I have been given the opportunity to place an order for a minimum of 5 Zunow 16-28mm f2.8 FZ mount lenses. The list price for this lens is EUR 7650 ($11K) but if we can order a minimum of 5 it will be EUR 3,800 ($5K approx). If as a group we buy 10 the price would be even lower at EUR 3,600 ($4.5K approx). Prices exclude any taxes or shipping (from the EU).

Sony FZ mount for PMW-F3, PMW-F5 and PMW-F55

• Focal Length: 16-28 mm
• Minimal optical distance: 1.1 ft/0.3m
• IRIS: F2.8-22
• Front Diameter: 98mm
• Filter Screw 95mm P1.0
• Weight: 1.9 Kg/4.19 lbs

Made in Japan by renown lens manufacturer Zunow the lens is a beautiful low distortion wide angle vary-focal lens. At 16mm the wide angle views this lens has to offer are beautiful. Designed for 4K it is sharp and clear out into the corners. Flare is minimal and contrast excellent. At f2.8 for a 16mm lens this is respectfully fast. At 24mm there is near zero geometric distortion making the lens particularly well suited to industrial and structural imagery where pin cushion or barrel distortion can be a significant problem. Even at 16mm the distortion is minimal. The iris is an 8 blade iris, the bokeh is very pleasing. It is not designed as a zoom lens, the focus shifts slightly as you change focal length. What it is, is a single wide angle lens that can provide a variety of focal lengths without the need to swap lenses while maintaining prime lens image quality.

The lens has large and easy to read markings for aperture, focal length and focus distance. The focus markings are in both metric and imperial. The rear element is baffled for 16:9 to reduce flare and reflections within the camera body. The construction is all metal, mostly black anodised aluminium alloy.

So how will the group buy work? First use the contact form to contact me if you are interested. I will have a sample lens available at some of the workshops I’m running in the UK and I hope to take one with me to Cinegear at the end of May. I wish to close the deal during the week commencing June 10th. Payment for the lenses will be made to the European Distributor who will then ship out the lenses. Buyers will be responsible for all taxes, duties and shipping charges. These are in addition to the group buy price.

Below are some frame grabs from the lens, shot using a PMW-F5 with the frame grabs pulled from the raw clips in Adobe Premier. Aperture was between f4 and f5.6. Click on the thumbnail to view a larger version and then click on the link above the image for the full 4K frame. Please consider this is a very wide angle lens when looking at the images.