2/3-Inch Lenses Aims to Match Look and Feel of HD Lenses While Upping Optical Quality

Fujinon is shipping the new UA22x8 portable zoom lens and the UA80X9 field lens, the first two lenses in its 4K Ultra HD series of 2/3-inch lenses announced at NAB 2015.

The UA80x9 80x zoom lens (pictured above, right) has a form factor similar to the existing XA99x7.5 lens, Fujinon said, and should have appeal to "large scale live-event" videographers shooting concerts and sports. The UA22x8 zoom (above, left) is designed to be a versatile lens for applications including live sports and newsgathering. Both new lenses have 16-bit servo encoding for lens data output. 

Fujinon has other 4K lenses, including the Premiere PL 4K+ cine lens series and the Cabrio lenses that are switchable between cine and ENG styles, but those are PL-mount lenses with focal-length limitations that can be overcome with 2/3-inch cameras, Fujinon Director of Marketing and Product Development for Fujifilm's Optical Division explained in a statement released by Fujinon.

"The new 4K Ultra HD series, when coupled with 4K 2/3-inch cameras, produce the same focal length range DPs and camera operators have come to expect with HD, but at a much higher resolution," Calabro said.