ZEISS Aatma: Modern Full Frame Primes 'with a Soulful Legacy Look'

ZEISS has introduced the new Aatma, a set of nine high-end full frame T1.5 cinema primes (18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, 85mm, 100mm, and 135mm).

Designed to marry the benefits of modern optical design with the current zeitgeist-friendly trend for nostalgic image characteristics, ZEISS says the new Aatma series combines an emotion-driven look with the mechanical reliability, data integration, and workflow compatibility that's pretty much mandatory for current production. 

Innermost Essence

As well as being useful when it comes to alphabetical listings, the name "Aatma" has been derived from the Sanskrit word meaning “innermost essence,” “self,” or "soul". They should perhaps throw "reincarnation" in there as well as they're said by the company to be referencing historic Distagon, Planar, and Sonnar glass.

Anyway, ZEISS says the new lenses' image character reference their vintage optic heritage, offering "softly painted skin texture with reduced contrast, smooth and vibrant focus transitions between planes, and a rich bokeh with a subtle soap bubble effect." 

Nine lenses are available: 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 40mm, 50mm, 65mm, 85mm, 100mm, and 135mm. All are T1.5. As you would expect, the Aatma lenses also feature consistent positions for iris and focus along with standardized front diameters of 95 mm (25, 35, 40, 50, 65, 85, 100) and 114 mm (18, 135). Weight scales from 1.22 kg (2.69 lb) to 2.27 kg (5.00 lb).

All are equipped with the ZEISS eXtended Data technology, providing frame-by-frame data on zens vignetting and distortion in addition to the standard metadata provided using the Cooke /i technology protocol.

On top of this, they are also all fully integrated into the ZEISS CinCraft ecosystem, supporting efficient workflows for visual effects, camera tracking, and virtual production. And they automatically transfer information about lens scales and depth of field to ARRI Hi-5 and WCU-4 hand units when using ARRI cameras and ARRI LCS. This eliminates the need for camera assistants to manually calibrate their lenses, saving additional time and effort on set.

65 mm Format Lenses Coming

Also ready for delivery in summer 2026 are the new ZEISS Panoptes 65 lenses. This lens set is inspired by ZEISS’ modern full-frame lenses and will cover the larger sensor area of the Alexa 265, Alexa 65, Blackmagic URSA Cine 17K 65, etc. There will be 10 focal lengths: 25, 35, 40, 45, 55, 70, 90, 110, 135 and 180 mm — all T2.2. More information when we get it.

Pricing and Availability

The nine Aatma lenses are available as a complete set or individually with prices starting at $20,950. They are available to order now, with deliveries expected to begin June 2026.