Pegasus ripped the guts out of Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8 lenses and put them into cinema housings

The 24-70mm f/2.8 lens is one of the most popular lenses out there for photographers. They’re versatile with a nice wide constant aperture and many of them are very sharp. But there aren’t many similar lenses available for filmmakers. Sure, you can just use the photography lenses, but they’re not really designed for the purpose.

Pegasus, though, is changing that, by rehousing Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lenses inside their own designed cinema housing. Their new 24-70mm f/2.8 Compact Zoom FF lens offers all the quality we’d expect from the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED lens, but with features required for filmmakers.

Those features include a 300° focus throw, so tiny little adjustments aren’t throwing your focus out by half a mile, as well as geared rings for focus, zoom and aperture.

The specs of the lens are about as we’d expect. They’re essentially the same as the Nikon 24-70mm f/2.8G ED. So, it covers a full frame sensor, with an aperture range of f/2.8 to 22, a focal length range of 24-70mm, and contains 15 elements in 11 groups. But it’s also seen some changes.

• Full Frame coverage (36 x 24 mm)
• Aperture range f/2.8 to f 22
• Focal range 24-70 mm
• Nearly 300-degree focus rotation
• Length only 17,50 cm
• Front diameter Ø 114mm
• Filter thread Ø 95mm
• Interchangeable mounts

As you can see in the list above, the focus throw is much longer than it is with the standard Nikon lens, and it’s also had the front filter diameter increased from 77mm up to 95mm. It’s also likely lost its autofocus capabilities. It no longer requires a compatible Nikon camera to control the aperture. And it has interchangeable mounts for different cinema systems.

Pricing has not yet been finalised, although it’s estimated to be around €5000-6000. The official announcement will happen at IBC in September, and the final version of the lens will be black with white lettering. The white colour is reserved for the prototype lenses. We’ll be there so we’ll be heading over to see it in person.

One question that’s been asked a number of times on the Pegasus Facebook Page is if the lens is parfocal. The fact that this question remains unanswered suggests that it might not be. After all, the original Nikon lens isn’t. So, that might put a few people off.

If you want to find out more between now and an official announcement at IBC 2019, be sure to follow the Pegasus Facebook page.