LARGE FORMAT | GEAR GROUP
BIG SHOTS As soon as the new bigger sensors started appearing the new glass materialised as well. Here is our pick of what’s available for large-format
WORDS JULIAN M ITCHELL
ARRI Rental DNA SERIES
ARRI
Atlas Lens Co ORION SERIES
SIGNATURE SERIES
To prove that the trend for anamorphic lenses isn’t waning, we saw a new company pitch up last year called the Atlas Lens Co, although it has been planning its launch for three years. This is an exclusively anamorphic company. Its Orion Series anamorphic lenses are unique in that they offer a traditional 2x anamorphic squeeze and are designed for a full height 4:3 or 6:5 anamorphic imaging format, so great for sensors like the Alexa LF, Alexa 4:3, Sony Venice, Canon C700FF, Red Monstro, Red Gemini, and others. From a prototype 65mm the company now offers a range including 32mm T2, 40mm T2, 50mm T2, 65mm T2, 80mm T2 and 100mm T2 – all with well controlled barrel distortion. This is a matching set so the coatings and designs are engineered for multi-use shoots. An Interchangeable Mount System means you can use any PL Mount camera, compatible EF, E-mount, or Micro 4/3. This is a classic-looking series of anamorphic lenses with controlled flare and noticeably beautiful bokeh but with modern engineering. Verdict
“It was a 50mm and we put it on the camera and, literally, I was like: ‘This is it’. It was super special. It’s hard to articulate how something is different from the other thing, but I knew that this was the lens, and it really set the standard of how far we could push the DNA glass.” DOP of Solo: A Star Wars Story Bradford Young was talking about his initial feelings about ARRI Rental’s DNA range of lenses. The range now comprises 14 lenses with a new set of DNA LF lenses being announced very soon for the new ARRI LF camera. The lenses have been customised by ARRI Rental with help from cinematographers like Bradford, and guided by other cinematographer input. The 50mm lens became the genesis for the whole set of lenses; ARRI Rental used that lens as a template and productized two prototypes of the 50mm for Bradford. Then the other lenses started to fall into place. The source of the glass is still a secret. Verdict We know the glass is a mixture of the new and old but big respect to ARRI Rental for developing such customised glass for its customers.
Accompanying the new ALEXA LF camera are 16 large-format ARRI Signature Prime lenses, ranging from 12mm to 280mm and fitted with the ARRI LPL mount. While the Signature Primes exemplify state-of-the-art optical precision, they have been designed to render organic, emotionally engaging images, gently softening and texturising the large format with natural skin tones and a creamy bokeh. A fast T-stop of T1.8 facilitates shallow depth-of-field and the smooth focus fall-off gives subjects heightened presence in the frame. The ARRI Signature Prime range is the first cine lens series to feature machined magnesium lens barrels, making the optics lightweight and robust. They are also the first to incorporate ARRI’s next- generation LDS-2 Lens Data System, with high data rates and absolute encoders for fast initialising. LDS-2 extends lens data possibilities and is being licensed to other lens and camera manufacturers.
Verdict
“I was surprised by the quality of the lenses and how light they were, they capture the format beautifully.” DOP Kieran Fowler NZSC, ACS.
NUMBER IN LENS SET
14
NUMBER IN LENS SET
16
NUMBER IN LENS SET
6
RANGE
FULL ALEXA 65 28MM – 200MM
RANGE
12MM – 280MM
RANGE
32MM – 100MM
COVERAGE
LENS MOUNT
LPL
LENS MOUNT
IMS
NOVEMBER 20 1 8 | DEF I N I T ION 53
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