Canon Intros New UHDxs Portable Zoom Lens With 4.3mm Wide-Angle, Weight of 4.8 Lb.

Canon U.S.A. has launched the CJ15ex4.3B, the latest addition to its UHDxs series of high-end portable zoom lenses for 4K broadcast cameras with 2/3-in. sensors. A key feature is a wide focal length of 4.3mm and maximum focal length of 65mm (130mm with built-in 2X extender), suiting it to producing high-quality video for a variety of needs, including sports broadcasting and electronic newsgathering.

Canon’s CJ15ex4.3B lens will be available in early 2020.

“Wide angle is important to the industry, especially to the sporting world,” says Larry Thorpe, senior fellow, Canon U.S.A. “And the weight of the lens is only 4.8 lb. so it can be mounted on jibs and drones. And a very special effort was made on HDR and the wide color gamut front with multi-layer coatings on the elements and a new Air Sphere Coating (ASC), that is ultra-low-reflective.”

The CJ15ex4.3B is the first portable broadcast lens to feature Air Sphere Coating, which originated with Canon’s EF-mount photography lenses. And, through the optimal placement of fluorite, UD, and Super UD lenses in a multi-group optical configuration developed by Canon, the CJ15ex4.3B possesses excellent correction of such situations as color bleeding and chromatic aberration.

The CJ15ex4.3B features a compact body measuring approximately 6.4 x 4.2 x 9.8 in. The lens also helps reduce the burden on camera operators by providing excellent optical performance in an ergonomically optimized package demanded by professionals in such fields as broadcast journalism and documentaries.

The first use of this lens in the U.S. was at the recent NHRA U.S. Nationals in Indianapolis. After the performance of the CJ15ex4.3B lens in the challenging environment of fast cars and flying debris, NHRA Technology Executive Mike Rokosa was enthusiastic about the lens’s capabilities.

“When producing a drag-racing telecast,” he explains, “one of our most important shots is a wide-angle shot on a jib arm to capture the pageantry and tension at the starting line, where the driver’s reaction times are measured in thousandths of a second and mean the difference between winning and losing a race that lasts only for a few seconds. I respect the fact that Canon likes to place their products in extreme conditions, and our 11,000-horsepower dragsters are all of that. To bring an untested new design, unveil it at our event, and for it to perform as it did was impressive. With cars traveling over 300 mph, it is easy to lose focus or tracking on the cars. Not only was the lens able to capture the shots exactly as our director envisioned, but the added zoom range let us bring viewers even closer to the action.”

The Canon CJ15ex4.3B portable zoom lens is currently scheduled to be available in the beginning of 2020.