Fujinon released the Cabrio Compact lens series back in 2012 as a lightweight option to their impressive Premier line of cinema lenses. The Cabrio line includes the 14-35mm, 19-90mm, 20-120mm, 25-300mm and 85-300mm. Despite being smaller and lighter, they are still members of the elite “Premier” series of Fujinon lenses, offering exceptional optical performance across the board. Let’s take a closer look at the Fujinon Cabrio 19-90.

Zeiss has had a line of reasonably priced cinema zooms for a few years now, but the introduction of the Zeiss LWZ.3 21-100mm takes things up a notch. The 21-100 covers a much longer focal length range than any of their other lenses, and is more than a pound lighter than its predecessors.

Canon’s CN-E Compact Zooms have been a great addition to documentary cinematography since their release five years ago. The image quality is superb and is a great choice for higher-end productions. They offer a comfortable size and weight, with a fast, consistent T2.8 aperture. This pair of lenses offers a great focal length range that will cover you in most shooting situations. Let’s take a deep dive into the look and feel of these two lenses.

I had ZEISS’ Snehal Patel over for a lively discussion about the new Compact Prime 3 and Compact Prime 3 XD lenses from ZEISS. This exciting new series of professional cinema lenses feature smaller and lighter housings than their CP.2 predecessors, consistent 95mm front outer diameters, and an updated focusing mechanism for a consistently smooth feel, even in cold weather.

When Canon announced the Compact Servo 18-80mm T4.4 last year, it was also announced that it would be part of a family of lenses. Today, the Compact Servo 70-200mm T4.4 joins the ranks as the second lens of the series.

Fujinon recently released the native Sony E-mount MK 18-55mm cinema zoom as an “ultra-compact, and 2 lb, 2 oz lightweight design lens that meets the needs of Super35 and APS-C sensor cameras.” The lens features “outstanding optical performance and low distortion with T2.9 speed across the entire zoom range, as well as fully manual lens rings for focus, zoom, and iris.”

As a documentary cinematographer, I am constantly struggling to decide which lenses I want in my kit for any given project. The options over the years have ranged from minimal to overwhelming. In the beginning, I was mostly restricted to DSLR-style lenses to interface with my EF or Sony E-mount cameras.

Everyone has an idea for their great passion project, but it takes a certain level of commitment to turn that idea into reality. For director and DP Alexander Hankoff, his short film Yellow was something he knew he wanted to make and it was his (along with his team's) creativity that made it possible.

The C300 Mark II's dual-pixel technology provides reliable and predictable autofocus. We now have the ability to dedicate autofocus to skin tones only, subjects coming in and out of frame, or multiple subjects in the same frame.