a blog by Matthew Duclos
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.
Continue reading “Leitz Cine Introduces iD Mount for Hugo and Summilux-C Lenses”
Leitz Cine has introduced a Fujifilm G mount option for its Hektor prime lenses, opening the door to compatibility with Fujifilm’s GFX platform, including cameras like the Fujifilm GFX100 II and the Fujifilm GFX Eterna 55.
Continue reading “Leitz Cine Adds Fujifilm G Mount Option for Hektor Primes”
The ever-popular Leica R primes have been modified and rehoused by many companies for several years but none so elegantly as Leicester, UK-based outfit, TLS. While a Leica R re-housing by TLS has been available for quite some time, this is the first time that TLS is offering a solution direct to customers without a middle-man. But what makes the Leica R lenses and the TLS housing such a great pairing? Let’s explore!
Continue reading “TLS Brings Premium Leica R Rehousing Home”
Famed British lens re-housing company True Lens Service based out of Leicester, UK has adapted one of the must lust-worthy lenses from the photography world, to the realm of cinematography.
During IBC 2018, Leitz Cine announced the development of a whole new set of twelve prime lenses designed for Full Frame/Vista Vision format as well as a brand new pair of cinema zoom lenses also designed for large format cinematography.
Continue reading “Leitz Cine Announces Plans for New Cine Primes and Zooms” 
Since the DSLR Revolution the Leica R primes have been the pinnacle of quality hybrid photo-cine prime lenses. Duclos Lenses has applied their Cine-Mod® to thousands of Leica R primes which brought a seamless focus gear, smooth click-less aperture, common 80mm front rings and Canon EF mount. But we had never tackled the PL mount solution. There were a couple of Chinese modifications that brought PL mounts and larger, heavier housings to the R series. But it wasn’t until Cinescope teamed up with TLS in the UK to bring a proper, robust cine-style housing to the Leica R primes. Continue reading “Leica R Primes Done Right by Cinescope and TLS.”
Here’s something a bit different from everyone’s favorite German lens manufacturer – Leica’s new Thalia prime lenses which tout a massive 60mm image circle. More than enough to cover any current digital cinema sensors. The new Thalia line takes aim at cinematographers looking for a more character-rich image. Continue reading “Leica Announces New Thalia Line Ahead of NAB”
Leica announced the original +1 Macro-Lux Diopter last year and it has quickly become the go-to clamp-on diopter for a wide range of productions. If you didn’t catch the announcement at NAB 2016, I’ll recap for you really quickly… The Macro-Lux +1 is essentially a super high quality clamp-on diopter. If you’re not familiar with diopters, think of them as a very quick way to achieve closer focus than what’s normally possible. A +1 is a pretty standard magnification which is why Leica released this one first. Now you can achieve even greater artistic goals with the +0.5 and +2 Macro-Lux. Continue reading “Leica Macro-Lux Line Expands with +0.5 and +2 Diopters”
Over the course of two days, in a studio in Burbank, California, a band of self-proclaimed “lens geeks” set out to complete the ultimate vintage cinema lens test. The project first began as a collaboration between ShareGrid’s Brent Barbano, and Duclos Lenses’ own Matthew Duclos. Initially, Barbano and Duclos had been planning to complete a rather small-scale lens test with the industry’s most popular and widely used vintage lenses. However, upon approaching director and cinematographer Mark Lafleur to ask him to participate, they discovered that he too was getting ready to carry out his own vintage lens test. The two sides decided to join forces, and before long a whole team was assembled. With Lafleur and Barbano as Directors and Executive Producers, and Duclos as Lens Consultant, Kyle Stryker was brought on as Director of Photography. The team also came to include Camera Assistants Matthew Borek and Michelle Diaz, and Nick Ferriero as Editor. Continue reading “The Ultimate Vintage Lens Test”
Leica is known world-wide for their classic line of M lenses that have been a favorite of photographers for decades. With the worlds of still photography and motion picture becoming less and less defined as time goes on, it’s not uncommon to see a still photo lens being used for motion picture work. Leica took note of this with their extensive catalog of high quality M mount primes and decided to do a bit of blending themselves. Continue reading “Leica Refocuses With M 0.8 Primes”
At this rate, we won’t have any products left to announce during NAB. CW Sonderoptic, Leica’s sister company that manufactures their cine lenses, has announced the addition of two new prime lenses that really round out and fill the gaps in the Summicron-C line of lenses. Taking up the wide end we’ll see a nice, fast, 15mm. And then, to prove that they’re really listening to their customers, the coveted 40mm is added right in the middle of the range. A favorite focal length of many cinematographers that gives just a tad more reach than a 35mm, but doesn’t quite punch in to the tight field you would get with a 50mm. Beautiful! Continue reading “Leica’s Summicron-C Line Grows with 15mm and 40mm”
Back in 2009 we began shipping our Tokina 11-16mm cine conversion. We honestly had no idea it would be so successful. About a week after we initially started shipping our 11-16mm lens, customers began asking what our next project was. You see… We don’t just convert any lens. We look for something different – something unique. At the time we released our 11-16mm lens, there really wasn’t anything else in the same category. There were a few high-end options that were 6x – 8x the price of our lens or some vintage lenses that simply didn’t perform very well when compared to the 11-16mm. These days you can find the 11-16mm with cinema features from any number of companies including lens shops in Germany, China, and even from Tokina themselves. I can confidently say that our cinema conversion is still the best option out there by a large margin. So – the next project… Continue reading “Leica 70-180mm Cinema Conversion from Duclos Lenses”
Leica, CW Sonderoptic have approved Duclos Lenses for complete factory authorized service of the Summilux-C and Summicron-C cinema prime lenses. To celebrate the cooperative milestone, Duclos Lenses will be offering a free diagnostic check for any Leica cinema lens through the month of July. Bring your lenses in today for a free check up. For additional information, call or email – (818) 773-0600, service@ducloslenses.com Continue reading “Duclos Lenses Adds Leica, CW Sonderoptic To Authorized Service Schedule”
Everyone should be familiar with the price of equipment sporting a small red dot. In this particular case, the red dot is pretty large. A venerable cream of the telephoto crop, this set consists of a Leica APO-Summicron-R 180mm f/2.0, a Leica APO Telyt-R 280mm f/2.8 and finally a massive Leica APO-Telyt-R 400mm f/2.8. The set is currently owned by Samy’s Camera – but not for long as it’s being sold for $100,000.00. This is no ordinary set of rare Leica telephoto primes. Custom modified with PL mounts and integrated focus and iris gears by Duclos Lenses, this is a one-of-a-kind set making the rare even rarer.
About two years ago I was paid a visit by some fellow named Samy who claimed he was from Samy’s Camera. It took me a few seconds to realize he wasn’t just some guy from Samy’s… He was Samy’s. Samy proceeded to explain what he wanted done to these lenses, at which point I gave some examples of what something like this costs and the down-time associated with custom modifications. You see, performing this type of work isn’t something that we here at Duclos Lenses do for just any lens. There are several prerequisites for this type of work that we stick to pretty closely which usually discourage customers from advancing with bespoke engineering. The most important condition is quality. We don’t design or engineer anything that we aren’t confident putting our name on, abel to admire once completed and say “damn… that’s marvelous”. The second most important factor is the cost. I understand that there are some individuals out there that simply don’t care about the cost, and want, need, must have something despite the fee. This entire process requires a balance of these two primary factors (quality/cost) which I felt Samy understood and shared in our enthusiasm. As a result of our unrelenting crusade for precision and quality, custom conversions go through many stages within Duclos Lenses beginning with conception and going on to design, engineering, prototyping, manufacturing, and finishing.
Over the next few months we penned, plotted, rendered, caffeinated, and repeated many times over. The final result was a set of three Leica telephoto primes with stainless steel PL mounts, integrated focus and iris gears, and industry standard supports, ready to deliver to Samy. As far as I know, at the time, Samy had no plans to offer these lenses to anyone because of their rarity but I’m glad to see that they are for sale and possibly going on to shoot stunning images. I hope that whoever ends up purchasing these lenses lets me know so that I can keep an eye on them over time. It’s this desire to follow bespoke projects throughout their life, that I feel makes the work that I’m involved with special. If you’re interested in purchasing this set, check with your accountant/wife and then head on over to the eBay listing.