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These are unique, vintage Kowa Full Frame lenses, beautifully rehoused by TLS. Not to be confused with Kowa Cine Prominar primes, these are Full Frame still photo lenses from the 1960s-1970s made for Kowa leaf shutter SLR cameras.

In the camera system the lenses were originally designed for, the iris control ring is built into the camera body rather than the lens, making it impossible to Cine-Mod them, or to use adapters for other camera mounts. Because of this unique camera system, the lenses fell into obscurity, and the only way to use these lenses on modern cameras is a full rehouse.

TLS replaced the original irises with matte finished 16-blade irises, and they greatly improved close focus on every focal length. And of course, they now have the quality and reliability of TLS housings, which feature 110mm fronts, uniform position of focus and iris gears, 330 degree focus throw with zero image shift, and zero backlash.

As for the look of the lenses: they perform well wide open, sharp but not clinical, low contrast, some barrel distortion on the wider lenses, beautiful pronounced flares, and soft pleasing bokeh. These lenses were born to shoot wide open, and they really shine on full frame cameras.

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