Canon launches 10×16 KAS S 8K UHD portable broadcast lens

Canon Expands 8K Broadcast Lens Lineup with new 10×16 KAS S 8K UHD Portable Zoom Lens

Canon has announced the launch of an 8K resolution 10×16 KAS S - a new portable zoom lens for 8K broadcast cameras featuring a 1.25-inch sensor. According to Canon, the new lens was designed to meet the ever-growing demand in recent years for ultra-high-resolution video production equipment, especially in such fields as sports broadcasting and documentary filmmaking. The new 8K lens also cements Canon’s commitment to next-generation and innovative lens technology for a variety of content creation industries.

One of the interesting features of this lens is its fast constant aperture of f/2.8 across the entire zoom range that spans 16mm at the wide end to 160mm at the telephoto end, a zoom magnification of 10x. This combination of aperture speed and zoom range is ideal for events such as sports and live broadcasting, which often involve frequent changes in focal length, in order to provide immersive and high-resolution imagery with colorful and vibrant appearance.

The Canon 10×16 KAS S lens is equipped with lens elements such as fluorite, UD lenses, Hi-UD lenses¹ and wide-diameter aspherical lenses that help to reduce chromatic aberrations, spherical aberrations and other effects that could diminish image quality. Canon utilized its optical simulation technologies, honed and improved through the company’s history to determine the ideal placement of lens elements. What’s more, high-precision manufacturing operations and assembly technologies help to optimize manufacturing consistency for this type of lens class. Together, these features and procedures allowed for Canon to develop a lens with an image that is clear and sharp from the center to the periphery throughout the entire zoom range.

The lens also features a high-performance digital drive unit powered by the high-resolution 16-bit absolute value encoder digital drive unit that has a proven track record of use with 2/3-inch 4K broadcast zoom lenses. This makes possible high-precision position detection, which is vital for productions that incorporate virtual imaging systems.

Availability: The Canon 10×16 KAS S 8K UHD portable zoom lens is scheduled to be available in late October 2021.

Pricing: Canon hasn’t given any indication about the pricing of this lens. As this is going to be a special interest lens, interested people need to contact their local Canon representative.

¹ A lens element utilizing ultra-low dispersion (UD) glass. Hi-UD lenses realize further improvements in performance over UD lenses.