DZOFilm Catta Ace Zoom 18-35mm T2.9 Black PL & EF Mount (FF)

Of the three Catta Ace zooms, the DZOFilm Catta Ace Zoom 18-35mm T2.9 Black PL & EF Mount is the one built around a 43.5 mm image circle rather than 46.5 mm. That covers a 36 × 24 mm full-frame sensor but not VistaVision, a detail worth checking before a large-format job is booked. A Blackmagic URSA Cine 12K LF fits inside with a little to spare: its 35.64 × 23.32 mm sensor measures 42.6 mm corner to corner, and the camera, like this lens, runs PL with EF as the alternative.

Twenty elements in 14 groups, four of them ED and one aspherical, flatten the field and hold back colour fringing at the 18 mm end. The stop stays at T2.9 across the 1.9x range and closes to T22. Being parfocal, with breathing kept low, the zoom suits unscripted shooting. In a fishing-boat wheelhouse for a documentary series, 18 mm takes in skipper, instruments and windscreen; a push to 35 mm then isolates his face without a focus correction. Close focus is 0.51 m from the sensor, so his hand on the throttle can fill the foreground while the harbour stays legible beyond the glass. A 16-blade iris gives defocused deck lights a round, even shape.

The housing is aluminium alloy. Focus turns 270°, zoom 100° and iris 77°, each ring cut with 0.8 MOD gears. Gear positions and the 80 mm front match the Catta Ace 35-80 and 70-135, so changing between them on a motorised rig is a lens swap, not a rebuild. On a jib covering a live awards gala, a remote zoom motor can push from the whole hall to the winner at the podium without a soft frame; a lens support on the rods is wise with a zoom this size.

It ships in PL with an EF bayonet in the box, and an optional LPL bayonet seats it directly on LPL cameras. DZOFilm's Octopus adapters carry the PL version onto E, RF, L or X bodies. Screw-in glass goes on the M77 thread. With the PL mount fitted, optional KOOP magnetic rear filters (UV, ND4 to ND16, Black Mist, blue streak) attach behind the last element, leaving the front free for a clamp-on matte box. A production company can therefore quote PL, EF or LPL jobs with the same wide zoom in the case, its image matched to the other Catta Ace zooms and, as DZOFilm suggests, at home beside Vespid primes.