PANAVISION INTRODUCES NEW GENERATION OF ANAMORPHIC LENSES FOR FILMMAKERS
Two Zoom Lenses and Six Lenses in the New “G series” Prime Lens Family are Given World Premiere

Tuesday, October 11, 2007 —Woodland Hills, Calif. —A new generation of anamorphic lenses for filmmakers—eight compact, high‐performance lenses designed for today’s fast‐moving production workflow—were introduced today by Panavision®.
 

The new lenses include two Panavision zooms for wide‐angle and telephoto shooting, and the worldwide introduction of the “G series,” a new class of Panavision prime lenses.  Six lenses in the “G series” were introduced; additional focal lengths will be announced in the near future.

The announcements were made by Bob Beitcher, president and CEO of Panavision Inc.

“Today we’re introducing eight lenses that exemplify why Panavision continues its world leadership in anamorphic photography,” said Beitcher.  “We’re proud that the majority of feature films shot in anamorphic formats use Panavision lenses.  The credit ‘Filmed in Panavision’ represents the anamorphic standard of the industry.”

All Panavision lenses are assembled by hand at Panavision’s world headquarters in Woodland Hills, Calif., he added.  Like all Panavision lenses, the new lenses are engineered to produce superior image quality.  They also feature high contrast and resolution, minimal aberrations, and excellent field illumination as well as low veiling glare, ghosting, and distortion.

Panavision is the only company that designs and manufactures both 35mm film cameras and lenses.  The company also rents cameras, lenses and accessories to filmmakers from every other professional camera and lens manufacturer.

New anamorphic zoom lenses - a close‐up

Panavision’s new zoom lenses are the wide‐angle AWZ2 40‐80mm T2.8, and the telephoto ATZ 70‐200 T3.5. The AWZ2 (Anamorphic Wide‐Angle Zoom), introduced in 2006, was the first modern zoom lens to use anamorphic elements at the front of the lens. The new Panavision ATZ (Anamorphic Telephoto Zoom) lens is the second lens based on that design.

The front anamorphic design substantially reduces stop loss, and produces superior image quality, with minimal aberrations and improved field illumination.  Both zooms have a constant aperture at all zoom and focus positions, and constant focus at all zoom positions. Because of their high performance imaging, these zooms are not restricted to use as variable primes but are fully usable as in‐shot zooms.
 

The AWZ2 is nicknamed the “Bailey zoom” after John Bailey, ASC, who was among the first cinematographers to ask Panavision to develop a wide‐angle anamorphic zoom. The AWZ2 close‐focuses to 3 ¼ feet and the ATZ to 5 ½ feet.

The “G series” prime lenses - A close‐up

The first lenses in the “G series” prime lens family include 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 60mm, 75mm, and 100mm.  More focal lengths will be added in the near future.  “G series” primes are typically T2.6 with close‐focus under three feet. All the prime lenses in the set have a common front diameter of 4.440 inches, (the same as Panavision spherical Primo primes), insuring that lens changes will not require finding a new rubber donut or bellows for the matte box. Focus and T‐stop scales are engraved on both sides of the lens, and focus and T‐stop gears are in the standard Panavision locations.

The “G series” lenses are comparable to Panavision “E series” anamorphic primes in performance and size, but are designed in a lightweight, compact format similar to Panavision “C series” primes.