Canon has announced their fifth hybrid VCM prime lens, joining the 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, and 50mm VCM line, all with a wide f/1.4 aperture, encased in an identical external chassis. These primes join the Canon 24-105mm f/2.8 and 70-200 f/2.8 L IS USM Z hybrid zoom lenses. But what exactly is a “hybrid lens”? Join us and Canon’s Mark Fensome for some insights, straight from the IBC trade show in Amsterdam. The Canon RF 85 mm f/1.4 L VCM is the latest addition to the company’s growing hybrid lens series, comprised of four primes and two zooms as of the writing of this article. Lens sets have been very popular in the cinema world, offering both mechanical and optical consistency across the focal range. These sets weren’t a thing in the still photography segment, since consistency wasn’t as important there. The hybrid segment has mostly evolved as still cameras gained cinematic capability. This led hybrid shooters to use optics designed for stills in their filmmaking. As time went by, hybrid creators honed their craft and practice to a point at which lenses designed for stills started to impose limits on their creativity. Canon RF 85mm f/1.4 L VCM. Image credit: CineD Enter the hybrid lenses Hybrid lenses, like hybrid cameras, try to merge both stills and motion capture features into a single lens, hoping to get the best of both worlds. The sharpness, compactness, and coverage of still-oriented lenses are reinforced with fundamental cine features: Optical consistency throughout the range...
Published By: CineD - Today