a blog by Matthew Duclos
Canon announced their new Flex Zooms last month with a slew of features that seem to check all the boxes that professional cinematographers have been asking for. But how true to their name are they?
Continue reading “How Flexible Are Canon’s New Flex Zooms?”
After quite a long break from cine-specific zooms (aside from their hybrid style Cine-Servo line) Canon has introduced a new series of lenses for the company’s EF Cinema Lens lineup. A 20-50mm and 45-135mm, both with a maximum aperture of T2.4 which one may thing is reasonably fast, but combined with an image circle large enough to cover Full Frame formats!? That’s impressive. Let’s take a closer look at the new pair of zooms and the features that really make them stand out.
Continue reading “Canon Announces Flex FF Zoom Lenses”
I haven’t been impressed with a 10x zoom since the original Angenieux 25-250mm HR. There are have been several attempts at reviving that focal length; the Fujinon 25-300mm, Arri Alura 45-250mm, even an Angenieux 25-250mm Optimo Style zoom. None of these lenses were bad, they just weren’t particularly good. So I didn’t want to get my hopes up when Canon announced their 25-250mm Cine-Servo. But now that I’ve had a chance to play with it and put it through its paces…
Continue reading “Canon’s New Zoom Now Shipping”
On January 15th, Canon Burbank held their New Year Open House featuring Duclos Lenses. Patrons were able to explore the complete Cinema EOS line-up and get hands-on experience with Canon cinema cameras and lenses in the various Canon Burbank test facilities, theater, and showroom. Continue reading “Canon’s New Year Open House Recap”
The Canon CN-E Primes have been out for quite some time now and have been tested on and off set by bloggers and cinematographers alike. There’s no doubting the capability of the CN-E Primes at this point. Beginning with a mere three prime lenses – 24, 50, and 85mm, Canon filled out the line with a 14, 35, 135mm over the next few years but then simply stopped adding focal lengths. We finally have a new lens to add to the CN-E line. Continue reading “Canon Fills Gap In Primes With 20mm T1.5 CN-E”
That’s right. It’s a lens test. I’ll be joining host Michael Koerner at his facility Koerner Camera Systems in Portland Oregon in just a few weeks. The perfect bridge between NAB and Cine Gear – Koerner will be hosting a range of manufacturers to showcase their latest gear. Less of a shootout and more of a hands-on event, we’ll be pairing up cameras and lenses and giving each a go to see what works best in different situations.
We’ll have lenses and reps from the following:
So how about it? Join us! No need to RSVP. You can find the event details over on Koerner’s facebook page. Looks like it’s going to be a good time. Come hang out. Drink. Eat. Mingle. I’ll have some swag on hand to give away. If you’re a lens geek like me and Michael Koerner, you’ll be in good company.
A favorite focal length of still photographers, and naturally of hybrid cinematographers bridging the gap between the worlds of still photography and motion picture, the new 70-200mm Compact-Servo is sure to be an ideal choice for the ultra-light documentary shooter. Canon’s 18-80mm Compact-Servo was announced about the same time last year, just ahead of NAB 2016. If you’re unfamiliar with the Compact-Servo line, imagine all the camera operators in the world using Canon’s L series still lenses. Now imagine half of them called Canon and complained that their L series lens doesn’t hold focus through the zoom and it doesn’t have integrated gears, and the focus isn’t reliable or repeatable… Then imagine Canon going to their engineers and explaining this – and that’s where we get the Compact-Servo zooms. Continue reading “Canon Expands Compact-Servo Line with 70-200mm Tele-Zoom”
Over the course of two days, in a studio in Burbank, California, a band of self-proclaimed “lens geeks” set out to complete the ultimate vintage cinema lens test. The project first began as a collaboration between ShareGrid’s Brent Barbano, and Duclos Lenses’ own Matthew Duclos. Initially, Barbano and Duclos had been planning to complete a rather small-scale lens test with the industry’s most popular and widely used vintage lenses. However, upon approaching director and cinematographer Mark Lafleur to ask him to participate, they discovered that he too was getting ready to carry out his own vintage lens test. The two sides decided to join forces, and before long a whole team was assembled. With Lafleur and Barbano as Directors and Executive Producers, and Duclos as Lens Consultant, Kyle Stryker was brought on as Director of Photography. The team also came to include Camera Assistants Matthew Borek and Michelle Diaz, and Nick Ferriero as Editor. Continue reading “The Ultimate Vintage Lens Test”
As we posted previously, all the product releases we were expecting were already posted prior to NAB, so there’s really no surprises here. For the most part, the next few posts will be a collection of photos from the show floor, with more to come… Continue reading “NAB 2016 Recap, Day 1”
NAB has officially begun. It looks like just about every lens manufacturer couldn’t keep it in their pants and dropped their news ahead of the actual show, with a few exceptions. This post is a general roundup up the news announced as of Sunday night before the show. We’ll be posting a daily wrap-up with a ton of photos and additional news from the show floor so be sure to subscribe and check back soon. If there’s anything we missed that you found interesting, send a tweet to @MQDuclos and we’ll make him run across the expo to check it out ;-). Let’s get to it! We’ve broken the product announcements up by manufacturer in alphabetical order. Continue reading “NAB 2016 Preview”
Yet another bombshell has landed in the NAB 2016 battleground. This time, it’s Canon who has struck with a brand new product in a whole new segment, perhaps only tapped otherwise by Sony – The 18-80mm T4.4 Compact Servo Zoom Lens which features a truly hybrid stills/motion design approach with some interesting cross-breed features. Continue reading “Canon’s New 18-80mm T4.4 Compact Servo Zoom”
Canon has always been very aggressive when it comes to getting it’s products into the hands of working professionals. Still among the most underrated lenses currently available, the Canon Cinema EOS line of primes and zooms are getting a little push from Canon with some really attractive rebates. We’ve seen these deals before, but they came and went, leaving a lot of buyers asking for more. Canon answered the call… Continue reading “Canon Cinema EOS Lens Deals Updated for Q2, 2016”
In this post, we’re going to take a quick look at the Canon 50-1000mm Cine-Servo – a lens that some may consider impractical or unnecessary. I disagree! A few weeks back I had a client that was considering adding Canon’s new super zoom to his kit. He does a lot of wildlife and nature documentary work but didn’t think that 1,000mm was a reasonable range. If you asked me that same question six months ago I probably would have agreed. However, after some hands-on time with the lens here in the shop, I’ve definitely found the silver lining. Continue reading “Quick Look: Canon 50-1000mm Close Focus Performance”
Canon announced their CN-E Primes back in 2011 with only a 24, 50, and 85mm. They quickly added the 14, 35, and 135mm to the line-up providing cinematographers an set of six lenses from 14 through 135mm. The lenses are plenty sharp and built rather well. Duclos Lenses saw the potential of these primes and took action. In this post, we’re going to dive into what makes the Canon CN-E Primes such great lenses and why Duclos Lenses chose these particular lenses for modification to PL mount. Continue reading “Canon CN-E Primes – An In-Depth Look”
What!?! 1000mm? That’s ridiculous. Now that I have that out of the way…
Canon announced the newest addition to the Cine-Servo line of cinema lenses, the 50-1000mm T5.0-8.9 Ultra-Telephoto Zoom. This makes just about every other telephoto cinema zoom look like a toy. The lens will feature a built in 1.5x extender that will bump your focal length to a 75-1500mm and all the other bells and whistles you could ask for. Quite possibly the most impressive feat of this new super zoom is it’s size and weight coming in at a very manageable 15.9″ length and just over 14 lbs. – that’s 10lbs lighter than a 24-290mm Optimo! Continue reading “Canon Announces Worlds Longest Cinema Zoom, 50-1000mm”