Leitz Cine has introduced the iD Mount, a replacement mount that adds Cooke /i metadata support to existing Summilux-C and Hugo lenses. Available in PL for Summilux-C and LPL for Hugo, it houses the electronics entirely within the mount, allowing these mechanical lenses to communicate their identity and optical data to compatible cameras without internal modification.
It’s a practical approach to extending the usefulness of established lenses. Owners retain the optics and mechanics they already know, while gaining a way to carry useful lens information into production and post.
What the Mount Can Tell You
The iD Mount uses the Cooke /i protocol to communicate static lens data. That distinction matters. With no encoders monitoring the focus or iris mechanisms, it cannot report changing focus distance or T-stop settings during a shot.
What it provides is a package of identification and optical information: lens name, focal length, serial number, distortion map, and shading map. Leitz has also confirmed to us that effective focal length can be included where the original factory measurement is available.
That optical data comes from two different sources.
The distortion and shading maps are calculated from the lens’s optical design, according to Leitz. Installing an iD Mount does not involve measuring the individual lens or generating maps unique to its serial number. A 35mm Summilux-C receives the corresponding design-derived data for that model.
Effective focal length is an individual factory measurement. Leitz tells us it measures this when lenses are produced and can retrieve the recorded value by serial number when preparing a mount.
The distinction is useful. “35mm” engraved on a barrel is a nominal designation; the measured effective focal length of a particular lens can differ. Having that factory value gives postproduction a more precise reference than the engraved designation alone. It remains a measurement from the lens’s original production, however, rather than a fresh assessment performed during the upgrade.
Together, these data provide a useful starting point for understanding and reproducing the lens’s imaging characteristics. Their practical value in VFX depends on how the camera and downstream software preserve and interpret them. The maps should also be understood within the system’s limits: the mount cannot report which focus distance or aperture was used for a particular frame.
The value here is making existing optical information accessible through a familiar metadata interface, with enough identification to associate it with the lens used.
Installation and Compatibility
The installation is mechanically straightforward: replace the original mount, verify flange depth, and adjust shimming as required. There are no internal electrical connections to make, and the optics, focus mechanism, and iris remain unchanged.
Straightforward still calls for precision. The mount establishes the lens’s relationship to the camera’s image plane, so flange-depth verification should be part of the installation. Duclos Lenses can perform the iD Mount installation, verification, and shimming, along with any inspection or routine maintenance the lens may need. For a working set, it’s a sensible opportunity to address both.
The Summilux-C version also retains the titanium construction of the original PL mount. That gives the €500 mount price some useful context: the purchase includes a precision titanium replacement mount with integrated electronics. As cinema lens upgrades go, that seems reasonable.
Compatibility has one important exception: the 135mm Summilux-C cannot accept the iD Mount. Leitz’s current specifications identify that exclusion, so support for the SUMMILUX-C family extends through the 100mm. Hugo lenses use the corresponding LPL version. Both families can also be ordered new with the optional iD Mount.
We also asked about SUMMICRON-C, another family with plenty of sets still in service. Leitz tells us there are currently no plans to offer an iD Mount for Summicron-C. Other, newer Leitz lens families already incorporate metadata functionality. For now, this is a targeted upgrade for Summilux-C and Hugo.
Programming, Pricing, and Availability
For existing lenses, Leitz can program the mount before shipping using the owner-supplied serial number, for an additional fee. This also gives Leitz the opportunity to include the corresponding factory-measured effective focal length where available.
Rental houses and owners who want to manage the data themselves can use the iD Mount Update Base. Priced at €320 and available in PL or LPL versions, it works with free Leitz software for macOS and Windows to create, review, modify, or delete information stored on an iD Mount. Selecting the lens family and focal length loads the corresponding distortion and shading maps.
That convenience makes accurate programming important. Since the information resides in the replacement mount, its contents need to correspond to the lens receiving it.
Leitz also confirmed a useful secondary function: the Update Base can read metadata from other metadata-equipped Leitz Cine lenses. It cannot write to those lenses; editing is exclusive to the iD Mount. Even so, that read capability gives it a broader role on the bench than programming retrofit mounts alone.
The iD Mount is priced at €500 per mount, with the Update Base at €320 in either configuration. Leitz lists both as available globally through Leitz Cine and authorized partners. Installation and optional factory programming should be considered separately from the mount price.
What makes this upgrade appealing is its modest scope. Leitz has put useful optical data and available factory measurements into a replaceable component, giving owners a practical way to add metadata support to lenses already earning their keep.
For productions that can use that information, it’s a worthwhile extension of familiar tools. The lens remains the lens. The mount just makes it a little smarter.