to make a good zoom for larger sensors (actually though, canon has been doing it in the stills market for a long time relatively cheaply...so I'm not sure that's even an an argument.)..and obviously at 14 pounds this thing is a serious lens...but why have we not seen something focused on the indie, wedding, docu market...something that would sell in the tens of thousands of units...not in the hundreds.

With its $2500 full frame servo zoom coming out (on top of the "we're looking at you Canon" FS7), Sony is starting to look the "disrupter" in the market.

'$78,000' - Sweet jesus :/

Even the rental rates on this will rule it out for all but big budget production for at least a few years to come!

Look at it this way: it''s less expensive than an Angenieux 24-290mm cinema lens (http://www.angenieux.com/zoom-lenses/cinema-portfolio/optimo-24-290.htm), and it includes a servo motor (while the Angie doesn't). It's important to consider these things in relative terms.

Hhhmmmm....not sure. More important to consider what the productions you work on will say when you want a lens that costs £500+ a day to hire!

I'm sure its a great lens and I'm sure I'll use it somewhere but just not very often!

When you consider the primary application of television production, it seems natural to compare this lens with a broadcast zoom. Canon 2/3" zoom lenses in the 20x zoom range are priced between $30-50k.

$78k isn't so far fetched for a parfocal power zoom resolving in excess of 4k covering S35 sensor.

It isn't aimed at dSLR or C100 shooters.

My thoughts exactly Shaun. I think the market has changed so much and that users today are so used to prices for gear in the hundreds or low thousands. That's why when Panasonic announced their initial Varicam 35 pricing at $60,000 there was utter disbelief (though not by me!). Even back in Digibeta days a standard or wide zoom was around $20,000 when they first came out, same for HD when they were used day in day out, an HJ22 or HJ14 was around the same price, and the cameras around $50,000 - it's what we've always paid, what we've expected.
I expect this 50-1000 will be massively popular and go out on a huge amount of wildlife shoots and with sports broadcasters - I really do think Canon will struggle to keep up with demand and it will be back-logged with orders unless they've already stock-piled a load of them before announcing it!
Steve

And regarding daily rental rates, percentage of purchase price decreases with increasing initial cost in most markets of any larger size.

3 - 5% of cost for items like midlevel cameras, microphones and the like is common. Light kits may go higher than that due to consumable items and higher maintenance costs whereas I remember paying $600 a day for a Betacam D600 DigiBeta camera and lens worth around $100k (or more) back in the early 2000s. That's less than 1% of cost per day.

Lifecycle comes into play with assets that will hold their value longer than a couple of months.

If you are going through the effort of putting a zoom rocker on it shouldn't you probably stick a thumb record trigger on there as well?

It's not meant to be used on the shoulder, don't think it has a grip - the servo box is just there to contain all the servos and the connectors I think.
Steve