American Cinematographer - September 2017 - 114

LMB-25. The LMB 4x5 will also affix to
clamp adapters and filter frames compatible
with the other models in the line, including
the LMB-5 and LMB-15, which ensures
support for a wide range of lens diameters.
Rod-mounting is compatible with
Arri's LWS (lightweight system) 15mm rods,
standard 15mm rods, and, for heavier
lenses and larger front-end configurations,
more robust 19mm rods. Several kit variations are available for the user's choice of
rods or clamps.
For additional information, visit
www.arri.com.
Zeiss Adds Milvus Prime
Oberkochen, Germany-based Zeiss
has expanded its Milvus lens line with the
35mm (f1.4) ZE and ZF prime lenses for
Canon EF and Nikon F mounts, respectively.
The Milvus 35mm is particularly
suited to portrait and landscape photography. "The
high maximum aperture
enables the subject to
stand out clearly against
the background, and the
photographer can achieve
creative combinations of
focus and blur," says
Christophe
Casenave,
product manager at Zeiss.
"The manual focus enables
very exact focusing, and the
creamy bokeh provides an
excellent image look."
With a brand-new Distagon-type
optical design that uses aspherical lens
element and five low-dispersion elements
for edge-to-edge sharpness, the lens claims
practically no chromatic or spherical aberrations. The Milvus 35mm also includes
rounded, 9-blade aperture, and Zeiss T*
Anti-Reflective Coating; Zeiss also promises
114

September 2017

color matching across the entire set of 10
focal lengths. For follow-focus systems,
Zeiss' Milvus, Otus and Loxia lenses are all
compatible with Zeiss Lens Gears, currently
available in four sizes.
Housed in a frosted, anodized metal
barrel, the exterior design of the new Milvus
35mm is splash-, moisture- and dust-resistant thanks to weather-sealed construction
at the lens mount and internal gasketing.
Outer laser-engraved focusing and depthof-field scales are provided alongside IR
position dot and hard stops at infinity and
minimum-focusing, which is 11.81". For
Nikon F versions, there is a de-click feature
with included key that will allow the aperture to be set to continuously variable aperture for use in video applications.
The Milvus family of primes currently
covers a focal-length range of 15mm to
135mm. The name refers to a genus of
medium-sized birds of prey, and Zeiss seems
to be aiming the line at the rising crop of
affordable cine lenses. The Milvus primes
are also meant as more affordable options
compared to the company's top-of-the-line
cine-style photo lenses, the Zeiss Otus
primes, which have a matched aperture of
f1.4 across the line. For Sony shooting, Zeiss
offers the Loxia line.
Zeiss also offers an f2.0 Milvus
35mm at a lower price point than the f1.4
version.
For additional information, visit
www.zeiss.com.
Panasonic Updates Firmware
Panasonic has issued free firmware
upgrades for its VariCam cinema lines of
cameras. The upgrades bring the cameras
to version 7.5 for the VariCam 35/HS, 5.5
for the VariCam LT, and 7.5 for the VariCam
Pure.
Among the features of the latest
American Cinematographer

firmware upgrade, the
Panasonic VariCam LT
gained a new High Speed
menu mode for 240p raw
Cinema DNG output in 2K
(2048x1080) or HD
(1920x1080), as well as
faster software reboot
startup. The VariCam 35,
VariCam HS and VariCam
LT received a Rec Check
for tail slates, and the full VariCam line now

offers an expanded frame-rate range in
High Speed mode of 1-240 fps. Anamorphic Desqueeze has been added to video
playback for widescreen previews, and a
horizontal desqueeze of 1.3x or 2.0x can be
run through SDI Out or VF SDI for monitors.
Finally, all VariCam cinema cameras can
apply grading data to clips.
Additionally, Panasonic has unveiled
the AG-UMR20 compact field recorder and
AG-UCK20 4K camera head. The AGUMR20 can be connected to the AGUCK20 via optional cables at 3m or 20m in
length. The compact field recorder houses
dual slots for low-cost SD card storage;
capable of up to UHD (3840x2160 at up to
29.97p/25p) and FHD (1920x1080 up to
59.94p/50p) resolutions, it's equipped with
a 3G-SDI input and out, in addition to HDMI
interface. The AVCHD recorder will also
back-up FHD files when used with other
3G-SDI cameras.
Weighing 1.2 pounds and measuring 3.78"x2.07"x5.24", the AG-UMR20
compact field recorder also has four 3mm
threads for mounting and accessories. A
few of the internal options include Relay
Recording and hot-swappable live card
switching for uninterrupted video capture.
There are IP streaming and remote-control

http://www.arri.com http://www.zeiss.com

American Cinematographer - September 2017

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