Where to Rent Leica Thalia Large Format Lenses - Film and Digital Times
Jon Fauer
CW Sonderoptic has shipped the first sets of production-ready Large Format Leica Thalia lenses to the following rental companies: ARRI Rental, RVZ, Ljud & Bildmedia, TCS, Keslow Camera and Otto Nemenz International. Yves Angelo, AFC, SBC, is shooting now with RVZ's Leica Thalias on RED 8K VV cameras for his latest feature film. Comments include "Skin kindness and awesome bokehs." read more...
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Film and Digital Times
CW Sonderoptic has shipped the first sets of production-ready Large Format Leica Thalia lenses to the following rental companies: ARRI Rental, RVZ, Ljud & Bildmedia, TCS, Keslow Camera and Otto Nemenz International. More are on the way.

Yves Angelo, AFC, SBC, is shooting now with RVZ’s Leica Thalias on RED 8K VV cameras for his latest feature film. Comments include “Skin kindness and awesome bokehs.”

Samuel Renollet, camera rental manager of RVZ in Paris, was one of the first to plead with Leica for large format lenses to cover his RED VV 8K camera. Samuel tested early variations and prototypes, and supported the gorgeous Diva Longboard demo film “Longboard.”

Samuel said, “I am really proud and lucky to be one of the early users of these new lenses. When we received our RED 8K VV camera a year and a half ago I was desperate to get some lenses that would cover this big sensor. The Leica Thalias not only cover all the big sensors, but also have this Leica look that so many filmmakers love.

ARRI Rental currently has Thalia lenses working with ALEXA 65 cameras on a big feature production in London.

ARRI Rental worked with CW and fitted the Leica Thalia lenses with XPL mounts. Neil Fanthom, Group Director of Technology at ARRI Rental said, “The Leica Thalia lenses with XPL mounts have proved to be perfectly complimentary to our extensive portfolio of 65mm format optics, offering a clean image quality with smooth rolloff across the 65mm frame. To appreciate the beauty and subtlety of the Thalia 65 optics you really have to shoot in as large a format as possible. ARRI Rental currently has the Thalia 65 lenses working with ALEXA 65s on a major motion picture in London, and the feedback from all concerned is that the images being produced are truly magical.”

Otto Nemenz has two sets of Thalias, with many more on order. He said, “I’m excited to receive the Thalia lenses. The coverage that these lenses provide in such a compact package is truly amazing.”

Robert Keslow commented, “We are happy to add the Leica Thalia large format lenses to our inventory. We are eager to pair them with our RED 8K VV and 8K Anamorphic cameras to offer cinematographers unique opportunities to create compelling images.”

At TCS in New York, Erik Schietinger said, “We are very interested in larger sensor cameras and lenses, so we were very excited to hear about Leica’s Thalia series of lenses… These lenses are surprisingly small in size and weight, similar to Summilux-C and Summicron-C line. Oliver Schietinger added, “They are consistent with our expectations of Leica: very good contrast, excellent highlight control and uniform bokeh.”

Leica Thalia Refresher Course

The basic set of Leica Thalia lenses consists of 6 lenses: 30mm, 35mm, 45mm, 70mm, 100mm and 180mm.

The 24mm, 55mm and 120mm will arrive later.

The 60mm diagonal image circle covers all formats from Alexa 65, Panavision DXL, RED 8K VV, Full Frame, to Super35. They come in a PL mount that covers Full Frame, Red 8K VV and Panavision DXL. For Alexa 65, ARRI uses an XPL mount. Thalias have /i lens data contacts in the mount. They have a 95mm front diameter (like Summilux-C and Summicron-C) and consistent focus and iris ring locations. For lenses covering this large an image circle, they are amazingly compact and lightweight.

The 15-bladed irises are totally round at every aperture and create the same beautiful, smooth bokehs across the entire set. The iris ring is linear—marks are evenly spaced across all T stops.

Additional FDTimes information about the Leica Thalia lenses.