FEATURE | WHY THEY WON
It took them a while to realise that they had to push their design further to get the results that the market was asking for
Prior mentions that the whole business of telecentric lenses means you’re trying to keep that light perfectly perpendicular to your sensor, but Arri is the antithesis of that. “Yes, it focuses and is sharp and lovely, but what happens outside of that is not normal really. But that’s part of what vintage glass does, it does it inherently and natively, and is to do with the coatings and the lead and radon and all the crap that they were able to put in it in the sixties and seventies that you can’t do anymore. It’s very hard to do with modern glass.” Prior agrees that we are going through an interesting time for lens development with this solidifying of vintage glass and the big increase in full-frame options. For DNA lenses, it was decided to develop them in-house and not look outside for co-development as they had done before with IB/E Optics. “Ultimately, our goal was to release a series of lenses that are completely made internally by Arri Rental in consultation with our guys in Munich and our sales teams.” Mission accomplished.
push for the more wacky, extreme type of lenses; like Tokina bringing our its one coat and Canon bringing out the Sumire range of LF lenses with the emphasis on character,” says Prior. “It’s a bit schizophrenic for companies, especially Japanese ones and it took them a while to realise that they had to push their designs further to get the results that the market was asking for. They needed to ‘destroy’ the lens and had trouble pushing it that far and being that destructive. “One of the things that the DNAs do is to have the out-of-focus qualities attain a painterly and impressionistic quality. The way it falls apart behind the subject is of course part of the format, but also due to the lens itself. The way it’s dealing with the light, the way it’s scattering the light and the way the lens de-focusses. It causes the background to de-construct in a way that a modern lens just wouldn’t do.”
DNA LF lens itself,” says Prior. “They’ll be pretty extreme and not for everyone, but for those who want to push the boat out and don’t necessarily have time to spend with us tuning something custom for a look. It might even be just for a few shots in a movie that need to be ‘different’. It’s almost like you’ve uncoated a K35 and de-tuned it.” ARRI Rental has been asked for uncoated variants of the Prime DNAs, including a couple for Bradford Young on the Solo movie – a 45mm and an 80mm. These lenses were sent to Berlin when Young finished with them and also used for another US show. But it’s still a fairly niche market as the look is so extreme, so you’re looking at maybe a twice-a-year use cycle. “With DNA, part of the message is experimentation and customisation, so we have to have them on the shelf. Some people want ‘dirty’. Generally, there has been a
IMAGES The new Arri Rental DNA LF range, which was launched earlier this year
52 DEF I N I T ION | AUGUST 20 1 9
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