VINTAGE LENSES GEAR
CHALLENGES & COMPROMISES Beyond managing expectations, the physical realities of rehousing present a web of technical constraints that can quickly derail a project. One of the first is coverage. As TLS’s Gavin Whitehurst notes, a lens behaving well on its intended format doesn’t necessarily translate cleanly to larger sensors. “Just because something is designed for a certain sensor size, doesn’t mean they won’t cover more,” he explains. “And then when you do use it on that larger sensor… you get a different lens, so you’re going to have probably more aberrations towards the outside.” For some cinematographers that character is desirable, but it needs to be understood upfront. Whitehurst thinks, though, that there is a growing lens literacy among DOPs. “Probably ten years ago… quite a few didn’t understand that the iris shape had a lot to do with the shape of the
can be overlooked. Many lenses that people hope to rehouse were originally designed for stills photography, not cinema use, meaning they may not be parfocal or mechanically suited to cine operation. While the image might look appealing, the internal compensations and focus behaviour can make it very tricky to translate into reliable cine mechanics – sometimes to the point where the desired shots simply wouldn’t be achievable at all. Fungus isn’t always fatal for Förderer, who admits that sometimes he’s found the effect of (light) fungus ‘quite cool’, but in the majority of cases it’s bad news, and can drastically impact a vintage lens’ performance and worth. Ultimately, the mechanics matter less as these can be completely stripped out and replaced during rehousing, however glass in good condition – that produces an image you like – is a must.
bokeh,” he continues. “And now pretty much every DOP will know that. They’re very knowledgeable about vintage lenses these days.” Where rehousing becomes especially demanding is with more complex optical designs. “The single, most difficult thing is when you’re working with a complex floating element lens,” explains Whitehurst. “You have to replicate the exact movement of the glass inside. If you don’t do that, then the image will deteriorate.” The challenge escalates further with wide-angle designs and with limited space near the film plane: “Combining those two things is probably the most difficult thing that our team will do mechanically.” At TK Lenses, the difficulties often begin before the engineering even starts. “The first challenge is simply disassembling a donor lens,” explains Kounthawatphinyo. “Many of these lenses are several
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