 |
| Zeiss Digi-Primes |
|
CHANGING THE WAY YOU LOOK AT CINEMATOGRAPHY
PRIME ADVANTAGE
Cinematographers
have long appreciated the advantages of prime lenses. Their smaller,
lighter design makes them ideal for handheld camerawork. Built with
fewer optical elements, primes have less glass-to-air surfaces, so
images have greater clarity and brilliance and are less prone to flare
and ghosting. DigiPrime® lenses have been designed to deliver pristine
images that are more desirable and visually pleasing than those
achieved with any other lens.
UNIFORM SIZE & BALANCE
Each
DigiPrime® lens is housed in a common diameter barrel. Focus and iris
gearing is uniformly positioned from lens to lens so changing lenses
has never been easier. Because of their uniform size and shape, motors,
matteboxes and rod-mounted accessories don’t need to be repositioned.
Every DigiPrime® lens in the family from the 70mm to the wide angle 5mm
have a common 95mm front diameter. With a design that puts the center
of gravity near the lens mount and keeps it there throughout the
focusing range (thanks to their internal focus design), DigiPrime®
lenses are ideally suited to work requiring critical camera balance as
with Steadicam®.
INTERNAL FOCUS DESIGN
DigiPrime®
lenses employ Carl Zeiss Internal Focusing Design (IFD). With Carl
Zeiss IFD, optical performance is kept at top level, center to corner,
over the entire focusing range. There is no rotation of the front
exterior housing. Focusing the lens moves only small lightweight lens
groups within the DigiPrime® lens’ interior, eliminating any shift in
the center of gravity. This ensures highly accurate focus and maximum
image quality every time.
ACCURATE & VISIBLE MARKINGS
The
expanded DigiPrime® lens barrel provides ample space to accommodate the
unique calibrated focus scales. Featuring oversized, easy-to-read focus
marks engraved and filled with long-life bright yellow enamel, they
offer high visibility even under the very low ambient light levels
found on many sets. Like state-of-the-art 35mm cine lenses, DigiPrime®
lenses incorporate a generously windowed focus scale system. Focus
marks are easily & accurately readable from either the smart or
dumb side of the lens. There is ample room for taping customized focus
marks. And the iris scale is viewable from both sides of the lens.
Carl
Zeiss has improved on conventional focus scales, equipping DigiPrime®
lenses with about 300° of barrel rotation. The expanded scales are
individually calibrated for each lens to facilitate pinpoint accuracy.
The standard focus ring, engraved in feet and inches, can be quickly
changed to meters. The thoughtfully designed iris scales are marked in
1/3 step increments to best accommodate the tight exposure tolerances
of electronic cinematography.
FIXED IRIS & FOCUS GEARS
The
geared rings on DigiPrime® lenses are positioned uniformly across the
set. Focus and iris scales are arranged in the ergonomically correct
order: focus in front and iris behind, next to the camera. Solid
construction under rigid tolerances keeps the focus and iris gear
positions absolutely fixed even while focusing. There is no axial
travel and no play. Positioning external lens motors and encoders is
simplified, so there’s less wear and tear. Lens changes are simple,
speedy and safe.
HIGH PRECISION FOCUS
DigiPrime®
lenses are designed to achieve and hold the most critical focus. The
focus drive mechanism has been scrupulously engineered to eliminate
backlash and play. When focusing, the image remains perfectly centered.
There is no tilt, rotation, or shift. Each DigiPrime® lens is designed
to be virtually free of breathing, so focusing does not influence image
size. Changes in aperture have no effect on focus.
ABSOLUTELY PRECISE BACK-FOCUS
Precision
back-focus is critical to properly calibrated focus scales and
perfectly focused images. Which is why DigiPrime® lenses were designed
with a highly refined back-focus mechanism that ensures accurately
maintained focus scale calibration across the entire focusing range.
Back-focus scales are clearly engraved for exact repeatability. Once
desired back-focus is achieved, the dependable locking feature fastens
the mechanism securely in place.
INNOVATIVE IRIS
The
Carl Zeiss team collaborated on a revolutionary new iris design
exclusively for DigiPrime® lenses. The result is the best diaphragm
system ever created for video or motion picture lenses. Free from lag,
slop or backlash, the new iris utilizes nine blades to deliver circular
diaphragm openings. This results in pleasing and natural-looking
highlights, and detail in soft-focus areas of the image.
OPTIMUM WIDE OPEN
In
minimal light situations, DigiPrime® lenses provide maximum creative
control over depth of field. Like no other cinematography lens, the new
Carl Zeiss design allows for shooting with the aperture fully open. It
provides for unsurpassed contrast by minimizing flare, veiling glare
and internal reflections, well below any other lens. DigiPrime® lenses
deliver a crisp image with accurate contrast under the most demanding
front lit conditions.
FLOATING ELEMENT DESIGN
While
engineering their famous Ultra Prime® lenses for 35mm filmmaking, Carl
Zeiss perfected the floating element design, whereby lens groups move
precisely in relation to each other during focusing, to correct image
area curvature & related optical aberrations. The DigiPrime® lens
design effectively makes use of floating element groups to eliminate
field and edge distortion, yielding sharp, high-resolution images
across the field of view — even down to the closest focus.
ELEGANT CRAFTSMANSHIP & INSPIRED ENGINEERING
DigiPrime®
lenses are engineered and built at the Carl Zeiss camera lens
headquarters in Oberkochen, Germany. Each lens is created through a
combination of precise craftsmanship and solid construction—qualities
that have established Carl Zeiss as the world leader in mechanical and
optical technology. The DigiPrime® lens barrel is elegant yet robust
—ready to carry accessories like clamp-on shades, filters, ring lights,
encoders and motors without distorting or impacting optical
performance. A filter slot has been omitted in favor of a more rugged
mechanical design. Scales and indices are carefully engraved for
long-term accuracy and durability. Plus, smart modularity streamlines
service and maintenance.
SUPERIOR IMAGE CONTRAST
Purpose
built for the 2/3” CCD and beam splitting prism optical system found in
current digital cinematography cameras, DigiPrime® lenses exceed an
amazing 90% MTF value for the rendering of 56-line pairs/mm. This
translates into unsurpassed optical performance exceeding the stated
performance of all other digital cinematography lenses. Additionally,
the perception of sharpness is aided by the uniform contrast and
brightness across the image area. DigiPrime® images are pure and
saturated, free of color fringing across the focus range, making them
the ideal choice for the unique demands of green/blue screen work.
SUPER COLOR MATCHED
Carl
Zeiss selects superior quality optical glass for the best color
characteristics. Then individual lens surfaces receive the Carl Zeiss
proprietary T* multiple layer anti-reflex coating, and the Carl Zeiss
proprietary color matching treatment CMT is applied to ensure uniform
color characteristics throughout the set. This minimizes costly color
timing in post-production.
|
