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Two people are in a forest setting near a smokey campfire, with ZEISS lens interface graphics overlaid on the image.
ZEISS Cinematography

Lens Illumination

Making sure that the lenses match your camera's sensor.

When choosing the right lens for the job, one of the essential questions to answer is if this lens will optically work with the camera you want to shoot on. Will the lenses cover the camera's sensor or sensor mode? In this case we talk about lens illumination or sensor coverage. Let’s keep in mind that a lens has a circular coverage area – the image circle – while the sensor area is a rectangle.

A man in dark clothing is sitting on the forest floor surrounded by trees and rocks, framed within a circular ZEISS lens view.
A blue rectangular frame is centered on a black background.
A man in a dark jacket sits on the forest floor surrounded by trees, framed within a circular ZEISS lens view.

If the circle goes around the edges of the rectangles, that means the lens covers the respective sensor.

Image showing a man outdoors with overlaid frames illustrating the coverage difference between Full Frame and Super 35 sensors, labeled as captured using a ZEISS Supreme Prime lens.

This of course also means that if a lens covers a larger sensor (e.g., Sony Venice), it will also cover the smaller Super 35 sensors or sensor modes.

As you can see, the angle of view of a lens changes depending on the size of the sensor – and not on the lens illumination. You can get an even better understanding with the help of below comparison tool. Just click on the different focal lengths to see the difference in angle of view for different sensor sizes.

  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    15 mm | T1.8
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    21 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    35 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    50 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    85 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    135 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 15 mm | T1.8

    Supreme Prime 15 mm | T1.8
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 21 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 21 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 35 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 35 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 50 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 50 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 85 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 85 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 135 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 135 mm | T1.5

Full Frame

(1.85:1)
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    15 mm | T1.8
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    21 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    35 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    50 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    85 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    135 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 15 mm | T1.8

    Supreme Prime 15 mm | T1.8
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 21 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 21 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 35 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 35 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 50 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 50 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 85 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 85 mm | T1.5
  • A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.
    A woman stands in a historic library filled with bookshelves and long wooden tables covered in documents, viewed through a ZEISS lens.

    Supreme Prime 135 mm | T1.5

    Supreme Prime 135 mm | T1.5

Super 35

(1.85:1)

What happens when you use a lens with an image circle smaller than the respective sensor? You will see a so-called vignette – shading of the outer edges of the image.

A man is sitting in a forest, framed within a circular overlay labeled "Super 35 standard lens illumination (e.g. Master Prime)" to demonstrate ZEISS lens coverage.
A man is sitting in a forest clearing, seen through the circular view of a ZEISS lens.

ZEISS Cinematography lenses and their coverage

For you to choose the right ZEISS lens for the camera you want to use, we implemented three small icons that will show you at a glance, what cameras and their sensors are covered by which lens.
Communication about our ZEISS cine lenses will be marked with one more of these icons from now on for you to quickly recognize their coverage.
Light blue circle with white text "S35" centered on a black background.

Super 35

Lenses marked with the S35 icon cover:

· ARRI Alexa SXT W
· ARRI Alexa Mini
· ARRI Alexa 35
· Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 4.6K G2
· Blackmagic URSA Mini Pro 12K
· RED HELIUM 8K S35
· RED GEMINI 5K S35
· RED DRAGON-X 6K S35
· RED RANGER HELIUM
· RED RANGER GEMINI
· RED KOMODO 6K
· Canon C300 III

Blue circle with white letters "FF" in the center on a black background.

Full Frame

Lenses marked with the FF icon cover:

· SONY Venice
· SONY Venice 2
· Canon C700 FF

Blue circular icon with white "FF+" text in the center on a black background.

Full Frame +

Lenses marked with the FF+ icon cover:

· ARRI Alexa LF
· ARRI Alexa Mini LF
· RED MONSTRO 8K VV
· RED RANGER MONSTRO
· RED V-RAPTOR
· RED V-RAPTOR XL

Chart displaying ZEISS lens coverage compatibility with various professional cinema cameras categorized under Super 35, Full Frame, and Full Frame+.