Modern Prime
Zeiss
Zeiss CP.2 Super Speed
Compact Prime Super Speeds. T1.5 Full Frame.
- Focal
- 35–85mm
- T-stop
- T1.5
- Mount
- PL
Canon CN-E Cinema Primes
Canon · Japan
Modern Prime Set
Canon · Japan
Canon CN-E Cinema Primes
6 primes 14 – 135mm T1.3 – T3.1 EF
We run this family as standard 3, 4 and 6-lens kits. Bespoke focal mixes are built on request.
Canon’s original Cinema EOS primes and still the clean end of the Canon family: high resolving power wide open, controlled contrast, restrained flare, and the same warm Canon colour science that runs through the Sumires and the CN-E zooms.
Where the Sumire deliberately softens microcontrast for character, the CN-E leaves it in. That makes this the set to reach for when the brief is precision, when a shoot needs to intercut with Canon zooms, or when a production needs six colour-matched full-frame primes without a boutique price. Native EF with electronic contacts, so lens metadata rides through to the camera.
Character profile
How this lens renders.
Clinical Sharpness, Canon Colour
Five axes plotting how this set behaves wide-open vs a neutral modern reference. Larger area = more pronounced trait.
Focal lengths
6 focal lengths in this set
- 14mm T3.1
- 24mm T1.5
- 35mm T1.5
- 50mm T1.3
- 85mm T1.3
- 135mm T2.2
| Focal | T-Stop | Close focus | Weight | Front Ø |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 14mm | T3.1 | 8" | 1.2kg | · |
| 24mm | T1.5 | 12" | 1.2kg | · |
| 35mm | T1.5 | 12" | 1.1kg | · |
| 50mm | T1.3 | 18" | 1.1kg | · |
| 85mm | T1.3 | 3'2" | 1.3kg | · |
| 135mm | T2.2 | 3'4" | 1.4kg | · |
Talking points
Why DPs pick this set
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The clinical counterpart to the Sumire: same Canon colour, none of the engineered softness.
Two looks from one colour family
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Colour-matched to the CN-E zooms we carry, so a prime-and-zoom package cuts together without a grade fight
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The most accessible cine prime line on our shelf: full-frame coverage and cinema housings at the entry point of the range
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Native EF with electronic contacts: lens metadata records straight into the camera, no separate lens log
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Light for full-frame cinema glass at 1.1 to 1.4kg a lens, which keeps gimbal and handheld days honest
Technical
Full specifications
- Mount
- EF (native, with electronic contacts for lens metadata)
- Coverage
- Full Frame. Crops cleanly to Super 35
- Housing
- Unified front diameter and gear positions across the set, so lens swaps need no rig changes
- Colour Match
- Matched to the Canon Sumire primes and the CN-E zooms, so primes and zooms intercut
Heritage
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Origin
Canon launched the Cinema EOS system in November 2011 with the EOS C300 and seven CN-E Cinema Lenses, four zooms and three primes, and grew the line out to the wide 14mm and the long 135mm. They were Canon’s statement that a cinema prime did not have to be a boutique object: unified mechanics, colour matched across the range, native EF, and a price that put full-frame cinema glass inside a mid-budget package.
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Filmography
A workhorse rather than a signature. The CN-Es turn up across commercial, documentary and corporate work where the job is to be accurate and to match the zooms, and they remain a common B-camera and second-unit set beside more characterful A-camera glass.
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Build
Modern manufacture, no rehousing. In 2019 Canon built the Sumire primes on the same platform with modified rear optics for a softer wide-open rendering, which is why the two sets sit beside each other here as the character and the clinical halves of one colour family.
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