Canon Announces 25-250mm 10x CINE-SERVO Lens and Firmware Updates

by Jakub HanApril 20^th, 2020

Today, Canon announced a new APS-C (Super 35) camera EOS C300 Mark III – check our separate article here. Along with the camera, Canon also announced the new 25-250mm 10x CINE-SERVO zoom with detachable drive unit in both EF and PL mount versions. The lens covers Super 35 sensors, but it also has a built-in 1.5x optical extender, which extends the range to 375mm and produces larger image circle to cover full-frame cameras. In addition to this, Canon announces new firmware updates for its professional display monitors and Cinema EOS cameras.

Canon 25-250mm 10x CINE-SERVO Lens

Canon CINE-SERVO 25-250mm Lens (CN10X25 IAS S). Source: Canon

The newly announced Canon 25-250mm 10x CINE-SERVO Lens (CN10X25 IAS S) features compact and lightweight design with optics capable to render 8K video. The lens features an 11-blade aperture. The maximum aperture is T2.95 between 25mm and 187mm and T3.95 for 187-250mm.

It offers a long 10x zoom range from 25mm wide-angle to 250mm telephoto. This range can even be pushed further to 375mm with the built-in 1.5x optical extender. The extender, however, has one more interesting function. It can optically enlarge the image circle of the lens to make it compatible with Full-Frame sensor cameras – such as the EOS C500 Mark II. The maximum aperture with the optical extender changes to T4.4-T5.9.

Canon CINE-SERVO 25-250mm Lens (CN10X25 IAS S). Source: Canon

The lens has a user-detachable ergonomic drive unit. When attached, the unit needs to be powered from the right connector. With the new EOS C300 Mark III, for instance, users will need the extension unit to power the servo drive unit.

The lens mount can be interchanged between EF and PL mount. Unlike the user-interchangeable lens mount of the C300 Mark III, however, only Canon authorized service centers can do this and it will be a paid service.

Canon CINE-SERVO 25-250mm Lens (CN10X25 IAS S). Source: Canon

The lens supports communication standards with EF mount and Cooke/i Technology with PL mount. A 12-pin serial communication is also supported for broadcast standards, as well as a 20-pin connector that outputs accurate lens positional data for various virtual systems.

Price and Availability

The lens will be available from July 2020 and the price has been set at around $27,500/€27,500 (without VAT).

Cinema EOS System Camera Firmware Updates

Canon also today announced in total 17 updates for its Cinema EOS System cameras. Among the updates are the following:

• Added lens compatibility between the EOS C700 FF, EOS C700/C700GS, EOS C300 Mark II, EOS C200 and the today-launched CINE-SERVO lens – the CN10X25 IAS S – to include various support functions such as Dual Pixel CMOS AF functions, Chromatic Aberration, and Peripheral Illumination Correction functions and the Lens Meta Data recording.
• XF-AVC Long GOP and XF-AVC Proxy recording formats added to the EOS C500 Mark II.
• Simultaneous HDMI and SDI output with the EOS C200. As a result, two output terminals can be used for different purposes such as adding a recorder and a reference monitor while also recording internally.

Professional Display Firmware Update

Last but not least, Canon also announced an update for seven models of its professional 4K reference displays – the DP-V3120, DP-V2421, DP-V2420, DP-V2411, DP-V2410, DP-V1711, and DP-V1710 – improving various functions and performance for a strengthened 4K/HDR workflow. Such updates include:

• Enhanced brightness and contrast. The monitor’s brightness increases from 300nit to 600nit and, with boost mode ON, brightness can be extended to a maximum 1000nit with the DP-V1711 and DP-V1710. DP-V2411, DP-V1711 and DP-V1710 have an added global dimming function, even with brightness boost ON, and can now perform up to 1,000,000:1 contrast ratio. Please mind that the DP-V1710/1711 will require a paid license to activate this function.
• Supporting .cube LUT file format. Now supporting the reading of 3D-LUT/1D-LUT files in the .cube file format widely used in the video production industry.
• Enhanced coordination with digital cinema cameras from RED Digital Cinema. Now supporting two types of LUT presets for converting video signals from RED Digital Cinema cameras into HDR (PQ)/SDR.
• Further enhancement of functions to support editing operations. During shooting or editing operations, checking the XY chromaticity value of pixels will be possible as well as the coordinate position on the chromaticity diagram for ITU-R BT.2020 color gamut video.

Do you have experience working with any Canon CINE-SERVO lens? What do you think about the new 25-250mm CINE-SERVO lens? Let us know in the comments underneath the article.