Events - Event View

Modern digital motion picture cameras when wed to high performance optics can produce images that some cinematographers consider to be too sharp or unflattering.  The look produced by this combination can be categorized as looking as either “blue” or “orange” and many cinematographers ask that we help them create an image that they feel has a more organic “roll-off” through lens selection/modification. 

Some of the strategies we have used to accomplish this include inducing higher order aberrations by violating nominal air gaps, producing glare characteristics through coating modifications, offering older optics as an alternative, and adding afocal attachments to target specific geometrical distortions.  A direct relationship is developed between the cinematographer and the technician to accomplish the final product and the resulting lens could be considered to be a bad lens when compared to a modern well-corrected lens.  Consequently, part of this exercise is to demonstrate that a well-corrected lens is not always the only solution to create an impression that is artistically desired.