The HJ17ex7.6B is a lens whose central design criteria were low weight and small physical size to support greater mobility especially for HD newsgathering. It also provides a short MOD of only 0.56m in response to a strong market request. Short Minimum Object Distance of 0.56m By reducing the minimum object distance to 0.56m the lens can be better utilized within confined spaces allowing objects to be effectively imaged at short distances while operating with a wide angle of view facilitated by the minimum 7.6mm focal length. Design improvements have lowered optical aberrations at the wider angle and open aperture settings. New Ergonomic Drive Unit Besides the exceptional optical performance, another remarkable character of this new lens is its newly designed drive unit. With the goal of pursuing ease of operation, Canon has reached a new design based on human ergonomics, refined by a long term research and testing. Of course, all the advantages from the current e-HDxs Digital Drive Unit such as "Information Display for user customize setting", "Rotary Encoder for virtual studio integration and precise control" and "Enhanced Digital Functions" are inherited to the new drive unit.