DZO Catta Ace Zooms: Lightweight Elegance
DZO & Cine Visuals Presents: DZO Catta Ace Zooms
Cinematic Heritage
In November of 2021, DZO announced the original iteration of Catta Ace Zooms. Seeing that Full Frame sensors were quickly on the rise in the early 2020s, DZO listened to their clientele. These original lenses came out for mirrorless cameras, which were gaining popularity at the time, overtaking the dominance of DSLRs. Unlike large cinema cameras, mirrorless cameras are small, form factor, and lightweight with great capabilities. Filmmakers wanted lenses that could match these in feat. However, typical cinema lenses can be heavy and are designed to accommodate larger builds. Wanting to strike a balance between cinematic quality in the glass and lightweight design, DZO went to work. The DZO Catta Ace Zooms were brought forth as zooms that can hold great power in a lightweight ergonomic design to match the growth of mirrorless cameras.
Yet, impressive research and development is never put to waste by DZO. The popularity and growth of the Catta Ace Zooms for mirrorless meant that DZO had listened to the call of filmmakers. In doing so, DZO knew they had something special on their hands. In February of 2022, DZO announced that the Catta Ace Zooms now had an additional redesign strictly for high-end cinema cameras. Keeping the same incredible lightweight design and bringing it to the world of high-end professional productions. Keeping the innovative designs of the lightweight zooms with their beautiful image quality could now open up possibilities for cinematographers combined with powerhouse ARRI, Sony, or RED sensors or traditional film cameras. Even that wasn’t enough though. DZO expanded the kit in January of 2023 by announcing the added 18-35mm zoom. With a kit of 18-35mm, 35mm-80mm, and 70-135mm, the DZO Catta Ace Zooms have become a compact kit with expansive range and versatility for cinematographers.
Image Fidelity & Focus
Unlike many modern zooms, the DZO Catta Ace Zooms have a softer tone about them, especially wide open. Their nature handles light with gentleness and care. Color rendition leans towards warm skin tones bringing a cinematic feeling to these lenses. Their coatings bring a nostalgic look that offers a bridge between the look of classic zooms and the precision of modern zoom optics. Yet, they bring the technological achievement of modern optical mechanics into a uniform size while offering an affordable cinematic image. Contrast leans medium, giving cinematographers flexibility in post or for quick workflows, captures strong images that require less color grading in post. The DZO Catta Ace Zooms bring that well sought-after warmth and gentle care without intense distortion. They reliably have edge-to-edge sharpness to give filmmakers the entire frame to work with.
Handling & Adaptability
Crafted with ergonomic design, DZO Catta Ace Zooms bring functionality and form together. Their strength is revealed on run-n-gun sets that still need a cinematic feeling to bring a human story to life. With a wide focal range of 18-135mm across three lenses, the DZO Catta Ace Zooms offer incredible flexibility in framing for high speed productions. Both the 35-80mm and 70-135mm weigh about 3.8 lbs and the 18-35mm weigh about 4 lbs. This lightweight design pairs excellently with fast-paced sets and documentaries where operators need to be quick on their feet to find and frame the shot. For uniformity, each lens measures 7.07 inches with a front diameter of 80mm. Camera assistants will notice the difference in steady, consistent, and speedy workflow with lens swaps and camera adjustments.
Image Circle
With the rise of Full Frame, many lens manufacturers are trying to craft cinema lenses that are ergonomic, beautiful, and accommodate Full Frame sensors. Many mirrorless cameras have opened up affordable access to smaller, more lightweight cameras to budding filmmakers, videographers, and documentarians. These are situations where flexibility is key and lightweight builds coupled with Full Frame sensors help provide this versatility. DZO is among these lens manufacturers answering the call and the Catta Ace Zooms provide that cinematic quality in an ergonomic and affordable package.. The 18-35mm has an image circle of 43.5mm while the 35-80mm and the 70-135mm have an image circle of 46.5mm. Full frame typically requires a minimum of 43.3mm image circle, and thus each of these lenses completely covers full frame. These lenses pair well with many Full Frame mirrorless cameras or lightweight Full Frame cinema cameras such as the Sony FX3 or FX6.
Flare & Bokeh
DZO’s commitment to robustly crafted cinema lenses that are contained and malleable are evident in their characteristics. Aberrations are kept to a minimum. Flares are contained and controlled. Leaning toward coolness they are otherwise neutral and take on the color of the light source. Flaring does not spread across the frame but rather maintains a small glow around the light source with smooth falloff. Feeling more like halation rather than heavy flares. Precise circular bokeh are clear without feeling sharp nor distracting in the frame. With a 16 blade iris, the bokeh maintains its circular appearance, even when stopped down.
These lenses are available for rent at Cine Visuals. For inquiries or testing appointments email info@cinevisuals.com or call (323) 244-2552.
