MORE INFO

This is one of the first sets of lenses built specifically for the S35 format in years. The heart of this set are 1960s Olympus lenses, designed for their “half frame” PEN F camera system. The “Half Frame” format is conveniently close in image area to the Super 35mm motion picture film format.

Olympus designed the Pen F lenses to be very sharp, and very fast, while also being quite compact. The image quality really is amazing if you consider their age, speed, and the fact that they were designed for an affordable still photo camera system.

While some of the longer focal lengths can cover Full Frame sensors, most do not. However, because the goal was the S35 format, this opened the door to push the close focus even closer, and made it possible to build more high-speed focal lengths, that are still relatively compact, and perform very well wide open. The full set will cover Open Gate on Alexa 35.

Because the lenses were designed for S35, their is less of a “sweet spot effect” meaning you see more cat’s eye bokeh, and there is a bit more fall-off with softer corners. The lenses are sharp wide open, resolving excellent detail, but they have the perfect amount of spherical aberration, which makes them more flattering on your subject than modern lenses. They have very low CA. Their 1960s single-layer coatings deliver medium contrast, and gorgeous lens flare character.

Additional focal lengths will be announced soon…