Author: Matthew Fresolone

A VINTAGE REHOUSING

The Canon Rangefinder set was made possible by True Lens Service, a UK-based lens service provider. The company is responsible for all the best vintage lenses on the rental market, such as the hugely popular Canon K35s or the Kowa FF primes.

The limitations of the PL mount kept lens technicians from rehousing the Rangefinders for years. However, the recent development with digital cameras allowed True Lens Service to properly rehouse these vintage Canon Rangefinders.

VINTAGE CHARACTER

As you can see in the above reel, these rehoused primes are sharp in the center with gentle focus falloff to the corners, lending a subliminally vintage look.  Skin tones are rendered with a pleasant creaminess, lending human subjects a flattering patina.

Similar to other vintage looks, the Rangefinders have a single layer coating that is responsible for an organically enhanced flare response. These flares are warm in tone, opposed to modern builds that emphasize cooler flares, especially on anamorphic lenses. The Rangefinders’ single-layer coating also produces a low contrast image, reminiscent of vintage imagery.

TECHNICAL CAPABILITIES

The Canon Rangefinders’ original mounts have been replaced with the ultra-modern LPL lens mount, invented by ARRI for digital cinematography. The full lens package has a universal front diameter of 110mm, which means that these on-lens accessories like filters and lens mounts can fit all lenses—cutting out the need for additional rentals.

The Canon Rangefinders have exceptional low light performance. The lenses have T-stops ranging from T0.95 to T3.5, which are fantastic, even compared to the state-of-the-art glass manufactured nowadays.

Also improved in the rehousing are the lenses’ close focuses. Since certain lens elements have been made unnecessary by the LPL mount, lens technicians at TLS and GL Optics were able to improve the lenses’ close focus capabilities. The close focuses for the Rangefinders range from only 10” (19mm) to 3’9” (135mm).

Image Characteristics

KOWA FF lenses have soft, naturalistic flares, distinct bokeh, and exceptional color production. The soft bokeh is circular at all stops as a result of the new 14-bladed iris that Ancient Optics and TLS included in the rehousing.

Like many vintage lenses the Kowa FF are sensitive to light flares. Although this can be fixed with things like polarizing lenses, this flare-sensitive, naturalistic look lends a tactile feel to the optics—in contrast to the cold, sterile look of many modern lenses. The flares have a gold-and-purple look, which comes off as lively compared to the steely-blue streaks of anamorphic glass, such as the Kowa Prominars.

Also reminiscent of vintage lenses are the Kowa’s pleasing focal falloff. The deep focal plane allows users to capture deep landscapes with astounding detail and pleasing fall-off. Check out the demo below, especially the daytime exteriors on wide angles, to see the Kowa FF primes in action.

VINTAGE CHARACTER

As you can see in the above reel, these rehoused primes are sharp in the center with gentle focus falloff to the corners, lending a subliminally vintage look.  Similarly, the soft, ovular bokeh captures the feel of 1960s film, unlike more stylized bokeh of modern optical manufacturing.

These lenses showcase the maximum of their vintage character when wide open. The Kowa FFs have some barrel distortion on wider lenses for a tactile feel and render sharp images (as they were originally still photo lenses).

Despite their vintage qualities, these primes perform competitively among modern glass, thanks to their sharpness and excellent color reproduction.

Rehousing

In their rehousing, True Lens Service and Ancient Optics built glass that not only can survive decades longer, but actually competes well among modern optical technology. In updating these ’60s lenses, the technicians built lenses that can cover full-frame sensors. Every lens in the series safely covers the ARRI ALEXA LF Open Gate sensor without any vignette.

The minimum close focus distance of each lens has been improved in the rehousing. Every single lens has 110mm front diameters, 330° focal rotation for accurate focus pulling, and the industry-standard .8 MOD gears.

INTRODUCTION

Through all the horseracing about the newest glass for high-end digital cinema cameras, it’s easy to forget about the more expressive lenses out there.

There may be the Angenieux EZ-3 Cinema Zooms and the Hawk V-Lites—but then there’s the rehoused primes of the Mamiya 645 stills camera.

Gentle, dreamier optics with the latitude to handle verité or studio scenarios—the Mamiya 645 primes

WHAT IS THE MAMIYA 645

Bokeh Rentals’ new Mamiya lenses originated from the Mamiya 645, a medium format stills camera with an elegant, softer optical style.

The original Mamiya 645 film camera is used for both studio photography and street photography. It has the latitude capable of handling natural light environments, such as the diner portraits in the video below. But, when taken into a studio for photography with models, its softer optics lend a dreamier, loose aesthetic to more orchestrated setups.

Check out the video below to see the Mamiya 645 lenses in action with its original camera body.

Because of the Mamiya’s unique imagery, the technicians at England’s True Lens Service rehoused and retooled the primes for modern digital filmmaking. Not only were optics preserved, but lens mechanics were improved across the board.

Upgraded, Rehoused Primes

LPL Mount

Third party adapters exist to use the Mamiya lenses on Nikon F-mount, Canon EF mount, and other camera systems. And they’re not particularly expensive. But, using third party adapters can carry the risk of not perfectly preserving the optics and all functionality.

So, TLS technicians elected to convert the Mamiya lenses to the LPL mount, the newest universal lens for digital capture.

In addition to compatibility with top digital cinema cameras like the ARRI ALEXA, the LPL mount allows lens data to transfer using the LDS-2 system by ARRI.

Speed Booster

True Lens Service installed a new circular iris with a built-in speed booster. Now that the Mamiyas have a speed booster built inside the housing, each lens is now slightly wider. For example, once retooled by TLS, the Mamiya 110mm prime has become a 77mm that can cover full-frame sensors. Other lens modifications include the 38mm (originally 56mm) and the 56mm (originally 80mm).

An added benefit to the internalized speed booster is that each rehoused lens is now a stop faster.

TLS also offers a PL mount option without the speed booster, for those who prefer the original focal lengths.

Angenieux has announced the EZ-3 Convertible S35 and Full-Frame/VistaVision Zoom Lens– the latest addition to the EZ cine-lens series.

The EZ-3 is based on a similar philosophy as the earlier EZ-2 and EZ-1, with significant updates. Whereas its predecessor had shorter lenses and zoom ratios of 2.7x, the newer EZ-3 is capable of 3.7x Zoom with a predominantly telephoto lens size.

INTERCHANGEABLE REAR OPTICS (IRO)

The key innovation of the EZ-3 is its ability to swap between Super-35 and FF/VV capture.

Users can jump between these capture formats within five minutes by undoing screw-mounted rear optical blocks and focus/aperture scales.

An important thing to understand before framing up any shots is that the Full-Frame rear group functions as a 1.5x extender. Because Super35 is slightly smaller a format than Full-Frame, it can operate with a somewhat wider aspect ratio. The 45mm T2.3 end of the Super-35 format optics is converted into 68mm T3.5 when the IRO is set to Full-Frame.

Below are Angenieux’s instructions for switching out the IRO in under five minutes:

For those who prefer a more hands-on demonstration, Angenieux posted a video demonstrating the IRO.

THE EZ-3 CONVERTIBLE S35 AND FF/VV CINEMA ZOOM

Beyond its IRO selling point, the EZ-3 is an excellent cine lens on its own merits.

Zoom Ratio

The EZ-3’s 3.7x zoom ratio helps turn wider medium shots into tight closeups, condensing a series of prime lenses into one piece of glass. This convenience might not be necessary for controlled environments, where cinematographers with extra time can swap lens sizes between set-ups; but a versatile zoom lens can make all the difference for run-and-gun style filming, such as documentaries.

PL Mount

The Angenieux EZ-3 ships with an ARRI PL mount, the industry standard for cinema cameras. The RF, E, and EF mounts can be purchased separately for use with the EZ-3. For reference, the ARRI ALEXA and most top-of-the-line digital cinema cameras use the PL mount; Canon SLRs use the EF mount; certain Sony camcorders and mirrorless cameras use the E mount; and the RF mount is a 2018 Canon invention for certain mirrorless cameras.

Compact Form Factor

Lightweight metal makes up the lens’ 265mm exterior. The EZ-3 is remarkably light, weighing at 5.7lbs/2.6kg, remarkable for a full-frame lens with such a vast zoom ratio. Compare that to Angenieux’s Optimo Ultra 12—which has an unwieldy weight of 28 lbs.

The Hawk V-Lite 2x Anamorphic primes , aptly named for their extremely small form factor, are incredible builds in the anamorphic space.

THE HAWK V-LITES

Much can be said about the physical characteristics of the V-Lite anamorphics—but what comes first with these optics is its unique look.

The V-Lite 2x anamorphics were built to match the look of the Hawk anamorphics, which have been in circulation for over a decade. In addition to ultra-cinematic qualities like a 2x squeeze ratio and a dynamic anamorphic aesthetic, this look is defined by minimal distortion, increased definition and amplified contrast across the entire range.

As the “2x” signifies, the V-Lite anamorphic cine primes have a squeeze ratio of 2x. What this means is that the anamorphic lens captures twice as much horizontal information as vertical, resulting in an image that appears more stretched. This 2x squeeze feels “cinematic” in that special anamorphic way, lending compositions to a wider field of view.

Words describe, but they can’t affect you like an image. Check out the lens test below from cinematographer John W. Rutland, which showcases the full expression of these cine primes at their wide open T-stop.

One of the most notable anamorphic qualities in this footage is the incredible flare response of the V-Lite anamorphics. Sharp, streak-shaped flares give the frame volume and a sense of urgency—delivering on the promise of the anamorphic format.

Pleasing barrel distortion lends a tactile feel to these primes, especially towards the wider end of the spectrum.  The reactive elements of the anamorphic look, paired with the precise mechanics and sleek look, is the magic combination of vintage-and-modern that renders a unique anamorphic look for the V-Lite cine primes.

THE HAWK V-LITE 2x ANAMORPHIC BUILD

The V-Lite primes are the natural evolution of anamorphic lenses—a stunningly expressive anamorphic aesthetic encased in a lightweight housing with precise mechanics. Although the V-Lite primes are a continuation of the Vantage anamorphic look, these cine lenses are designed from scratch; the traditional anamorphic look updated with new optics.

Enough cannot be said about the robust form factor of the V-Lite anamorphic. As Vantage touts, the weight of every lens has been reduced up to 20% in this lens package. The weight of the individual lenses range from 1.91-2.93kg (4.4-6.4lbs). This lightweight-yet-sturdy build allows the V-Lites to work for all sorts of rigs, especially freer options like handheld and Steadicam—without fuss.

The lenses telecentric design allows equal performance on film and digital cameras.

The engraved T-stops on the Hawk V-Lite lenses are constant from infinity to close focus. Similarly, the maximum light transmission is maintained throughout the whole focusing range (contrary to other lenses, which lose some light while focusing).

THE V-LITE ANAMORPHIC SET

There are several variations of the Hawk V-Lite anamorphic primes out there for rent. Some include all nine primes: 28mm, 35mm, 45mm, 55mm, 55 (macro), 65mm, 80mm, 110mm, 140mm. This arrangement includes the 55mm macro, which has an exceptional close focus of .35m (1’2”), compared to its ordinary 55mm counterpart’s CF of 1m (3’3”). While the macro is a specialty use lens, its capabilities are impressive nevertheless.

Some Hawk V-Lite sets are streamlined, opting for a smaller, more affordable package of primes that still covers an extensive focal range.

Or: some sets find ways to extend the focal range to give even more power to the V-Lites. For example, the V-Lite anamorphic prime set at Bokeh Rentals includes:

• V-Lite 2x Anamorphic Cine Prime 28mm T2.2
• V-Lite 2x Anamorphic Cine Prime 45mm T2.2
• V-Lite 2x Anamorphic Cine Prime 55mm T2.2
• V-Lite 2x Anamorphic Cine Prime 80mm T2.2
• V-Lite 2x Anamorphic Cine Prime 110mm T3.0
• V-Lite 2x Anamorphic Cine Prime 140mm T3.5
• V-Lite 2x Anamorphic Cine Prime 180mm T3.0

	Bokeh Rentals’ specialty-built 180mm T3.0 V-Lite prime is a unique extension to Hawk’s prime package.

Will Trent, a new series that just premiered on ABC, is the rare network television drama that creates its look with the Leica Summicron-C primes.

Will Trent on ABC

Will Trent stars Ramón Rodríguez and premiered January 3, 2023 on ABC. The police-procedural-turned-mystery is centered on an Atlanta detective named Will Trent. As a Special Agent of the Georgia Bureau of Investigations, Will is sent to investigate the apparent murder of a local teenager. But when the crime scene turns out to be the site of an abduction, Will starts leading the police to the kidnappers.

Genre trappings aside, Will Trent is dedicated to capturing the feel of Atlanta, where the story takes place. As Ramón Rodríguez, the titular star, describes: “It’s pretty great when you get to shoot where something takes place and so Atlanta very much, especially in the pilot, we really establish it as a character… The head of Atlanta, the warmth, the look of the show, the tones of this show really represent the city”.

And capturing the unique look of Will Trent would not be possible without the Leica Summicron-C primes.

THE STYLE OF ‘WILL TRENT’

In designing the style of the program, cinematographer Oliver Bokelberg clearly tried to introduce a contrast between the typically cold procedural and the warm forest climate of Atlanta. The image above is awash in warm, yellow tones—something not typically seen in police procedurals. In the back of the frame, the warm sunshine backlighting the trees is pleasant; providing an emotional contrast with the sickly yellow interior of the crime scene. While a good amount of this subtle color tinging may have been done in post, there is clearly the effort for a unified look throughout all departments and stages of production.

Check out the shot below, in which Faith (played by Iantha Richardson) stands in a room bathed with orange light. The warm, orange tone of the lighting is complemented by her costume: a yellow sweater with red fabric peeking out. Similarly, the background has hints red, and well as a yellow practical hanging in frame. Although color grading is a final touch, the warm look of this show is there from its beginning stages.

SUMMICRON-C MECHANICS

The Leica Summicron-C lenses are small and lightweight, making them perfect for quickly shooting very active camera movements. Because long walk-and-talks are integral to the network tv procedural, the Summicron-C are the perfect tool for Will Trent. Beyond its convenient form factor, the Summicron-C primes have an excellent fast aperture of T2.0, as well as other useful features like a 300° focus rotation and a consistent front diameter among lenses.

An interesting feature of the Summicron-C is its patented focus system that expands the focus scale in the most critical range for each prime. This does away with the logarithmic focus system, which some see as inefficient for focus-pulling.

These Leica Primes are seat on a stainless steel PL mount, which means they are compatible with the industry’s leading camera bodies from manufacturers like RED and ARRI. All lenses in the Summicron-C line has a usable image circle of 36mm, which means they can seamlessly shoot Super35. The Leica primes can cover such sensors like the RED Helium 8K S35 and ARRI Alexa in 16:9 formats without any loss in the corners or vignetting.

In the world of cinematography, there’s always a film or television show to discuss. But this week, Bokeh Rentals is zooming in on a medium where state-of-the-art is often used, but often not recognized: promotional material.

In particular, this shot from the “Cartier Tank Française: directed by Guy Ritchie” spot caught our eye. In international film star Rami Malek’s hand: the ARRI Master Prime. Now, before you think that Cartier chose the most expensive prop cinema lens—you can actually see in this behind-the-scenes video that the production did indeed shoot on Master Primes.

	Rami Malek sits with an ARRI Master Prime lens in this shot from Cartier’s Tank Française promo. Directed by Guy Ritchie, this ad was also shot on the ARRI Master Prime cinema lenses.

THE ARRI MASTER PRIMES

For both the look and style that Guy Richie (and Cartier) was going for, the ARRI Master Primes made an excellent choice. The look of this lens series is unparalleled, and the closest to perfection of any modern lens. Co-developed by ARRI and Zeiss, the Master Primes produce incredible resolution and high contrast. It has a clean image that stands in contrast to other leading cinema primes.

The ARRI Master primes are available in five focal lengths from Bokeh Rentals: 18mm, 25mm, 35mm, 50mm, and 75mm.

Watch the official Cartier spot below to see the ARRI Master Primes in action:

Straight out the gate, the Addams Family spinoff Wednesday has become a massive success. Everyone seems to be winning big: Tim Burton has directed the number three program on Netflix—Jenna Ortega has become an even bigger star, getting twenty-five millions Instagram subscribers and several endorsement deals, and millions of viewers out there are hoping for a second season. But what Bokeh Rentals is focusing on—is the ARRI Signature Primes.

See, the official ‘Wednesdaynetflix’ Instagram account posted some behind the scenes pictures—and we couldn’t help notice this on-set moment of Tim Burton looking through the viewfinder. And the viewfinder is connected to the 95mm ARRI Signature Prime T1.8.

Director Tim Burton lining up a shot with the ARRI Signature Prime T1.8 connected to a viewfinder.

SMOOTH DARK TONES

The ARRI Signature Primes have creamy imagery with organic skin tone rendition, which helps the filmmakers establish the gloomy, overcast mood of Wednesday. Additionally, the smooth midtones and deep blacks give a lot of character to the image, serving to ground the image’s washed-out, dream-like feel.

As you can see in the shot below, shadows are very important to establishing the mood of Wednesday, the character. The ARRI Signatures capture the deep shadows on the face and let them bleed under the character’s eyes, giving a morose mood that goes much further than makeup. In this frame in particular, the deep black of her eyes, hair, and school uniform all complement one another.

A shot of Wednesday Adams with the shallow depth of field of the ARRI Signature Prime T1.8.

FLARES & BOKEH

Wednesday’s visual language is also powered by the ARRI Signature Prime’s containment of flares and smooth bokeh. Although Wednesday has its Burtony charm, it doesn’t wear a bright, cheery mood on its sleeve. Therefore, vintage lenses like the Canon K-35s or flare-heavy glass like the Cooke Anamorphic SF likely would produce loud flares incongruous with the material.

In the frame below, notice the lack of flares despite multiple direct light sources. The anti-reflective coatings and minimized internal flare of the Signature Primes keeps a clean, contained image. Similarly, there is very smooth bokeh, giving a uniformly soft appearance to light sources. Bokeh is nearly circular because of the primes’ 11-sided iris. Paired with the shallow depth of field from these super-fast lenses, the uniform bokeh provides a smooth, sensuous frame. In less warm environments, such as the overcast exteriors, the shallow depth of field and smooth bokeh provides a dreamy quality to the images.

The smooth bokeh and limited flare response provide a gentle feeling to exposed light sources.

The ARRI Signature Primes also allowed the filmmakers to shoot with less available light, since the lenses can push a maximum aperture of T1.8 universally. Similarly, since there is faster turnaround in a Netflix television production than, say, a theatrical release, the LPL mount’s metadata transfer helped speed up the post-production process. 

Other benefits of using the ARRI Signature Primes include zero lens breathing, large format coverage with image circles up to 46mm, and rear filter holders for convenient filter-swapping.

Although full frame anamorphic is typically reserved for the theatrical filmmaking, they’ve found a fascinating new application on Paramount+.

For those who don’t know, Star Trek: Strange New Worlds is a spin-off of CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery. Anson Mount will be reprising his role as Captain Christopher Pike, leading the starship USS Enterprise along new explorations throughout our galaxy. The Paramount+ show also serves as a prequel to Star Trek: The Original Series, taking place in the decade prior.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds premiered on Paramount+ on May 2022 and was quickly renewed for a second season, which is currently in post-production and expected on Paramount+ later this year.

	The Cooke 1.8x Anamorphic FF+ SF Primes are available to rent at Bokeh Rentals.

THE COOKE LOOK

The show is the eighth Star Trek series to date; and the crew sought to update the look. Cinematographer Glen Keenan, CSC shot the first two episodes of the show, during which he helped create its look. The show is somewhat groundbreaking on a visual level, as it’s a streaming show shot in anamorphic full frame. The Cooke lenses employed are capable of recreating the signature Star Trek blue streak flare without the reliance on VFX to composite in artificial flares. This use of anamorphic lenses is somewhat precedented, as cinematographer Dan Mindel used Panavision Primo Anamorphic lenses to create vivid, sci-fi flares in the 2009 film adaptation of Star Trek.

Despite the sci-fi glamour of immersive LEDs interiors and far-out landscapes, the Cooke Anamorphic Primes work to ground the material with an organic look that update the Star Trek franchise.

Star Trek: Strange New Worlds uses the Cooke Anamorphic/i primes with extensive LEDs to create a grounded science fiction feel.

The anamorphic full frame look is not altogether new for Star Trek television, however. Keenan, who was also the cinematographer on Star Trek: Discovery, helped usher in the use of anamorphic on the show’s later seasons. He told Pro Video Coalition: “Season two of Disco was our move to anamorphic primes [for 2:39:1 for streaming] and that won me over. For Star Trek, there’s a studio, but no reality. I want to convince the audience that we are in a real space with a lens that would add more organic qualities to the image. The Cooke anamorphic special flares have the right amount of aberrations and flare for the signature Star Trek blue streak flare. Two things really help with reality: the unexpected inconsistencies between lenses help to ground the story like we were really there and the anamorphic falloff. Both of those features help to deliberately frame the action where I want the audience to focus on”.

Lensworks Rentals has just announced the release of the Type SK large format cinema lenses. The rental house based in Los Angeles has designed an impressive rehousing of vintage Canon glass to make spectacular glass with full frame coverage.

Lensworks Rentals has announced a new Type SK large format cinema lenses designed and rehoused in Los Angeles, CA.

	The Type SK Full Frame lens is designed by LA-based LensWorksRentals.

WHAT IS “TYPE SK”?

The name “Type SK” is an homage to Japanese optics– the historical root to this re-invention of the ~1960s Canon Rangefinder lenses.

In November 1933, Gora Yoshida founded the optical manufacturer Seiki Kogaku, which means “Precision Optics” in Japanese. The company was founded in Tokyo, and Yoshida’s team began producing prototype 35mm cameras inspired by other designs of the time (such as Zeiss’ from Germany). Although Yoshida shortly left the company after, innovation continued, and the company’s first camera, the Canon (modified from “Kwanon” following outside investor’s advice), was introduced to the Japanese market in early 1936. Shortly thereafter, the optical manufacturer became known as Canon.

Since Lensworks revived a historic invention from the optical manufacturer, it chose to honor Canon’s roots with the name “Type SK”, in reference to Seiki Kogaku.