GEAR. LENS ROUND TABLE
DK: Atlas is focused on not only creating a technically more reliable and usable anamorphic lens for modern filmmakers, but also in creating new formats that leverage the possibility of an anamorphic lens in ways that had previously not been done. For example, we are pioneering AtlasScope – a format where the camera body is rotated to give a tall rather than wide image. With the de-squeeze, the image again becomes square or near- square, offering a near 1:1 aspect ratio option, which is great for a wide variety of delivery formats and platforms. How do you see the lens manufacturing landscape evolving in the next five to ten years, in terms of sustainability and any new technologies? SE: The trend to create customisable or adjustable optics is still on the upswing, but eventually like all trends it will hit a peak of saturation, especially as those character-rich, funky looks become more widely available to lower budgets and start to become ubiquitous. Once YouTube gets hold of adjustable lenses, the higher-end professionals will look for a new way to create work that stands out and tells stories in different ways. Maybe the industry will turn back to clean, sharp lenses. Maybe filters will have a resurgence. Whichever direction it goes, lenses will probably remain the starting point for look creation in the world of visual storytelling. TM: Sustainability is a watchword across all Arri products, but for lenses we no longer use glass that contains lead or cadmium, which was standard in the industry for many years. Glass with lead in it has a larger transmission in the blue spectrum and makes lens design easier, but it is toxic and so we stopped. We ship our lenses in high-quality aluminium cases that can be reused, rather than packaging that is thrown away, and the build quality and longevity of our lenses also contribute to sustainability. The lifecycle of Arri lenses is at least 15 years as a sales product and after that another ten years of service and support, so the client has a usage period of at least a quarter-century. CT: With the variability in sensor size, aspect ratio and pixel pitch, a key focus of lens design will continue to be maximising the amount of pixels a lens allows you to capture. When it comes to anamorphic lenses, unlike with film where the squeezing and de-squeezing preserves image fidelity, with digital, pixels end up being subtracted in greater or lesser quantity depending on the imaging diagonal and the anamorphic squeeze ratio. To account for this, we
TB: With film, we were striving for mathematically perfect lenses to account for the generational losses in image quality from capture to delivery. Because of the lossless nature of digital, mathematical perfection isn’t actually desirable – the sharp digital image can look too flat. Vintage lenses might be ‘imperfect’, but those qualities add to the depth and roll-off of the digital image, which can help smaller digital screens feel more analogue, with softer roll-off from what’s in focus to what’s out of focus. Those qualities can also be used by cinematographers to direct the audience’s attention while giving their work a visual signature. Anamorphic’s magnification, bokeh, breathing and other qualities can be especially impactful when it comes to the audience’s recognition of depth cues. AP: Each of those lens types – vintage, anamorphic and zoom – has different technical and creative benefits. A lot of DOPs like to soften the look of modern sensors with vintage lenses, adding texture and imperfection to create more interesting and emotive images. Anamorphic lenses provide a look and feel that registers with audiences as cinematic even if they don’t understand why; the flaring and bokeh characteristics resonate because of decades of viewing. Zoom lenses have the benefit of fast and remotely operated compositional adjustments, or if they’re older zooms, a vintage look. It’s not about defining new standards; it’s more about offering a greater variety of creative choices. “It’s important that lenses are compatible with VFX workflows from prep through post”
OFF THE SHELF Arri Rental’s LPL-mount Alfa series
already offer a variety of anamorphic squeezes – including 2x, 1.65x and 1.3x – maximising the number of pixels that are captured with a given sensor while still yielding the traditional anamorphic feel. TB: With so much content being viewed on streaming platforms, there will be continued interest in leveraging optical attributes that engage audiences visually, help lend projects a visual signature, and survive streaming’s compression. And with the continued increase of virtual production methods, it’s important that lenses are compatible with VFX workflows from prep through post, including content captured for use on-set with LED walls. In part, this means being able to easily monitor, capture and share lens metadata to make the transition into the virtual world as seamless as possible. AP: There will, without doubt, be more lens series manufactured and thus more creative choices for cinematographers. More efficient production techniques and technology will hopefully reduce the industrial impact of manufacturing and help with sustainability globally. Perhaps we will get to a point in the near future where there are literally thousands of lens choices and customisable options for cinematographers, leading to a reduction in manufacturing. That said, DOPs won’t stop looking for something new. DK: We are thrilled about applying new materials, and some of our own new discoveries in terms of patentable optical techniques, to make some of the most exciting anamorphic lenses to be developed in the last 70 years! Some of the things we are doing with our Mercury series lenses, for example, were thought to be impossible just a year ago.
PERFECT PITCH Leitz M 0.8 lenses offer improved control
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