Canon has announced a new range of CN-R RF Mount Cine Primes. This is a series of 7 new full-frame lenses in focal lengths ranging from 14mm to 135mm.
The initial lenses in the series are:
- Canon CN-R 14mm T3.1 L F
- Canon CN-R 20mm T1.5 L F
- Canon CN-R 24mm T1.5 L F
- Canon CN-R 35mm T1.5 L F
- Canon CN-R 50mm T1.5 L F
- Canon CN-R 85mm T1.5 L F
- Canon CN-R 135mm T2.2 L F
It is no coincidence that the CN-R lenses come in the exact same focal lengths as the existing CN-E primes. Just like their CN-E counterparts that were based on rehoused EF lenses, the CN-R primes are probably based on RF lens designs, although I have no way of being certain for sure. It is interesting that Canon doesn’t currently make 14mm, 20mm, 24mm, or 35mm RF mount stills lenses with those corresponding F stops. However, given that these lenses will not be available till next year, there is plenty of time for Canon to still release the RF still lenses in those focal lengths.
In a lot of ways, it makes sense for Canon to just rehouse existing or yet-to-be-released RF stills lenses rather than come up with completely new lenses from scratch. Again, I am just speculating because I don’t know this for sure.
The Canon CN-R 50mm T1.5 L F and CN-R 85mm T1.5 L F look to be based on the RF50mm F1.2 L USM and RF85mm F1.2 L USM respectively. The CN-R 135mm T2.2 L F is probably based on the RF135mm F1.8 L IS USM.
The 20mm, 24mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 85mm all have a consistent length of 125.5mm / 4.94″ which makes them reasonably compact. The 14mm and 135mm are not the same size as the rest of the lenses. All the lenses, except the 14mm also all share a 114mm front and a 105mm front filter diameter.
| WEIGHT | |
| Canon CN-R 14mm T3.1 L F | 1.3 kg / 2.86 lb |
| Canon CN-R 20mm T1.5 L F | 1.4 kg / 3.08 lb |
| Canon CN-R 24mm T1.5 L F | 1.3 kg / 2.86 lb |
| Canon CN-R 35mm T1.5 L F | 1.3 kg / 2.86 lb |
| Canon CN-R 50mm T1.5 L F | 1.2 kg / 2.64 lb |
| Canon CN-R 85mm T1.5 L F | 1.5 kg / 3.30 lb |
| Canon CN-R 135mm T2.2 L F | 1.5 kg / 3.30 lb |
Above you can see how much the lenses weigh.
Key features
- Genuine RF mount for stable operation without a converter
- High speed lens communication offering advanced metadata support from the lens to camera
- Geared rings offer greater control via hand operation and third party follow focus accessories
- High optical performance and high image quality for 4K, 8K and HDR productions
- T-stops up to T1.3 with broad focal lengths covering ultra-wide to telephoto
- Minimal focus breathing
- 11-blade iris for cinematic bokeh and softly diffused highlights
The lenses have user-changeable feet/meters markings and all of the markings have a phosphorescent coating so you can see them in the dark. The focus rotation for all of the lenses is 300 degrees.
As the lenses have an RF mount, the Canon R5 C and EOS C70 can support additional functionality. They can communicate with certain cameras by using the four contact points on the lens.
| C70 | R5 C | |
| Chromatic aberration correction | YES | YES |
| Peripheral light correction | YES | YES |
| Distortion correction | YES | YES |
| Lens information display/reco | YES | YES |
| T number value display support | YES* | YES* |
| Dual Pixel Focus Guide | YES | YES |
*This function will not be supported until a firmware update is released for the C70 and R5 C in December.
It is nice that the lenses will support Canon’s Dual Pixel Focus Guide. This lets users see how far the focus is off. When an object is in focus you get a small green box.
You will also be able to see the focal length and T-stop number in the cameras LCD or viewfinder.
MOD
| MOD | |
| Canon CN-R 14mm T3.1 L F | 0.2m / 8″ |
| Canon CN-R 20mm T1.5 L F | 0.3m / 12” |
| Canon CN-R 24mm T1.5 L F | 0.3m / 12” |
| Canon CN-R 35mm T1.5 L F | 0.3m / 12” |
| Canon CN-R 50mm T1.5 L F | 0.45m / 18″ |
| Canon CN-R 85mm T1.5 L F | 0.95m / 3’2″ |
| Canon CN-R 135mm T2.2 L F | 1m / 3’4″ |
Above you can see what the minimum focusing distance is for all of the lenses.
What does the release of these lenses potentially mean?
The CN-R lenses undoubtedly mean that we are likely to see mid to high-end digital cinema cameras from Canon coming in the near future. It is still a little puzzling to me as to why they never offered versions of the C300 Mark III and C500 Mark II in RF mount. I think initially, these lenses may be popular with users of some of the RED cameras that feature an RF mount.
The Canon CN-E Cine primes were announced way back in 2011, and while they are optically good lenses, I think a lot of users have been waiting for a refresh for a long time.
The one thing that always bugged me about the CN-E Cinema Prime Lenses is that for many, many years they were only available in Canon EF mount. Surely making these lenses available in both Canon EF and PL mount would have made a lot more sense. For a long time, if you wanted to convert your CN-E Cinema Prime Lenses into PL mount you needed to send them to Duclos Lenses who do a conversion kit, but it costs $1,850 USD per lens. It wasn’t until 2019 that Canon finally decided to offer the CN-E primes in PL mount.
Now, I asked Canon if these new CN-R primes would be available in PL mount as well, but they told me no. This is interesting because, in numerous briefing slides, I saw the word (RF mount only) used next to functionality capabilities. This to me indicates that the lenses would be available in PL mount. It would be crazy if Canon didn’t make these lenses available in PL mount.
Price & Availability
The CN-R Cinema Prime Lenses will range in price from $3,995 USD to $4,220 USD. They will face stiff competition from the countless full-frame cine prime lenses available from Zeiss, Xeen, Schneider, Cooke, Tokina, Sigma, Meike, NiSi, Angenieux, ARRI, etc.
| EXPECTED SHIPPING DATE | |
| Canon CN-R 14mm T3.1 L F | Late February 2024 |
| Canon CN-R 20mm T1.5 L F | Late March 2024 |
| Canon CN-R 24mm T1.5 L F | Late January 2024 |
| Canon CN-R 35mm T1.5 L F | Late January 2024 |
| Canon CN-R 50mm T1.5 L F | Late January 2024 |
| Canon CN-R 85mm T1.5 L F | Late January 2024 |
| Canon CN-R 135mm T2.2 L F | Late April 2024 |
You are going to have to wait some considerable time to purchase the lenses. Above you can see the expected shipping months for all of the focal lengths.
These release dates further convince me that these lenses are based on RF stills lenses. While they undoubtedly feature completely different mechanics and other internal differences, the optical design is presumably very similar, if not the same as their RF still counterparts.
While these look like decent offerings I think a lot of people are still waiting for some type of hybrid AF/Cine lens and you would think Canon would be one of the companies that is capable of doing that.
