Overview

Carl Zeiss delivers exceptional engineering & unsurpassed craftsmanship to the world of digital cinematography. DigiPrime® lenses were designed and manufactured to allow for the full creative and technical potential of the finest 2/3" high definition cameras. These extraordinary lenses provide unequaled optical performance and precision mechanical features to satisfy the needs of the most demanding production.

Today’s DigiPrime family offers nine focal lengths from the 3.9mm (T1.9) to the 70mm (T1.6).

Following the overwhelming success of the ZEISS DigiPrime lenses, filmmakers clamored for a zoom that would incorporate the famous Zeiss engineering, craftsmanship, feel, and performance. The Carl Zeiss DigiZoom™ 6-24mm T1.9 and 17-112mm T1.9 are a masterful combination of elegantly proportioned design, sublime functionality, and outstanding performance. The ZEISS DigiZoom lenses feature many of the same innovative design choices that have established DigiPrime as the top name in optics for digital cinematography. Read on to discover why
ZEISS DigiPrime & DigiZoom lenses are changing the way you look at digital cinematography.

Features

Prime Advantage

Cinematographers have long appreciated the advantages of prime lenses. Their smaller, lighter design makes them ideal for handheld camerawork. Built with fewer optical elements, primes have less glass-to-air surfaces, so images have greater clarity and brilliance and are less prone to flare and ghosting. DigiPrime® lenses have been designed to deliver pristine images that are more desirable and visually pleasing than those achieved with any other lens.

Uniform Size & Balance

Most DigiPrime lenses are housed in a common diameter barrel. Focus and iris gearing is uniformly positioned from lens to lens, so changing lenses has never been easier. Because of their uniform size and shape, motors, matteboxes and rod-mounted accessories don’t need to be repositioned. Plus, many of the DigiPrime lenses have a common 95mm front diameter. With a design that puts the center of gravity near the lens mount and keeps it there throughout the focusing range (thanks to their internal focus design), DigiPrime lenses are ideally suited to work that requires critical camera balance as with Steadicam®.

Internal Focus Design

DigiPrime lenses employ Carl Zeiss Internal Focusing Design (IFD). With Carl Zeiss IFD, optical performance is kept at top level, center to corner, over the entire focusing range. There is no rotation of the front exterior housing. Focusing the lens moves only small lightweight lens groups
within the DigiPrime lens’ interior, eliminating any shift in the center of gravity. This ensures highly accurate focus and maximum image quality every time.

Accurate & Visible Markings

The expanded DigiPrime lens barrel provides ample space to accommodate the unique calibrated focus scales. Featuring oversized, easy-to-read focus marks engraved and filled with long-life bright yellow enamel, they offer high visibility even under the very low ambient light levels found on many sets. Like state-of the-art 35mm cine lenses, DigiPrime lenses incorporate a generously
windowed focus scale system. Focus marks are easily & accurately readable from either the smart or dumb side of the lens.

There is ample room for taping customized focus marks. And the iris scale is viewable from both sides of the lens. Carl Zeiss has improved on conventional focus scales, equipping DigiPrime lenses with about 300° of barrel rotation. The expanded scales are individually calibrated for each
lens to facilitate pinpoint accuracy. The standard focus ring, engraved in feet and inches, can be quickly changed to meters. The thoughtfully designed iris scales are marked in 1/3 step increments to best accommodate the tight exposure tolerances of electronic cinematography.

Fixed Iris and Focus Gears

The geared rings on DigiPrime lenses are positioned uniformly across the set. Focus and iris scales are arranged in the ergonomically correct order: focus in front and iris behind, next to the camera. Solid construction under rigid tolerances keeps the focus and iris gear positions absolutely fixed even while focusing. There is no axial travel and no play. Positioning external lens motors and encoders is simplified, so there’s less wear and tear. Lens changes are simple, speedy and safe.

High Precision Focus

DigiPrime lenses are designed to achieve and hold the most critical focus. The focus drive mechanism has been scrupulously engineered to eliminate backlash and play. When focusing, the image remains perfectly centered. There is no tilt, rotation, or shift. Each DigiPrime lens is designed to be virtually free of breathing, so focusing does not influence image size. Changes in aperture have no effect on focus.

Absolutely Precise Back-Focus

Precision back-focus is critical to properly calibrated focus scales & perfectly focused images. Which is why DigiPrime lenses were designed with a highly refined back-focus mechanism that ensures accurately maintained focus scale calibration across the entire focusing range. Back-focus scales are clearly engraved for exact repeatability. Once desired back-focus is achieved, the dependable locking feature fastens the mechanism securely in place.

Carl Zeiss Sharp Max™

The Sharp Max™ is a compact tool, not much larger than a lens, designed to go anywhere DigiPrime lenses go. With Sharp Max, back-focus adjustment is accomplished quickly and easily at any location. For ultra-precise back-focus adjustment, Sharp Max is mounted on the front of the shooting DigiPrime lens and the focus scale is set to infinity. Next, the back-focus ring is adjusted for best visual resolution of the Siemens star image in the monitor or viewfinder and locked. The procedure takes just seconds.

Innovative Iris

The Carl Zeiss team collaborated on a revolutionary new iris design exclusively for DigiPrime lenses. The result is the best diaphragm system ever created for video or motion picture lenses. Free from lag, slop or backlash, the new iris utilizes nine blades to deliver circular diaphragm openings. This results in pleasing and natural-looking highlights, and detail in soft-focus areas of the image.

Optimum Wide Open

In minimal light situations, DigiPrime lenses provide maximum creative control over depth of field. Like no other cinematography lens, the new Carl Zeiss design allows for shooting
with the aperture fully open. It provides for unsurpassed contrast by minimizing flare, veiling glare and internal reflections, well below any other lens. DigiPrime lenses deliver a crisp image with accurate contrast under the most demanding front lit conditions.

Floating Element Design

While engineering their famous Ultra Prime® lenses for 35mm filmmaking, Carl Zeiss perfected the floating element design, whereby lens groups move precisely in relation to each other during focusing, to correct image area curvature & related optical aberrations. The DigiPrime lens design effectively makes use of floating element groups to eliminate field and edge distortion, yielding sharp, high-resolution images across the field of view — even down to the closest focus.

Superior Image Contrast

Purpose built for the 2/3” CCD and beam splitting prism optical system found in current digital cinematography cameras, DigiPrime lenses exceed an amazing 90% MTF value for the rendering of 56-line pairs/mm. This translates into unsurpassed optical performance exceeding the stated performance of all other digital cinematography lenses. Additionally, the perception of sharpness is aided by the uniform contrast and brightness across the image area. DigiPrime images are pure and saturated, free of color fringing across the focus range, making them the ideal choice for the unique demands of green/blue screen work.

Super Color Matched

Carl Zeiss selects superior quality optical glass for the best color characteristics. Then individual lens surfaces receive the Carl Zeiss proprietary T* multiple layer anti-reflex coating, and the Carl Zeiss proprietary color matching treatment CMT is applied to ensure uniform color characteristics throughout the set. This minimizes costly color timing in post-production.

Elegant Craftsmanship & Inspired Engineering

DigiPrime lenses are engineered and built at the Carl Zeiss camera lens headquarters in Oberkochen, Germany. Each lens is created through a combination of precise craftsmanship
and solid construction—qualities that have established Carl Zeiss as the world leader in mechanical
and optical technology. The DigiPrime lens barrel is elegant yet robust — ready to carry accessories like clampon shades, filters, ring lights, encoders and motors without
distorting or impacting optical performance. A filter slot has been omitted in favor of a more
rugged mechanical design. Scales and indices are carefully engraved for long-term accuracy and
durability. Plus, smart modularity streamlines service and maintenance.

The Ultimate B4 Mount Zooms

Together, the DigiZoom lenses bring world famous Zeiss precision, unmatched quality
and unequalled image clarity to both ends of the zoom range, from 6mm, all the way out to 112mm. It’s no wonder Carl Zeiss DigiZooms accurately color match and seamlessly intercut images made with the ZEISS DigiPrime family.

ZEISS DigiZoom™ 6-24mm T1.9

Only the ZEISS DigiZoom™ 6-24mm T1.9 capitalizes on the legacy of the technical innovations established by Carl Zeiss DigiPrime® lenses. And this compact performer comes with significant engineering marvels of its own. It embodies a masterful combination of elegantly proportioned design, sublime functionality & outstanding performance. Plus the 6-24mm optimizes the potential of leading edge 2/3” electronic cinematography cameras like no other zoom.

ZEISS Telephoto DigiZoom™ 17-112mm T1.9

The latest step in the Carl Zeiss optics revolution, the Telephoto DigiZoom™ 17-112mm T1.9 is the first Zeiss-quality telephoto zoom lens custom-designed and purpose-built for 2/3” three CCD
cameras. Engineered to beautifully complement the DigiZoom 6-24mm T1.9, this remarkable optic combines classic cine style and construction, cutting-edge mechanical design, and the same degree of unsurpassed functionality and exceptional performance.

Compact and Powerful

Engineered to offer big performance in a small package, Carl Zeiss DigiZoom lenses are surprisingly compact and lightweight. At just 9.8” (249mm), the 6-24mm is sure to fit the bill for handheld, remote and Steadicam work. Featuring all the standard cine-style accoutrements, and then some, this 4X zoom is equally advantageous in a studio situation, fully outfitted with cine mattebox, bridgeplate, as well as focus, zoom, and iris motors. The ZEISS telephoto 17-112mm is a compact powerhouse. Only 11.8” (300mm) long and weighing under 9 pounds (4 kg), this
6.5X optic is substantially smaller and lighter than any other high-performance telephoto available.

Equipped for Ease of Use

Designed for easy operation and maximum compatibility with cine style accessories, the ZEISS DigiZoom™ 6-24mm T1.9 and Telephoto DigiZoom 17-112mm T1.9 share many features with the popular DigiPrime® family. Like industry standard pitch integral zoom, focus and iris gears and brightly-marked oversized windowed cine scales, readable from either side of the lens. Focus scales are individually calibrated to provide pinpoint accuracy. And, like most of the DigiPrime series, both lenses feature a 95mm front diameter.

Zeiss Precision Back-Focus

The Carl Zeiss revolutionary back-focus mechanism guarantees accurately maintained focus scale calibration across the focusing range. Of course, DigiZoom lenses are fully compatible with the ZEISS Sharp Max™ Universal Back-Focus Alignment device.

9 Blade Iris

Carl Zeiss DigiZoom and DigiPrime lenses utilize the same innovative iris design for unequaled performance, free from lag, slop, or backlash.

Internal Focusing Design & Close Focusing

These innovative optics incorporate the singular Carl Zeiss Internal Focusing Design for top performance – center to corner– over the entire focus and zoom range, a consistent center of gravity, minimum balance shift, and no measurable breathing. What’s more, the ZEISS DigiZoom 6-24mm focuses to just 22” from the image plane — a close-focusing 11” from the front of the lens. The extraordinary Telephoto 17-112mm focuses to just 30” from the image plane, less than 5” from the front of the lens.

Low Light Performance

Like all Carl Zeiss precision optics, DigiZoom lenses are designed to offer optimum performance in low light situations with the aperture fully open. The ZEISS design provides unsurpassed contrast control by minimizing flare, veiling glare, and internal reflections well below other cine lenses. Users will enjoy superior relative illumination and high resolution over the entire screen edge-to-edge, throughout the focal and zoom range.

Low Light Performance

For exceptional color characteristics, Carl Zeiss carefully selects superior quality optical glass, then applies proprietary coatings. Both lenses are precision engineered to accurately color match and seamlessly intercut images made with members of the Carl Zeiss DigiPrime family.

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