VILTROX LUNA 42-420mm T5.6 Large-Format Cine Zoom – First Look

by Francesco AndreolaSeptember 16^th, 2024

During IBC 2024, VILTROX announced a new massive cine zoom lens, the LUNA 42-420mm T5.6. This 10x zoom lens has an extremely large image circle of 60mm and comes with an ARRI LPL mount, so it’s ready for the next generation of large-format cameras. The lens should become available towards the end of this year for around $100,000.

Although VILTROX started their journey in our industry by producing affordable lenses and adapters, they now seems to have come a long way. At the beginning of last year, the company made their first serious debut in the cinema world by releasing a line of full-frame 1.33x rear anamorphic lenses – the EPIC series –and just a few months ago, they officially launched the LUNA 30-300mm T4, a 10x full-frame zoom that retails for $65,000. 

But if you think that was impressive, then hold on tight. Indeed, on the show floor at IBC 2024, we visited the company’s booth, where Benedict Wen from VILTROX introduced us to an even more jaw-dropping glass, the LUNA 42-420mm T5.6. Let’s take a look!

VILTROX LUNA 42-420mm T5.6 – features

This gigantic 10x zoom lens is designed for use with large-format cameras. The lens has an image circle of 60mm, which means it can cover the ARRI ALEXA 65, the FUJIFILM GFX100 series, and the upcoming Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K sensor, for example.

If you take a detailed look at the specs of this lens, you will realize they are exactly the same as those of the LUNA 30-300mm T4 zoom, just multiplied by a factor of √2. Essentially, this makes the 42-420mm T5.6 a direct equivalent to the 30-300mm but designed for much larger sensors. Unlike the 30-300mm, which features an ARRI PL mount, the 42-420mm has a larger LPL mount.

The T5.6 aperture is constant with no ramping across the whole zoom range, and the lens features 0.8 gears for focus, iris, and zoom. Of course, we’re talking about an all-manual lens here – with a minimum focus distance of 1.8m/6 ft.

At first sight, I had thought that the lens would require pretty powerful focus motors. But, as I’ve tried to manually move the focus ring, I was pretty impressed by its smoothness. The zoom ring also felt pretty well-dampened, and as you rotate it, you can feel it’s moving a considerable amount of glass inside the lens.

The LUNA 42-420mm T5.6 weighs approximately 16kg/35lbs. The focus, zoom, and iris gears have a silver finish, while the barrel is all white. This design choice can actually help minimize thermal expansion on a lens of this size.

Although we don’t have exact information on the front diameter of the lens, it is pretty large, which is the reason why we find a filter slot in the back of the lens. Also, on the back, there’s a back focus adjustment ring.

Price and availability

According to Benedict, the VILTROX LUNA 42-420mm T5.6 should become available around December 2024. The official retail price is set at around $100,000, which likely makes this a rental-only item.

For more information, please keep an eye on VILTROX’s website.

What’s your take on the massive VILTROX LUNA zoom lenses? What do you think of VILTROX’s progress in optical design over the years? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!