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Bridging the Gap: Vintage and Modern Glass
- Author: Sam Jorgensen
TRIBE7 and Cine Visuals Present: BLACKWING7 Primes
Cinematic Heritage
In late 2018 a collaboration began between former ARRI technology executive Neil Fanthom and Oscar-nominated cinematographer Bradford Young ASC. In his words, Young says, “It all began when I was researching cameras and lenses for Solo: A Star Wars Story. Neil came to me with a wonderful opportunity to experiment. They were developing the DNA lenses at ARRI Rental and that gave me an opportunity to embed some of my own meta, my history, and some of my own life into the glass. Things progressed from there and now we are introducing Blackwing7.”
A dream formed to take the technological advancements of the modern era and mix that with the quality of vintage lensing. The pair felt the quality of lenses from the 1930s-1960s produced an image that brought soul to the image, but the actual lenses can be cumbersome even with rehousing. However, the perfected cleanliness of modern lenses brought about technical perfection but in doing so a sterileness that drained the human touch from the glass. Thus, Tribe7 was born to bridge the gap. Drawing inspiration from music, they decided to treat their lenses like instruments. Something that could be tuned depending on the tone and need of the project all while maintaining a sense of control for the cinematographer and director. In other words, bringing the life of vintage lenses to the technical mastery of modern lenses.
Their development, inspired by musical instruments, resulted in three separate tunings. “Straight” or S-Tuning, for a subtle and clean appearance, “Expressive” or X-Tuning, for the most heightened feelings of the glass, and “Transient” or T-Tuning for a gentle cluster of the two; the most popular and prized masterpiece of Tribe7. Read further for more details on each tuning. All three tunings are available for rent at Cine Visuals.
In 2019, Tribe7 brought forth the Blackwing7 Primes. The set came in three custom tunings to give the filmmaker maximum control over their image. Over the years, the lenses have been used by various cinematographers including Christina Dunlap for “American Fiction” and James Friend for “All Quiet On The Western Front”. Since their initial release, several focal lengths have been released which as of now include 17mm, 20.7mm, 23.7mm, 27mm, 37mm, 47mm, 57mm, 77mm, 107mm, 137mm. Together, Young and Fanthom brought their skills together to bring about a flexible lens set with the beloved characteristics of the classics and the technical perfection of the modern era.
Image Fidelity & Focus
While the Blackwings capture the desired convenience of modern lenses, they do not sacrifice the beauty and spirit of vintage lenses for which they are inspired by. Maintaining high fidelity and resolution in the image is a key factor to the development of these lenses. However, the clinical nature of many modern lenses was tediously sifted out. In fashion with their goals, Young and Fanthom brought together the best of both vintage and modern lenses in the Blackwings. At wider apertures, the Blackwings are reminiscent of lenses from the golden age of Hollywood. Lower contrast with softer, gentler edge-to-edge focus falloff. Bringing the romanticism of cinema back into the image. And yet, their design lacks any potential muddiness and low fidelity. The focus falloff is gentle and leads the eye to the subject with grace and precision without harsh perfection, giving back a human touch to the image. Any edge distortion brings the feeling of vintage without any sense of overtness or lack of control. An intentional design in the glass on bringing about the softness of skintones and painterly falloff in the highlights that give them a subtle filmic quality. The Blackwings give the cinematographer the vintage feeling they know without any loss of control or headache.
Handling & Adaptability
In line with their goal, Tribe7 created the Blackwings with the filmmaker’s vision and comfort in mind. Each focal length covers Large Format while also maintaining a relatively compact design. Each focal length has a uniform 104mm front diameter and has weights ranging from 3-3.8lbs/1.4-1.75kg. This uniformity creates the user-friendly design for quick lens swaps as well as steadicam, gimbal, and drone adjustments. Each lens has a well-damped focus ring with a long focus throw that allows for the most precise sharpness on the widest apertures. However, their flexibility also comes through in their versatile mount options, starting with the standard PL mount, Blackwings can be adjusted to a wide variety of camera mounts. Saving time and mental fortitude with reliable lenses that maintain beauty and consistency opens room for the creativity on set to capture the story and emotion at hand.
Image Circle
Breadth of view was a key design feature of the Blackwings. Each focal length easily covers the ARRI Alexa LF, the Sony Venice FF, and Red Monstro VV sensors. Large format was kept in mind with the advent of these lenses. The image circle on many of the lenses covers 65mm formats as well including 65mm film, the ARRI Alexa 65, and the Fujifilm Eterna 55. To dive into specifics, each lens can cover the Fujifilm Eterna 55 with the 17mm, 20.7mm, 23.7mm, and 27mm focal lengths each covering 56mm. The 37mm and above (with the exception of the 47mm that covers a 60mm image circle) has an image circle of 67mm and therefore can cover both the ARRI Alexa 65 as well as 65mm film. To make short of this, these lenses continue in their desired goal of versatility covering nearly every film and sensor size with nearly every focal length. No matter what film stock or camera is the right choice for the project, the Tribe7 Blackwing7s can be chosen as an excellent pair and bring the elegance of vintage lenses to the modern world of large format.
Flare & Bokeh
Consistency and customization are the core features of Tribe7’s dream. This does not differ in their goals of their flares and bokeh. Like many lenses, coatings are one of the secret sauces to the glass that bring out the various characteristics in a lens. Older, vintage glass tends to flare more as a result of having a single coating. Some modern lens manufacturers are “de-tuning” or “de-coating” their modern lenses in an attempt to replicate the vintage look inside a modern design. However, the Blackwings go much further. Knowing each project and even different moments within a project has different emotional and technical goals, Tribe7 created a system where each lens can be custom-tuned to one of three different “looks”.
The first is the “Straight” or S-Tuning that attempts to directly mimic the feeling of early to mid 20th century single-layer coating glass with its smooth edge falloff but in a more contained fashion that prioritizes sharpness and an organic clean image. The second is the “Expressive” or X-Tuning. Instead of a restraint look, this tuning brings out the most of the natural characteristics of the lens. Emphasizing flaring, exaggerating the edge falloff intensity, and bringing a reminiscent film halation to the image. A potent, creamy look with strong flaring. The third and final tuning is the “Transient” or T-Tuning. This one acts as a middle ground between the previous two. Maintaining a heavier, softer focus falloff while restraining flaring to a more subdued point though still stronger than in the S-Tuning. T-Tuning seeks to bring some of the character of the X-Tuning to the sharpness and focus of the S-Tuning.
Bridging the gap between a clean performance-driven take and a wistful moment of visual poetry in the project. Regardless of tuning, the bokeh of the Blackwings are a standout for the lenses. Their fast apertures (all under T2) allow for large and creamy bokeh. With a 14-blade nonlinear aperture, the bokeh becomes a large graceful circle while maintaining an organic and subtle swirl on the edges that doesn’t drive too much of a wedge between the out-of-focus background and the subject. In this way, the bokeh is able to maintain both characteristic large beauty as well as natural depth and smoothness.
These lenses are available for rent at Cine Visuals. For inquiries or testing appointments email info@cinevisuals.com or call (323) 244-2552.