Three Major Lens Manufacturers Announce Partnership

In photo from left to right: 1. Hidetoshi Kimura, President, Fujinon Europe 2. Christian Bannert, Product Development Manager, Carl Zeiss 3. Dr. Martin Prillmann, Executive Board, ARRI 4. Dr. Winfried Scherle, General Manager, Carl Zeiss 5. Shigekazu Matsuki, President, Fujinon Corp. 6. Franz Kraus, Executive Board, ARRI At NAB 2010 manufacturers ARRI, FUJINON and ZEISS announced a strategic partnership designed to utilise the unique strengths of each company in order to create innovative new products for the entertainment imaging community. The agreement consists of an open exchange of ideas, standards and technologies, as well as close cooperation in the development of new products. 

Carl Zeiss is globally renowned for its high quality prime lenses, Fujinon is a market leader when it comes to zooms and ARRI is the largest manufacturer of professional motion picture cameras in the world. Together, they represent an enviable concentration of expertise and excellence.

By examining, incorporating and improving upon current systems, as well as encouraging third parties to participate in an open discussion, the triumvirate of industry leaders aims to deliver higher customer value than existing solutions can offer. Already, the group offers the existing, unrivaled range of prime lenses that are the result of the decade long partnership between ZEISS and ARRI. Now, the new ARRI/Fujinon Alura zooms are introduced. This is a great benefit for customers who can now shoot with modern primes and zooms that are perfectly matched according to tight specifications. 

Beyond the benefits of idealised mechanical and optical synergies, solutions are needed that respond to the needs of today's industry and also combine affordability with enhanced electronic data transfer, thereby simplifying postproduction workflows - especially those that incorporate visual effects elements. 

Fujinon Complete PL Zooms with two new models

Fujinon's family of PL zooms is now completeFujinon has completed its family of four PL zoom lenses with the introduction of two additional models: the 24-180 mm T2.6 and 14.5-45 mm T2.0. The new lenses join two PL zooms previously introduced: the 18-85 mm T2.0 and 75-400 mm 2.8-T3.8.

Designed for current and emerging 35mm format film and digital cinema motion picture cameras, Fujinon's PL Series offer T-stop, focal range and optical performance previously unavailable in a family of PL zooms. With workable size, industry-inspired functionality and focal range from 14.5 mm to 400 mm, these zooms provide top performance and cost efficiency.

All four Fujinon PL zooms have 136mm front diameters. Focus, zoom, and iris gears are all in the same position—which speeds up lens changes, since follow focus accessories and lens motors can stay in the same position on the rods. Focus barrel rotation is a uniform 280 degrees on all four lenses.

“There is a lot of excitement about Fujinon’s new PL zooms because of their speed, ranges, and optical quality. Feedback from early users of the PL Series has been enthusiastic. All have been impressed with their low light capabilities, consistent performance, and close color match to industry leading prime lenses,” said Chuck Lee, Fujinon Technology Manager.