At IBC 2025 in Amsterdam, Viltrox was showing a prototype of NEXUS, a PL to Sony E-mount adapter that will allow manual PL cine lenses to behave as AF lenses.
Through the lens adapter mount, Viltrox motors will be able to receive autofocus information directly from the camera sensor.
Essentially, when you touch the back LCD screen on the camera, the AF system sends the same information to the lens motors as it would to a native E-mount AF lens. This allows for full AF tracking, eye detection, etc. This is a very clever solution that is way easier to use and set up than something like the DJI Focus Pro. I tried it out on the show floor, and it worked very well, even on a 1.33x anamorphic lens.
NEXUS uses a special PL mount that talks to the camera and is then able to send the AF information through standard USB-C cables to up to 3 motors at the same time. You can use the camera’s iris control, and the motor will adjust the iris on the lens just as if you were using a native AF lens. With a camera like the FX3 that has a zoom control lever, if you were using the system with a cinema zoom, you can zoom the lens just like you would when using a power zoom.
The Viltrox NEXUS has a digital display on the top that tells you what lens you are currently using, and you will be able to use a wireless Bluetooth app to store and save lenses that can be recalled. This saves on having to set up lenses so they are eady to go straight away.
As the system relies on the cameras’ AF, it works in a completely different way to say LiDAR.
Pricing & Availability
Viltrox told me that they hope to have NEXUS shipping by the ned of the year. While there is no current indication about pricing, they did tell me that it will be very affordable.
The current solution is only PL to Sony E mount, but Viltrox did tell me that they are looking into doing other mounts.
Tilta has also teased a similar solution: merging phase-detection autofocus technology with the precision control of the Nucleus-M II Wireless Control System.
Through a lens adapter mount, the Nucleus-M II motors will be able to receive autofocus information directly from the camera sensor. The upcoming solution integrates phase-detection autofocus with the precision of the Nucleus-M II Wireless Control System. This is made possible through revolutionary lens adapter mounts, which enable the Nucleus-M II motors to receive autofocus information directly from the camera sensor.
