Panavision’s New Primo 70 Lenses Are in Stock and Ready to Go

Panavision's new Primo 70 series of lenses is in stock and ready for rental, the company said. The lenses, which were officially introduced at NAB 2014, have been used on two feature films and a number of commercials, Panavision said, but are only now available to the wider market.

"We now have sufficient inventory to supply worldwide demand," Bob Harvey, Panavision's EVP of global sales and marketing, told StudioDaily. The Primo 70 lenses will be showcased at Panavision's exhibit at Camerimage 2014, which begins Saturday in Bydgoszcz, Poland.

The Primo 70s are designed for cameras with larger sensors — special Primo 70 mounts have been made for the Sony F55, the Red Dragon, the ARRI Alexa, and the Phantom 65 and Phantom Flex4K. Other cameras are "being assessed for compatibility," the company said.

Panavision didn't name the features that have already used the Primo 70s, but IMDb lists both Gods of Egypt, shot by Peter Menzies Jr., ACS, and Ride Along 2, shot by Mitchell Amundsen, as using Red Dragon cameras with Primo 70 lenses.

A set of Primo 70s includes 11 focal lengths: 27mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, 80mm, 100mm, 125mm, 150mm, 200mm and 250mm. Panavision recommends matching them to Super 70 zooms available in 28–80mm, 70–185mm, and 200–400mm sizes when needed. "The 70mm Primos are beautiful—just amazing," said Menzies in a statement provided by Panavision. "I have never seen lenses that hold their sharpness and contrast across the entire frame …. They are also light, fast, and the lens sizes in the kit are perfect. The two zooms we used are excellent—incredibly close to the primes."

Panavision VP of Optical Engineering Dan Sasaki said the lenses aren't "too scientifically sharp," noting that the Primo 70s "share the Primo family resemblance" with the original Primos that became popular in the 1990s.