NAB 2019: A closer look at Canon’s Sumire Primes

Zooming in on the new Canon Sumire Primes

Stephen Hart-Dyke, Product Marketing Manager for Canon’s new Sumire Primes, talks about the company’s latest, artistic Prime lenses.

Canon’s new Sumire Primes are part of a very agreeable current trend amongst lens manufacturers at the moment that looks to marry the design ethos of modern optics with the artistic choice of more organic looks.

“The name comes from a Japanese term for gentleness or a flower’s name; it’s a violet ,” says Stephen Hart-Dyke, Product Marketing Manager for the new lenses. “And the design ethos behind is it much like a flower; when the aperture’s open when the petals are fully open, you get a beautiful look.

He characterises the look simply as “An artistic different flavour,” and says that feedback from the few DPs that have used them so far as the company scales up the manufacturing side of things has been positive.

“They can really see a difference,” he says. “For example you can see a nice, creamy bokeh in the background. What you will see is a lot of softer skin tones than the clinical look of a sharp lens from one of the other primes. It gives a different feel to the whole style of the shot.”